Having just seen the pipe dreams new frames on the front page of single track got me thinking that there must be some frames that have been designed that are virtually identical.
I know there are a lot of knowledgeable people on this site that will be able to shed some light to the rest of us mortals.
TA

Some Marin and Whyte frames are identical…

most BSO’s are near identical but with different stickers

In my student days I used to ride a cheapo unbranded Taiwanese frame that was also available (at various different price points) branded as a Heavy Tools Duel, a DDG Shooter and an Identiti Dr Jekyll.

Does the op mean frames that are identical on purpose as in frames of the same design coming out of the same factory with different stickers on? Or frame designs that are similar by accident two brands that have arrived at the same set of lengths and angles?

If its the former the a lot of entry level alu frames used to be stock items of the pacific or kenisis production lines with different brands stickers. These days it’s more often carbon frames that will be identical frames sold through different brands to different territories.

Some Marin and Whyte frames are identical…

I beg to differ.

Some of the most famous identi-frames were the slew of rebadged Intense M1s that surfaced back in the day.

Saracen also had a bunch of frames that were also sold as Avanti down under.

I was really thinking about two separate companies spending loads of time and effort on R&D then coming out with the same spec.

Not identical but all three podium places of the 2008 Tour de France rode bikes that came out of the same factory
Carlos Sastre – Cervelo
Cadel Evans – Ridley
Bernhard Kohl – Specialized

Should I bring back my legendary “are frames starting to look the same?” quiz?

Mong-tense was my fave.

I was really thinking about two separate companies spending loads of time and effort on R&D then coming out with the same spec.

there are probably dozens and dozens of frames that are the same in terms of geometry, the r&d these days goes into making similar bikes look superficially different. Thank god for hydroforming and over-thought dropouts. 🙂

don’t Giant make all bikes for all brands out of Taiwan?
where’s Brant claiming that there are 3,000 different bike manufacturers in Asia and he’s been to them all twice?

Back to the FP ad yesterday, I was just looking at this frame..
http://www.lightinthebox.com/Full-Carbon-Fiber-MTB-Frame-for-Mountain-Bike—Stylish-Arch-Design—Natural-Finish–BC1333005-_p184964.html
and looked at the product details and the wheelset is down as 700c ? hopefully a missprint.. anyone had one of these frames?
Seem the same ones on Ebay.. different seller
cheers guys

Someone once said my niner one nine looked like a Marin, they may be right as well…….

Certainly a good handful of German brands with absolutely identical frames. Impression I got from one supplier is that theirs is their own procurement (even shows a unique CEN cert), but the website has a straight cut+paste of the importer’s gemoetry+weight table.

Droessiger, Vortrieb (available via bike-components.de), Transalp24 (older models, not sure where newer ones come from), Cucuma (exclusive to 1 local store), …
The first 2 even have identical colour choices (huge choice too), the latter 2 have limited choice of 1 or a few colours.

Happy with mine. Build quality more than adequate.