Just compare the weldings of old and new one, huge difference... now its just another litespeed.

The old ones were jewel...

I mean alot of US custom bike makers isted, only made mountain bikes for a long time, its been only few years that they started make roadies.

Too much engraving! It's like a guy who got one tatoo and next thing looked like an ink pad with his whole body.

Also, the Litespeed/Merlin head tubes are so out of proportion with all those extensions and stuff why didn't they just use an 1 1/8" head tube with a regular headset? Or something like this;

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Ride lightly!

Every big maker bikes are hyped up these days...

Ohhhh....so many opinions! That is the beauty of such forums.

For me, I would make my list as if I were going to buy ONE bike from each material:

Steel: Way too many amazing builders to choose from! I will keep my choice local and take either a Steelman or a Sycip.

Ti: Seven

Carbon: Again, many good ones, but give me the Kuota Khan!

Al: No question here. Principia makes the best aluminum rigs bar none! (ok so I own a REXe Pro! and may be a bit biased!)

I agree with Florian on the Principias. I would though claim that the old Kleins Qpros before the carbon b-stay were equal in stw and had a better finish tan Principia and rode jut as perfect. Cannondales best frame was the caad 6 the caad 7 is too flexy and since youre all talking about C´s warranties the caad7 only comes with two years warranty.

To my surprise, no mention of Serotta, although I don't own one, would consider strongly with the fully customizable geometries, quality, warrenty .. plus multiple paint schemes. They can do customs in carbon as well (although not full carbon but a carbon/ti mix).

Other honorable mentions, .. yes another US company, Clark Kent. Clark Kent made some of the early Lemond (pre trek) Ti bikes, as a matter of fact, I have such a frame (circa 93) in my posession. Beautiful welds, great geometry. Stiffly sprung. They're better known for their MTB's though.

No mention of Fondriest for the Al bikes? I've heard they make a fine product.

oh yeah Fondriest. Rumour has it they made all the all alu bikes for telekom when they rode Pinarello (in Pinarello paintjobs ofcourse)

I thought I read somewhere that Clark Kent doesn't exist anymore because one or both got caught in some kind of illegal activity and skipped the country....Is this true? Kind of cool if so, two frame builders from Boulder become the outlaws of cycling?

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"Gimondi è un eroe umano, che viene sconfitto ma che continua la sua corsa fino a tornare a vincere." - Enrico Ruggeri

Hard to imagine superman associated with illegal activity. Kidding aside, hope that's not true. Maybe they were making a cannabis frame bike, considering they were in Boulder that's possible!

I'd like to know more about it actually.. did a google search. The article says they hit hard times thanks to Greg Lemond, I guess about 8 years ago. That's hard to swallow. That all lemonds are made by Trek (from what I know) is bad enough. That Lemond contributed the the demise of a great product is a sad shame.

http://au.cyclingnews.com/results/archi ... /4_10.html

Like it. Nice welding. Never did like fnacy lugwork (Hetchins) so don't like Merlin as well. Here's a one tat number in Ultra Foco from Caygill's in the UK.

Must admit though that no one does with the panache of the Italians. So, for minimalism (get Prada to make bikes) and elegance (Felice Gimondi in his prime). Forza Azzuri.

Dephi's list is more a list of finest mass production bikes, however both lists are worth reading for those members upgrading to a higher level.

No one has mentioned Cinelli, Willier or Bianchi
Would Sintessi rate with thier alloy frames?

Brian

I don't think so! Just a rumor, but one I have never heard. Why replace the Prince, one of the best frames of all time.

..Probably made by Billato http://www.billato.com/main.html like many other prestigous italien big names. Just compare their models to your favourite Moser/Pinarello/Fondriest etc etc...
Mind you, Billato only makes the top models. The cheaper stuff comes from South-east asia mostly.

An italian friend of mine bought himself a bike called "Rudy" 3 or 4 years ago. It looked amazingly similar to the Pinarellos: Triangle-shaped tubes, slight Sloping, carbon rear-end, even the same paintjob...

Martl

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Snowman and Strong Walker
Scott Sc
my old stuff
my new stuff

Well I´m sorry I cannot name my source only that he works for telekom.