DJ ME? No Way...

I'm always up to something bike wise. My next little "sweet deal" I fell into manifests itself as a used Yeti DJ frame. I have been gathering parts for some project like this for over a year. Lets call it my flea market budget plan. When I came across something crazy cheap I would acquire it for the future build. Nothing is new with this project at all. A fork, very recently, was dropped into my lap from a "buddy" (yea, you know who you are). I picked up a Reba Race from Fat Tony for a friend that wasn't able to come up with da $$ for it so I shuffled some parts about and now I'm running the Reba on the BMC Fourstroke. I must say that the "black" Reba looks much better than the "white" Fox on the "ergon green" of the BMC. (NOTE: I'm turning more and more into a color HO, all the bikes are made the same and in the same factory so the only thing that distinguishes bikes for the most part is the color scheme) So now I have a
Fox F32 for the Yeti DJ that I should have very very soon....





I'm still in need of a couple of things though ....brakes and a crank. Everything else is lying in the bike room.

Now, what does an old fart like me need with a DJ? I'm not going to be "hucking" anything that's for sure! Well it's for some collegiate slalom racing and possibly some BMX races in the cruiser class at Morristown.

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Getting back to my NOTE above. I have been working on a spreadsheet of many bikes and their geometries. I hear all the time in my circle of bike peeps "I don't like this or that geometry" well my blogger friends most all bikes have the same geometry or are getting very close! I tell people "now, no bike is better than the other they are just painted differently" at least that seems to be the rule with the "CHINA" bikes. Last I heard Giant builds OVER 18 companies bikes and THEY ARE the largest bike manufacturer in the WORLD! So if yo bike has or HAD a little sticker that says "made in China" Giant probably welded it together.

A friend of mine that works in a Trek shop sent me a cell pic awhile back of a Trek bike in the box with a "manufactured by Giant Bike Co." on it. So all you Trek peeps, sorry to desecrate your brand. Don't feel bad, Specialized, Schwinn, Yeti, Haro, Masi, Bianchi, Scott, Cannondale, Niner, Salsa and MANY others are on the China wagon as well. Pinarello, (one of the "big three" in Italy)? yep, thay have been outsourcing framework too! Generally speaking low to mid grade bikes are manufactured in China and high end bikes are made in Taiwan. My hat is off to Trek though, the OCLV frame is the only bike truly made in the U.S.A. of their line-up. Now if you have $8709.00 you can buy one! Or if you have $10,111.47 you can build your own project 1 Trek OCLV madone as I took the time to do...

Carbon bikes are mostly manufactured by Martec or Advanced in China. There is a common thing going around now called "mold sharing". Two or more companies "sharing" a carbon mold. Have you seen Ebay over the last year? Tons of carbon bikes for sale on there. I have heard some people say "they are frames that didn't pass inspection" How the hell do you know such a thing??? Could be but most likely NOT! Now the Ebay companies are offering warranties! Pain in the arse to get it sent back but hey they are giving one.



All in all some people go for looks, some peeps go for shop loyalty (nice), some people think if they spend 4K on a bike it's the best (insert giggle here) and some people go for cheap! I have only ever had one guy ask me what the frame angles are while working. Just find a bike you like to ride, that's comfy (so you will ride it) and just ride it because somewhere in a factory deep in China some .08 cent per hr welder might be saying: ("哈，有些混蛋认为他得到一个比别人更好的自行车，我们正在建设他们两个，哈哈")





(If you don't believe me google this stuff, the info is out there. Oh, yes you should believe EVERYTHING you read on the internet!)




LAter G...................