[dropmachine]

John P, I'm here for you baby!

Hopefully Karpiel can cure a bunch of the problems that plagued the design of the Disco and ARmageddon. Being able to run smaller then a 40 tooth chainring would be nice, as would curing the massive pedal tug issues. I would assume the problems that I had with mine (misaligned, bubbles in the welds) would be cured by now.

 

[luelling]

What problems? There are more e-rumors than anything, how many people have came forward on the 3 big sites RM, MTBR & Pinkbike or any site for that matter displaying pictures of their failed frames from poor manufacturing? I recall seeing only one frame, and yes one is way too many. However that was at the very end of the original company. Jan built some of the strongest & lightest DH frames available, and now they're back.

The "Classic" models are still popular and will be selling for less than it's original price tag.

It wasn't e-rumor, it was several friends that owned the frame. Being that Southern Oregon was relatively close to Reno, a lot of ppl in that area bought those frames

 

[Thrillkil]

Are you the guy who owns it now?? I saw someone posted a pic of it several months ago - it was a dark blue with a pretty nasty dent in the downtube - partially covered up by an old school Go-ride DT guard. Big respect if you still have that thing running!

--JP

yeah dude! I just threw a new 888 on it, and have since kept it running in pretty awesome shape since then. How the hell did you put that dent in it, anyways?

 

[Thrillkil]

The "Classic" models are still popular and will be selling for less than it's original price tag.

This has me interested; are they able to save a lot of production costs building them in Poland?

 

[Red Rabbit]

Why is everyone being a hater? There is a **** load of old karpiel frames flying around northstar. All the riders I have talked to that own a karpiel love them.

John P.

shut the Fck up.

 

[Jm_]

Being able to run smaller then a 40 tooth chainring would be nice, as would curing the massive pedal tug issues.

With as much chainline extention as the disco has, I would doubt it. It lengths somewhere over an inch. Good for snapping derailers and such...

 

[Brian HCM#1]

With as much chainline extention as the disco has, I would doubt it. It lengths somewhere over an inch. Good for snapping derailers and such...

That may have been a problem with the original Discos, however I haven't seen a problem with the 2002-present.

 

[TheMontashu]

Why is everyone being a hater? There is a **** load of old karpiel frames flying around northstar. All the riders I have talked to that own a karpiel love them.

John P.

shut the Fck up.

The old carps did have som issues you newb. But they are still sick frames.

BrianHCM, just cause it says karpiel doesn't make the thing perfect.

oh ande red rabbit lets ride tomaro, give me a call

 

[Brian HCM#1]

The old carps did have som issues you newb. But they are still sick frames.

BrianHCM, just cause it says karpiel doesn't make the thing perfect.

oh ande red rabbit lets ride tomaro, give me a call

He's still learning.

 

[xy9ine]

That may have been a problem with the original Discos, however I haven't seen a problem with the 2002-present.

the suspension config / pivot placements are very similar to the pdc 8two5 (and now the zumbi) - which works very well. no complaints. if it's anything like it, i'd say it's a winner. i've always been impressed with the weight of the karpiels for their long travel and apparent decent durability as well. i'm curious to see the new hardware.

 

[pancho64]

ive been seeing a few old karpiels around lately and they are still going strong. the one karpiel army ive been able to examine carefully up close had pretty good attention to detail and was way advanced for its time. ive heard nothing bad about karpiel from the people ive met that own them just online. i must admit i am very curious to see his "new" design.

 

[karpi]

why are there so much haters? I bought mine second hand and it's been around me almost three years now, still going strong

 

[binary visions]

John P.

shut the Fck up.

Don't be an ass. You think people aren't entitled to their first hand opinions?

Take your own advice.

 

[Kornphlake]

I wouldn't buy one personally unless it was used and sitting right in front of me ready to be sold. At least then I'd be reasonably certain it was heat treated, aligned, properly welded etc. and I'd be able to ride it tomorrow. If it's been around for a few years chances are it's a great bike.

The same might be said of any company, but as far as I know Iron Horse, Giant, Yeti, Santa Cruz, Intense, Turner, etc don't take money from customers and then wait months on end to deliver a product that wasn't properly fabricated, then take months on end to repair the defect. To Jan's defense, while there were many angry customers, only a few (if any at all) actually got ripped off.

 

[Ian Collins]

Why is everyone being a hater? There is a **** load of old karpiel frames flying around northstar. All the riders I have talked to that own a karpiel love them.

John P.

shut the Fck up.

dude....John P. had a karpiel about TEN years ago, got me interested in one(amongst others)......when john myself and others ordered frames we were told they were being "heat treated" .....or powdercoated, or waiting for bearings for over 16 weeks.......then when i wanted my deposit money back things got nasty.......

bottom line is you must be new to the whole downhill thing because...
A)Jan Karpiel F'd over numerous honest people and lied to hundreds
B)Jan Karpiel is a blundering idiot and now he's re-introducing a ten year old design
C)Jan Karpiel SAWED his own finger off....need i say more

chill out there homeboy.....john's speaking from experience, where you saying "there's a ****load of frames at northstar"(2 hours from his headquarters) is not really relevant to the topic......

 

[Steve M]

With as much chainline extention as the disco has, I would doubt it. It lengths somewhere over an inch. Good for snapping derailers and such...

Over an inch isn't very much... heaps of bikes have more than that. Over 2"... then you're getting pretty worried.

 

[vitox]

Over an inch isn't very much... heaps of bikes have more than that. Over 2"... then you're getting pretty worried.

yes thats a good point, also, the newer incarnations of disco volante have different lower links, the first two versions of that link were shorter and rotated a lot more (i would say in degrees, about twice what it does now) hence producing a lot of CS variation, i wont say a disco is the best pedalling bike out there, but i think its pretty good, definitely within the top tier of frames in that regard.

 

[DHS]

C)Jan Karpiel SAWED his own finger off....need i say more

.

actually nope. that was a lie aswell. you can find some recent pics of him on pinkdike and he has all his fingers.

i owned a disco about 8 years ago. awesome bike. then owned a army about 2 years ago. couldn't stand the chain pull, and sat too tall.

sure, i did get a hold oh the new linkage kits, and things felt smoother. but i'd rather have a large disco again.... no i'm quite happy with my 6year old brooklyn.

 

[karpi]

any news on the geometry of the limited edition and prices?

 

[BMXman]

Brian are you repping for Karpiel now???...D

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Brian are you repping for Karpiel now???...D

Yep, I'm the US rep.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

any news on the geometry of the limited edition and prices?

I'm waiting for all that info, hopefully I'll have some news within a month or so.

 

[BMXman]

Yep, I'm the US rep.

well that makes me feel a little better about Karpiel bikes...D

 

[trailhacker]

This was brought up in an earlier post and not addressed. I could probably research this and find it out myself but call me lazy...

But where exactly are these frames being manufactured? In the US or in eastern Europe?
If I understand correctly Jan has nothing to do with the manufacturing proccess?

 

[Brian HCM#1]

well that makes me feel a little better about Karpiel bikes...D

Customer service is a #1 priority!! It's an uphill battle right now but over time I think everything will work out great.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

This was brought up in an earlier post and not addressed. I could probably research this and find it out myself but call me lazy...

But where exactly are these frames being manufactured? In the US or in eastern Europe?
If I understand correctly Jan has nothing to do with the manufacturing proccess?

The frames are manufactured in Poland, Jan only works on design & testing.

 

[SBDHrida]

I'm glad this post hasn't gotten as rediculous as some of the previous ones. It just proves that the stigma of the name and past problems could actually fade with time. Who knows.

 

[John P.]

yeah dude! I just threw a new 888 on it, and have since kept it running in pretty awesome shape since then. How the hell did you put that dent in it, anyways?

That's awesome that you're still riding that thing. I remember when I sold it, it had been sitting disassembled in my shed for so long that none of my riding buddies could believe I got ~$400 for it. Looks like you're getting the last laugh though - props!

In regards to your question, I put that dent in the downtube on my first ever race on it at Wintergreen, VA. It was down a pretty ridiculous course in slop-tastic conditions, and I laid it over on a sharp rock. I've never before or since seen a frame tube dent like that.

To give you some idea of the vintage of that thing, when I bought it, I had it built with a Hanebrink fork, Risse Jupiter Shock, Kore B-52 Stem, 5-110 cranks, 24x3.0 wheels, etc. Hell, that was back when Ian Collins's mom was still driving him and Dusty to races (LOL, sorry Ian, couldn't resist ;-) and a couple years before Weagle and I even started Evil (and later, e13).


Check out that SICK head angle.

Man, time flies!

--JP

 

[DHS]

damn, my setup was so close to yours. cept i dropped all my money on avy fork and rear shock. always wanted that b52 stem...

 

[MttyTee]

Hell, that was back when Ian Collins's mom was still driving him and Dusty to races (LOL, sorry Ian, couldn't resist ;-) ...

Ahhhh, good times, good times!!

 

[Ian Collins]

Ian Collins's mom was still driving him and Dusty to races (LOL, sorry Ian, couldn't resist ;-)

--JP

haha.....time flies.....that just made me feel old....it doesn't seem like that long ago, but i was 15 and dusty was 13......goddamn.....almost 11 years ago.....what am i doing with my life!?!?!

 

[Cant Climb]

Man, time flies!

--JP

Seems like yesterday when all of us on MTBR were building up thoose Discos......still, my all time favorite bike, crazy.....

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Ahhh the good old days, I loved my 02 Disco

 

[bullcrew]

Ahhh the good old days, I loved my 02 Disco

Damn i think I ended up with that S8 fork, I got one a couple of years ago that had the woodman protectors and the lower white guards (1 had a small crack!)
Brian did you have playing cards under the pipe clamps?

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Damn i think I ended up with that S8 fork, I got one a couple of years ago that had the woodman protectors and the lower white guards (1 had a small crack!)
Brian did you have playing cards under the pipe clamps?

It may have been mine, I forgot who I sold it to. I sold it with extra springs & seals.

BTW, did you ever send out the chainstay protectors? I paypaled you the money a few weeks ago.

 

[MikeD]

gonna come in rootbeer?

Sorry, with a frame that old goes a joke that old...

 

[chriscarleton]

dude....John P. had a karpiel about TEN years ago, got me interested in one(amongst others)......when john myself and others ordered frames we were told they were being "heat treated" .....or powdercoated, or waiting for bearings for over 16 weeks.......then when i wanted my deposit money back things got nasty.......

bottom line is you must be new to the whole downhill thing because...
A)Jan Karpiel F'd over numerous honest people and lied to hundreds
B)Jan Karpiel is a blundering idiot and now he's re-introducing a ten year old design
C)Jan Karpiel SAWED his own finger off....need i say more

chill out there homeboy.....john's speaking from experience, where you saying "there's a ****load of frames at northstar"(2 hours from his headquarters) is not really relevant to the topic......

Jan is one ****ed up mother ****er. I got mine a bit before John P and Ian and some others got theirs, and mine was so different. I swear the thing was made from the scraps from the floor or something. That and the welds were also totally effed up.

I swear when I called him a few times he was in the bag (by about 10am).


The disco does have one thing going for it; it's the only bike measures its travel in cubic inches.

 

[Thrillkil]

That's awesome that you're still riding that thing. I remember when I sold it, it had been sitting disassembled in my shed for so long that none of my riding buddies could believe I got ~$400 for it. Looks like you're getting the last laugh though - props!

In regards to your question, I put that dent in the downtube on my first ever race on it at Wintergreen, VA. It was down a pretty ridiculous course in slop-tastic conditions, and I laid it over on a sharp rock. I've never before or since seen a frame tube dent like that.

To give you some idea of the vintage of that thing, when I bought it, I had it built with a Hanebrink fork, Risse Jupiter Shock, Kore B-52 Stem, 5-110 cranks, 24x3.0 wheels, etc. Hell, that was back when Ian Collins's mom was still driving him and Dusty to races (LOL, sorry Ian, couldn't resist ;-) and a couple years before Weagle and I even started Evil (and later, e13).


Check out that SICK head angle.

Man, time flies!

--JP

haha, I've got to get a pic of it as it works now, had a bracket machined to fit a new Saint caliper to the frame, got the rear links switched and had an avalanche installed, but those 44T square-taper Race Face North Shore cranks with the MRP system 1 is identical to what I run at the moment. I have a 888RC2X coming in a week for iit, to boot.

Here is the most recent picture of it that I could find:

 

[Pegboy]

Buying a Karpiel, at this point, kinda seems like hiring Michael Jackson as a baby sitter.

 

[Brian HCM#1]

Jan is one ****ed up mother ****er. I got mine a bit before John P and Ian and some others got theirs, and mine was so different. I swear the thing was made from the scraps from the floor or something. That and the welds were also totally effed up.

I swear when I called him a few times he was in the bag (by about 10am).


The disco does have one thing going for it; it's the only bike measures its travel in cubic inches.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience and didn't like your bike.