[CU-Murph]

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a used Ellsworth Truth with '03 triangle and '02 rear shock assmebly. What should I expect as a fair price for the frame?

Also, I will need a build kit. Where do I find the sizes of things for like disc brakes, bb, FD, etc.? Any good places to find build kits?

Thanks!

-Robert

 

[jdcamb]

$1000 in good shape and then incrementally lower as the condition warrants..... Speedgoat has good pricing and ships most items for free. Good customer service too.....jdcamb

 

[reflux]

I'd be VERY scared to buy anything Ellsworth without a warranty, new or used. Consider Ellsworth to be the Jaguar of autos.

 

[Toshi]

Originally posted by reflux
I'd be VERY scared to buy anything Ellsworth without a warranty, new or used. Consider Ellsworth to be the Jaguar of autos.

er, does that make jaguar the ellsworth of bikes?

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by reflux
I'd be VERY scared to buy anything Ellsworth without a warranty, new or used. Consider Ellsworth to be the Jaguar of autos.

And you are basing this on? No used bike will have a warranty as far as I know. The new Jaguars are awesome by the way.....jdcamb

 

[reflux]

Originally posted by jdcamb
And you are basing this on? No used bike will have a warranty as far as I know. The new Jaguars are awesome by the way.....jdcamb

He he, excuse my writing, it was late and I speak no good words n stuff.

I'm basing this on things I've heard. BJLong told me a few good stories way back in the day about Ellsworth. I didn't see anything first hand, but it was enough to keep me away from them. Well, that and the huge price). Also, Mario in SLO recently broke his Joker.

The new Jags are better, but they're still no Toyota. My father had two new trannies in his 1 year old back in 2002. After 3 years, the company just sold it back to the dealership rather than pay the 5k to have the dealer look into the engine problem (it just wasn't running right). On the bright side, the customer service was pretty good from what I saw.

Face it, there are a lot of reputations out there, both good and bad, some true and some not. In the case of Ellsworth and my 1k (that's a big chunk of change to me, but maybe not others) I'd probably err on the side of caution.

 

[DßR]

haha, yeah Reflux is 100% correct - they're massively overpriced and they break all the time. An ellsworth is probably the last frame I would EVER buy used/warrantyless. A stunning number of people seem to have broken their Truths, and even with the warranty in full effect have had to shell out several hundred bucks to get "extras" to fit their new warranty part - like a new rear end and shock to fit the warranty front triangle b/c the old ones are now incompatible.

Anyway, suffice it to say that stories abound about Ellsworths and their propensity towards breaking. Buying a used one is probably not such a hot idea. You know why it's an '03 front end and an '02 rear, right? B/c the orig. owner broke it, and got sick of Ellsworth f*cking around so he's selling it to get that monkey off his back....

 

[Dirty]

what year did ellsworht start having QC issues? i hadnt heard about truths breaking till like late 01/02

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by DßR
haha, yeah Reflux is 100% correct - they're massively overpriced and they break all the time. An ellsworth is probably the last frame I would EVER buy used/warrantyless. A stunning number of people seem to have broken their Truths, and even with the warranty in full effect have had to shell out several hundred bucks to get "extras" to fit their new warranty part - like a new rear end and shock to fit the warranty front triangle b/c the old ones are now incompatible.

Anyway, suffice it to say that stories abound about Ellsworths and their propensity towards breaking. Buying a used one is probably not such a hot idea. You know why it's an '03 front end and an '02 rear, right? B/c the orig. owner broke it, and got sick of Ellsworth f*cking around so he's selling it to get that monkey off his back....

I am not going to get into this with you but.... Your assuming a lot here. I am assuming you spend a lot of time on MTBR and believe everything you read there.... Ellsworths are made by Kinesis in Portland OR, along with Santa Cruz's, Mountain Cycles, some Ventana models, some Turner frames, and a lot of other pricey boutique brands. They have all had frames break. Are you going to make a broad genralization about those bikes too. What kind of bike do you ride, hasn't one of those ever broken? Bikes break. Folks hate Tony. His customer service department has it's shortcomings as have some other brands too. What I am saying is know what you speak of before you speak.....jdcamb

 

[DßR]

Originally posted by jdcamb
I am not going to get into this with you but.... Your assuming a lot here. I am assuming you spend a lot of time on MTBR and believe everything you read there.... Ellsworths are made by Kinesis in Portland OR, along with Santa Cruz's, Mountain Cycles, some Ventana models, some Turner frames, and a lot of other pricey boutique brands. They have all had frames break. Are you going to make a broad genralization about those bikes too. What kind of bike do you ride, hasn't one of those ever broken? Bikes break. Folks hate Tony. His customer service department has it's shortcomings as have some other brands too. What I am saying is know what you speak of before you speak.....jdcamb

Okaay, it makes no difference who welds the thing - if the designer puts stress risers and too-thin tubes in it, FTW could weld the thing and it would still break. Yeah I've had plenty of broken bikes before - and the way I measure up a company is if I have to bend over backwards to get it fixed, or if they bend over backwards to fix it. If they charge me to fix a lifetime-warranty bike, bad. If they don't charge me to fix an out-of-warranty bike, good. Until I have personal experience with Ellsworth warranty (not likely), I'll have to form my own opinions, drawing from sources such as your own experience (how many have you broken?) and those posted on MTBR and other places.

 

[jdcamb]

Originally posted by DßR
Okaay, it makes no difference who welds the thing - if the designer puts stress risers and too-thin tubes in it, FTW could weld the thing and it would still break. Yeah I've had plenty of broken bikes before - and the way I measure up a company is if I have to bend over backwards to get it fixed, or if they bend over backwards to fix it. If they charge me to fix a lifetime-warranty bike, bad. If they don't charge me to fix an out-of-warranty bike, good. Until I have personal experience with Ellsworth warranty (not likely), I'll have to form my own opinions, drawing from sources such as your own experience (how many have you broken?) and those posted on MTBR and other places.

Just one and they took care of me. Bigtime! ....jdcamb

 

[Ian F]

I have two friends who have purchased 3 used Truths between them.

First one had issues, but Ellsworth fixed it for free or minimal cost (this was a few years ago). Regardless, it was a used frame and they took care of it without anything out of the ordinary. My friend later sold it to buy her Seven Duo.

Second frame was purchased by another friend. He rides it often and hard. So far so good. He's had it for a few years now.

Third was purchased by the first friend for her husband. He doesn't ride it very hard, but it has been fine nonetheless.