Who makes quality bikes?

[briztoon]

OK take all the political, "I don't like such 'n' such brand cause they screwed xyz over" or "whichever brand are souless..." out of the equation, so purely an objective opinion.

Who makes, or which models, are genuinely a good bike. Can be carbon, steel or alloy, price doesn't matter.

Oh and if you disagree with some one else's opinion, try and keep the debate civil.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Time
Cyfac
Parlee
Moots
<various other NAHBS brands>
Look
Colnago C59, Master

 

[briztoon]

Time
Cyfac
Parlee
Moots
<various other NAHBS brands>
Look
Colnago C59, Master

What's special about the Colnago Master frame when compared to other steel frame bikes? Whether they be a known brand name or made by a respected private frame builder.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

What's special about the Colnago Master frame when compared to other steel frame bikes? Whether they be a known brand name or made by a respected private frame builder.

You asked who makes quality bikes. I listed "various other NAHBS brands" as well as the Master. You do know what those are, right?

Off-hand, I'd say Colnago's Master has built up a great reputation over the years. Other than that, it depends on the what the rider wants.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Russ Denny!
Ibis Cycles. I've had good warranty support from Ibis in the distant past when their product broke.
Castellano is still providing support for the Ibis products which is very rare in the industry. It remains a mystery to me why the castellano design is so unpopular. http://www.castellanodesigns.com/

As far as the brands that are reselling OEM, it comes down to the warranty and their follow-through on warranty support. The problem with this kind of thing is you tend to read far more complaints than people posting "XYZ were great providing warranty support for my bike model ABC." The complaints may be legitimate, but it's still pretty disproportionate to good cases.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Russ Denny!
Ibis Cycles. I've had good warranty support from Ibis in the distant past when their product broke.
Castellano is still providing support for the Ibis products which is very rare in the industry. It remains a mystery to me why the castellano design is so unpopular. http://www.castellanodesigns.com/

Much respect to Ibis. I had the Silk Ti. Absolutely amazing bike. I was stupid to sell it.

 

[BroDeal]

Oh and if you disagree with some one else's opinion, try and keep the debate civil.

I guess Boeing won't be posting then.

Giant
Merida
Flybike
Topkey
Trigon
X-space
et cetera

Carbon bike are a commodity these days. Any bike "maker" can buy a good frame from one of the real manufacturers.

 

[ElChingon]

Well what constitutes quality?

No returns due to defective/badly-produced/badly-assembled/lack-of-QA/recalls?

I doubt any company/manufacture/brand is without fault, I know I've heard stories of most of those brands posted here already, yes again not a mass scientific study with a cross collation factor within -1 and +1. But I know from enough long rides with people whining about all those brands for a reason or another... even heard good stories about brands most stay away from (chinarello fame).

Quality? So many factors to introduce into that one and then we have the human factor to well factor in. There's some who hated a bike just based on color...

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Carbon - COLNAGO, CYFAC, TIME

Titanium - MOOTS, FIREFLY, BAUM

Steel - COLNAGO, PEGORETTI, TOMMASINI

Stainless Steel - PEGORETTI, FIREFLY, TOMMASINI

 

[Llewellyn]

Llewellyn

Want one of the Custodian models next

 

[briztoon]

Llewellyn

Want one of the Custodian models next

Yeah, I've only ever read good things about Llewellyn bikes here in Oz and they look awesome, but strueth they are expensive. A Colnago Master is half the price.

I do like the Colnago CX-1, but Colnago's 3 year frame warranty is a little concerning.

Otherwise, I wanted to see if any one would mention any of the Specialized (S-Works) carbon bikes. I know there is a negative feeling towards the company on this forum, but wanted to see if any one rated the frames while disliking the company.

 

[elapid]

I'd add Lynskey to the list of titanium bikes.

 

[bladerunner]

Chris King's Cielo bikes; the Pinarello Dogma FPX and the De Rosa Primato :

 

[Llewellyn]

Yeah, I've only ever read good things about Llewellyn bikes here in Oz and they look awesome, but strueth they are expensive. A Colnago Master is half the price.

True, not cheap but...a bit over $4k for the frame, plus say 2 - 3 grand for a groupset, and allow say another grand for various bits and pieces. Call it $8k all up and it can still be cheaper than some of the more expensive models sitting on a shop floor, or what you'll see in any copy of Ride Cycling Review.

And to my eyes at least, it'll be 100 times lovelier to look at. And the ride..................

It's the best money I've ever spent on cycling gear. My only gripe is that mine takes an obscure size 30.6mm seatpost which leaves me very few options, but it's a minor thing

 

[richwagmn]

Chris King's Cielo bikes; the Pinarello Dogma FPX and the De Rosa Primato :

Two very nice looking bikes. That DeRosa is gorgeous.

 

[avanti]

For a steel road bike frame at reasonable cost I like Mercian. I intend to visit them on one of my trips to the UK.

 

[drb716]

Any thoughts on Cinelli quality - steel or carbon?

 

[Bustedknuckle]

OK take all the political, "I don't like such 'n' such brand cause they screwed xyz over" or "whichever brand are souless..." out of the equation, so purely an objective opinion.

Who makes, or which models, are genuinely a good bike. Can be carbon, steel or alloy, price doesn't matter.

Oh and if you disagree with some one else's opinion, try and keep the debate civil.

No such thing as a bad bike, only bad bike shops.

Even the low, LOW end Kmart types can work OK if assembled correctly.

Like this one.

http://www.target.com/s/p/Schwinn+700cc+Men+s+Road+Bike+White+L/+/A+13716631#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton

Take it apart, assemble it correctly, it will work just fine.

 

[kuoirad]

I'm pretty darn happy with my Pake C'mute - but I had a good shop put everything together for me. My needs and such are probably also a lot different than most of you guys.

 

[Oldman]

Ti-Seven really nice workmanship
Steel-Serotta never owned one but enjoyed borrowing it (ti fork)
Carbon tried all of these: Cervello, Specialized, Colnago, Pinarello, Ridley, Scott but finally settled on a Felt F1 (smaller size). Amazingly comfortable and road stable for a stiff bike. Hope not to crash it as all of them break easily.

 

[MarkvW]

OK take all the political, "I don't like such 'n' such brand cause they screwed xyz over" or "whichever brand are souless..." out of the equation, so purely an objective opinion.

Who makes, or which models, are genuinely a good bike. Can be carbon, steel or alloy, price doesn't matter.

Oh and if you disagree with some one else's opinion, try and keep the debate civil.

I dream of a Co-Motion Americano with a Gates drive and S&S Couplings.

 

[Master50]

What's special about the Colnago Master frame when compared to other steel frame bikes? Whether they be a known brand name or made by a respected private frame builder.

Colnago is one of the oldest bike brands and he built mostly steel bikes until the 90s. His reputation as a high quality builder is very good so you can say that eventually all steel bikes are compared to Colnagos because his bikes are a well proven benchmark. If you build a steel bike and it rides and handles like a master, you have built a great bike.

 

[Barracuda]

I have a Fuji 2012 SST 2.0.

At this stage appears to be good quality at a great price with good gear (Ultegra).

Have riden and or tested most of the shop brands i.e. Trek/Giant/Specialized and this beast suited me to a tee. So therefore good in my eyes.

 

[Stingray34]

The De Rosa Primato is an amazing-looking bike, a real blend of innovation and retro. What is it, stainless, Ti? What about the forks?

I had forks just like that on a Cinelli made of Colombus SL. On rough roads the bends would actually bend like suspension. Still the finest bike I've ever had and will eventually return to steel.

Till then, the carbon Cannondale is fine. I can't fault it. Comfortable, responsive and stiff enough. Looks alright too.

 

[Stingray34]

What about the Surly cross'check peeps? Any expeience?