Huh... Thinking of specifics over the last few years, I mostly buy used boutique stuff. Used pushes things down into the sweet spot, but it has its pitfalls. A couple White ENO rings just toothed to hell, a Phil Kiss Off wheelset that needed a bearing and a rim replaced.
I tend to keep the same bikes for years and years, though, to the point that I now need to redo the Bontrager cockpit to raise the bars - somehow they got too low in the last couple years! King hubs are no longer Sweet Spot hubs, but the Bontrager/King hubs that came on the Privateer are the best I've ever used. Oh yeah - that was a Sweet Spot bike. Closeouts can push stuff into the Sweet Spot: Discontinued line from the year before, XTR and King spec, "the steel hardtail had no future." The equal or better of the Ibis and IF bikes I test rode, but half the price. The resale value isn't there, but I can't imagine a better mountain bike. My Quickbeam was a Sweet Spot bike. Rivendell's "most moderately priced offering," it was exactly what I wanted in a bike at the time (but with less tire clearance). The Quickbeam, like the Singular Gryphon, is fairly unique, so the Sweet Spot is that they exist at all. That said, I have a bunch of 105 level stuff in a box for my next geared road bike. And I've recently bought new and been totally happy with: Shimano cartridge BB; Salsa stem; Cane Creek headset (the mechanic 100% prefers King, but I've never had a bad headset). Vee Rubber tires. Mid-level 9 speed cassettes. Cheap 9 speed cassettes, for that matter. Philip www.biketinker.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
