Remember Volagi and their “Long Bow Flex Stay” carbon fiber Liscio bicycle?
They’ve created a steel version called the Viaje that you can pre-order now via Kickstarter.
I’ve seen a prototype of the Viaje and it’s indeed a luscious looking bike. Volagi does endurance rides, and they see the Viaje as the bike for mixed road and off-road adventuring. The generous frame clearance allows for tires up to 42 mm. Fender and rack braze ons, of course, and brake mounts only for disc.
If you order through Kickstarter, framesets with carbon fiber fork start at $600, with complete bikes starting at $1900.
The audio in the video is unusable; it’s better to just read the Kickstarter project page
More about Volagi and their bikes at their website
An adventure bike, with added marketing as a commuter, with no rack mounts? I suppose I’m glad for that, otherwise I might really want one.
On a steel bike it is easy to work around missing braze-ons: p-clamps. I also prefer to run bags like those from Revelate Designs and save the weight of racks. However, I agree with ‘Ron G’. It’s not like a few braze-ons add cost or weight.
interesting that they’re using Kickstarter – seems like a great bike too, and cheaper than I thought it’d be- although maybe that’s just for getting the project off the ground
This is a special deal for Kickstarter — I think actual MSRP will be higher. Here’s what Volagi posted to their Facebook page:
As many of you likely know, introducing a brand new bike from such a small company takes a lot of investment which is why we have employed the use of KickStarter. While the project won’t completely fund the production of the new bike, it will greatly help to offset the cost allowing us to produce the best bike possible so that we can get it out to dealers and riders as soon as possible.
Rear rack mounts to be included on the production model. Front rack mounts pending production of a steel fork, which they’re considering.
Unfortunately the Kickstarter doesn’t seem to be going too well. Which is a shame; I think this bike makes all kinds of sense. I want one.
Looks like the Kickstarter picked up some steam. Close to $45k pledged since Interbike. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874048428/the-viaje-bicycle-engineered-for-adventure
33 hours to pick up another $25k though… so I just pimped it to my well-to-do uncle and some of his mates.
The kickstarter was around $35k before Interbike, $75k last night, and is now over $87,000. Less than 22 hours to go!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874048428/the-viaje-bicycle-engineered-for-adventure?ref=activity