Why our bikes are such a good value

We get a lot of questions about our bike pricing. The answer is straightforward: PUBLIC bikes are fabricated from the lightest possible strong steel tubing and with great attention to details. They are built to last a lifetime. We also use high quality components and include special features like matching fenders and rims and elegant clean handlebars. Think about our bikes the way you might think about your best sauté pan or your finest wool sweater or your comfortable pair of ski boots. You get what you pay for. And you have to pay little more for something that will feel good and last a long time.

You can find cheaper bikes, but they will probably either be built of aluminum frames or without the same attention to details as ours. There are many less expensive bikes than ours in the market, and many are great deals and just fine pieces of transportation. But they won't be built to last like ours and the ride will not be as smooth. We welcome any comparison of our frames to any other bikes in the market. And If you can find a more durable, elegant, comfortable, safe steel framed bike at lower prices, you should buy it quickly and return ours to us.

Many people unfamiliar with bikes in the US assume that a good new bike should be less than $500. Where does this notion come from? The fact is that the average price for a steel framed 10-speed road bike in the US is about $1,500. Europeans ride a lot more than we do, and they don’t have the same assumptions about the cost of a bike. But Europeans typically buy fewer objects than we do and they expect them to last longer. (We think this is a good way to go). And our bikes are designed and built to European standards.

*Founder's Note:

"I still ride around on a steel frame bike (just like our PUBLIC D series) that I purchased in 1986 for $800. It has been up and down the West Coast, to Hawaii, Italy, France, Wales, and places I am too old to remember. Our good friends at American Cyclery in San Francisco have overhauled it once, two years ago. But the frame and forks are still original. The bike is still pretty, and it still turns heads. I do not have any other object that has given me as much pleasure and good value. You should expect the same from a PUBLIC bike."

- Rob Forbes, Founder