I am really impressed by their bikes. I want a titanium bike but cannot afford the outrageous Litespeed numbers. These very reasonably priced and the customer service so far is outstanding. What about on the road? Does anyone have any experiences? Is there a reason Airborne bikes are substantially cheaper than Litespeeds?
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanx again,
Mike
Mike, never ridden on myself, but have been told by my roadie friends that you can get alot of bike for the money, and is high quality. I’ve been told by several experienced people that they would consider the bike if they were in the market. Don’t let price fool you–it’s just an up and coming brand, so right now isn’t as expensive. doesn’t mean it’s not as good.
have you ridden one yet? if not, go do it!!!
no experiences with airborne but my LBS told me Litespeed Tachyon is coming back at a $2,500 price point. should be worth a look… there is a pic of it on their website
Kitty,
I plan on testing the Valkerie and Zepplin tomorrow. They both look great and are about the same price. Every review I read so far raves about them. If I do pull the trigger, I will post my own opinions.
thanx,
Mike
I have had a zeppelin road bike for the past 4 years. The frame has been very solid. I have something like 15,000 miles on it. While it is time to change out my C. record 8 speed drivetrain the frame is indestructible. In fact 2 years ago it dropped off the back of car at 60mph due to a trunk rack strap failure (never again). After inspecting the frame and slapping a new pair of wheels on it I raced the next day.
They are inexpensive due to offshore (China) manufacturing. This may be a political issue for some but it does keep the cost down, and in the long run promotes China’s conversion to capitalism.
My Litespeed Classic with Reynolds Ouzo pro fork cost less than a Zeppelin with Airborne fork. The 04 classics are extremely cheap right now.
"They are inexpensive due to offshore (China) manufacturing. This may be a political issue for some but it does keep the cost down, and in the long run promotes China’s conversion to capitalism. "
I hope that’s true, but I fear that it’ll be in the long, long run. China’s “capitalism” isn’t to be confused with “friendly democracy”, it’s more along the lines of “bring more Yankee Imperialist dollars to our coffers”.
Airborne’s aren’t made by Li Hui’s Shiny Bike Company, they’re made by the “commercial division of China’s aerospace and satellite manufacturing organization”. The same guys who make the missiles with the nice nuclear tips pointed at LA. The same guys who will soon be trying a hostile take over of all the bike industry when they “annex” Taiwan.
Sorry for the Sinophobic rant, but these guys are not our friends.
-bobo
The same guys who make the missiles with the nice nuclear tips pointed at LA. The same guys who will soon be trying a hostile take over of all the bike industry when they “annex” Taiwan.
So I take it you try not to buy stuff made in China?
FYI, China’s got 20 to 40 rusty missiles (compared to our many thousand shiny ones), hasn’t built a new nuke in 25 years and is hardly developing much in the way of anything new, militarily.
They are wising up in hopes of conquering the world with industry and commerce (just like Japan) … Wars are not in China’s interest at all … Now when the world economy tanks in a few years, all bets are off, but China’s smart enough (I hope) to realize that “annexing” Taiwan would be a disaster.
I have the zeppelin has my road bike… I am not crazy about it but I think it’s more because it’s a terrible fit for me… I ride the aegis all the time because it’s more comfortable. But my friend has one as well, and she absolutly loves hers. Boils down to fit and personnal preferences in my opinion…
FYI: I’m not buying it. Your argument, that is. I also try my best not to buy Chinese-made crap.
Airbornes are by all accounts decent bikes. I never said the ChiComs were lousy bike fabricators.
-bobo
There are other, less expensive Ti makes out there as well. Habanero, Sampson, Titanium Sports, Magmaa. The Hab is Chinese-made, Magmaa is Swedish, Ti Sports are made in America.
Why the push for Ti? They are sexy, I have one, but there really is no huge advantage weight or durability wise. They don’t rust and the frame will survive a house fire, though :).
FWIW, if I was in the market right now, I’d take a long hard look at the Cervelo Prodigy. For a $1k frameset, I don’t think you can beat it.
Have fun.
"I’d take a long hard look at the Cervelo Prodigy. For a $1k frameset, I don’t think you can beat it. "
I’ll second that emotion. It’s always sort of funny how a number of titanium frame makers talk about their bikes having “the ride of steel”.
I have about 6-7,000 on my Airborne Valkyrie since Spring 2002, and really like the indestructible nature of the material (vs. my prior steel Waterford, which was fun to own but pretty expensive to maintain – gave it to my dad as a retirement gift ;-). I used this road setup as my “lab bike” – worked with my LBS and the Bill Peterson PowerBed disciple to develop an optimal road position.
I leveraged what I learned there to position my 2003 QR TiPhoon last year, modifying the ride setup to be more tri-specific. With two Ti bikes, I’m set for quite some time.
Anyone who has dealt with touching up steel bike paint jobs or replacing spaghetti-noodle aluminum framesets after a couple of years can appreciate not having to worry about those issues with a Ti frame.
FYI, China’s got 20 to 40 rusty missiles (compared to our many thousand shiny ones), hasn’t built a new nuke in 25 years and is hardly developing much in the way of anything new, militarily.
Where’d you get that info? I can’t speak to the nukes, but my understanding is that China has been modernizing it’s military tremendously. Not by developing it’s own stuff, but by reverse engineering some stuff, and by simply buying other stuff.
Besides, how much technology does China really need to be formidable?
I think that China can beat almost any army armed with sticks and stones. They can overwhelm everyone with sheer numbers.
**Where’d you get that info? I can’t speak to the nukes, but my understanding is that China has been modernizing it’s military tremendously. Not by developing it’s own stuff, but by reverse engineering some stuff, and by simply buying other stuff. **
My info. comes from Newsweek, NY Times articles, The Economist, Chalmers Johnson’s books, etc. … I’m sure you are right in some ways: I bet China is years behind the U.S. in many respects and not that far behind (maybe even ahead) in others … I would guess the US outspends China 10fold when it comes to the military, though: Almost $500 bil a year for us v. $50 bil a year for China - that sounds about right. If anything China spends less than that … China IS chasing the rest of the world into space, though … And they do got the numbers, that’s fer sure …
Everyone loves to worry about military threats and no one wants to talks about the complexities of world economics: It’s complicated and I don’t much understand it, but in my humble opinion, world econimics is something more people need to look at.
-TB
I have an Airborne Manhattan… I have no words to describe my relationship with this bike…
PURE PASSION !!!