I got some time with the busy bee of Swobo, Sky Yaeger. I have owned two Bianchi Volpe's that had the 'Chick Designed' decal on the seat tube, her signature. One I built up as the ultimate touring bike, the other I turned into a sweet cross racing rig. I sold the cross bike and still regret it.
Sky is still working her magic, most recently with the Swobo Crosby. At just over a grand, this bike is all things to all people. Fixed or free, rim or disc, road or off. The rear dropouts are modular, easily allowing you to switch between horizontal single speed dropouts and a dropout with a vertical derailler hanger (which Sky wore around her neck at Sea Otter):
It also has rim brake mounts and disc brake mounts, depending on your fancy. Kind of reminds me of Sheldon' Brown's everything bike. Here's a closeup of the modular dropout and SRAM Torpedo Hub on the Crosby. As you may know, I question the use of fixed gear hubs in urban riding scenarios, but for those of you that dig it, you can switch this hub between fixed and free by sticking a screwdriver in that little hole and turning an unseen screw.
Another Swobo bike that debuted at Sea Otter was the Baxter. Internally geared, super smooth shifting Alfine hub, tail light blinky on the seatpost, a pretty much perfect urban bicycle.
2 comments:
Swobo wasn't in the exhibit guide, so I never found them. :-(
Yeah, they had a smallish presence and I would have walked on by if not for the new bikes parked out in front of their booth. They also had a bunch of carbon fiber dog bowls that catch the eye and confuse tech geeks.
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