titanium frames

[noctilux]

Any comments on the xacd mtb frames? Are they good or just cheapo ti chi ?

[Ricko]

Originally Posted by noctilux

Any comments on the xacd mtb frames? Are they good or just cheapo ti chi ?

I've never heard of this xacd frame that you're talking about but I have a TST (Titanium Sports Technologies) road fame and it can be considered a cheapo Ti frame (new for about $650). I have no complaints and actually love this bike.

I have a friend who's into high end road bikes and asked him what difference I'd notice if I upgraded to a $2500 Litespeed or Merlin frame...he said I'd notice less money in my wallet more then anything .

[noctilux]

Originally Posted by Ricko

I've never heard of this xacd frame that you're talking about but I have a TST (Titanium Sports Technologies) road fame and it can be considered a cheapo Ti frame (new for about $650). I have no complaints and actually love this bike.

I have a friend who's into high end road bikes and asked him what difference I'd notice if I upgraded to a $2500 Litespeed or Merlin frame...he said I'd notice less money in my wallet more then anything .

Check this out ! www.xacd.com.cn they can send cad drawings to your specs, but I am just worried with the welds of the ti frame as well as the source of the ti tubes. Are the ti tubes chi or ours? If its ours, what about the welds and quality control? I heard that Giant,Trek and Colnago outsource their frame manufacturing to Taiwan but they supply the tubes.

[neveride]

I'm fairly certain that NOTHING about the frames are US made, from tubes to welding. A rep for them was at a swap meet/sale I was at last year...the frames actually were pretty nice in person.

In the end, though, you often do get what you pay for.

[timms]

sounds cool, but what does a Ti MTB frame cost?

[noctilux]

U$ 465 CUSTOM MADE. wait first till I get mine and subject it to beating and quality control.

[noctilux]

hope it will hold on and not crack to my beatin and ridin.

[timms]

that's an amazing price. Ask them if you get a warranty first. If you do decide to get please make sure to post your impressions.

[Ricko]

I had an expensive US made frame (Ellsworth) and broke it 3 times in as many years. I now have a Taiwanese made Santa Cruz that cost considerably less and it hasn't broken in 3 years of riding.

Nothing wrong with that stuff made overseas, many times it's a good value.

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by timms

that's an amazing price. Ask them if you get a warranty first. If you do decide to get please make sure to post your impressions.

The warranty is 5 years but it`s not very cost effective (should you have a problem) because the shipping costs are quite high.I bought three frames (two that were custom made and one that was laying around ready to ship on their list) from them and I had my friend who used to work at seven check them out,the two custom frames had great welding and alignment (something I insisted on) and the ready made frame had acceptable standard of welding but the chain and seat stays had about a 2-3mm misalignment.By his professional opinion,the custom frames were a great bargain and could easily rival the quality of many of the top ti companies on the market today.He said the third frame was worth what was paid,defiantly not more but also no less.Lots of guys buy from xacd including spicer cycles that would take your order on a custom ti frame and get the product from china and charge you %100 more than what xacd charges.The only product that I have seen any complaint about on this forum was their titanium fork,it is a primitive segmented fork design that all the Chinese and Russian titanium bike companies use that can snap under hard riding.But you can send them your own fork (or any other component for that mater) design and they will make it exactly to your specs.
Best of luck.

[jabpn]

For the price range also check out Habenaro frames. www.habcycles.com.

[noctilux]

Its just a matter of luck, sometimes they snap and break just like other US made products.

[noctilux]

Yup ! Mark Hickey is a good and honest guy to deal with. And he gives a warranty and crash replacement program.

[noctilux]

I asked for a cad drawing and XACD sent me one according to my specs. They are going to use a aerospace grade ti 3AI2.5V with 0.9mm straight gauge. And I asked them for a good weld and a perfect alignment. I should be having the MTB frame in 2-3 weeks time. I saw a ti fork that looks like sibex,xacd but with spicer cycles labels, snap. I guess you can specify thicker ti to make it stronger.

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by jabpn

For the price range also check out Habenaro frames. www.habcycles.com.

I think Habcycles gets his stuff from these guys http://www.ti-bicycle.com/index.htm or these guys http://www.hasabike.com.tw/index.html .I went with xcad because there are way more people who have reported their experiences with them on mtbr then any other Chinese fabricator,plus they were the only ones that do S&S couplers.

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by noctilux

Yup ! Mark Hickey is a good and honest guy to deal with. And he gives a warranty and crash replacement program.

Isn't the crash replacement program that he offers a half price deal which is what it would cost you to buy it strait from China in the first place?

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by noctilux

I asked for a cad drawing and XACD sent me one according to my specs. They are going to use a aerospace grade ti 3AI2.5V with 0.9mm straight gauge. And I asked them for a good weld and a perfect alignment. I should be have the MTB frame in 2-3 weeks time. I saw a ti fork that looks like sibex,xacd but with spicer cycles labels, snap. I guess you can specify thicker ti to make it stronger.

Be sure the thickness is no less then 1.75mm on all the tube especially the blades and steerer if your getting the fork.Congrats on the order,let me know how it works out for you.

[noctilux]

Well they almost look the same if you remove the labels. I think the alignment of the welds should be perfect and at the same time not contaminated.

[noctilux]

The crash deal is 1/2 of the orginal price, it is still cheaper because the shipping cost is around u$ 80, in China the frame cost aroung U$ 465 + U$ 180 shipping to the US + US Customs duties will end up more expensive than Mark Hickey's crash deal.

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by noctilux

The crash deal is 1/2 of the orginal price, it is still cheaper because the shipping cost is around u$ 80, in China the frame cost aroung U$ 465 + U$ 180 shipping to the US + US Customs duties will end up more expensive than Mark Hickey's crash deal.

Only if you compare apples to oranges.The $465 xcad frame is custom where as the $795 Hab frame ($815 with disc tabs) is standard geometry,the custom Hab frame is $1195.
2X custom xcad frames = $930
2X shipping the frames from China = $360
Porter from xcad offered to send an undervalued or free sample invoice but there was no need for me to go that rout as I had it shipped to a country that didn`t charge taxes on such imports.It seems many take advantage of this though,so I can`t say exactly what the legal taxes would be on for these frames.
Total without taxes = $1290

1X custom Hab frame =$1195
1X crash program Hab frame =$600
2X shipping in the US = $80
Total =$1875

Difference =$585

To get the apples to apples though,we should know what American customs charge for these frames(although I doubt US duties would come close to $292.50 per frame).Does anyone know?

[noctilux]

Originally Posted by yoginasser

The warranty is 5 years but it`s not very cost effective (should you have a problem) because the shipping costs are quite high.I bought three frames (two that were custom made and one that was laying around ready to ship on their list) from them and I had my friend who used to work at seven check them out,the two custom frames had great welding and alignment (something I insisted on) and the ready made frame had acceptable standard of welding but the chain and seat stays had about a 2-3mm misalignment.By his professional opinion,the custom frames were a great bargain and could easily rival the quality of many of the top ti companies on the market today.He said the third frame was worth what was paid,defiantly not more but also no less.Lots of guys buy from xacd including spicer cycles that would take your order on a custom ti frame and get the product from china and charge you %100 more than what xacd charges.The only product that I have seen any complaint about on this forum was their titanium fork,it is a primitive segmented fork design that all the Chinese and Russian titanium bike companies use that can snap under hard riding.But you can send them your own fork (or any other component for that mater) design and they will make it exactly to your specs.
Best of luck.

My bike group are kinda tempted to order from XACD, I guess we have to work on the specs that will work or not. We are gonna pitch in for the MTB frame, if it works out fine, we will order for ourselves I guess 50 bucks per biker aint bad instead of paying U$ 465 alone. Hope this will work out for our group.

[Zanetti]

Originally Posted by noctilux

And I asked them for a good weld and a perfect alignment.

Those things should be a given. That's really scary that you had to request them. You've got good health/life insurance?

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by Zanetti

Those things should be a given. That's really scary that you had to request them.

Your right,but they are not even a given from some of our domestic fabricators.I have seen examples of not just some messy American/European welding,but also contaminated welds which is truly dangerous.
If it`s one thing I`ve learned from mtbr,buyer always beware.

[yoginasser]

Originally Posted by noctilux

Its just a matter of luck, sometimes they snap and break just like other US made products.

Not really,if you call Gene from spicer then he would be the first to tell you that these forks can not handle hard riding (not even city riding if you bunny hops).

[pcxmbfj]

I'm considering getting a custom 29er from these guys and not sure how to get the right specs. I've seen order forms from custom builders like Titus and IF and that avenue looks promising. Another thought is to duplicate the geometry of my Karate Monkey. Any suggestions from this group will be appreciated. Even if I don't use XCAD I would like to do a custom sometime.