THANKS FOR A GREAT 2010, WABI RIDERS

In efforts to avoid the standard 2010 nostalgia/2011 anticipation, we found ourselves doing just that…thinking about all of the great customers and people we’ve encountered and how excited we are for 2011. As some of you may know, 2010 was the first full calendar year for Wabi Cycles, and it could not have gone better. It’s been extremely rewarding to receive all of the positive feedback from both customers and press, and to meet some of the fixed gear enthusiasts that we’ve had the pleasure of talking to. So, we just wanted to take a minute to say thank you: thank you to the Wabi owners, the loyal fans, the people who want to make cycling the future. We can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

WIDER TIRES? NOT A PROBLEM

Due to a high demand (or, a lot of questions regarding tire clearance) we decided to slightly redesign the Wabi Classic so that it can fit 28mm width tires without a problem. You can even put some 30mm’s on there, but it might be a tight squeeze. Not to worry, we didn’t lose any of the riding quality with the redesign, the Classic still rides as beautifully as ever. Check out the new frames here.

INTRODUCING THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE WABI FAMILY…

….The Wabi Classic in Not Quite White. Unfortunately, we’ve retired the Wabi Classic Sapphire option, but we think the Not Quite White adds a clean, crisp, and elegantly understated option to the Wabi color family. As always, if you have any color suggestions for us we’d love to hear them. This may also be the time to mention we offer custom paint jobs on our bikes for an additional fee…check out our website to view the Not Quite White Wabi Classic, and the custom color option.

 

WABI CYCLES NOW SUPPLIES WOMEN’S SADDLES

We’ve been thinking about you ladies for a while now, and we’re pleased to announce that Wabi Cycles is now offering a well-designed, lightweight women’s saddle option for the bikes. There really isn’t much more to say in this post besides…check it out here.

 

WABI CYCLIST WINS A MEDAL

A couple of weeks ago, a Wabi customer wrote us a really exciting email – he participated in the 2010 Virginia State Track Championship 500 meter race at the age of 67, and beat everyone in his age group. Did we mention – he was riding a Wabi Classic. He did not go on to complete the rest of the race, which included a 2,000 meter race and a points race, but he received an honorary medal for his performance in the 500 meter. We wanted to congratulate him on his excellent performance, and maybe inspire some of you to hop on a bike (hopefully a Wabi) and compete in a race sometime in the next few months. Let us know how it goes!

ANOTHER PROUD ADDITION TO WABI PRESS

A blog called “Cycling for Beginners” recently reviewed the Wabi Classic, and we’re very proud of what they had to say. Although the blog is designed for beginning cyclists, the Wabi Classic got a great review as “a great training bike for road bike riders as well as just a great all-around bike- a bike that is designed for a great ride, not just to look good.” This was just one of the positive things that was written in the review, and we are very grateful for all of the great feedback. Check out the review here and visit www.wabicycles.com to check out the Wabi Classic for yourself!

TOP 10 AWARD FOR WABI LIGHTNING

The Wabi Lightning Fixed Gear has been given the Gear Junkie Top 10 New Products Award for 2009! Back in August we sent a Wabi Lightning bicycle to Stephen Regenold of Gear Junkie to do a road test, and not only did he produce a nice write up of the bike, but Gear Junkie has deemed the Lightning as worthy of one of their Top

10 new product picks for 2009! The Lightning was ”the most exciting bike I rode all year” according to Stephen. Needless to say, we’re honored and pleased to get the recognition for the Lightning. A lot of time and energy went into the design and development of the Wabi line, and it’s rewarding to see the work recognized in the form of this Top 10 pick.

Learn more about gearjunkie.com

See the entire list of the Top 10 products for 2009

See more info on the Wabi Lightning bicycle

PHOTOGRAPHER PAYS A VISIT TO WABI CYCLES

Last week Steve Phillips from NYC paid a visit to Wabi Cycles’ facility in LA, to present a new cycling product he’s having made. It’s asolid brass key chain/presta valve adaptor, and it’s really well designed. While he was there, he also took some photos (he’s a professional photographer as well) of Wabi Cycles which he sent to me, and I used to create a new web page showing the Wabi facility. Be sure to check out Steve’s site.

FIXED GEAR GALLERY TAKES ON THE SPECIAL

Fixed Gear Gallery has reviewed the Wabi Classic, the Wabi Lightning, and now they have done a preliminary review of the Wabi Special! Some larger than life photos were taken, and so far the review looks good. A more thorough, detailed post will follow shortly but we thought we’d give you a preview. Some of the pictures are shown here (pure eye candy) and all of the pictures, along with the review, are available here.

With brazed, lugged joints the Wabi Special imparts a different road feel than even the Classic. With the larger area to absorb the stresses (frame stresses are concentrated at the ends of the tubes) a well built lugged frame will have a different, more supple road feel than a similarly designed TIG welded steel frame. What constitutes a well built frame? Many things: quality tubing; quality lugs, preferrably precision investment cast; correct temperature during the brazing operation; proper mitering of the tubes so the fit between them is extremely precise, done with a mill, not a punch process; clean, well brazed joints with complete braze flow, ie, no gaps, and an aesthetically pleasing end result. I humbly suggest that the Special is a product of all of these attributes. As you can see from the Fixed Gear Gallery pics, the work is extremely clean and precise. If you care to see, here is a link to a page with some pics of the frame in the raw, before painting.

Enjoy!

WABI PRICING PHILOSOPHY

Price promotion is a tried and true marketing strategy that does drive sales, but in my opinion it also says something about your company and your products. Were the original retail prices overstated? Are the products not really what they say they are? Is price what actually sells the product?

At Wabi Cycles my goal is to have the products sell themselves, on their own merits, and to set a reasonable price that allows Wabi to stay in business and the customer to feel like they got more than what they expected for the amount they paid.

To be fair to the many brands of bikes out there that are sold in the bikes shops across the US, Wabi does have an advantage in that we buy from the factory and sell directly to the end user, so there’s at least one step taken out of the supply chain, and Wabi can consequently sell a comparable bike at a lower retail price. But it goes beyond that. The other advantage is that I can spec the bikes with better parts and frame materials, and still be very competitive.

Maybe the best example of this, and the one with many more comparable models to compete against, is the Wabi Classic. On the surface, it’s a TIG welded steel frame fixed gear, with a variety of Taiwanese components that sells for $675. But if you dig into the details a little bit, a few things jump out:
1) Most significantly, the use of Reynolds 725 tubing in the frame. To my knowledge, no one is using a similar quality steel in any bike costing under $1000. Some use the 631, which is good stuff, but compare the frame and bike weights. While typical cro-mo frame sets in the $650- 800 bike price range weigh 7- 8 lbs, the Classic is at 5.9. Complete bikes are
typically in the 21- 24 lb range, the Classic is 18.4lbs., w/o pedals.

2) forged drops front and rear, brazed investment cast crown and seat collar
3) all bearings are sealed, even the headset
4) the wheels are excellent: sealed hubs, butted stainless spokes and light rims- under 1750g for the set

The Lightning stands alone- 16.5 lbs w/o pedals, scandium enhanced 7005 aluminum frame, again all sealed components and lightweight wheels. For $825? Nothing out there is comparable. The Specialized Langster? Standard aluminum frame, decent parts, 20.5 lbs, and no comparison in ride quality or performance. The comment I hear most frequently from Lightning owners is their surprise at the luxe  ride. It’s been favorably compared to top level alu and carbon frames.

The Special features a lugged frame, which IMHO is the nicest production brazed frame available on ANY bike out there. It took me 2 years to find the factory that could produce at this quality level.  As mentioned on the site, the entire operation has been managed, and the builders trained, by a custom maker in Japan. At $925 for the complete bike, the price is significantly less than what many would charge for the frame set alone. The ride quality of the Special is amazing- super stable, supple. It’s a joy to ride.

All three Wabi bikes are well designed, well spec’ed and have great ride qualities. The cost savings are just an extra benefit.