Would you buy a Malvern Star for....

[notso]

Wooooah Horsey!

I say this, as Malvern Star haven't earnt my respect by making good bikes, nor have they got many other peoples respect for high end racing bikes. If they can start churning out good bikes, on a consistent basis, then i'll be quite happy to say i ride a Malvern Star, to be honest ... they don't have the best reputation at the moment, hence why i said what i said.

And do i give a shit what people think about my bike ..? To an extent, yes. When i buy a bike, looks do influence me to an extent, and if you say they don't influence you, you're lieing. Would a high end bike worth eight grand, with a frame sprayed hot pink put you off buying it? Would put me off.

Yes, it's also about image, as that's what half the world revolves around. You win 50 million dollars, you go out and buy a Ferrari, why? To be SEEN in it, it's all about the image, can you legally drive it any faster than the speed limit? Nope. IMAGE!

I don't MEAN to have a personal attack. It's just that it's bullshit.

YOU may buy a Ferrari to be seen in it, but not everyone. IF I bought a Ferrari it would be on merit... unlike 20 years ago they actually make pretty decent cars these days.

If you want to impress everyone with your kit/bike/shiny new dildo, good for you. I hate to tell you that one else cares what you're wearing, you're really not that important.
People will respect you and admire you as a rider for how you ride, not what brand kit you're wearing.... unless they fit into the 'Tosser' category we're talking about here. And I'd prefer to not have to put up with those people.

 

[elliotdhmcgeary]

I don't MEAN to have a personal attack. It's just that it's bullshit.

YOU may buy a Ferrari to be seen in it, but not everyone. IF I bought a Ferrari it would be on merit... unlike 20 years ago they actually make pretty decent cars these days.

If you want to impress everyone with your kit/bike/shiny new dildo, good for you. I hate to tell you that one else cares what you're wearing, you're really not that important.
People will respect you and admire you as a rider for how you ride, not what brand kit you're wearing.... unless they fit into the 'Tosser' category we're talking about here. And I'd prefer to not have to put up with those people.

Again, Wooooah Horsey!

You're seriously saying that you don't compare about image not one bit, i don't really care about my image all that much, but i do a bit. Would you buy a bike that's completely hot pink, and $50 cheaper than a 'normal' coloured one ..? Ever heard the saying "dress to impress", you've never done this?

Yes, i do believe that people will respect and admire you as a rider, and not what you're wearing, but to say image doesn't come into it for most / all people NOT ONE BIT, in my mind, is just bullshit.

 

[CP]

would you buy an $80k hyundai that went as fast as a porsche? Some people will, and I am sure it would serve them well. But most, myself included, would pass.

It's an interesting question - another would be would you buy a Nissan GTR that's cheaper and faster than a Porsche? I imagine the response would be similar to this thread, ie somewhat divided!

I'd also be interested in knowing this. If the Malvern Star was identical in every way to eg a Specialized model, and both brands admitted this (so came from the same mold, same materials, same components and the Malvern Star was $500 cheaper, would people buy the Malvern Star or pay the premium for the name?

 

[b_S]

pay the premium for the name?

Support and warranty too - there's more to a brand than just image.

 

[a.davis12]

no. (i have a litespeed with zipps and ive payed about $6.5k....i could have red on it, which is better than DA 7900)


and to everyone who says "ooh theyre made in the same factory" "yada yada yada"
they are not.
argon, cervelo, specialized and a few other brands are made in the same factory. malvern star are made in the disused bakery across the road.

and to the guy who said the(ceebs multiquoting) "the only difference is the weave direction.....etc", thats like saying "the only difference really is the fact that this bike has wheels and this one doesnt, so there basically the same"weave is everything, it determines how good or shit your bike rides, its not "just weave". this also goes to the guy talking about the carbon blanks, they are F****** shit and you wouldnt catch me on one for a million dollars.

3rd point in my rant, to everyone who says "a lot of road riders are tossers", a lot of people are tossers(look most places on this forum), so STFU.

4th and final point of my rant before i have an aneurysm. i can happily say i care about what bike i ride. yes im a brand snob. yes im an average rider. but whos business is it but mine to spend MY money on MY bike. I like nice stuff, i couldnt gives a rats if at my level its complete overkill. you only live once, so why not do it on a nice bike?


woooooooooooooooooooooooooosaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

[Daver]

i could have red on it, which is better than DA 7900)

While I agree with the rest of your argument, Red is no where near as good as DA 7900. I would rather ride 105 than Red!

 

[a.davis12]

While I agree with the rest of your argument, Red is no where near as good as DA 7900. I would rather ride 105 than Red!

bahahahahaha.
i would rather ride 7800 than both truth be told.

i want second gen 7900 to come out, then ill take it.

2010 sram force is very nice to for the pricepoint, but this is OT so ill stop.

 

[Grover]

There is certainly something to be said for brand name image and I guess the question is how much will you pay to avoid riding a lesser name. I'm not going to enter into that discussion.

What I need to address is those arguing over engineering, rider feedback, build quality. No employee of a company is going to bad mouth a product, whether you get a non-cyclist, cycling enthusiast or racer, they'll all say the product is good. Whether you can believe it more coming from a cyclist or not is up to you. The nice thing about Malvern Star being an Australian brand is you can skip ringing Pac Brands to get opinions on the bike. The engineer lives in Melbourne! A former international lever rower, national level cyclist and now a 'gun for hire' in the world of composites engineering. He worked on the design of the oar blade for the oarsome-foursome as well as stints with Boeing and the Defence Force. So the engineering is sound.

What are the popular aero frames on the market; Felt AR @ ~1200g, Cervelo S3 @ ~990g. The Oppy is @ ~1100g. Cables enter the front of the headtube and run as far as possible inside the frame. Felt and Cervelo enter behind the stem leaving a cable loop sticking above and exit both cables at the bb leaving the rear derailleur external to the rear housing stop. They've all got deep and thin down tubes = good, the Felt and Malvern Star have a rear wheel cutout = good, the Cervelo and the Malvern Star have sloping top tubes = bad, they've all got spindly seatstays = good. I don't have wind tunnel numbers on all of them but on general principles they've all got +ves and -ves.

Rider feedback, well Phil may have a few more kg's and birthday's under his belt than in his heyday but he still knows how a good bike rides. Yeah, they'd be paying him to say it's good now, but that's only because they've paid him to help them make it good during the development process through the last two years.

Build quality has pretty much been addressed. There's three, arguably four factories in Taiwan doing quality stuff. The engineers set the parameters and they tell you what it'll cost. Bigger production runs make it cheaper, more middle men make it more expensive. MS would have comparitively small production runs, but less middle men than the boutique international brands so the price ends up reasonable. I'd be more worried if it was only 5g knowing with the size of the production run they'd have had to skimp on build quality.

Would I ride one? No. It's a well designed and well built bike but the S3 and AR both have geometry that suit me better. As do the 2010 Apollo range which is another new and very exciting Australian engineered bike. I think the most exciting thing coming out of this is Australian companies making bikes that will compete with the dominant brands. It'll take a few years but I'm hoping eventually people will get past the headtube badge and accept them as a viable option. If I'm riding a Cervelo and someone beats me on an Apollo or Malvern Star I'll be more concerned if they're a good sport, happy to have a post race chat (and haven't thrown their gel wrappers all over the course) than what bike they're riding.

 

[Buriedpast]

"and to everyone who says "ooh theyre made in the same factory" "yada yada yada"
they are not.
argon, cervelo, specialized and a few other brands are made in the same factory. malvern star are made in the disused bakery across the road."

No comment...You have no clue. That is blatantly clear.

"and to the guy who said the"
Thats me. Try reading the comment before making yourself look like a complete idiot even more. You're very arrogant.

"I like nice stuff, i couldnt gives a rats if at my level its complete overkill. you only live once, so why not do it on a nice bike?"

Who's to say the malvern star isnt a nice or nicer bike? You? What would you know? You judge a bike based on nothing but brand. Arrogance shining through.

"this also goes to the guy talking about the carbon blanks, they are F****** shit and you wouldnt catch me on one for a million dollars."

Me again....I can guarantee you I can ride a 40k as fast on a carbon blank chinese ebay frame as I can on ay other bike I've ever ridden. I also reakon I can climb as well on one, as I can on a 6.5kg King 3 and my 11+kg alloy shitter.

 

[Roadiescum]

I thought Apollo was New Zealand.... Am i wrong??
I'm not saying that i would buy 1 but tell me what bike is spec'd as good as this and retails for that price AT THE MOMENT. NOT 'i bought blah blah 2 years ago for shitloads less'... A lot of prices have changed in the last 2 years....

Did you know that huffy is a MASSIVE and respected brand over in the states...

I think it's very very sad that a malvern star may be the best bikes in the world but because people have 'brand issues' they aren't looked at. Have a look at your selves and stop caring what other people think....
I know of a 09 oppy frame cracking and the guy had a new frame and bike built within a week... No cost.

 

[Buriedpast]

.,

Thats the 2nd oppy crame crack I've heard of (unless it is the same one...only heard about it on a forum).

Thats almost as much as the 3 replaced CAAD6's a bloke I ride with has gone through. Does that mean Malvernstar > Cannondale ?

 

[C Dunlop]

I too have read people on the internet saying that their ebay bike was actually a pinarello prince.

I don't think that anyone actually knows where they are made. I have heard people say that merida and specialized and cervelo are made in the same place, but I know that they heard it from someone who heard it from someone who read it on the internet. It really doesn't matter where it was made, at $8k it probably rides really well. The question should be: at $8k what bike would you buy. If you answer malvern star oppy, good for you, but you are in a very small minority. I really would not.

 

[a.davis12]

"I like nice stuff, i couldnt gives a rats if at my level its complete overkill. you only live once, so why not do it on a nice bike?"

Who's to say the malvern star isnt a nice or nicer bike? You? What would you know? You judge a bike based on nothing but brand. Arrogance shining through.

didnt i whole heartedly agree with you in my 4th point?
im not going to bother with the rest of your comments.

 

[b_S]

I know of a 09 oppy frame cracking and the guy had a new frame and bike built within a week... No cost.

You'd want that to be the norm, not an exception worth boasting about.

 

[a.davis12]

You'd want that to be the norm, not an exception worth boasting about.

me personally id want it not to crack

but yes, i agree. why should i pay for a replacement of a 2 month old bike?

 

[scblack]

For f**ks sake there is a lot of crap in this thread by people who have no farkin idea whatsoever. It is truly painful reading some of the dribble in this thread.

Would I buy an $8k Malvern Star - No.

Would I ever buy ANY road bike for $8k - No.

For me that amount would be a complete waste, I have better priorities to spend my money on. To a degree I guess it compares to buying a new Porsche versus a Holden W427 - they'll both cost you about $150k+. But to my mind what really will make a large difference, and C.Dunlop brought this up - if you have to sell either in the near future the Porsche would get you a decent amount back, you can guarantee the Holden will get substantially less.

The Malvern Star may ride little or no different to a Cervelo in a hack's hands like mine, but the ownership value of the "better" brand is much greater.

 

[Buriedpast]

For f**ks sake there is a lot of crap in this thread

Would I buy an $8k Malvern Star - No.

Would I ever buy ANY road bike for $8k - No.

Then why are you even posting in this thread?
You obviously are a 'hack' that couldnt tell the difference, nor are you a potential buyer? What interest do you have in the topic?

As for your anology...that's so far inaccurate it's not funny.

Porsche buyers are not HRT clients. They never will be. Ferrari owners are not potential prodrive sti customers. Gallardo customers are not potential Clubman purchasers. Regardless how much better the alternatives might be, some people have no interest in the 'lesser', for whatever personal reasons.

Theres a reason porsche isn't losing any measurable amount of sales of gt2/gt3/turbo to the GTR, and it's because porsche buyers aren't interested in a datsun.

And the same applies here. Cervelo R3SL owners are not interested in a malvern star. They will also never go anywhere near the potential of the R3 for example. Same as in their shiny GT2 they'll never lap PI 6 seconds off a supertaxi, they'll never hammer the thing in the local sprints (for the most part). A lot of GTR owners, do though (I have lost count of the amount of new gtr's i've seen hammering around the QR sprint track, very enviable). They buy the cheaper, comparable alternative to a porka/fezza/vette and never even think twice about being seen in a lowly malvern-datsun-star.

Here, we see (what I hope is) a well engineered, well made product, that will have all the after sales requirements I need (a replacement in a day or three in my hands if it cracks). It from all reports will not be flexing under my power, will be light enough for my needs, and for all intents and purposes a $3,000 cheaper option than the alternative.

Then again there are those of you who just can not see past the brand. And those of you who wouldnt support a product that doesnt support the community (I havn't seen Colnago or DeRosa or Pinnarello or Scott signs hung up the local crits any time recently). Which is a shame because theres a lot in life that's seriously cool you miss out on with that attitude.

 

[sss]

Malvernstar are owned by pacific brands?
Didn't pacific axe 100's of australians out of work recently?
Thats enough reason for me not to support them.

 

[notso]

Malvernstar are owned by pacific brands?
Didn't pacific axe 100's of australians out of work recently?
Thats enough reason for me not to support them.

Wow.... that's logic I can't argue with.

Forget that they still employ thousands of Australians.... Let's not purchase their products so they can put the rest of the staff in the queue at the local Centrelink. Great idea.

 

[Roadiescum]

Wow.... that's logic I can't argue with.

Forget that they still employ thousands of Australians.... Let's not purchase their products so they can put the rest of the staff in the queue at the local Centrelink. Great idea.

I love this debate... I don't know the actually figure but how would you feel if they didn't let 1000 people go and therefor the company folded and 15000 people were out of a job.
Would you pay $15 for an aussie pair of undies when there is a cheaper made asian pair sitting beside for $3....