What’s up with airborne zeppelins?

[mtechnica]

Are they good? Anyone have one? Who makes them?

[yinzerniner]

Are they good? Anyone have one? Who makes them?

Only the gods make them ....
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/78/68/e47868c162e37c98cc8ad952b6cebf29.jpg

[Bentley]

I assume you are referring to the old Airborne Bike Company? I recall them from the early 2000’s. I believe they went out of business before 2005. I seem to recall they outsourced the manufacturing and were offering “low price”!alternatives for Ti bikes. Never rode one, seem to look good though.

[weisan]

My friend Josh rides an old 2002 Zep with 9 speed shimano that looks like this.

https://cdn.bicyclebluebook.com/bikepedia/2002%20Airborne%20Zeppelin.jpg

And I am on my 2003 Merlin Agilis. Between the two of us, we drive people in our group rides with $3k carbon bikes crazy....because they couldn't keep up! :rolleyes::p

That's all you need to know.

[Spaghetti Legs]

The Zeppelin was their top frame/bike. I had a Valkyrie, the next one down and it was a very nice bike. They were cheaper than Litespeeds but the Zeppelin was still in the 4 figure range I believe. Well made with nice finishing touches. The Valkyrie was a little big for me so didn’t keep it long. That Airborne AFAIK is different from the current company which is Asian made aluminum frames.

[mtechnica]

That’s interesting stuff, there’s a Frameset on Craigslist for pretty cheap and I realized I don’t know anything about them. Should be a good deal for somebody.

[redir]

They were pretty well regarded back in the day. I had an Airborne cross bike that was Aluminum and had disk brake mounts and rack mounts, forward thinking at the time.

[mhespenheide]

Airborne back-in-the-day was one of the first direct-to-consumer outfits, so they were most notable as a "budget" option when compared to Merlin, Litespeed, and their competitors. I don't recall ever hearing who they had subcontracted the fabrication from, so I don't think it was TST or one of the other American manufacturers (on the guess that, if it had been, one of the reviews would have mentioned it). That said, while I've never seen one in person, I've also never heard of problems or failures with one either.

[mtechnica]

Any guesses how something like a zeppelin or a litespeed ultimate would ride and hold up compared to newer bikes? Looks like there are deals to be had out there on old Ti especially the 1” stuff.

[Look585]

Still some details out on archive.org

Airborne.net (https://web.archive.org/web/20040405105709/http://www.airborne.net/eready/janette/Store/zpbike.asp)

[brockd15]

I rode an Airborne Manhattan Project back in the day. The quality seemed really good, I never had any complaints.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4327/35988275415_085495b66a_z.jpg

[johnniecakes]

Any guesses how something like a zeppelin or a litespeed ultimate would ride and hold up compared to newer bikes? Looks like there are deals to be had out there on old Ti especially the 1” stuff.

I have a 2003 Litespeed Ultimate and it is a favorite of mine. I ride it more than the full carbon Focus I have. Sure it is a pound or so heavier with basically the same group on. But it just rides better. I focus more on the geometry and fit more than the material. If I were a competitive racer lite carbon is the way to go (if you can afford a crash replacement) But for fast group rides or just riding around iti is hard to beat good Ti

[johnniecakes]

I have a 2003 Litespeed Ultimate and it is a favorite of mine. I ride it more than the full carbon Focus I have. Sure it is a pound or so heavier with basically the same group on. But it just rides better. I focus more on the geometry and fit more than the material. If I were a competitive racer lite carbon is the way to go (if you can afford a crash replacement) But for fast group rides or just riding around iti is hard to beat good Ti

Found a picture, here is mine

1697980398

[mtechnica]

There’s a litespeed ultimate in the classifieds here for rather cheap :eek:

[jruhlen1980]

Same Airborne that is now a direct-order MTB company owned by huffy?

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/north-america/2010/04/21/huffy-relaunches-airborne-online#.XPrB4IhKhjU

[zross312]

I ride and race a 2001 Litespeed Classic. Love it. Bought it from forum member rchman, who is known for both being super, crazy strong and also for buying/testing/selling like 10 top-level superbikes a year. Seriously, if you can name it, he's probably owned it. And he regretted selling me his Classic enough that he went and found another one for himself. So that should tell you something about how well-built Ti bikes (even older ones) perform.

Any guesses how something like a zeppelin or a litespeed ultimate would ride and hold up compared to newer bikes? Looks like there are deals to be had out there on old Ti especially the 1” stuff.

[old_fat_and_slow]

Found a picture, here is mine


Very cool Ultimate! Never had one, but always liked them a lot. I was really jonesing for a Blade!

[cribbit]

It's comparable conceptually to modern Motobecane/bikesdirect stuff. Just due to modernizations I would put motobecane ti a little above it.

Quality wise it's on par or slightly below litespeed depending who you ask.

It's a perfect starter ti bike.

[jpang922]

Airbornes are made in China. The same factory in the outskirts of Beijing now makes frames for Van Nicholas.

The factory also has a house brand with a pretty unimaginative name (“Hi-Light”) but supposedly has the same exact frames. I bought one back in 2007 and rode it on and off until very recently. Smooth ride if not very snappy.

Here are a few iterations:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/3KqjynEETo5GkgqyP0FQsnGsh8HmBXFifCFLzmknqzEGiws1BA eKz0jYkgt97E8TejxUvWTrRznYC5pIIMV66ep0xVDUKri8N863 c5VBR9fUKwtBnne0KGItz809imaxOaVXlEsn3dy90_XW2Wg8OC hDhO1L1ZJRH9YFuihfhoYgYjoCpipNOEjIkEXLgcrHV4Cjpv9e Yd2LMkfg7ClulTl5vMKE53LjYlOa_O5r_MPBB3B2qsQLqP2Yym hiR8hycFCurkQeIfWIPfdK0vb9Zay0JY4kOI8b21lwt2W2TxQR 1Egpq3NszQ6FUoFlI7awjs4iJDsixXvLkznVgvf7-_gIa7Ht3fIHEOfWKIOEgnnzANOHG1eHuDLsARq9QPEH6ALgESL 2sm8-0vL2gLMQcDnSX8_33Pg9RBc6-Z95Io-yXj_l9LjaMIHYcHGEdGB2r9Km5nv5VfkaD0Vdjv5Sa9staAPYj ER-Jwm28as8of-hWIsJt0w3yeO2EhQb04_XwDKIPCdUroTbI2CBsE_rPjILr1or6 jcmWzUuSEYycV2hHbqlUFDZ7tfkthY1HydcpY6X=w800-h600-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eYmbwvsYk4ORwVITwyhFehA4Cc6xgWnXDTeNiDueZVWN69-Z13SJ7KowEDKYyaNoZljiwx6vD2x4Qt6tRmTkbqHZquztJfC7z QZzqz_7lvAjO3zG7tWiaZsIRMzDnJJAPY8MjbcLkdfItlJ0sGo I-5UZHC5Xxu-z-PZ0U7RZkYm_YgGc93FBpZzDLWlCkkmLUG_arviTd1QuaMSc-9NsFSowT_0Ow2ExpUmWVnLVV7qjO0tCk63uMHrVWMmeNv-buK9Wa1dq7eTXQF6vZcyzs27EgifpAP_Uyoz7ftkgqDafB9qXE B-uV3tSoonzhMcZ5hmIjN4gzW5YSW-LDFT6BwY0YTvsanJQsntvMSfr7QySYHZKId7hl0KvD_V5lASCq 8mu4DAumaDEfz4mECsyb-7YjzXu9r4OW2JMyJq3KqZskCRUUpOmY4THNq6aha9qxsF_eD-JQWqpUmpitGO3RQbJSLNjuOjtZ8iFcWS7EOKhQ6ul-1KVxfJZ_TchhoNNV3EObBLtaG9jS2c162pvVNRGngTQ4zas_g9 6J7zSuy6YqGGLYa-jVRXu1MuptR5-8cxS=s1030-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/APpFPfFSBk04EcjBqvG_-k6FK3PBDQh-LjD3vt8tZScsGExc5-zXG2fIAAQy7xUsw20DQKVez7rX8t7ySg46TMFIn_05UclJGTCL CHa3hAj5lzlKc9cnrNe3xk2oTfG9y9xCLlp5FlWhsZ7vN1C_Yw ZVX4oSduux8VDw90WHgAGclsmNc4CeVFepjtpTHYoJPl_QBcZw RV2WW0O6s0b6GYsNNFXFFu19mO3sEesh5Psixnq5AB4zVlysWb 5MWWDMOL1NicwWkbCzM_DGjLfnuVw6P4P3KOeJ997OBayEjW7T 8KZRznIl2FULa-A6espqBTk7H_wc7Za9iqrJCgniZEC--vplEQ6XZUxSTsm0TRVFCyuXZagZejhUzPVPcGTrnrqJ6ETCArM E4J36sTNhFhX7oOjq2VaXHgvZQjldy_VDqfnofC_0774o3Yts8 L54o_9eeXq226-38e76XSnVdTlos5BRDRvp6OBvywKsd0dfSA2-lf38yZiUyNDlW8BINVZlnFa1RK8Ez4KJUrzjklrNhnjwQeG0yJ pCygWkbaqjGcSP2G__HjtcKiFz8UVOTdfTabSj5IgVL8CQJiJ9 wYuW70qcRjv_=s1024-w1024-h768-no

BY the way if anyone wants to take it off my hands - let me know. FS thread from some time ago: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=184152

[weisan]

Unbelievable!

[eddief]

was the first real bike in my bike life. been here a long time and that was the start of it all. so exciting to go online and pick all the parts for the build and have the built bike show up at the door. i have zero recollection of how it rode or why i sold it. i do remember it was controversial for bikes to be sold mail order at the time. joining the seat stays low down on the seat tube looked sorta radical in the day.

[duff_duffy]

They are very well made frames. Butted and shaped tubing, great welds, nice brushed finish with nice ride characteristics. I’ve owned two Zepps, 1 Manhattan Project and a Black Widow from Airborne - all excellent. Top tube on the Zepps slightly longer than you might expect for given size.