The folks there were as great as the bikes. I just showed up and rang their doorbell and a guy and a standard size poodle come to greet me at the door. I later learn that the guy is Ken Wheeler, the owner and founder and the poodle is Elwood the guard poodle. He immediately identified my southern accent, but he placed me from Georgia instead of NC. After he answered a few of my questions, he took me on a tour of the shop where the bikes are made. It is a really neat process. All wood is tested and indexed when received. Once you place an order for a bike, you get to pick the woods that are used for your bike. I am sure you have the same thoughts I did when I first heard of bikes made out of wood, but these bikes are incredible works of art. They are comparable to any graphite road bike. Elwood lead our tour through the factory taking us to different departments on command. For each bike, the wood is laminated and joined to the basic bike shape. The wood is then carved on a CNC machine then the two halves are joined. The remaining parts are assembled, each bike is then hand sanded and finished. Before it ships, it is tested for horizontal and vertical compliance. After the tour, I asked about a test ride. Ken told me he had a helmet, I told him not to worry, I brought all my stuff. Here again, they went above and beyond making sure I was set up properly on the bike. It was about 2:00 in the afternoon at this time, he told me he closed at 6 so be back by then.
I took off riding the R3 and had a great ride. Portland is a great place for cycling with many bike lanes and one way streets. The bike had an incredible ride. The ride was smooth as silk. It was amazing how much the wood absorbed the shock from the road. This was the most comfortable standard cycle that I have ever been on. While on the ride, I noticed that the tires were a little slack on air. I started looking for someone with a pump and found a couple of bicycle mounted police officers before long. I borrowed a pump from them and pumped up the tires. They had never heard of the bikes and took pictures of it before I went on my way. One of the officers have married someone from NC and he picked my accent out better than Ken. I ended up riding about 14 miles around Portland and finally took the bike back.
I was very surprised at the quality of the ride that the Renovo bikes had. This would be highly recommended for a comfortable standard bike for long rides or just everyday rides.
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