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Volagi Endurance Bikes

Bicycle Trip, the friendliest bike shop in Santa Cruz, carries both of Volagi's high-peformance road bikes.

Volagi, an innovative company based in Cotati, CA, builds super-comfortable, extremely versatile road bikes that are essentially endurance bikes—a category VeloNews describes as "designed more for the average Joe than the hardened pro."

When they started their company, Robert Choi and Barley Forsman, who met when they were designers at Specialized, set out to make high-performance bicycles that worked for long rides and in poor road conditions. So far that has resulted in two models, the carbon-frame Liscio and the steel Viaje.

Both bikes feature the patented Longbow Flex frame. As the photo above shows, the seatstays attach to the top tube well forward of the seat post. The idea was that this radical "passive suspension" would reduce road vibration, and it worked.

"The Liscio is the most comfortable road frame we’ve ever ridden," VeloNews reported following a VeloLab endurance bike test. "It is also one of the most adventurous, begging to be taken off the asphalt.

"The bike softens washboards like no other frame we’ve ridden, and is an absolute dream on chip-sealed asphalt. For the first time ever, we’ve given a bike 10 out of 10 points for comfort.

"If we applied points for fun, it would have taken this test in a landslide."

Did you know that you can rent a Volagi Liscio at Bicycle Trip?

In another bold move, Volagi was the first manufacturer to equip its carbon road bikes with disc brakes. In addition to the performance benefits, this allows riders to swap out road wheels for knobbies in seconds.

Both the Liscio and the Viaje also feature built-in front and rear fender mounts, as well as rear rack mounts—further adding to the bikes' versatility and usability.

Call Bicycle Trip at 831-427-2580, or drop by to check out the Volagi Liscio or Viaje, or visit the Friendliest Bike Shop in Town at 1001 Soquel Ave., near Whole Foods.

And: check out Bicycle Trip's carefully selected, comprehensive lineup of brands .

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