Betting high with Civia Cycles

Quality Bicycle Supplies (who also owns Salsa, Surly and Dimension/Problem Solvers) showed off their new brand today. Civia Cycles are incredibly high end commuter bikes spec’d and priced higher than anything else I’ve seen on the market.

They are launching with four builds available of the Hyland… Rohloff, Alfine, Derailer and Singlespeed.

Each Hyland comes with proprietary aluminum fenders painted to match frame, proprietary carbon fork, front and rear post-mount disc brake tabs, chainguard, proprietary rear rack and proprietary sliding dropouts.

The specs that are common on each build are:

Frame Civia Hyland
Fork Civia Carbon
Headset Cane Creek S-8
Crank Shimano Alfine
Chain Shimano
Brakeset Shimano Alfine Hydraulic Disc
Seatpost Thomson Elite
Saddle Selle Italia C2
Stem Thomson X2 (31.8)
Handlebar Salsa Pro Moto 17 degree bend (31.8)
Grips ODI Rogue Lock-on
Tires Panaracer T-serv 700×28, with reflective sidewall
Fenders Civia Aluminum Fenders
Rear Rack Civia Aluminum Rack
Chainguard Civia Aluminum Chainguard
Headlight Shimano LP R600 Generator Powered

And here are the parts that are different for each build and the tentative pricing:

Rholoff Build: $3100
Shifter Rohloff twist-shift
Wheel (Rear) Rohloff Speedhub, 14 speed, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim
Wheel (Front) Schmidt SON Dynamo, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim
Sliding Dropouts Rohloff specific

Alfine Build: $2200
Shifter Shimano Alfine Rapid-Fire
Wheel (Rear) Shimano Alfine Internal 8-speed, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim
Wheel (Front) Shimano Alfine Dynamo, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim
Sliding Dropouts Alfine/Singlespeed specific

Derailer Build: $2200
Shifter Shimano XT Rapid-Fire
Wheel (Rear) Shimano XT Hub, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim
Sliding Dropouts Derailleur specific

Singlespeed Build: $1900
Shifters n/a
Wheel (Rear) Surly New Hub, DT Swiss x470 disc specific rim

There is no doubt whatsoever that these bikes are worth the price being asked, however I think it’s a huge gamble to market a $3100 bike in the United States market.

It will be incredibly interesting to see how/if they sell.

Do you think there’s a market for this kind of bike in the US?