The “dent” above the BB on the seat tube is put there by Liteville. It’s to allow the E type mech to work and gives it space to move across. Without the “dent” the front mech would not work. It’s in every 301 frame. I hadn’t realised the discussion was focused on that, apologies.

I don’t think he means that – he’s referring to the sharper dent at the bottom of the downtube.

michael cycle – I think it’s the one near the bottom of the down tube in the 2nd picture (it’s just above the end of the ISCG mount tab you can see) that people are concerned about.

The clearest pic is in the ad, taken from underneath clearly showing the crease.

The clearest pic is in the ad, taken from underneath clearly showing the crease.

Not that one, the lower one, in line withthe ISCG in the 2nd pic.

Have you ever seen a Liteville fail as a result of such a dent?

That wasn’t quite my point, I’d happily buy a frame with a few dings and dents in it, say, upto the size of that top one in the 2nd pic as long as it was priced accordingly, I’d neither spend the best part of a grand on a 2nd hand frame, nor one that seems to have dents sharp enough to have creases in them!

Official stance is – The warranty on the frame is void because of the modification to the seat tube. However, unoffically, LV always look after their customers, be they 1st or 2nd or 3rd generation (i.e. you bought the frame second hand. The warranty is transferable without any paperwork or receipts. That adds massively to the resale value and supports the used market. So, in this case, if the frame had an issue that would normally be deemed to be under warranty, in this case I would be very confident they are going to help you out with a “crash replacement” approach – that’s assuming there is an issue in the first place, which I doubt there will be.

Hope that helps.

p.s. I have a brand new black MK11 size S and size M frame available and a complete 301 size M ex demo bike with Chris King, Syntace etc. PM me for details if required.

having followed this thread and details of the warranty etc. Liteville have jumped to the top of manufacturers I’d buy a frame from.

Is the crash replacement going to be significantly cheaper that £650?
If not, it’s nowhere near worth doing, as a new one is£1600 odd at todays rates.

A new 301 frame in UK officially retails at £2095. The currency exchange rates involved move daily so the UK prices are set once a year by the UK distributor, not by Liteville. It could move for or against customer/dealer after it is set over the 12 months. Obviously the Euro/£ has shifted considerably in the last 6 months. I am awaiting clarification on this issue and also about the pricing for the crash replacement. I know what it is roughly, I just want to have my facts correct.

Aren’t all Litevilles overpriced….

I got a swift reply – please use this as a guide rather than concrete policy. They really do have great approach to this and take the view point of wanting to fully understand why and how something may have gone wrong and if there is a possibility to improve things it gets quickly designed into the next design/production run. They don’t do “year” bikes, pumping out a bike every 12 months for the sake of it, with a new colour scheme, they just change things when it’s needed and required. That could be after 9 months or 24 months etc.

From Liteville –

“The Crash replacement Price is depending on the Age of an Frame but we
try to help our customers on Basis of our Warranty Terms:
The exchange of a Liteville frame within the warranty period occurs
free of charge within the first 5 years warranty, in the 5 -10th year
a 50% discount on the respective current retail price is offered.”

UK pricing is set by OneWay Distribution in Holland. I’ll be speaking to them as I think they need to adjust it to reflect the big shift in Euro/Sterling. The other factor of course is that old chestnut of supporting your local dealer/bike shop/home market. 🙂

A new 301 frame in UK officially retails at £2095.

well there’s one potential customer lost. However, if they do go for £1600, I’d be surprised if you could keep them on the shelves.

Wrecker, bear in mind they include a top quality headset, seatclamp and 12mm through axle; also that you a not getting the equivalent of say an aluminium Santacruz, you are getting the equivalent of a carbon one in terms of weight.

Its still a 2 grand aluminum frame. SC are already known as overpriced due to import duties/tax distributor costs.

Just for ballance of all this talk of the RRP being up there with carbon Santa Cruz, they’re £1599 in Mountain Trax (and they have a demo bike). And as other said that includes a fair few ££ of extras too. Considering the thought that seems to have gone into the design I think thats a good price.

Its still a 2 grand aluminum frame.

other than kudos points I’m not sure that there’s a reason why material should determine frame price?

imo, it’s more about what goes into building a frame in terms of design and actual effort.

on-one can knock out carbon hardtail frames for £300 when it suits them but most co’s charge at least 4 times that.

There’s no inherent ‘carbonness’ or ‘aluminiumness’ that sets a price for a frame, it’s about what the market will bear and the work that goes in.

No idea what the shock costs on it’s own but it’s got all the kashima bells and whistles and a custom tune on it, for example.

Even the seat clamp is an engineering delight.

yep waswas is right, the actual cost of the material that the frame is made of is probably a very small proportion of the overall cost of the frame, you’re paying for :-

-Design time
-manufacturing cost
-shipping
-various parties markups in the process
– warranty/support – and this is where it sounds like a lot of the cost is going
– what the accountants think the market will stand (also image/brand will be baked in here)

To be fair the price of a new one doesnt sound too bad really, its at the top end compared to other frames, but then their product sounds at the top end in terms of design,support, warranty etc.

Orange alpine is what ~£1600? Titus elguapo is £700? The liteville is £2k. 3 examples of bikes that are in the same segment, 3 very different prices, buy the one that fits your budget.

The second hand one sounds over priced to me , especially with the cut down seat tube and the dents. if I were buying I’d rather spend the extra grand on a brand new one and know its brand new.

I’m not doubting that its well made. I just don’t feel comfortable paying over 1k for a bike frame that you are going to get gritted up, scratched, scoured, damaged and abused.

A road bike frame- possibly yes by comparison.

Ontop of this you spend god-knows how much on a frame when the industry ‘standard’ might bloody change again in a couple of years.

So anything ‘new’ over 1k is out for me.

So if the issue is ‘anything over 1k’ why this comment about the frame material v price?

Its still a 2 grand aluminum frame

I’m not doubting that its well made. I just don’t feel comfortable paying over 1k for a bike frame that you are going to get gritted up, scratched, scoured, damaged and abused.

That, and you’ll change your mind after 23 seconds and take a huge hit on the resale value.

Plenty of frames are well over that these days! An S-Works Enduro is £3,000.

Ontop of this you spend god-knows how much on a frame when the industry ‘standard’ might bloody change again in a couple of years.

But that’s true of any frame, i’ve just bought a steel 26″ frame with 135mm qr dropouts. Do i care it’s not 650b, boost 148 and carbon…. nope not one bit

If i was dropping over £1k on a frame i’d be more bothered about the engineering and design over the material. That liteville looks really well thought out, has a nice looking geo and is of the current standards

Stop procrastinating, hitch up your sports bra and buy it

That, and you’ll change your mind after 23 seconds and take a huge hit on the resale value.

Every single new frame I’ve bought I’ve kept for c2yrs.

Second hand ones can stay a couple of months or a year.

When its used you know you can be whimsical.

Spawn’ the shortlist is the Commencal V4 frame, Transition Bandit.

Bandit does look the better option of the two, but get a test ride in

The problem is where/how.

How much is the commencal V4 frame?

Did you read the recent review in MBR where it was compared to an orbea rallon? they thought it was good’ish, but they didnt like the wide chainstays, reckoned they kept catching their heels on it. I’d need a test ride just to make sure that issue didnt affect me.

I’d go for the Rallon frame only instead ~£1300 with the fox shock, a bit more than your notional £1k limit, but probably worth it IMO.

How much is the commencal V4 frame?

£735+ c£150 for a shock..

To throw another one into the mix, what about a Giant Trance frame?
Everyone (apart from Renton) I’ve encountered with one raves about it

I must admit that I’ve always had an irrational dislike of Giant bikes but just recently they’ve been getting great reviews and I’d agree that its pretty hard to argue against them value for money wise. At least on complete bikes anyway.

Frame only for just over your limit hora..

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant-trance-27-5-frame-2015.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjw0fOoBRDn88Pol8bqhN0BEiQARGVJKijP4TL2N4p3yWWcN5EpnHFl2bBQm4czBnuEGLGF7dIaAu758P8HAQ

having followed this thread and details of the warranty etc. Liteville have jumped to the top of manufacturers I’d buy a frame from.

Some sense in a sea of pish talk.

I must admit that I’ve always had an irrational dislike of Giant bikes

I’m the same, I demo’d a few of the 2nd generation maestro frames (anthem-x, reign-x)and they were great, but on some level I just don’t want a Giant. I know most big brands are now owned by venture capitalists or are otherwise just parts of a big business, but Giant just seem a bit to impersonal. There’s no Mike Sinyard, Rob Roskopp, Keith Bontranger/Garry Fisher character behind the scenes.

It’s like a Toyota GT86 or Nisan 370Z, probably brilliant cars, but I’d rather have a XK or soemthing a bit more personable.

^Out of the new frames that I’ve owned a Heckler (2yrs), a 5spot* (4months), 2xBlur4x (2.5yrs total) only once have I had to claim once* on a warranty. Out of the countless used bike frames I’ve owned I’ve never ever had a crack or issue so a massively long warranty doesn’t really interest me in part of the buying process. That includes shocks too.

I also like the look of the Kona Process- however I don’t think you can get them as a frame only? 🙁

The Trance – I’ve heard good things but it just doesn’t look ‘special'(?) as a proposition etc.

Wasn’t there a picture of you pushing your bike down some lame, middle England trail?. That’ll be why you’ve never broke anything. 😆

stop Fing about get a Bird Aeris £850 for the Frame!!!
http://shop.birdmtb.com/framesets/aeris-pre-order-deposit.html

Wasn’t there a picture of you pushing your bike down some lame, middle England trail?. That’ll be why you’ve never broke anything.

Yep! Taken after my stay in Guildford hospital.

It looks nice in the bigfoot blue option. Would need a testride though. I bought a Chumba unseen years ago that looked nice but I didn’t like at all.

you don’t look how I imagined you would in that selfie.

FoD or swinley for test fleet!!

what about this hora..
it is from the german mtb forum…
used litevilles are always cheaper there..
a mate sent me the link
no dents, no seattube “improvement”..should be about 1100.-..

http://bikemarkt.mtb-news.de/article/567055-liteville-301-mk10-l-raw-160mm-mit-push-tft-tuning