lest we forget...

From our friends over at the surlyblog:
"...And that in turn made me think about the topic on everybody's fear-makers, the economy. People have asked me How's Surly going to weather this? Again: Like I know. But I will say this: we're not only at the crossroad of a darkening national and global economy, and as well national governmental leadership change, and natural and man-made disasters aplenty, but also we're at a point of greater than ever before environmental and social awareness and action on the part of nearly every person reading this.

We at Surly are sticking with our plan to design good stuff that's built to last and not cost you a ton of cash. People need a decent value on quality stuff that makes their lives easier. Our goods fit that bill pretty well I think. Aren't you worried people say. You make bikes. Bikes are luxury items. No they aren't. Cars are luxury items. And I don't mean trucks, not working vehicles, but cars. Not for everyone, but for a lot of people. Enough to matter. Enough that convenience is killing us. Single use plastics are luxury items. Try going a week without using any plastic that you can't use more than one time. Go on, I dare you. Our world is awash in plastic at all levels. Plastics cause physical and, we're understanding more now, chemical changes in an already stressed food chain. And it doesn't go away. All cheap disposable crap is a luxury item, and there's a lot of that around. But Surly doesn't do that, never has. And you people know it. So let's all take a deep breath and start in. I look to the future with optimism. Or at least optimism as much as a person like me has squirreled away.

Will the coming days be easy? Well, they won't all be great. It might be messy going or it might be fine. Just like always. But it'll be change, and lord knows we all need some of that. If a small, independent business like North Central Cyclery (or One On One, or Speedgoat, or Free Range, or a hundred others) can become a destination shop for a brand of bicycles that make so much sense they don't even look good to hipsters, I think things will be o.k. They did it through hard work and observation and being human beings. That's how we try to do it too."

There's a lot of high quality brain kibble in that stuff despite the fact that they didn't mention us but s'ok, we still bust our collective(ist) humps to bring you the sweet stuff. Speaking of durable, high quality goods we've got our hot little hands on a full size run of the Creamrollers a couple of Long Hauls in "Truckaccino", a trio of the new Crosschecks and a Karate Monkey complete hanging out over here on the West Bank. All they needs is some folks like yourselves.
More of a speed freak? Hows about some '09 Orbeas? We've got the Orca, the Onix TDF and TDA and we're giving a screaming deal on the '08 Orca with Campagnolo Chorus AND a Mavic Kysrium Elite wheelset.
You want Giants? We're closing out the '08 TCR A0s with Mavic Aksium Race wheels and a Sram Rival group on 'em but that's not the half of it. Not enough? We're closing out ALL of the Giant '07 and '08 bikes. All of them. Every last one. Swing by and take a look and while you're here scope out the '09 Defy 1 and 3 and Avail 1 and 3 roadies.
Are you particular, finicky even? More into the custom build scene than the stock setup? That's cool too, we do Orbea's "Made to Order" and QBP's "Dreamcycle" so if you can think it up, we can build it up.
I know all of that is a lot to digest so just keep this in mind, AT PURCHASE you get about 25 times your money on a bike as you do on a car. You don't pay for tabs on a bike, you don't need "bike insurance", you don't have to buy gas or oil or antifreeze, in short you dodge all of the hidden costs of a car. Even if you have no desire to work on your own ride maintenance on a bike for a year fits comfortably inside of what most folks pay for a month or two of car insurance. That's what I call recession proof.
-cheers