Budget Ti Frame, would you...?

carl_p

Ony slightly tempted, but the price looks quite good and I do like the clean lines of Ti. To my untrained eye the frame looks well built, but I've read a couple of threads on here about Litespeed failures so you can't go by looks alone. These guys appear a start up company as well. Any thoughts, things to look out for?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/TITANIUM-FRAME-RO ... 7709407302

mcj78

Hi,

To be honest if I was looking at a ti frame for that price, I'd opt for either a Sabbath or Van Nicholas. Think Fat birds don't fly had some good deals on ti frames recently & both brands tend to get good reviews on here, have a search on the forum for them & you'll probably get some good reviews and advice - wish I was in your position!
J

carl_p

mcj78 wrote:

Hi,

To be honest if I was looking at a ti frame for that price, I'd opt for either a Sabbath or Van Nicholas. Think Fat birds don't fly had some good deals on ti frames recently & both brands tend to get good reviews on here, have a search on the forum for them & you'll probably get some good reviews and advice - wish I was in your position!
J

That's a very good point J. Suddenly that frame on Ebay doesn't sound that appealing, especially as Fat Birds are including "free" forks and headset with the frame! Also they're are fairly close to me.

Tbh I'm not really in that position - although I can do plenty of damage with a 0% credit card

mcj78

Haha, couldn't we all! i'm tempted to get one on cycle to work - not that I need one, but I like a bike build project... and it's good value... it'd be stupid not to...

bigpikle

I dont think thats a particular bargain, especially given its a no-name brand and you have no idea what its like.

kfinlay

I reckon those bikes look great! I also see it as no bad thing being a 'no-name' brand unless you what to spend extra for the brand name on they downtube. This is a small british company trying to make some nice quality products and yet all we have on here is critisims that they are not a bargain price and don't have any history :roll: They seem like a genuine company and from what I've read on their Ebay pages and website they also seem to be pretty transparent in what they are doing and why. Their frames aren't expensive (they are pretty much at the bottom end of the Ti frame market) and you can go ride them so if you know your stuff you can make your own mind up. Like the look of their other stuff such as the wheels and forks too - they all make a very very nice bike. Remember Van Nicholas, Sabbath et al had to begin somewhere before they had the reputation they have today. Good luck to SP!N, I hope they grow from strength to strength.

And no I have absolutely no affiliation to the company or anyone who works there what-so-ever

One thing I think they should maybe do as a marketing exercise is to have an open day and invite along local clubs and/or forum members - if they are as good as they claim it will mean lots of free publicity although they may not want to get too big too quickly and lose control of quality.

Monty Dog

Ever thought where these guys get their frames from because they don't make them themselves? There are two main titanium frame builders - Hi-Light or XACD, both in China.
I had XACD build me a custom frame 5 years ago for $500 - it's still going strong and would recommend them. OK it doesn't have a warranty, but you can buy two for the price that some folk are charging. You only have to read InfoPete's thread on his Merlin to understand that warranties are often not worth paying for.