[saruti]

What do you think about frames that supposed to be great but..
They have no rider in the real race world to check them out?
They even have no riding time in the field to check if they are strong and hold on..

I was thinking about selling my 4 years old sunday for a new frame.
But then I figure out that the new frame I was thinking about has no proven race time,
Maybe it will break after a month?

What do you think?
There are lots of good frames out there, but they don’t have riders with experience to check them out,
How do you choose your new frames?

Hope you understand my poor English..

 

[Lelandjt]

What frames? Most companies have some sponsored pro racers. They may not be on the WC but they race national or regional series and are fast. I think you're putting too much emphasis on sponsorship though. In some situations the rider is purely advertising the frame and had nothing to do with designing it.

The Sunday's pretty nice. If you want to replace it think about why and what you want your next frame to do better.

 

[captainspauldin]

What frame are you looking at?

 

[Pslide]

I think there are a lot of riders on a lot of bikes that don't feature as often because they are out of the top 30 or so riders that are popular. For example, I saw two Legends this weekend at Windham that I'm pretty sure qualified, and I know of a couple more that are in or near the top 80. But obviously Banshee can't afford big names, which I'm sure is the same as a lot of small bike companies.

On the other hand I can think of some brands that sponsor very high level riders that have had less than stellar durability records and quality issues...

So I'm not sure judging bikes by what you see on the World Cup is the best idea, all things considered.

 

[daisycutter]

Speaking of companies not at the World Cup. I was surprized not to see Magura or Michelin at the Windham. Maybe they went straight to the Canada.

 

[Lelandjt]

I saw two Legends this weekend at Windham that I'm pretty sure qualified.

Probably Brian Buell. He's a top rider on the MSC circuit and a perfect example of what I meant by fast regional/national riders who are more than qualified to "test" or "prove" a frame.

 

[trib]

plenty of companies with good reputations don't have WC teams, or not highly ranked riders anyway. Corsair, Cove, Knolly, Last, Canfield and Foes are companies I would buy frames from that don't have great WC results for example.

 

[norbar]

You dont really need WC riders to test frames. A good abusive test team can test them even better than a more skilled lightly riding pro. If you want a frame that can take hits think if their pros are abusive (think Rennie, Kovarik ) and if not who else tests it. The legend proto testing was a good idea. Im pretty sure that among the 63 test frames were quite a few hacks. Im also pretty sure than even though Im rather lean and slow I stress the frame more(mostly by crashing A LOT) than some of the pros I know.
Talk to the companies and users, look around. WC circut is a marketing ground, not a prooving ground.

 

[Slater]

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday...