Best buy (factory spec'ed) bikes

[Twiggy1981]

It may ding easily, but compare it tio Carbon Fibre. ding vs shatter.

[TitusTi]

Sycip offer a frame reconditioning service, if your frame is dinged you send it back and then they sort the bugger out, proper! Can do a respray to.

[GoLefty!!]

You forgot: Steel is real

 

as opposd to a figment of someones imagination ??

 

steel is steel and it should be cheap, but it ain't..

 

 

No argue with carbon shattering. The trick is stay clear of the shards

[TitusTi]

Hey, carbon should be cheap to, as discussed earlier. With the Steel you're paying for the workmanship, have you seen some of the stuff that comes out of the handmade bike show?

[GoLefty!!]

ya ya ya,

 

Art more than working bikes.

 

Ya carbon should be cheaper but thanks to Dubya creating a nice big demand, and the man hours it takes to build one of the carbon machines they ain't cheap. It's a sad reality indeed.

 

Theres art in Ti and carbon too. Have you seen a Parlee? Me neither, at R40k a frame I think I need to grow a little bigger before I can afford one.

Parlee, Calfee, Sycip, Corima, Time, Look, Storck, all beautiful handmade carbon frames.

 

I still think Ti is the best frame material though..

[TitusTi]

Have to agree I'm afraid. Wish I had a nice custom made Ti frame, oh, hang on I do, hahahahaha!

[bikemonster]

Remember kids, if a bike is:

 

Expensive it's stiff and responsive.  But if it's a cheap bike it's harsh.

 

Expensive bikes offer a plush ride.  Cheap bikes flex.

 

Expensive bikes are responsive.  Cheap bikes are twitchy.

 

bikemonster2007-02-28 08:14:24

[TitusTi]

Good marketing! Mavic perfected it, call your material something special (Zicral, maxtal, whatever!), then you make it look a bit more flash. Then each year you bring out the same thing but 5 grams lighter and say it's actually 100 grams lighter, then you make an "improvement" to something but all you've really done is make it wear faster because you need to sell more parts.

[MintSauce]

You forgot: Steel is real

 

Agreed!

 

You wanna see art and passion? 

 

Here's a pic of a trike built by Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles  http://www.vanillabicycles.com/ and displayed at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

 

A labour of love for his daughter, it took THREE HUNDRED HOURS labour to complete!

 

[bikemonster]

Holy carp!

 

That's 8 weeks of full time employment to build a trike!  That's nuts, but not in a good way.  Labour of love?  Labour of lunacy more like.  I am assuming that he mined the metals, vulcanised the rubber from a tree, slaughtered the cow, tanned its hide, chewed the pigments for the paint and drew the spoke wire all by hand for him to take that long.

 

 

And after all of that...

 

"No sweetie, you can't ride it, it's too special!"

[MintSauce]

Holy carp!

 

That's 8 weeks of full time employment to build a trike! 

 

 

BEAUTIFUL! I'm pretty sure she rides it. His is a none-car household. Wife and him both only use bikes.

 

Different strokes

[GoLefty!!]

Good marketing! Mavic perfected it' date=' call your material something special (Zicral, maxtal, whatever!), then you make it look a bit more flash. Then each year you bring out the same thing but 5 grams lighter and say it's actually 100 grams lighter, then you make an "improvement" to something but all you've really done is make it wear faster because you need to sell more parts. [/quote']

 

 

amen

[OcTaLL]

Wilier, Cervelo or De Rosa! Italian is king, they last the longest

[Christie]

De Rosa is great.

I like Cervelo too. (Canadian bike company)

Don't like Wilier.

 

[OcTaLL]

I've been riding Wilier for nearly 3 years, the bike is still just as responsive and stiff as when I got it, alu/carbon with full carbon fork, I raced in EU over cobals and it was 100 better than the Giant I road, the Giant broke after 2weeks in EU.

[Christie]

I don't think there is anything bad about Willier bikes - they should be great bikes. I don't like the company because of the stuff they've done in the past.