Advice on where to buy a Legend

bmxboy10

So I think I am going to buy a Legend. There are a few shops within 30-40 miles of where I live and these are;
Hoops Velo
Velosport
Cadence Custom
Le Beauvelo

They can all offer the same service and price and it seems the fitting (which is part of the purchase price) is key. I am sure they are all good but I just wondered if out of these retailers does anyone have any experience of using them be it for a Legend or some other bike purchase or bike fitting.

kingstonian

Is that Velosport in Putney? If so I had a really good bike fitting by them. They do have another location in London too (can't remember where) and the guy that did my fitting alternates between the two locations.

mfin

If you need a bike fit, go to your chosen one, get it done on your existing bike, then ride it for a good while so you know that it feels right for you. Different places you go in you will come out of with a different fit. You need to get some good ride experience in that new position to verify and confirm for yourself if it is definitely right. Once you have gone through that process only then should you go back and get that fit transferred into a custom geometry order for the Legend.

cycleclinic

Bicycle science does them to. There is a forum member who got there from them and they are quite happy.

letap73

pm legend lust -he will probably give you the best advice.

ugo.santalucia

I'd love a Fedaia, but I have to be real... over the last 6 months I have gone down three times and cracked a fork by abusing it... can't really get anything that expensive! :?

bmxboy10

That's what I am looking at Ugo. Prices have actually come down this year.......The wheels you built will look sweet on the Fedaia!

ugo.santalucia

A neighbour here has one... beautiful frame, but not for my style of riding...

bmxboy10

Hey Ugo, what does your neighbour have to say about the bike? Its hard to find anyone who has any actual experience of the bike and buying from Legend.

ugo.santalucia

solboy10 wrote:

Hey Ugo, what does your neighbour have to say about the bike? Its hard to find anyone who has any actual experience of the bike and buying from Legend.

you can ask him... he's on this forum, nick is Bontie

I think he bought it second hand though...

giant_man

The best source is to contact Ali at Legend, who will go through everything with you and recommend retailers and arrange a fitting with you. May require a trip to Italy, may not.

bmxboy10

TBH my experience of contacting Legend direct has not been great so far as responses are slow and not very helpful. I think the default is to deal with a UK dealer which is fine hence trying to find the best one.

mercia_man

I have a Legend HT 10.5 bought through Bike Science Bristol who built it up with Record groupset and wheels from The Cycle Clinic.

It was a good customer experience all round - in contrast to my failed attempt to buy a Canyon Ultimate SLX earlier this year. The "in stock" Canyon was supposed to arrive within a few days of my order. I finally cancelled after many weeks of delays with no firm prospect of my bike arriving any time soon. Having since read horror stories from disgruntled owners of cracked SLX frames on this forum, I'm glad I cancelled and increased my budget to buy a Legend.

I spent an afternoon having a bike fit and general strength and flexibility check with Andy Sexton at Bike Science, a test ride on an HT9.5 and a chat about what I wanted to use the bike for. I took along my Orca road bike for sizing comparisons. I specified the groupset, colour and finish of frame, type and colour of decals and Legend painted Deda stem, bars and seatpost. Andy said he could get me a custom colour Aliante Versus X saddle with carbon rails to match. He designed the frame and sent me an email of it for my approval. As well as custom geometry, the HT 10.5 has custom tubes and carbon wrapping depending on your weight, proposed use and stiffness and handling preferences. You also specify internal or external cabling, mechanical or electric, BSA or press type bottom bracket, extended or standard seat tube.

Andy then sent my order to Marco Bertoletti in Italy. Marco welcomes visitors to his small factory and it is possible to collect your bike direct. Andy asked whether I would be interested in going out to Italy but I declined. I was told the usual delivery time from placing order to bike arriving in UK was about eight weeks. I collected my fully built up bike and had my final fitting on it 10 weeks after the order went in. So just a slightly longer wait but in plenty of time to take it away for a holiday in the Alps.

I'm very happy with my Legend and get a lot of favourable comments about both the bike and the beautiful Cycle Clinic wheels. I'm particularly impressed by the bike's silence when pedalling, the stiffness through the bottom bracket, the way it soaks up rough road surfaces and its high speed stability and handling.

Obviously, in value for money terms, something mass produced in an Asian factory like a Canyon at half the price takes the prize. I was able to afford the premium thanks to a totally unexpected inheritance. If you have the money to buy a Legend, I reckon you will be pleased with the result.

I know the OP is thinking of buying a steel Legend through one of the company's London area dealers so my experience is not that relevant. But I hope it gives an idea of the process you go through.

awiseman

There are a few stock/ex demo/second hand frames being advertised over on Owning a Legend just now.

http://owningalegend.wordpress.com

LegendLust

I visited Le Beau Velo a few years ago and Mal is a great guy who knows his stuff.

However a word of warning. I've heard that frame orders are running very slow lately. They used to be 6-8 weeks, they're taking a lot longer now.

LegendLust

awiseman wrote:

There are a few stock/ex demo/second hand frames being advertised over on Owning a Legend just now.

http://owningalegend.wordpress.com

The HT5.7 which is for sale is absolutely stunning in the flesh - the photos don't do the pearlescent finish justice.

mikenetic

LegendLust wrote:

I visited Le Beau Velo a few years ago and Mal is a great guy who knows his stuff.

However a word of warning. I've heard that frame orders are running very slow lately. They used to be 6-8 weeks, they're taking a lot longer now.

I've also been to Le Beau Velo, for a bike fitting with Mal and Jo in my case. It was excellent, really helped me sort out some issues I'd had. Well worth considering them.

bmxboy10

LegendLust wrote:

I visited Le Beau Velo a few years ago and Mal is a great guy who knows his stuff.

However a word of warning. I've heard that frame orders are running very slow lately. They used to be 6-8 weeks, they're taking a lot longer now.

Hi

Can you advise what the lead in time is? I have been quoted 8-10 weeks by the UK dealers and have asked Legend but again they have not responded to this query :?

LegendLust

solboy10 wrote:

LegendLust wrote:

I visited Le Beau Velo a few years ago and Mal is a great guy who knows his stuff.

However a word of warning. I've heard that frame orders are running very slow lately. They used to be 6-8 weeks, they're taking a lot longer now.

Hi

Can you advise what the lead in time is? I have been quoted 8-10 weeks by the UK dealers and have asked Legend but again they have not responded to this query :?

Someone I know has been waiting since the end of June, which is around 12-13 weeks so far. And still no sign of the frame. Not as long a wait for a Richard Sachs frame but still no where near 6-8 weeks! I know Marco and Legend have been concentrating on their new 2015 range, so perhaps lead times have slipped because of that.

cycleclinic

People wait 2 year for a steel frame from English so 12-13 weeks is short by comparison.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

People wait 2 year for a steel frame from English

Isn't it pathetic? I seem to have read on some frame building book that it takes about 20-30 hours to finish a frame... of course I am pretty sure my Genesis has been knocked out in Taiwan in a couple of hours tops. :roll:

LegendLust

ugo.santalucia wrote:

thecycleclinic wrote:

People wait 2 year for a steel frame from English

Isn't it pathetic? I seem to have read on some frame building book that it takes about 20-30 hours to finish a frame... of course I am pretty sure my Genesis has been knocked out in Taiwan in a couple of hours tops. :roll:

It is a ridiculous time to wait for a frame. I remember reading Irio Tommasini's reaction to these long waiting times – he boasted how many top quality frames he could make in a day!

ugo.santalucia

LegendLust wrote:

It is a ridiculous time to wait for a frame. I remember reading Irio Tommasini's reaction to these long waiting times – he boasted how many top quality frames he could make in a day!

His frames are mostly lugged, which are quicker to make, but yes, they seem to make a rather big deal of smoothing these brazed joints for hours and hours...

To give you an idea of my field... to build a wheel to the best you can, it takes about one hour, once you know what you are doing. But you can make it an 8 hours job if you want to: start by cutting and rolling all the spokes to length as you don't want to fit a 290 where a 289 would be better but not available... then you hand finish the rim holes with a countersink of some sort... could take a while to do 64 of them, then clean the debris. Then you could fit washers to the rim and to the spoke... then you could clean the spoke threads, to make sure they are perfectly smooth and why not, you could do the same with the nipples... you could make it into a labour of love and it will make fuxkall difference... sometimes you have to draw the line between quality and nonsense and probably Tommasini got it just about right

cycleclinic

I would wait 2 years for frame anything could happen in that time to make the purchase useless.

ugo.santalucia

thecycleclinic wrote:

I would wait 2 years for frame anything could happen in that time to make the purchase useless.

You mean you wouldn't? :?:

I wouldn't either... but people are weird... some book restaurants one year in advance, for the privilege of being treated like a turd by some alleged celebrity chef

mercia_man

It looks like the two-year wait for an English will get even longer. Poor Rob English was in a terrible crash a few weeks ago during a Gran Fondo type event in Oregon. He was in the lead group and his new carbon rims failed to stop him when approaching a bend in the wet at 40mph. He describes in his latest blog how he crashed into a tree and ended up in ICU with 12 broken ribs, broken collar bone, broken scapula, collapsed lung and broken elbow. He still has no movement in his arm after surgery. He sounds really depressed although lucky to be alive.

cycleclinic

Oh crap for him and his customers. Yes I meant I wouldn't wait ugo.

The world relies on people being weird if everyone was normal we would have nothing to laugh about!

VeloSolutions_UK

Giuseppe at VeloSolutions here, please note I have not worked from Le Beau Velo for over 5 years now. I have been contacted by many customers who have attended Le Beau Velo for a fitting since I left, customers who thought they were going to be fitted by myself to same standards as when VeloSolutions was working from Le Beau Velo.
When I controlled the fitting of these riders at my new studio [Artisan Cycles in Herts] I found they have all been incorrectly fitted.

It appears to me Le Beau Velo is trying to live off the back of my professional reputation and is offering anything but a professional bike fitting service.

VeloSolutions_UK

I see this post is also talking about Legend.

I was also personally responsible for hundreds of the custom frame designs made for Legend, I checked every custom design that was produced for UK customers, this until Marco Bertoletti decided to cut out the UK distributor and sell direct to the dealers, all of this after the said distributor had help save his business from certain closure. This is another story.

From my professional experience there is not one of these Legend dealers who knows how design a custom frame correctly, they often leave the frame builder to make the design, obviously most of the artisan frame builders know how to design a frame, but not all of them!

In the idea world a custom frame is designed knowing certain key facts from the client’s measurements / fit and how they wish to use the said bike. The characteristics of the frames design can greatly change how the overall bike rides.