Yeah, he's done. It was a side gig. I emailed him last month about getting a frame or even scoring one of his custom derailuers and he said he was out.
A - call FTW, or mickey. they'll make you whatever you want.
It's how the 6" market is even in the main stream. 95% of the $4000 5"+ bikes i've ever sold at shops only went to guys in 3 professions. Dentists, orthodontists, and lawyers.
Yeah, but it won't be very nice. There is a lot more tooling involved in building a proper bike than most people think. The average skilled weldor might agree to the project, but won't understand how straight a bike needs to be to ride well. Welding tubes together is easy. Getting them in the right place is the tricky part. Mitering is also much more labor intensive than it appears. The average fabircator has zero experience with thin gauge heat treated tubing and doesn't have the tools or the skills to miter a tube tight enough to build a straight frame.
it's also pretty easy to sell all kinds of **** to them. I know none of the groms I rode with could afford $3600 brooklyns fully equipped with avy gear, but they got sold. Hell, I saw a dude slow-poking around at highland with two little kids, one on a remedy, the next on a slash, and he himself on a session 9.9 or at least 9. Had to be $10-15g worth of bike there, and none of them had the look of an experienced rider (t-shirts and khaki shorts). Maybe they were all demos, but it didn't look it.
now if only we could figure out a way to funnel some of that money into racing...
by far a understated generalization on my part. I was more so trying to get the point across that there has got to be people out there where you could source different amounts of labour and tooling to people with lots of experieince with it and that are efficent at it, thus less time per person per part would amount to something ridable and well made for a non astronomical price.
I've seen this far too often in whistler. I remember one time specifically, It was when the Intense M3 just came out (a few years ago) Some 18 year old kid had one in the que line with full raceface diabolus, chris king on mavic, fox 40, a full dainese kit and a troy lee. I have to give it to him he looked boss, and probably had $8,000+ just on him in bike/kit. I expected him to just be a ripper after riding the chair up with him and chatting. Sure enough i blew by him on aline riding my beat to **** Rocky RMX with a bucket helmet on. Nothing against the kid, he was out riding and having fun which is what we all do, but its always been that the majority of money doesn't actually go to the guys that ride well, well because we have ****ty jobs due to riding so much.
It could happen if these people's kids stay involved. A few stoked parents with stacked wallets could lead to awesome things in the ameture circle
is there a reason you want fillet brazing, or are you just being silly?
https://www.facebook.com/bicyclefabrications
Experienced bike builders are excellent fabricators. They are extremely effecient and resourceful. Some of the most ingenius tooling I've ever seen has come from framebuilders. Do the math on what a bike costs. They all work for less than minimum wage. Good weldors can make $25-30/hr.
well, considering people are throwing down big dough for mass produced bikes...
BMW definitely has to make dh bikes.
they're doing more track bikes these days. but last i heard their phones were disconnected.
Inform me where i said they were not?
Again.... where did anyone argue this
hmmmmm...
what math? i can see price lists everywhere
I'm not trying to discredit frame builders but the way you describe it is as if they are the best metal fabricators on the planet and do magical work that no one else could complete. i think you have missed my origional point and we are no where near the same discussion anymore. I talked about contracting out various points of production to people in various trades to build a frame. In an efficient and unique way that someone without skills such as welding or machining could get something build custom, locally. It would be a project, with you as the master mind and other people doing the fab work, you would bring it together like a puzzle in the end.
that's the point i think it's gotten to, carbon is great, but holy ****ing **** i've rode steel and aluminum for years and never once thought about the "vibration" my front triange was making (according to sam hills new demo video) and thought wouldnt it be great if i could spend another thousand dollars and have this go away.
I'm always surprised how some bmw owners I know trough my ex work or parents try to outspend each other in their bmw frenzy. That couldn't be bad for biking
I don't want to discourage anyone from making cool stuff. I just don't see a big opportunity out there for a profitable custom DH bike business. It's a relatively small market, and only a small portion of that market actually pays retail. You're competing with the bro-deal, not retail pricing. It would be hard to break even let alone make a profit. If that's not true, where are all the boutique DH builders?
Not sure what you mean by that. They made good stuff but got out when they realized it wasn't a viable business?
want really bad
ya... that is stunning
just a fetish stemming from the local early days - i used to (and still do, for that matter) lust after the early fillet brazed brodies, rocky mountains & offroad toads. i'd gladly trade a few ounces of brass for the aesthetic.
vpted peep doggs
ya... that is stunning
yeah, that's messed up. Surely you want to just let it rot for another two years before updating us again, right?Damn, progress already, good stuff
I'd love to build a steel bike... something with jackshaft, gearbox and absurds amounts of travel!
