Like others have said there is only so many ways you can weld bits of tube together and call it a bike but they are just so close it could be more than bit of plagiarism going on.
If I designed my own dream frame, totally the way I wanted it, down to every finite detail, and then had it built… Guess what, I’m sure without even realising it there would be many aspects of the frame that could be construed to look exactly like those of a number of other mass produced frames. It’s a bike frame, it’s pretty hard to be totally original these days (though credit to Brant Richards as all his creations always look like nothing else that has ever been before at least!).
Given that most bike frames are built in the far east these days, often many of them are produced in the same factories for a number of different companies. And I’d be willing to bet whilst there’s maybe dozens capable of producing something of good enough quality in steel or aluminium, there’s literally only a couple capable of producing something good enough in Ti. Which would then lead to the fact that the Dialled Bikes Ti Alpine prototype has quite literally been thrown together with many tube profiles already from other frame designs (possibly even the Brodie Holeshot!) as this is normal practice until small details are ironed out and a production run confirmed…
So as to the question who has copied who… Well nobody of course. The Dialled will literally be a Ti reincarnation of the Steel production frame that already exists (though as a prototype it’s probably borrowing some tube profiles from another existing production frame), the Holeshot has similarly already been around for a number of years previously in Aluminium guises. The Fanboi’s on here going nuts over minute details is laughable… Certain elements of so many different frames are going to look very similar, no matter who designed or made it! I mean, look at the car world, get in an Aston Martin and then a Volvo… You will see that all the switchgear, the stereo and the SatNav in an Aston is all lifted out of a Volvo! Does it actually matter though?
Anyway, back onto topic… Mike, the Dialled prototypes look very nice, not such a fan of the oversized headtube myself looks wise (but I’m sure it’ll be functional), and the high BB and short toptube of the Alpine don’t really suit my physique and riding style personally, but I know many that love theirs, so you should be onto a winner so get a production run going… And Si, please please please please please can you just give me a 17″ Holeshot Ti! It is the sex! I don’t think I have ever lusted after a frame quite the way I do this one. Every last detail is spot on, down to the beautifully curved headtube (with integrated headset) and the geometry (with lower BB and longer TT) is spot on perfect for me in a 17″. I want one more than you could possibly imagine! 😛
