Who makes "reasonably priced" fillet brazed frames these days?

[phcollard]

Greetings (and a Happy New Year!)

I am definitely obsessed by fillet brazed frames. They're the sexiest thing on earth besides Natalie Portman.

So I'd like to gift myself with a new fillet brazed road frame. I have done my homework and found a few builders but I'd like to hear you if you think about one name in particular or if you've had a stellar experience with one builder. For a budget of around $2000.

So far I found Bilenky, Stijn Cycles in Belgium, Icarus frames. I was totally sold to Hampsten but they don't do fillet brazing (or I would get a Crema).

Thanks!

[eddief]

$1k plus fork:

http://meechcustombikes.blogspot.com/

that's way less than my Rex was 5 years ago, but no doubt about Steve Rex. for $2k Rex can blow your sox off. photo of original Rex build. some changes since. a little more upright with FSA Omega compact bars, Deda Jaguar green bar tape, Thomson 100 degree stem, Brooks, etc. big shots:
http://picasaweb.google.com/107231724174916923201/Rex#

[Jeff N.]

Land Shark. A little over 2K for F/F. Check their website. Jeff N.

[echelon_john]

steve garro is the fillet king.

www.coconinocycles.com

[bike22]

steve garro.

[thwart]

http://forums.thepaceline.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=77085&stc=1

God, that's a gorgeous bike...

... well, except for the bar tape. :cool:

[Bob Ross]

God, that's a gorgeous bike...

... well, except for the bar tape.


I kinda like the orange bar tape...but it really calls attention to how absurd "anatomical" (sic) bends are on handlebars.

[john903]

Good Morning,
My vote would be Curtlo. Doug Curtis in Winthrop, WA beautiful frames and ride oh so smooth. $1,100 for my Cyclocross/comuter convertable I can run fixed,single speed, or 1X9. Wait time was 8 months but I had other bikes to ride and it was well worth the wait. www.curtlo.com
Iam a computer moron and can not figure out how to attach the photos, but here are some pictures from a old post My Curtlo 7-31-2010 which LifeLover fixed for me (Thanks.) www.flicker.com/photos/vt903
Have a great day actually
Happy New Year Everyone.

[tamjam]

Personally I am a big fan of Rick Hunter's (http://huntercycles.com//) work.

[edmoses]

I am a fan of http://www.robertscycles.com/ - I have had two of their bikes over the years - a Master Pro race bike, with fillet brazing and an Audax bike.

They are based in London and if you look at the history they have been doing steel for a while!

Ed

[Wilkinson4]

Fred at Wolfhound does great fillet as well! As far as the cheapest, Curtlo would be a great choice or howabout Mark Nobilette? Or Eric at Winter? What size?

This frame has been available for a long time:

http://www.thebikestand.com/Chamberlain.html

mIKE

[DogpawSlim]

I'd vote for Curtlo. He seems to be one of the cheapest custom builders around. I had a Curtlo single speed 29er and while the joints had small flaws, the price to performance ratio couldn't be beat.

For a 2k budget, you could either get a built custom Curtlo, or a really, really nice frame.

[thwart]

Iam a computer moron and can not figure out how to attach the photos, Sweet bike! PM me if you need to know more about posting pics...

[alancw3]

don walker. don't know his prices but i have seen his filet brazed workmanship. if i wanted a filet brazed bike i would differently contact him.

http://www.donwalkercycles.com/frames/

[jlwdm]

Greetings (and a Happy New Year!)

I am definitely obsessed by fillet brazed frames. They're the sexiest thing on earth besides Natalie Portman.

...


Thanks!

Your lost me on the "sexiest" part when you mentioned Natalie Portman.

Jeff

[bicycletricycle]

i have seen some of these in the past and they are very well made.
www.lyonsport.com

[bicycletricycle]

Circle A also makes some very nice bicycles. they are the local builder here and do a nice fillet. They also do amazing paint in house. Putting a deposit down next week :)
www.circleacycles.com

[Fixed]

Sweet bike! PM me if you need to know more about posting pics...
oerfect imho
cheers

[rphetteplace]

Slawta or Rex at that pricepoint hands down.

[SoCalSteve]

John Slawta of Landshark has been building fillet brazed bikes a very looooong time. His bikes are works of art, each one completely individual from the next....and, his prices are very reasonable.

[dbh]

Yamaguchi. $1800 for a fillet frame and fork. Hard to find similar quality in that price range.

[fourflys]

John Slawta of Landshark has been building fillet brazed bikes a very looooong time. His bikes are works of art, each one completely individual from the next....and, his prices are very reasonable.

+1 on Landshark... he's good enough to have built a few rebadged pro's bikes as well as a few of Levi's current bikes...

[phcollard]

Thanks all for the replies. Two pages, wow, great forum :)

All very nice bikes you suggested me here... I visited all the websites and so far I can say either Steve Rex or Circle A. Not that the others don't look good but I fell in immediate love with those two.

Nobody mentioned those guys : http://www.signalcycles.com/bikes.php

Anyone knows them??

[eddief]

holy cromoly. nice.

look at this:

[oldguy00]

Yamaguchi. $1800 for a fillet frame and fork. Hard to find similar quality in that price range.

Another vote for Yamaguchi

[Wilkinson4]

How about these guys? Hall of Fame pedigree and a low price.

http://www.senderocycles.com/pricing.htm

Or, you can always order a tig frame from Paul Taylor :crap:

mIKE

[EricEstlund]

Hey Mike, thank's for the nod-

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4144/4947513558_7fd1db18d5.jpg

[Wilkinson4]

Eric's Fillet vs. Natalie Portman... Fillet all day long:)

mIKE

[fourflys]

I've seen Eric's bikes in person a couple of times and talked with him as well.. all I can say is CLASS and CLASSY....

[rockdude]

Mark Nobilette is the Master.

[Jack Brunk]

Dave Kirk Hands down. Garro on a mtn frame is king.

[Lifelover]

For the 2K range I can not think of a more accomplished builder that Slawta. Landsharks can have crazy, wild paint jobs or conservative paint jobs. Either way, the fillets are as nice as any.

Curtlo does great stuff as well and his prices are even a little lower.

Remove the 2K budget and Dave Kirk has the vast range of experience matched but nobody else in the industry. He can do it all but prefers fillets.

[mosca]

I'm curious about Tim Neenan at Lighthouse Cycles. Good price for fillet-brazed frames and he's definitely got the experience in the biz. Worth a look IMO.

[salem]

Newer builder for others, but he's been building his own bike for a few years, is Bob Spooner of Belltown Bikes in CT. He's switched to fillet brazing because He like the look better, but I saw some of his early personal TIG bikes and they were some of the cleanest welds I've ever seen.

Bob is an engineer by trade and took the plunge of buying the insurance to build for others after so many were asking him to build their frame. He is very creative and precise with his builds; they are some of the most interesting I've seen after many years. I believe his pricing is around $1500.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belltownbikes/
(If you go to the archives, you can find a lot more bikes that aren't on his main page.)