Sunday, September 20, 2009

Playbike Centerfold




I was listening to the current episode of David Bernstein’s Fredcast podcast earlier today. It starts with an interview with the owner and chief engineer at Renovo Bikes. An hour later I had changed the wallpaper on my computer to a photo of a Renovo bicycle and had announced to Kathy that I had found my next bike!

Of course, that’s just lust talking. I have road and touring bikes that I like very much and that have many years of service left in them. Assuming our office Powerball pool is not going to pay off any time soon, I don’t see any new bikes for me in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, if I were shopping for something now, there is no doubt that I would start at Renovo. After exploring the Renovo web site, check out this Social Biking blog entry about a Renovo test ride. There is a nice photo of the right and left halves of a Renovo frame before they are bonded together. There is also an interesting discussion of how the bottom bracket is handled on these bikes.

Based on the everything I have found on these bikes, the performance-oriented frames yield 16 to 20 pound road bikes that perform extremely well and feel great on the road. Not to mention that they are drop-dead gorgeous!