Tiemeyer Cycles

[William]

I'm curious if any of you trackies have any experience with Tiemeyer (http://www.tiemeyercycles.com/) ? I can't say that I've heard of them before but they seem to be well thought of in Track circles.





William

[oldpotatoe]

I'm curious if any of you trackies have any experience with Tiemeyer (http://www.tiemeyercycles.com/) ? I can't say that I've heard of them before but they seem to be well thought of in Track circles.





William

Sold a few, he is local(Colorado). Aluminum, a TT frame and a track frame. Well made, bit expensive.

[William]

Sold a few, he is local(Colorado). Aluminum, a TT frame and a track frame. Well made, bit expensive.



Thanks for your reply. :cool: I believe thos prices apply to custom builds as well. What alternative builders would you recommend that are similar in quality but better in price?




William

[oldpotatoe]

Thanks for your reply. :cool: I believe thos prices apply to custom builds as well. What alternative builders would you recommend that are similar in quality but better in price?




William

US builder that does custom aluminum, for less $? Don't know of any off the top of my head.

[texbike]

What alternative builders would you recommend that are similar in quality but better in price?




William

These guys seem to be well thought of: www.tsunamibikes.com .

They do track frames as well...

Texbike

[firerescuefin]

William,

Tiemeyer is in my neck of the woods. He does great work. I have multiple friends that ride his bikes. He also has a reputation for great value. Custom (especially reputable custom) is not cheap I don't think you're going to get equal value for less money, but that's just me. When you buy one of his bikes, you know what your getting.

[texbike]

Another note about Tiemeyer is that he has been doing this for a long time. He built a number of the US team bikes back in the 1990s.

Texbike

[William]

Thank you for the replies folks! :cool:




William

[BengeBoy]

Not clear if you're only interested in track bikes?

But, Co-Motion makes one bike in aluminum, the Ristretto. Have heard good things about this, but it's not a track bike.

Frame and fork $2,000; custom sizing $300 extra.

http://www.co-motion.com/single_bikes/ristretto.html

FYI -- I've seen a bunch of Tiemeyer frames at the Marymoor Velodrome in Redmond, Wa., but don't have any personal experience with them. They sure look fast.

[John H.]

Tiemeyer makes a great frame.
I have a tt frame of his (have had a couple of them).
Super detail oriented. I think his prices are quite reasonable for a custom frame as are his turnaround times.

[John H.]

Actually just checked his site- had not been there in months.
Please note that the $1850 price for a custom satellite frameset includes a king headset and edge fork. That is a freakin' steal-

[dixiesdad]

If you were near Boulder CO, you would see many of the Tiemeyer frames, also along the front range in Colorado. I believe from Estes Park, gateway to the Rocky Mountains. Good reputation around these parts. Another custom builder from Boulder is Lennard Zinn, and Noblette who does the Rene Herse thing and I think the Rivendell customs?

[11.4]

If you're interested in a track bike, be sure and get it from someone who really builds track bikes. It's amazing how many supposed track bikes get f'ed up by builders who don't understand the nuances, either in simple things like how rear wheels mount or in how steering works on bankings at 38 mph. I've ridden more bad frames from more supposedly expert builders, including some of the biggest names in custom framebuilding.

If you're buying a track bike for velodrome use, do NOT buy a fixie frame. They range from not-optimal to downright dangerous on a track. And the people building the inexpensive ones often have no idea what they're doing. It really pays to buy a frame from an experienced TRACK-frame builder.

My two highest recommendations are Tom Kellogg and Dave Tiemeyer, in no particular order. Tom has a longish lead time and is quite a bit more expensive, and his frames are designed with a slightly different philosophy from Dave, but Tom and Jeff make some of the finest steel frames available today and do some amazing paint as well.

Since you asked about Dave, though ... I've been on a dozen Tiemeyers and currently have another one on order for myself. Dave is a delight to work with. I've never seen a Tiemeyer that doesn't race well. It's strong, stiff, and aero, and it'll ride extremely well at speed. Dave has made frames for almost everybody at one time or other.

When you compare Dave's frames to others, here are a couple nice points about his bikes:

First, he uses replaceable hardened slab stay ends. You'll see lots of cheap carbon and aluminum track frames with thin stainless shims on the rear wheel clamping surfaces, but it's hard to make them perfectly flat, at which point your rear wheel tends to walk out of position while you're tightening it. You're always doing gearing changes at the track (I can do a half dozen in a single training session) so you are taking your rear wheel out incessantly and this just has to work properly.

Second, everything really comes aligned properly. Chainrings never hit the chainstay, the rear wheel is spaced perfectly between the seatstays as well as the chainstays, there is plenty of fore-and-aft adjustment so you don't have to swap chains a lot, and so on. Again, good design and good construction.

Third, his bikes are very repairable. I've seen crushed tubes in crashes that he's replaced, and he does it beautifully and quickly.

Fourth, he gets gorgeous powdercoat paint jobs at Spectrum Powderworks. I love a wet finish like Tom Kellogg does, but track frames get disassembled and loaded in cars and otherwise knocked around a LOT. A Tiemeyer frame keeps free of cosmetic problems for a long time. Even a slipped rear wheel doesn't automatically mean you've worn through the paint. And he currently uses an Edge track fork, which is a superb dedicated track fork.

Last, his turnaround is fast -- 6-8 weeks or so, mostly dependent on the turnaround at the paint shop.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend his frames. This doesn't mean I wouldn't encourage you to look at a Tom Kellogg/Jeff Duser frame, but Dave does a superbly stiff frame with great geometry for a good bit less and in less time. I have both and love both.

Other frames to consider? A Bareknuckle is a good first frame; it has superb geometry and is made from thickwalled oversized tubing so it puts up with a lot of abuse. They were discontinued (though rumors are that they are being imported again) but they are very nice frames. When discontinued they were going for about $700, but you can find them on eBay or Craigslist for about $325-350 including a headset. Heavy but very nice at a great price.

GroundUp, Don Walker, Tsunami and a few others also make a fair number of track bikes. Choosing them is largely personal preference, delivery time, and a matter of which frame might be more popular at your local track or which you get to ride and try out. I'd always pick a frame I was familiar with rather than something unknown -- on the track you have a more intimate relationship with your frame than you tend to do on the road and small things become important.

Anyway, absolutely no reservations about Dave Tiemeyer. He doesn't charge for his reputation and experience -- he probably should be pricing his frames higher. After you consider what the paint job, fork, and framebuilding materials cost, he doesn't make much per frame. In that sense, you're getting a great value from him. And I know a long list of Masters' and Elite National and World Champions riding his bikes.

[William]

Very cool. :cool: Thank you again for all of your replies.

I was thinking specifically Track frames. Tiemeyer does sound like a great deal for a custom with fork and King HS plus the experience that follows it.

I know TK does amazing work, but I hadn't thought about a Track frame from him.

Tsunami I've heard good things about as well.





William

[cadence90]

Well, first off, to follow an 11.4 post is daunting indeed. His posts are always so expert and eloquent, and there you have your answer.

That said, all I can add is: +1.

From the pov of a non-track-rider, when I translated for the Italian team at the 2005 UCI Worlds in Carson, CA I was in the pits all day for 4 days, saw at least several Tiemeyers and talked to some riders about them: beautiful bikes, and very highly lauded by world-class users. Even Theo Bos, with his Koga, was liking them. What more can be said?

[William]

Well, first off, to follow an 11.4 post is daunting indeed. His posts are always so expert and eloquent, and there you have your answer.

That said, all I can add is: +1.




I agree. It's like a BigMac. Once it's done its thing, you're done. ;) I would say this subject is full of info. :)





William

[bigreen505]

Tiemeyer bikes are a great value, but not necessarily inexpensive. If you want the real deal, full package, come out and have him fit you. Make a little vacation out of it. For the price of the bike, a little more for a plane ticket will probably increase the value of the bike to you. I think part of what makes Tiemeyers so good is the careful and experienced frame building, but the other part is his careful and experienced fitting. Not all great frame builders are great fitters. With Tiemeyer you get a two for one. If you are going Tiemeyer, might as well go all the way.

[flydhest]

William,
You're East Coast, though, so Tom Kellogg is really the man. The days I've been racing at Trexlertown, you see Tiemeyer frames and everyone there is as positive on them as what the other posters have said. But, if you are ever down in the mid-Atlantic, TK is the man in so many ways. He and Jeff know track bikes inside and out. Plus, he's just an amazingly great guy. A true gentleman in every sense of the word. Just getting to talk with him (even, or perhaps especially if it's not about bikes) is a joy. Plus, he makes a mean set of ribs.

Anyway, no disrespect to Tiemeyer, just a lot of love for TK.