I have a couple of Treks and a Felt so I’m thinking that my next purchase needs to be unique. Any suggestions for stellar boutique road bikes?
I’ve been looking at Franco, Neilpryde, pinarello (granted, not exactly boutique), etc.
Any experience with the above, or additional recommendations?
Note: I started on a tri bike so this will be my first road bike.
Boutique or unique? None of the bikes you mentioned really seem boutique to me. Boutique to me is crumpton, parlee, english, vanilla…
For that matter anytime you are talking botique and carbon, expect to pay big money.
I think Franco might actually still be carrying some rebadged generic frames, they definitely have in the past.
And you shouldn’t necessarily take my critique of the description used as a critique of the bikes. Personally, I think the Neil pryde stuff looks awesome and would love to throw a leg over one.
Good point. Uniqueish I suppose.
I have looked at parlee, english, and vanilla in the past. Crumpton is a new one to me.
Since you don’t mind Asian manufactured bikes check out a Ritte
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Since you don’t mind Asian manufactured bikes check out a Ritte
Say what? Ritte is as far from boutique as you can get. Catalog carbon with a paint job and some phoney baloney marketing.
Check out Moots, Serotta, Parlee, Crumpton, Cyfac, Calfee, Independent Fabrication, Seven, Baum, Pegoretti, Landshark, Firefly, Black Sheep, Mosaic…
Good list. I would also add Dean, Kent Eriksen, Alchemy, and Mosaic (a Colorado-centric addition).
Material?
Since you don’t mind Asian manufactured bikes check out a Ritte
Say what? Ritte is as far from boutique as you can get. Catalog carbon with a paint job and some phoney baloney marketing.
Check out Moots, Serotta, Parlee, Crumpton, Cyfac, Calfee, Independent Fabrication, Seven, Baum, Pegoretti, Landshark, Firefly, Black Sheep, Mosaic…
English, and Alchemy as well, though you’ll be waiting 18-24 months for your English. Doesn’t sound like you’ll be out of a bike so that may not be a bad choice. A great little Ti manufacturer from Arizona Form Cycles as well.
And in fairness to Ritte, I don’t believe everything is “catalog” as they have a couple of steel bikes that I believe are US made including a SS/Carbon frame.
would love to throw a leg over one.
Thanks for this new slang, I will use it when I see a sweet crotch rocket i’d like to mount.
I’m in the process of building up a custom Seven road bike, so I recently surveyed the options before settling on them. Some very interesting frame builders in the road arena are: Seven Cycles, Baum, Firefly, Independent Fabrications, Land Shark, Moots and Waterford. These are all skewed toward steel/Ti, but some also do carbon. They all have their particular flavor and appeal.
I know you said you looked at Vanilla, so you probably looked at the speedvagens; but if not, you should check them out. Four or five local guys ride them here, and pretty much everyone lusts after them. Super cool looking.
I picked up a Cielo Cross bike, but they have road bikes too: http://cielo.chrisking.com/bikes/sportif-racer/.
This may be a good compromise if you are looking for a unique steel bike. Not custom, but not a Trek. I bought mine out of River City Bicycles in Portland: http://rivercitybikes.com/.
They were great to work with and shipped everything to San Francisco for me. They even built up a set of wheels to spec and helped me with some choices.
I think the coolest bike out there is the RENOVO. They are made of wood in Portland. The have a great website,they are not any more exspensive then other boutique brands and you can get one that weighs 17 pounds. Four things that make them better then most other bikes:The are TOUGHER and will probably outlast just about any other material,the look far better and will look brand new for a long time,the ride is better and quieter and they are far less hard on the enviroment. Check them out.
There are a lot of amazing builders who do some truly unique work that wouldn’t be out of place in an art gallery, many of whom have been listed in this thread. I’d start by deciding on frame material and how long you can wait. For example if you can’t wait 5-7 years, you probably aren’t going to be looking that hard at Vanilla. And unless you already own one you can’t buy a Sachs (new).
With respect to your opinion, I’d have to seriously disagree. Ritte is as much a botique brand as any other out there. You won’t find their bikes in anything more than small “boutique” shops, and the paint and custom steel work they do is on par with much of the other stuff you see, at a price that most people can afford.
Besides, for me, a bike that performs (which the Bosberg does) and looks even better… No brainer.
But alas, I do sell swim, not bikes, so I may just be easily influenced by bright shiny objects.
(cue shameless photo posting of my own bike)
(/backdoor brag complete)
jake
botique by definition from mirriam webster:
"2: a small company that offers highly specialized services or products "
Considering that Ritte literally repaints a frame designed to meet the needs of the largest swath of riders possible, it is not by definition botique because it does not offer highly specialized products. It offers generic carbon bikes with really nice paint.
botique by definition from mirriam webster:
"2: a small company that offers highly specialized services or products "
Considering that Ritte literally repaints a frame designed to meet the needs of the largest swath of riders possible, it is not by definition botique because it does not offer highly specialized products. It offers generic carbon bikes with really nice paint.
I agree. If at the end of the build you feel like buying a beer for the person who built your frame (because you actually got to know them through the process) then it is a boutique operation.
calfee bamboo is what I’d buy… not even that expensive,