http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/superstar-developing-new-range-of-bikes-30486

Also 915mm wide bars??

No great surprise given the amount of components they offer. Seems a logical business step. Seems obvious now, not sure why they hadn’t been pumping out rigid s/s bikes sooner.

If the prices are right then they’re going to be cracking value.

It will be interesting to see what marketing strategy they’re going to use, although I’m sure there are some customers that will just take a punt.

he did do frames before – they were ‘off the shelf’ ones so I’d be interested to know how much input SS will have in the design.

Really interesting, good to see some more new people coming into the market and offering ‘cheaper’ full sus bikes. My next bike will be from a ‘value’ brand like nukeproof / canyon etc…

About time the prices were dropped for frames really the bigger brands are asking silly prices now.

I hope the build quality will be better than the wheels I bought off SS though. Great value but a bit disappointing when you have to rebuild within a couple of rides!

will they utilise a floating octopus pivot design?

Assembled by a mechanic with a rock I assume?

Interesting, I like the superstar stuff I’ve tried.

PeterPoddy – Member

Assembled by a mechanic with a rock I assume?

I doubt they will get TJ in to build them up from them, although if he did he could apply his ‘its the LAW’ stickers to every bike.

Got to hand it to the chap (customer service aside) as quite impressed how he’s managed to take the business from selling just ti bolts to now full bikes.

They better come with pedals then!

Frame looks nice IMO, bit Gianty/Mondrakery in the suspension department is it?

he did do frames before – they were ‘off the shelf’ ones so I’d be interested to know how much input SS will have in the design.

This is old news but DH frame appears to be an “off the shelf” Astro AFDHA

http://www.astroeng.com.tw/productsdetail.asp?id=51

and here are some others from the Astro factory

quite a few bike companies re-brand them.

Not only will this help to keep costs down, but it means it’ll be possible to colour-match – or colour-clash – everything from bar and stem to disc rotors, seatpost, pedals, headset and wheels at point of sale.

I’m liking the sound of that, be able to make utterly horrendous looking bikes really easily!

Also 915mm wide bars??

😯

I hope they get a new wheelbuilder by then!

i could do a bar that wide, but I am 6’4″ with monkey arms.

A 5″ frame would be interesting.

Not many options for 5″ frame only around (and the ones available are bloody expensive).

I saw a couple of prototypes at Fort William last weekend and they looked quite nice

Suspension unit looks a bit rubbish on that AFAMG 😉

looks perfect for “All Mountain” to me 😉

The “through the seatpost” dual link suspension design looks similar to the ragley far-eastern fs offering.

I guessed they’d be re-branding “generic” designs from a taiwanese factory and maybe tweaking them a bit.

Still think ‘Superstar’ is a shit name still.

Leku – Member
A 5″ frame would be interesting.

Not many options for 5″ frame only around (and the ones available are bloody expensive).

Crikey, how short are you? 😉

Had to laugh at the comment underneath. 🙂

Do you think they will supply a big bag of haribo if you buy a bike rather than the small one?

wbss – the pic you’ve posted is quite clearly an Astro AFDHA but I’m not sure what you are saying about it. 😕 Are Ragley selling these too?

the 1.5k dh bike sounds excellent

will sell like hotcakes with or without the giant bag of haribo

So simlar to the Ragley prototype, it’s almost as if there the same frame, I mean their the same colour for a start, and err errr err well nothing else is similar is it really? 😉

Freeborn demo’d some of the “Yardstick” bars

I’m just comparing the through the seattube dual link sussler designs.

edit with one last picture:

ragley linkage

he ought to sort the drainage out on his lawn.

will sell like hotcakes with or without the giant bag of haribo

No haribo, no order.

lol at the ‘prototype’ of a bike that’s already in production.

Looks like the new Commencal DH bike to me.

No surprise that its an off the shelf frame from taiwan for that price, if it turns out to be even half decent i’d consider it a bargain (not my cup of tea though).
The `made in the uk’ pedals that they are developing look bloody awful imo, they should stick with the proven winning formula of stamping Superstar logos on the nano pedals, have nanos on both of my bikes and rate them highly.

So, no issues with warranty on the bottom brackets as they will have been installed properly, never ending supply of brake pads as they constantly fall from the backing plates, caveat in the warranty preventing use of water to clean bike 😉

Riding it voids the warranty

DezB 😆

Great pic.

I was talking to them a while back about these and they start as off the shelf but then they tweak them as they see fit.

its all in the detail.

I do like the idea of a company buying a bike off the shelf, stripping it of paint and wrapping a chainstay with electrical tape for that authentic “prototype” look. 😉

That said, I just don’t want to been seen on a bike called “Superstar” and sporting that god-awful logo up front. No offence to Superstar intended, but I wish they’d come up with a less kitsch brand identity. Those things really don’t normally bother me (I ride a bike with the word “Special” in it) but this brand name does.

The Ragley has a similar suspension layout, but the tubes are straighter and aside from the coweled dropout I can’t see much else shared with the Superstar / Astro.

I was talking to them a while back about these and they start as off the shelf but then they tweak them as they see fit.

Them? who are “they”?
anyway, did you ask exactly what “tweaks” they do see fit?

I seriously doubt Superstar will “tweak” anything, I once went without a DH frame for months waiting for the “prototype” to be “tweaked” for production. I’d seen a sample of at various races and spoken to the “designer” 🙄 who had said it needed more CNC work and various refinements before going into production.. eventually I got pissed off calling/waiting/being fobbed off with excuses so bought one direct from the factory (under another brand name) a few months later I caught up with their team riders finally building up the first “production” frames, guess what? other than the colour it was exactly the same frame as mine right down to nasty misalignment issues and the entire production run later down the line was exactly the same.

GW

Them? who are “they”?
anyway, did you ask exactly what “tweaks” they do see fit?

I reckon they’ll fully tweak the sh*t out of the colour and the stickers.

they might even lazer cut the dropouts into the superstar logo shape.