[Closed] New custom hand made in Sheffield HT frame, what do you rekon?

Wot no fancy-pants head tube badge?

I asked you about building some stuff, you said email it over, I did, you never replied. I shall now facebook you.

Nice seat clamp

The bridge at top tube / seat tube looks a bit of an afterthought, any way of 'losing' it.

Don't forget you need to give it a childish stupid name for it to appeal to middle aged men on STW

Quite a crowded market place, a number of established British players (I own a Cotic and a Dialled) at least once of which may soon be built in the UK. What's special ?

Also a dark frame pictured against a dirty wall doesn't say "buy me" as far as I'm concerned.

Slack but just 120mm forks, prob works well at 100mm too? 600mm TT length? I like.
(constructive criticism, the TT-ST junction/gusset isn't pretty at 1st glance but wouldn't put me off, hard to judge w/o a side on pic anyway)
edit, saw this pic

- I take it back. Looks good.

Nice bike, poo photos.

If you can ever be arsed to drive yon side of worksop for some studio shots lemme know

Looks good, what's the clearance like?
Not sure I'd be fussed about fancy seatclamp though, simple design that reduced cost would appeal to me more.
If I was buying a slack angled hardtail I'd probably be looking to put slightly longer forks on it.

FunkyDunc - Member

Don't forget you need to give it a childish stupid name for it to appeal to middle aged men on STW

The Big Hitter?

The flouncer ? 🙂 I like it but the top tube seat tube reinforcement looks like the halfords design on the carrera

edhornby - Member

The flouncer ?

I think we have a winner 😀

Was going to suggest 'The Cocker', after Joe & Jarvis.
Personally, I'd go for 'The Warnock' or 'The Currie', but it might divide opinion.

The frame size looks huge in the photo. Cant get my head around a 64 deg. HA with 120mm forks.

Call me old fashioned, but a company that swears on it's website will not get my business.

matt_outandabout - Member 

Call me old fashioned, but a company that swears on it's website will not get my business

Yep me too.

What is it with Sheffield and bike nuts who want to build frames? Per capita why not just all club together and open some big factory.

to be honest it looks a bit shite

Personally I like the fact that new builders are doing new and innovative things.

The "thing" that narks me slightly is that a bit more work presentationally would have been better.

Decalled up and nicely photographed would make all the difference.

The picture Jameso linked to is a much better one than the frame only in the OP but even that's a bit poop. Non bolt through forks etc.

Minor things I know but in my mind the little things add up and help sell a dream/concept.

Grumpy old man thoughts say no to the swearing too.

I think the website is friendly and really encourages you to visit. Unfortunately I'm way too far south !

In fact here's a thought why not build some aluminium bikes as the market is pretty much saturated by the steel is real ......yawns

I like that, is it heavy?

What's special?

Erm, did you read the geometry?

I'm not really a fan of the seat stays being higher then the top tube or cables running down the underneath the downtube.

Other then that fair play to you for getting and doing something 😉

There are some nice touches lurking in there but they're difficult to pick out, mainly due to the colour I think. A nice bright, fresh paint job, a bit of stickering up and better photos are what is required IMO. Its pretty progressive in its angles, it needs progressive presentation! Like this:

[img] [/img]

Good on you guys though, and good luck.

Cheers for all the constructive replys!
Oh why oh why do people feel the need to spout negitive thoughts out into internet land. For those people you sound like a bunch a trail centre gay boys. You wouldn't know a mountain bike if it bit your bollocks off.

Cheers again for all the 'constructive' replys!

Up your arse to the rest!

Well I quite liked it and what you're doing with the business.

but following that last post I wouldn't buy one, sorry.

Think some seem to have missed the point that this is just a prototype and as such, is built primarily to try out the geometry, and find out what works/doesn't. It's in no way a finished product and so the colour or whether the forks are bolt thru etc is largely irrelevant at this stage.

Good to see someone else local to me trying something different from the norm.

Keep up the good work!

Was tempted to drop into the works and have a look round. Now I'm not.

i was just about to say something nice about the frame-mod services shown on your website.

(i want some disc-tabs adding to an old frame, and you're close enough for me to carry the frame in)

not sure i'll bother now.

Oh why oh why do people feel the need to spout negitive thoughts out into internet land. For those people you sound like a bunch a trail centre gay boys. You wouldn't know a mountain bike if it bit your bollocks off.

Not an ideal post IMO. You did ask for feedback after all - getting all aggro when some of it is not to your liking makes you sound like someone who might not be all that professional (and who a customer might not like to do business with). This is [u]constructive[/u] criticism in case you were wondering.

Yes, a few people will troll, but hey that's life. Those people only troll on forums because in real life no one would listen to them anyway.

My opinion on the frame is mostly positive, it looks quite nice, but not in a standout way.

The point about the pics on your website is valid - they are not the best. You really do need a 'boring' side view as most other manufacturers do these, so most of us like something as a 'base' to compare against.

Keep up the ambition, though, I think it is great - just don't let yourself down by slagging people off - remember a lot of people will read this thread without posting (perhaps some of them will have a few quid burning a hole in their pockets and be looking for a nice new steel frame, but wait, the guy who builds them calls people 'trail centre gay boys', so I won't bother).

See?

Cheers again for all the 'constructive' replys!

Up your arse to the rest!

And they say there's no such thing as bad PR.

I find this a [url= http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/ ]good article[/url] to refer back to when people criticise my work - it's based on video games but has some salient points for most people who find themselves on the receiving end of feedback.

And they say there's no such thing as bad PR.

Depends really, because if you note, that reply came after a hiatus of four hours, so it got the thread nicely to the top of the forum again.

However, the content of the post would mean I would need some serious convincing if I was to part with my cash to buy one.

wwaswas - Member
Well I quite liked it and what you're doing with the business.

but following that last post I wouldn't buy one, sorry.

Wow, managed to potentially screw up any positive interest there then.

...this thread should run for a bit. Kettle time 😀

This is honest and constructive. Your website is shit and your photos are shit, the bikes might be great but as a potential customer I have to get past the fact that your showing them badly before i can start to try and appreciate them. In a crowded market where other companies positively entice you to drool over their products with easy to use sites and beautifully taken photography that is not good business.

The knack of all good businesses is sticking to the bits that they are good at and employing other people to do the bits that they aren't so good at, given everything you've demonstrated so far you are not good at marketing, if you want this venture to work out you should steer well away from dealing with any promotion and marketing and get someone else to take over. It'll be money well spent.

[b]Flounce[/b]

noun: flounce; plural noun: flounces

an exaggerated action intended to express annoyance or impatience.

"he left the forum with a flounce"

If I read that reply with my tongue-in-cheek mode engaged I get where your coming from... i.e. schoolboy humour.

I don't want to comment on the bike as I don't wish to offend. I like the concept and geometry looks interesting but it looks like a POS and your idea of selling it by saying its great with few details other than some poor photographs is wa-aaaaaaaay off the mark of what is required.

Check out how BTR do it... get it out at the races and show what it can do under a decent rider rather than just saying its great because we say so (and if you don't believe us we shall call you names).

Hopefully you can get it together and look back on this as rather embarassing.

And they say there's no such thing as bad PR.

Quoting myself, but having thought a little more, this thread could run for 3+ pages, so at least they're getting noticed.

Still not good PR though IMO.

1.8kg = 4 pounds for a steel frame? Sounds good to me.

Quoting myself, but having thought a little more, this thread could run for 3+ pages, so at least they're getting noticed.

Still not good PR though IMO.

Quite.

It is one thing causing a stir to get noticed, but acting like a petulant child doesn't scream out "I'm a good and reliable person to drop several hundred quid to".

More constructive criticism. Check your copy, there are too many mistakes - spelling and grammar. It does not look professional.

Nice idea about bringing old bikes back to life - never a bad thing IMO.

It is one thing causing a stir to get noticed, but acting like a petulant child doesn't scream out "I'm a good and reliable person to drop several hundred quid to".

+1

I liked the seatclamp. And the dropouts are at least interesting. The rest of the bike I didn't like, there's just nothing to it that made me think that's neat/interesting/better than anyone else. Even the geometry isn't far off a 456evo.

But as most people buy a custom bike for esoteric reasons, I don't think they'd want to be associated with your attitude, not when there's already a crowded marketplace (and a scrapheap of those that got left by the wayside) of guys in sheds/workshops turning out cool looking frames.

1.8kg = 4 pounds for a steel frame? Sounds good to me.

CEN tested yet?

Not the kind of frame I'd be interested in, but I was happy to see you trying something different and I was prepared to give some useful feedback. Since your flounce the best advice I can give is for you to apologise and we can try this all over again.

Maybe some potential customers will love you for it and it was all deliberate, but it's a type of marketing that's a bit alien to me. Remember that whilst I might not want a HT with 120mm forks and a 64 degree head angle, I might know someone who does. Word of mouth can make or break a business and at the moment you're ostracising too many people.

Oh why oh why do people feel the need to spout negitive thoughts out into internet land. For those people you sound like a bunch a trail centre gay boys. You wouldn't know a mountain bike if it bit your bollocks off.

Seriously, do you know how to make and keep friends?

I like it. It has the kind of geo that i like in a HT with a bit of extra stand over. Not the best looking bike, but i bet it rides good (which is the important bit). Call me some rude names and i'll take the lot 😀 Good luck with it.