I could afford a Budnitz, but why would i want to buy one? Why would i shell out that kind of cheddar cheese for an imported Black Sheep knockoff (
http://www.thehubsa.co.za/forum/topic/128258-blacksheep-bikes-vs-budnitz/ ) with enough build-quality issues to make it a totally creaky mess to ride? (
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2012/10/simplicity-money-fixes-everything.html ) And, to be fair, the Snob's test bike was a Lynskey-built Budnitz, made in Chattanooga, TN by the first family of Ti bicycles. I guess it's possible that quality has improved since production moved overseas?
Budnitz bikes represent everything that can possibly be "wrong" with high-end bikes. The customer pays custom-prices for a production frame, hung with poorly-selected components. The bikes are essentially high-price cruisers; typically, bikes at this price-point excel in some way. They'll be high performance road bikes, incredibly capable mtbs, or utility bikes with remarkable cargo capacity. All the Budnitz offers the consumer is conspicuous consumption, and it comes with the assumption that the Budnitz owner doesn't know much about bikes. If he did, he'd have spent all that money almost anywhere else, on something more awesome. Even if you are the type of person who wants a top-dollar cruiser, you'll hit up Curt Inglis, who will build you a fully custom Retrotec to meet your exact requirements. I can't imagine that anyone would knowingly spend that kind of money on a production bike built by the lowest bidder for a toy designer, when they could get a rad custom, hand-made by a guy who loves bikes and has been building frames professionally for over 20 years....can you? A fool and his money....
I hate to be so negative, but the Budnitz "Company" is one of those things that just puts a bug up my butt every time i'm reminded of its existence.
Nice lines though! -Adam
