Your Experience w/ Black Sheep - riding & business

[jcs7282]

Hey PL,

After doing some pretty deep searching and not finding too much detail, wanted to ask: do any PLers have solid experience owning/riding and/or doing business with Black Sheep bikes? Considering a ti replacement for a carbon HT and the klunker style frames have always caught my eye...

What I have learned via PL search suggests the bikes ride well and are generally well-built/crafted. But, would love to hear any hands-on experience you want to share.

Equally, if not more so, interested in any direct experience folks can share about the business side of dealing with the company. Knowing from past experience how things can go sideways with a custom frame (i.e., unresponsiveness after sending a deposit...) just trying to get a temperature check on how folks have found the business side of the experience to be...

Many thanks in advance for sharing...

[jimcav]

but I have a blacksheep northdam Ti road bike and it is an awesome bike. Rides great and impressive welds if you admire such things.
I got it here off the classifieds. It is a bit too low up front now due to my neck issues, but I've kept it in case either son wanted a bike for college. It came to me as a dingle speed, and being unpainted Ti with both Ti fork and Ti seatpost is zero worry (and hopefully utilitarian looking that thieves would not target it over the more ubiquitous e-bikes).

[hokoman]

I ordered some custom parts from James, the last being custom ti bars for my wife's bike several years ago. He was great to work with, and was shipped earlier than expected. We exchanged a couple messages regarding measurements, but everything was easy. I've never heard/read a bad thing about his operation, and I wouldn't hesitate to order a bike from him from my past interactions.

[nmrt]

I bought a 26er (Yes, 26er!) from Black Sheep in 2011 (?). Met James at his FoCo location and we hit it off. He is a nice guy. Over the years, I bought Ti handlebars and a Ti seatpost. I also bought a Ti unicrown fork from him. Each time, the transaction was pleasant. But the delivery date did move quite a bit.

But these experiences were well over 7-8 years back.

[PJN]

James is legit as it comes.

[Matt92037]

Solid dude. It’s been a while since I have done business with him but my transaction went well.

[SlowPokePete]

I've got a Ti mountain bike handlebar I just got from James a couple of months ago. I'm also about to place my order for a fork for this bike....it's a Ti Kona Raijin.

Also, the fork, rack, and one piece bar and stem on my Lynskey gravel bike were made by James.

He's a great guy, and extremely talented builder.

SPP

[jcs7282]

Great feedback here (as usual...), thanks all.