Hello people,
I've been snooping here for a while but this is my first post. I've got a £600 payout from my recently stolen hybrid and am looking to replace it with a fixed/ss.

Last week I went to Brick Lane Bikes and had a test on a bike built from their own frame (black frame with purple deep velocity rims and purple nitro bars - they quoted me £650). I also had a test on the white dolan they have build up and the surley steamroller. Out of the three bikes I preferred their own frame which I found to be best.

Does anyone have any experience of BLB's own frames? - i've done a forum search and can't find anything. does this price sound reasonable?

Previously i'd done some internet searching and liked the look of the cotic roadrat - it's a bit hard when you can't take it for a test though.

I'm quite tempted to go for the the BLB bike. I'm not really in the game of building my own bike.

Any thoughts or comments appreciated.
Cheers - Andy

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last i heard they were powdercoating IROs and passing them off as their own.

Hello people,

I've been snooping here for a while but this is my first post. I've got a £600 payout from my recently stolen hybrid and am looking to replace it with a fixed/ss.

Last week I went to Brick Lane Bikes and had a test on a bike built from their own frame (black frame with purple deep velocity rims and purple nitro bars - they quoted me £650). I also had a test on the white dolan they have build up and the surley steamroller. Out of the three bikes I preferred their own frame which I found to be best.

Does anyone have any experience of BLB's own frames? - i've done a forum search and can't find anything. does this price sound reasonable?

Previously i'd done some internet searching and liked the look of the cotic roadrat - it's a bit hard when you can't take it for a test though.

I'm quite tempted to go for the the BLB bike. I'm not really in the game of building my own bike.

Cheers - Andy

who said you had to build your own bike, others will build it for you

i normally steer clear of BLB's bikes.
i think u're almost better off buying an off the peg or-
if you want bespoke ask andy/odge @ fixedgearlondon, dogsballs on here will happily build you one as well. who else did i forget?

'use search function' tag... Gold! Nice one, Ed... ;)
Seriously tho', probably best to avoid BLB...

brixton cycles sell the roadrats they might have one to test ride give
them a ring on:02077336055

I have one of the blb frames. I'm happy. Had them build something which was half their otp anf half what I wanted. They've also been good to me since.

As far as powder coating iros. I think they're probably just getting the same Taiwanese company that makes iros make their frames. Although that's my hunch, not based in any actual knowledge.

I've also gone to Cavendish to get some stuff though. Also very nice guys and also not a mega-chain.

blb is a couple minute walk from me though, so they win (for my situation)

I was in there earlier this afternoon, not for a bike, but was looking at what they had anyway.

Might just be me, but it just seems their bikes miss something. Can't put my finger on it though :-/ Their service is a bit iffy sometimes, today they were good though :) perhaps 'cause of the nice weather?

I'd go to Brixton Cycles, I think they're more helpful and their stuff looks a little more polished overall.

that's probably right.

much more probable than buying in IRO at their cost and painting.

lots of firms do it, there's two or three budget mtb frames out there with only decals being different

Could someone bring in the generic taiwan made 853 tubed track frames with fancy chrome lugs pleeze? 100 frames minimum order i think.

What Lil' Max said, go to Brixton Cycles... Righteous folks, they deserve your money more than most...

+ :)

i was in brixton this week to get a dia compe front brake, sprocket, few other bits - great service, lovely people.

i was also in BLB this week - same applies - served by janos though, the guy is great. got the best f.moser stem for next to nothing.

they have some great old frames - brixton have newer stuff. that's the main difference, stockwise.

I got my surly frame from Brixton with a few other bits... service was good answered alot of my really annoying questions. BLB are just a bit too hit and miss for my liking.

But if it gets you on the road. ACE.

i like the people at brick lane jan is a real nice guy but like us all he has a mortgage to pay and food to put on his plate he's not doing it as a charity he has a great selection of stuff though the shop is a real treasure trove of interesting stuff.

Then he should take note of the complaints made against the shop and sort them out.. have words with his staff or whatever.

Is IRO the factory where everyone (surly et al) gets their tig frames? Or is it just the factory where IRO get their frames made? Who cares? It's all mass-produced TIG stuff.

If you want a really nice frame, look around for something 2nd hand. Jos and Roberto have nice stuff, Anna got a a beautiful British road frame off for £130, and she just bought an early 80s Merckx Corsa on eBay for £55!

BLB are nice to me, I hear that their service can be a little patchy, but I think that people have slightly inflated expectations of what the local bike shop can do. Having been to a lot of bike shops, probably more than most, I reckon that BLB are one of the best in Central London.

When I was living in S London I went to Brixton a LOT. I love brixton. Lots. Experienced people who know their shit.

http://www.movingtargetzine.com/arti...s-are-the-best

But they get things wrong, forget to order things etc etc. No one's perfect. I know one guy who absolutely hates them. For no good reason, I should add.

I love taking comments out of context.. sorry Bill ;)

"I just wanted to hand over my credit card and throw my leg over something."

;-)

After posting I did a quick google, and found another bike forum where someone noticed their frame was the same as an IRO (I'll see if I can find it and what the other company was - wasn't Surly). Sounds like they make for multiple people, but IRO is the most popular.

This isn't the page I was talking about, but the dropouts certainly look IRO/BLB-ish (although the photos are shit). *shrug*

http://www.b2bchinasources.com/China...le-Frames.html



And the company profile says:

http://www.b2bchinasources.com/showroom.php?c=5712&f=1

There's e a German company called IKO, but maybe it's a typo (or maybe not)...

-- last edit! ---

http://bicycle-frame.bicyclenet.com.tw/

well the blb frame is made in the exact same factory as Iro and all that TIG WELDED stuff......easy as that...so are andel,RPM,sugino messenger cranks and all that......and all the alloy dolan,monoc,omnium and all that...same cut out aero seattube,same welds, same dropouts, different geometry up to your specs..........and the minimum order........and all the ambrosio,formula,iro,system ex and iro hubs............same facory....different specs....

and yeah there was a plan of getting 853 frames......the king of all steel......

Thats a smart move by BLB. Also a decent way of bringing in decent/ original frames.

However, I think we should do the same, a LFGSS bike. Maybe something along these lines:


Except with LFGSS instead of 'Maxway' ( without photoshop I have no editing software) And then the slight profit (say 30 per frame or something) can go straight to VB and the upkeep of the forum.

Anyone up for that?

do you think you can get together the 10-15K dollars for a minimum order of 100, do the drawings (if you want geometry changes), organise shipping and handling, arrange a storage facility and transport for a container sized consignment and pay the duty and vat which unless you are vat registered you will not get back (and 10k is below the vat registration threshold)?
not wanting to piss on your chips but i know whats involved in having frames built in taiwan and unless you can do all of the above it's a non starter.

a mate runs dialled bikes who do mtb/bmx/4x/ss frames, (they don't use maxway btw). in fact yesterday we were talking about the design/ordering/shipping process and how much it all costs.

I wish there was someway to tell you this, but it wasn't entirely serious.

FFS, this thread would be better (for me) if my idealistic ramblings were left as just that.

Caribou pro Frames Ornate SL 853 with chrome fancy lugs 100 frame minimum order.



*BUT*

they have an order form for a 'sample' frame on their website. hmmmm.

http://www.caribou-bike.com/contact/contact.php

sample frame you say?

They'll probably not want to do it if you don't plan to order more..
http://www.caribou-bike.com/about/faq.php

why does it say 'ornate' on the frame?

it's like captioning a picture of the empire state building with 'skyscraper'.

cocks.

The pic is from the tradeshow so all the factories who make rebranded stuff are just promoting themselves and the standard frames they can make for you to brand yourself a la IRO and BLB.

But until I'd personally inspected the finishing and ride quality how would I know if I wanted to order 100? ;)