at the risk of getting into a ‘forum-as-breeding-ground-for-stupidity’ discussion: $750 for full custom? err…id be pretty suprised if you could get worthwhile custom for that.
jeff has *always* wanted his ideas to be more widely available. he truly is egalitarian. he knows full well that the custom ti frames cost an incredible amount of money. the cost of the tubing and manipulation involved is staggering. yes: in a perfect world this would not be the case, but it is. therefore several potential solutions exist.
getting frames made in batches remains a sensible way to bring costs down, and increase availability. using steel vs ti increases that again.
as long as the steel frames stay true to the intent of the design its viable. infact working in steel given the current world financial climate and rarity of high quality ti tubing is probably a more important step: it is *probably* easier to work with steel to make the space frame/truss fork (anyone here ever cold set ti?) and the raw materials are relatively cheap. what you are paying for is the builder to make it – their time and effort. with ti, the only non-hideously-expensive ti is chinese or russian in origin and the quality control and alloying of this is often very questionable. there are VERY few builders who can manipulate high quality ti tubing effectively.
jeff isnt selling out, far from it. he is working hard to make his design work more available. the reason he is doing that is because he believes his designs are great fun to ride. I will second that. they are tremendous fun to ride…from the diamond frames in steel to the full custom ti. some have more than others but they are all good fun.
i can count on the fingers of one hand the *custom* builders who would be willing to make something akin to a jones steel diamond frame *at all*, let alone for the same cost. Getting 16.5″ stays on a 29er that can have a full spread of gears isnt easy. most builders dont build outside of the norm for good reason: its a risk to them. if it doesnt work, or the buyer doesnt pay, who loses?
what cost fun? well – now, for this particular brand of fun, its a little less…that is ALL GOOD.
hopefully, this doesnt come across as a tirade, or mindless support of one of the industries current clear thinkers.