Budnitz Ti cruiser bikes, anyone have one, please report...

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limniki
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:44 pm

by limniki

I am looking at a Budnitz Ti Cruiser No1. Anyone out there have experience with the bike, quality, ride, plus or minuses, etc. Would appreciate any feedback on this boutique bike maker.

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dwaharvey
Posts: 470
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 8:54 pm
Location: USA

by dwaharvey

Friend of mine has one. It's certainly a pretty bike and turns heads. Looking at it closely, the build/weld quality is no where near on par with a boutique american hand-made Ti frame. I believe that the history behind the bike is that Budnitz had a US builder make him a frame, and then sent it to Asia to have them made more cheaply... certainly that story fits with what I've seen of the fabrication quality. In terms of ride, I've never ridden it myself, but my friend says its smooth but very flexy and doesn't handle well as a result. The Ti front fork is apparently the source of the noodliness in handling, and also suffers from some brake dive. Bottom line is that I think it's a beautiful bike if you want a commuter that looks like art, but if you want one that rides really well, you might want to look elsewhere.

VTBike
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 8:14 pm

by VTBike

Speaking as someone that lived right near his shop in VT, met the guy a few times, and seen plenty of his bikes around:

My opinion is that they are great for those weekend cruiser types, or short distance commuters who have a high disposable income, and want something fancy without the desire to dive deep into quality or ride handling characteristics. Budnitz is not a cyclist, he's an entrepreneur. He liked bikes, had made a ton of money in one of his ventures, and decided to open a bike shop (pretty great scenario, btw!). It's a cool design, but that's where it ends. If you want a bike that is built by/for real cyclists, look elsewhere. It's way too expensive for what you get to be anything I'd ever consider... and I have over $20k worth of bikes myself.

limniki
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:44 pm

by limniki

Thanks for the input. I will look elsewhere. I did contact Budnitz about manufacturing, the response was "all bikes are 100% assembled in USA''. HMMM, for the price I would at least want it built in the USA. There are some awesome ti cruiser out there with the actual manufacturing ,welding done in the states. I continue to look.

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