No!
custom steel downhill frames
- Thread starter tech.knockout
- Start date
my mistake, i must have mixed you with someone else.
doug
i agree.
thanks to todays society, people dont think they should ever have to pay for anything. well i spent $5000 on a bike, i should be some mystical person who never pays for anything on it, ever again. I dont buy it. manufacturers defects should be about it. and that should limited to like, 1 year from purchase. because anything beyond that is probably from abuse.
mind you... thats just my thoughts. I like a crash replacecment policy to an extent. its nice to know that if you crack a chainstay on your $5000 DH rig, (your fault) that they'll hook you up. thats helping brand loyalty... not like, oh this company sucks, I broke something... and now i have to pay for i t.. it comes with the sportt. no one talkes about warrantying cables if they snap!!
marzocchi doesnt warranty stanchions for DC forks. why? because its 99.9% user error when something goes wrong.
i dunno.. just a mini rant, that i'll stop now, from a shop guy who hears it 24/7 from the groms.
for example (then I am done)
"i dropped 6ft to flat on my 99 z3 and landed nose heavy, snapped the stanchions. can I get that warrantied?"
me- "hell no, you totally wrecked it, and yourself!"
grom- "well so, it wasnt my fault marz makes ****ty forks that break"
me - "uh, homeboy. you're riding a 4 or 5 yr old XC fork. and you totally blew a drop. you broke your teeth!! i dont see you blaming you mom for that one. you need a new fork, and marz is nice enough to offer an upgrade for only $150."
grom- "thats stupid, it should be warranty!!"
me- "you F up and its someone elses fault?"
grrom- UHHH
yeah. thats not verbatim.. but its close :devil:
i agree.
thanks to todays society, people dont think they should ever have to pay for anything. well i spent $5000 on a bike, i should be some mystical person who never pays for anything on it, ever again. I dont buy it. manufacturers defects should be about it. and that should limited to like, 1 year from purchase. because anything beyond that is probably from abuse.
mind you... thats just my thoughts. I like a crash replacecment policy to an extent. its nice to know that if you crack a chainstay on your $5000 DH rig, (your fault) that they'll hook you up. thats helping brand loyalty... not like, oh this company sucks, I broke something... and now i have to pay for i t.. it comes with the sportt. no one talkes about warrantying cables if they snap!!
marzocchi doesnt warranty stanchions for DC forks. why? because its 99.9% user error when something goes wrong.
i dunno.. just a mini rant, that i'll stop now, from a shop guy who hears it 24/7 from the groms.
for example (then I am done)
"i dropped 6ft to flat on my 99 z3 and landed nose heavy, snapped the stanchions. can I get that warrantied?"
me- "hell no, you totally wrecked it, and yourself!"
grom- "well so, it wasnt my fault marz makes ****ty forks that break"
me - "uh, homeboy. you're riding a 4 or 5 yr old XC fork. and you totally blew a drop. you broke your teeth!! i dont see you blaming you mom for that one. you need a new fork, and marz is nice enough to offer an upgrade for only $150."
grom- "thats stupid, it should be warranty!!"
me- "you F up and its someone elses fault?"
grrom- UHHH
yeah. thats not verbatim.. but its close :devil:
what kind of prices should I expect from a relatively simple steel downhill frame; no fancy suspension designs.
I think i must have given the wrong impression here, if that is the case i apologise...
I come from a 1990s (early) cycling background were the DH was what today is called super D. At that time i was used to bikes that should last a looong time. I stopped cycling for 8 yrs and i resumed the sport in 2002, and a lot of things have changed since then. I respect that.
All i am saying is... that if i pay a premium for a product, in comparison with another similar product, i expect some kind of different support from the manufacturer. To give you an example... i expect something more from Raceface if i buy a 300$ Northshore crankset, in comparison with a 100$ prodigy one.
Other than that... i agree, rider error and abuse, should not be warrantied whatsoever.
I come from a 1990s (early) cycling background were the DH was what today is called super D. At that time i was used to bikes that should last a looong time. I stopped cycling for 8 yrs and i resumed the sport in 2002, and a lot of things have changed since then. I respect that.
All i am saying is... that if i pay a premium for a product, in comparison with another similar product, i expect some kind of different support from the manufacturer. To give you an example... i expect something more from Raceface if i buy a 300$ Northshore crankset, in comparison with a 100$ prodigy one.
Other than that... i agree, rider error and abuse, should not be warrantied whatsoever.
You can't generalize on price based on material or design... but you do have to realize that steel DH bikes are, by and large, very custom-type "domestic exotics" if you'll permit me to coin a term. (Reminds me of the Social D line, "She's exotic, but not foreign, like an old Cadillac...) Pretty much all the frames discussed are made-to order and are not going to be cheap
So you're not going to find much of anything "cheap," however simple the frame design. Then again, the Hairy Gary wasn't too expensive, was it?
Subterrainean Cycles had a cool steel DH bike, too, but I'm sure it was a one-off. Thylacine Cycles might be able to fab something pretty wild for you, too. PM Thylacine or google his website.
But I also think it's silly to limit yourself to one frame material. Measuring the relative strengths or material qualities of chunks or bars or individual tubes of equivalent amounts of material has little to do with what a bike will feel like, and I'm sorry to say that no metal has any amount of "soul." The design of the bike has a lot more to do with feel and durability than the material once all is said and done. Devotion exclusively to steel is mostly aesthetic and psuedo-spiritual these days, IMHO.
MD
Thylacine Cycles seems to be more suited to road frames/tubing but ill email them.
they are also a local manufactuer(im from australia) so thats good.
they are also a local manufactuer(im from australia) so thats good.
Warwick's F/S trailbike is pretty wild... And he's open to designing pretty much anything if ya pay him. I'd see what he has to say.
MD
Edit: If you're in Australia, why not "go the Keewee Cromozone?" That's *relatively* local.
Now that I called thycaline, they are not just *not cheap*, but I would have to pay through the nose for one. 3500 - 4500 US for a frame only. They dont have any suspension frames in production and have to start from scratch for me.
Also their F/S trailbike is just a prototype.
Now I am seeing if someone offers some flexibility over their existing design. (geometry, tubing diameter and wall thickness)
Also their F/S trailbike is just a prototype.
Now I am seeing if someone offers some flexibility over their existing design. (geometry, tubing diameter and wall thickness)
Well, yeah, when you say "custom" you're not talking "cheap," generally...esp. with Thylacine. It was just an idea I tossed out when thinking of someone who just might do a custom steel DH bike. You're asking for a generally oddball custom item, so you're not going to find anything resembling a bargain from anyone. Maybe a "bargain" as oddball one-off items go, but not a bargain in the long run.
Really, I'd think KeeWee was the best option in your location. I know they did a custom steel freeride bike for a friend of mine in NZ who's 6'9". Why is custom important, anyhow? Are you tall, short, need a specific geometry, or just want something different?
MD
Really, I'd think KeeWee was the best option in your location. I know they did a custom steel freeride bike for a friend of mine in NZ who's 6'9". Why is custom important, anyhow? Are you tall, short, need a specific geometry, or just want something different?
MD
does anyone know of a frame builder in md