has anyone seen a more beautiful bike than this?

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

You're trusting them with carbon and aluminum every time you fly a Dreamliner or Boeing plane. The 787 Dreamliner wing spar was made in China and then shipped to the US(Washington). Boeing found out that China screwed up the placement of some holes on the wing. Thomson had to do the refitting. They rearranged the shop floor and made a special section for them to get worked on. They had to drill holes and fit new pieces they were making in-house for the wings. They also had to do carbon lay-up on them.

Thomson has been doing carbon for 20 years. The first carbon bars and seatposts were designed and made in-house. Same with the ti bars and posts. Then it was Lynskey making the ti parts Then the carbon and ti parts shifted to Asia. Lynskey couldn't do the bars and post consistently without issues/failure and the carbon parts, they ruled they didn't have the time to do it. They started the carbon stuff at the time the wing spars came in. They didn't have the space and manpower to do both. So they shifted it overseas. It is a proprietary design though.

They do do things right. There is a ton of Thomson made parts on planes we scoot around on.

Clearly all the smart engineers are working for the sister company then.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Clearly all the smart engineers are working for the sister company then.

Which sister company? Boeing? If you mean them, they goofed up the original design. China just followed the design but got the blame. And don't get me going on the 737 MAX. Ugh!

[AJosiahK]

Chris does some truly excellent work. Met him at a swapmeet way way back in Trexlertown and he couldn't have been nicer. This particular colorway doesn't really do it for me but the lines and angles on this rig are a delight.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

Which sister company? Boeing? If you mean them, they goofed up the original design. China just followed the design but got the blame. And don't get me going on the 737 MAX. Ugh!

From Thomson's own website. LH Thomson is the sister company. More realistically the parent company.

And whatever work their parent/sister org does in aerospace doesn't change the fact their bike stuff leaves a lot to be desired.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

From Thomson's own website. LH Thomson is the sister company. More realistically the parent company.

And whatever work their parent/sister org does in aerospace doesn't change the fact their bike stuff leaves a lot to be desired.

So Thomson was started by LH Thomson. They got bought by Boeing and then sold back to Ronnie. They are owned by the Thomson Family and Ronnie's kid Brian runs it now since his dad died. I don't remember the date they bought it back but it was in the 80's I think. The bike people and plane/parts people are the same. Ronnie designed all the bike parts cause of his daughter and the cycling team she was on.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

So Thomson was started by LH Thomson. They got bought by Boeing and then sold back to Ronnie. They are owned by the Thomson Family and Ronnie's kid Brian runs it now since his dad died. I don't remember the date they bought it back but it was in the 80's I think. The bike people and plane/parts people are the same. Ronnie designed all the bike parts cause of his daughter and the cycling team she was on.

Don't care. Their bike parts are junk.

[joosttx]

Originally Posted by Velocipede

The bike people and plane/parts people are the same.

I think knowing this gives me more pause about getting on a plane than the Covid virus. Ugh.

[colker]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Thomson can't get alloy bits right, no way I'd ever trust them with carbon.

Huh? Their in line seatpost is the standard on mountain bikes: light, tough and better than Syncros which was the standard before. The Thomson post is on every mountain biking which does not have a dropper... and then the Thomson dropper is one of the best out there.
Their titanium handlebars are excellent.
Their stems don´t enjoy the same success but even then they are also everywhere.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by colker

Huh? Their in line seatpost is the standard on mountain bikes: light, tough and better than Syncros which was the standard before. The Thomson post is on every mountain biking which does not have a dropper... and then the Thomson dropper is one of the best out there.
Their titanium handlebars are excellent.
Their stems don´t enjoy the same success but even then they are also everywhere.

And the Syncros posts were a two piece and the insert would cause the post to split. Syncros and Thomson were the posts to buy in the 90's. Then Syncros folded and it was just Thomson after. They still are to a point. I've personally never had an issue with any Thomson parts and I've had them since 94(seatpost). I know plenty of people who have no issues and yes, there are people who do. I think it's just the way it is with everything out there. I know quite a few pros who were riding Thomson posts and stems and had to put black tape over it because they weren't the sponsors. An entire team did it replacing their 3TTT posts and stems cause they were unhappy with them.

It's like the Shimano cranks thing. I've never had them split but I know people who have and others are like, it's totally operator error. The Thomson Dropper is excellent. They've had nothing like what Rock Shox and others have had happen. I was in the SRAM Lab back when they had the Reverb recall. They would fill a 55 gallon barrel every other day. In the summer it was every day for a month straight. Thomson hasn't had that for their dropper.

Like everything, it's personal preference. I like Thomson stuff. Not everything, but a lot of it. Just like I like certain SRAM things. Same with Shimano. It is what it is in the end.

[Drmojo]

Originally Posted by Llewellyn

I prefer my frame from Dazza

abso frickin lutely

[Seramount]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Don't care. Their bike parts are junk.

hmmm, always liked my Thomson silver seat post...good price point, aesthetics, saddle adjustment.

guess I'll toss it now...

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by colker

Their titanium handlebars are excellent.
Their stems don´t enjoy the same success but even then they are also everywhere.

[s]Word on the street was that Thomson just rebranded some titanium handlebars made overseas and upsold folks.[/s]

Edit: above rumor was incorrect, please see Velocipede's commend below: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showp...9&postcount=90

Secondly, I wonder if Thomson stems are everywhere simply because folks like to pair stems and seatposts.

[kiwisimon]

this thread drifted quick.

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by colker

Huh? Their in line seatpost is the standard on mountain bikes: light, tough and better than Syncros which was the standard before. The Thomson post is on every mountain biking which does not have a dropper... and then the Thomson dropper is one of the best out there.
Their titanium handlebars are excellent.
Their stems don´t enjoy the same success but even then they are also everywhere.

Originally Posted by Seramount

hmmm, always liked my Thomson silver seat post...good price point, aesthetics, saddle adjustment.

guess I'll toss it now...

Seen entirely too many stem plate and seat posts cracked from them. No thanks.

Enjoy 'em and go buy a lottery ticket.

[Velocipede]

Originally Posted by slowpoke

Word on the street was that Thomson just rebranded some titanium handlebars made overseas and upsold folks. I'm sure there's better customer support buying a "Thomson" than finding one on eBay/Alibaba yourself, but it's not like Thomson is innovating there.

Secondly, I wonder if Thomson stems are everywhere simply because folks like to pair stems and seatposts.

I was at Thomson when the designs were being done. They absolutely did not just go to Asia and rebranded some bars.

The first bars were designed and made in house. But it was too expensive and too time consuming. Mark Lynskey was doing some custom frames for Thomson and David asked him about the bar. Mark said sure, I can do it but the failure rate was higher, the cost was not as high but still high and he couldn't get things quite right.

David went to Asia and sourced the bar from someone who was able to consistently make the bar to spec and to testing standards. It's a design he came up with and pushed for. Not a rebranded piece.

As for the stems, lots of people bought them cause they had more sizes and options than anyone else. They were a go to like Salsa was in the 90's for fitting. And most people want things to match. Another reason why people buy them. I like the looks of the stems though.