Last week Kristy and I had the opportunity to visit Veltec, a distributor of some of the finest names in the cycling business. You could safely say that Veltec is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from WalMart. Veltec relocated from Monterey, California to Carson City in late 2006, and distributes cycling brands such as Colnago, Sidi, Descente, She Beest, and Vredestein.
Lots and Lots of Sidi Shoes
Up until last week, I imagined Veltec as a small place, distributing bicycles to area shops. Upon entering the big warehouse though, I realized and learned that they are quite large and distribute to all of North America! I believed it too, when I saw how many pairs of Sidi shoes they had.
Colnago Ferrari
James Winchester was kind enough to take us throughout the operation and show us the warehouse, the build area, and introduced us to many of the people in the offices. One of the highlights of the tour was the Colnago Ferrari. I forgot the figure that James gave me on the purchase price, but I found one online for $15,499!
Michael Rasmussen Colnago Extreme-C
Throughout the office area there were many displays of collectors items and memorabilia, like the Colnago Extreme-C (pictured above) signed by Michael Rasmussen.
Me and James (and his bike)
Thanks to James and the crew for the nice tour, and it was nice of Veltec to help us (and participate) with Carson City’s Bike to Work Week. Veltec is a great addition to Carson City!
A few more pictures of the tour can be found HERE.
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15K for a bike! wow. Did you touch it? I’ve never touched a bike that nice before.
Yes. Surprisingly I was able to pick it up and move it around for the picture. And to this day, I’m still haunted by the thought that I didn’t stand it up properly…that it might have fallen over after I left or something.
Stay away from that Rasmussen bike; it’s on the juice!
Very cool that an US distributor of international products relocated from CA to Carson.
That Ferrari bike is really fickle like their cars; tough to shift, requires constant tune-ups and doesn’t handle well in the snow! :^)
If I had a dollar for every time I had to tell someone “no, I don’t work at a bike shop,” I’d probably be able to pay off that Colnago!
Thanks for stopping by, we’re happy to be part of the community!
Re: the Rasmussen bike, I’ve been meaning to bust out the Windex for a while!
I was also thinking of moving from CA to the CC, but then I’d be too close to Jeff.
I don’t follow racing, but “juice” or no juice…these guys are still amazing. Hold your fire on the windex!
Too close to Jeff? Are you worried about the whole matter/antimatter thing? Like if we shook hands, the fabric of the universe would unravel?
I’m with Smudgemo; living too near Jeff may put forces into motion that cannot be undone. Best to keep your distance and simply worship him from afar!
Looks like we all dodge a bullet on that one.
P.S. Sorry about the juice comment. Trying to be funny. I should simply stick to social and political commentary. And it is a sweet (like juice?) looking frame!
Belay that apology, Brian! Please continue to be funny. This blog is pretty PC, but no need to over do it!