i’m down for a group buy.
what is a dougmobile?
my machinist/mechanic neighbor in portland who is looking to get into framebuilding.
[quote=“thehappyrobot”]I dunno. I do like the frames, but by the time you bought one, had it powdercoated and bought all the no name “alien” components, I’m thinking you could have built a really nice bike.
I mean, you could buy a complete bike, like a kilo or the hour or whatever, ride it and make the upgrades as needed.
But don’t listen to me. I own a janky ass kilo built with budget parts.[/quote]
you’re right. if you do the math, paying regular price $350, $35 shipping and $80 powdercoat puts it up to $465, then you still have the headset and BB to worry about. in comparison, i paid $580 for my bridgestone anchor in my sig and it was top of the line steel tubing with the BB and HS, but that was also a great deal where all the pieces fell into place (eBay seller only had 1 point feedback, auction ended at 2am PST; everything was legit by the time the frame made it over here). nice thing about the aliens is you get a new frame with nothing to worry about and it should be pretty rugged for the street… i plan on riding one as my daily thrasher and i always seem to pound my daily bike into the ground so no paper thin walled steel or aluminum for me.
it all depends on your circumstances though i guess. for me, the price is worth it and it matches with what i want. we talked to the guy on PDXfixed about getting a 5-person group buy in and he said he’d knock off $30 per frame and ship them all together to cut down on shipping costs (in effect knocking $50-60 off the price basically), so maybe if we got more people together on tarckbike we could get more $$$ knocked. i don’t know though.
my machinist/mechanic neighbor in portland who is looking to get into framebuilding.[/quote]
If you’re planning on building this frame up all classy, maybe you should get your buddy to replace the long shen fork ends with campy drop outs before you get it painted. It seems a bit overboard but those drop outs are hideous IMO (i’m just a bit anal retentive about things like that). I thought about doing the same thing but the Alien frames only come in generic sizes (im long in the legs and short in the mid section) and once you add up all the costs of shipping/drop out replacement/paint/ chrome, it really isn’t that much cheaper than a custom frame made of high quality tubing.
+1
sorry man, i couldn’t resist…
eh.
i knew it was coming.
at least i admit it.
no worries.
it all depends on your circumstances though i guess. for me, the price is worth it and it matches with what i want. we talked to the guy on PDXfixed about getting a 5-person group buy in and he said he’d knock off $30 per frame and ship them all together to cut down on shipping costs (in effect knocking $50-60 off the price basically), so maybe if we got more people together on tarckbike we could get more $$$ knocked. i don’t know though.[/quote]
That would probably work better in a regional forum. We couldn’t cut back the shipping unless we got really organized and had him ship them in batches to areas that had more people who wanted them. Those of us in cities would get better deals than smaller town folk.
Also, the next group buy needs to happen at a time when I am actually in the market to buy a frame. What good is a group buy if I don’t need it? 
my machinist/mechanic neighbor in portland who is looking to get into framebuilding.[/quote]
If you’re planning on building this frame up all classy, maybe you should get your buddy to replace the long shen fork ends with campy drop outs before you get it painted. It seems a bit overboard but those drop outs are hideous IMO (i’m just a bit anal retentive about things like that). I thought about doing the same thing but the Alien frames only come in generic sizes (im long in the legs and short in the mid section) and once you add up all the costs of shipping/drop out replacement/paint/ chrome, it really isn’t that much cheaper than a custom frame made of high quality tubing.[/quote]
I did think those track ends looked a bit ugly when I first saw them (although nowhere near as ugly as early 90’s Cannondale track ends, which have got to be some of the worst), but it was more of an issue seeing the frame alone - built up it’s not too bad, and you could cover it up a little by sticking some chain tensioners on there. Either way, doesn’t really bother me.
But unless you know some guys doing custom frames for $500, I don’t see how it’s anywhere near the price of an Alien. Like I said earlier, frame/powder/ship is $465. Getting chrome is your choice and not something I’d know how much it costs or plan on doing. Doing the track ends thing is something one should be able to handle atleast partly on their own (filing off the old track ends), and getting new ones added on is usually a pretty cheap thing if you have someone else do it from what I understand. I don’t know of any custom frames that start much lower than $1,000 for the bare bones basic package which includes entry level tubing. I’m talking actual CUSTOM here by the way, not ordering a Panasonic.
Deadforkinglast - sorry, totally didn’t occur to me the deal about the regional forum thing. I’m an idiot…
Sort of OT, but I’ll say it again. If the Bikes Direct guy just got his shit together and made this frame already, he’d be selling them as fast or faster than Kilos.
so true.
He seems to be pretty brain dead about people wanting it. He was nearly there with that lugged “track” frame he got going but the top tube brake guides killed it, not to mention slighly more shallow geometry. Latest thread he made in BFSSFG is about selling a polished al track frame though and there’s discussion of doing a street option with brake holes, water bottle mounts etc. and a track option without that stuff. That could sell well but at first he wanted to do it with a steel fork and the overwhelming majority wants carbon.
Email him, invite him to the forum. We will be heard!
(Make sure you tell him to make it in sizes 47 and 49 too. You know, for us lil’er folk.)
The BD guy could sell a lot more bikes if his website wasn’t so damn confusing.
But I guess he is way too busy selling shittons of bikes to care.
Im way, WAY down for a group buy. Anyone contact Alien about it or email him this thread?
nah, noone has because we’re all lazy and innefectual.
I too am way down,but fully lazy.
I’m down but broke. I know I’ll be getting an Alien just not sure when.
I’m not broke, but damn am I lazy.
Not broke: Check
Way lazy: Check
Well, alright… no one here will ever actually own one of these. Fuck. Maybe Ill email this dude.
Would it be lame if I converted one of these to threadless?
Preference is preference, although it’ll look a bit funny because of the thin traditional diameter tubes.