Bargain buys thread

Calvin27

Eats Squid
Not sure how much of that is propaganda. US$800 for an alu dually frame bare with no shock? There is no way that is even close to the cost of a moderate volume frame in the hundreds. You can basically order off the shelf for less than that in a number of places currently.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Not sure how much of that is propaganda. US$800 for an alu dually frame bare with no shock? There is no way that is even close to the cost of a moderate volume frame in the hundreds. You can basically order off the shelf for less than that in a number of places currently.
I don't know what the real figure for bulk buys are but big companies would have obviously bought more than a 100 frames. I've bought a few Chinese made frames direct and the quality is low compared to a mainstream bike sold in Australia, they take a lot of short cuts and it made a lot of sense that they need someone to QC the frames. If you know what to look for you'll see a lot of flaws, the frames I've bought even though they done the job, are not the same quality.
 
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Calvin27

Eats Squid
I don't know what the real figure for bulk buys are but big companies would have obviously bought more than a 100 frames. I've bought a few Chinese made frames direct and the quality is low compared to a mainstream bike sold in Australia, they take a lot of short cuts and it made a lot of sense that they need someone to QC the frames. If you know what to look for you'll see a lot of flaws, the frames I've bought even though they done the job, are not the same quality.
Yeah I did the same as well - brake mounts off and hub alignment questionable. I get why they'd have a qa guy on the ground there. But my angle was more on price. Even at small volumes $800us is quite a fair bit for a run of the mill open mould frame - they weren't doing anything custom apart from paint. My ballpark would be about half of that at retail based on the price of carbon chinese frames and others experiences with full custom titanium frames.
 

BT180

Max Pfaff
I reckon carbon fibre has a massive part to play in the costs of bikes. Most of the high end stuff is CF and it's still not cheap to manufacture. There's only a select few doing it and they supply a lot of the companies. Could also be a big reason why these high-end MTBs are more expensive than actual motorbikes. Don't see much carbon on those..
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
Yeah I did the same as well - brake mounts off and hub alignment questionable. I get why they'd have a qa guy on the ground there. But my angle was more on price. Even at small volumes $800us is quite a fair bit for a run of the mill open mould frame - they weren't doing anything custom apart from paint. My ballpark would be about half of that at retail based on the price of carbon chinese frames and others experiences with full custom titanium frames.
I bought a carbon dually back in 2013 for $500 direct from China but in terms of quality it was a POS. Inside the head tube the carbon lay up was a mess, bits of random carbon fiber flapping around loose, pivots had to be adjusted, some were too tight and some were too loose, the main pivot pins were on the small side so I had bent one within a few months of owning it, the internal cable routing fouled on the carbon so I had to drill out the cable end stops and run a full cable, spare parts were nearly impossible and had cost me a fortune to get them here in a decent time frame.

If I had bought a container load of them I would have gone bust with in the first month, not to mention that I would have to add public liability and other insurances on top of those of costs. The over all finish on the outside of the frame was exceptional, as good and if not better than most top end bikes. You're going to pay extra for quality no matter where it comes from.
 

Sethius

Crashed out somewhere
50 Pi3c
Not sure how much of that is propaganda. US$800 for an alu dually frame bare with no shock? There is no way that is even close to the cost of a moderate volume frame in the hundreds. You can basically order off the shelf for less than that in a number of places currently.
50 pieces minimum order was going to get me some well known manfucturers catalogue frame for 380usd w/shock raw 120day turn around a few years back..420usd with custom graphics and paintwork. Would avoid hodaka and kenstone or caribou.. Aprotek-alumate-astro or MK. MK had best communication.. Pacific's alignment is too hit and miss..
 

SlowManiac

Likes Bikes and Dirt
If you get the Pushy Boxing Day sales email there are some pretty good deals on suspension and frames - e.g. PP Shan frames for $200 (small only I think)
 

Calvin27

Eats Squid
If you get the Pushy Boxing Day sales email there are some pretty good deals on suspension and frames - e.g. PP Shan frames for $200 (small only I think)
Pushys used to have really crazy deals on frames/bikes once upon a time. I remember when they were clearing Charge stuff for peanuts.
 

Sethius

Crashed out somewhere
Any spank vibrocore bars on sale in their email? The highrise oozy trail 760mm vibrocore are hard to find. Only 15mm or 5mm around.
 

Hipstar

Likes Dirt
Pushys boxing day sale is up.

Production Privee Shan frames, small only, for $200. Heap of other awesome deals too.

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