Opinions, please: Allied Cycles

[Big Dan]

Originally Posted by Burnette

I'm reading about them now just like you. Judging them solely on one investor is to miss the product and story on a metric that the vast majority will not care about or base purchase choice for or against it.

Manufacturing in the US is still a tough gig, props to Allied for giving it a go.

How do you know what I know?
You have no clue about me or the stupid bikes.It figures.
Who are you to question how people spend their money?
Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is.
Go all in big guy.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by Big Dan

How do you know what I know?
So you have no clue.It figures.
Who are you to question how people spend their money?
Maybe you should put your money where your mouth is.
Go all in big guy.

I think you got me wrong here. I never directed one post to you personally, never said I knew what you now, I don't question other people on how they spend their money and I'm not in the market to buy a bike, I'm on a bicycle forum talking about bikes.

Go all in big guy? Really? I have no idea what you're on about and why you seem ill.

[Big Dan]

Originally Posted by Burnette

I think you got me wrong here. I never directed one post to you personally, never said I knew what you now, I don't question other people on how they spend their money and I'm not in the market to buy a bike, I'm on a bicycle forum talking about bikes.

Go all in big guy? Really? I have no idea what you're on about and why you seem ill.

Your quote:
"I'm reading about them now just like you"

How do you know, what I know...big guy?

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by Big Dan

Your quote:
"I'm reading about them now just like you"

How do you know, what I know...big guy?

OK, this must be a joke.

[Big Dan]

Originally Posted by Burnette

OK, this must be a joke.

That's what you wrote.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by Big Dan

That's what you wrote.
Wow, weak sauce buddy.
You know how many bicycle companies come and go?

Is this trolling?

[FlashUNC]

Originally Posted by Burnette

Looking at my 401k and all of the companies that are in my index fund I guess by your reasoning me and millions of investors are just awful.

Again, such outliers that beat that drum to death will have no bearing on the outcome of Allied's fortunes.

Having a couple shares in an index fund from a company who's balance sheet dwarfs that of most countries is a bit different from sitting across the table from an investment company whose funds ostensibly come from the Wal-Mart family fortune, and taking the check.

Quite right, whether I buy one or not will have little bearing on their success. But this approach of "bigger than a one man shop, smaller than the big guys" approach has eaten up a lot of bike companies. They bought tooling from one of those failed examples. The odds are against them.

I wish them luck, but putting aside the business funding qualms, their geometry doesn't scratch any itch I have.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

Having a couple shares in an index fund from a company who's balance sheet dwarfs that of most countries is a bit different from sitting across the table from an investment company whose funds ostensibly come from the Wal-Mart family fortune, and taking the check.

Quite right, whether I buy one or not will have little bearing on their success. But this approach of "bigger than a one man shop, smaller than the big guys" approach has eaten up a lot of bike companies. They bought tooling from one of those failed examples. The odds are against them.

I wish them luck, but putting aside the business funding qualms, their geometry doesn't scratch any itch I have.

I gotta sayFlashUNC, after that weird mess above, your post is refreshing as in I understand it!

And yes, the bicycle market is too crowded IMO and to get someone to look your product over another, well, there's only so much difference you can make to the bike it's self. Again, IMO they have to deliver as fast and as cheap as the other direct sellers that have scale. That's a tough ask.

From a US and underdog perspective, I too wish Allied well.

[bigbill]

I think I had the last steel Argonaut which was lost almost two years ago when Southwest Frameworks burned down. Ben went towards custom carbon because the custom steel market was saturated and there was really only so much a builder could do with tubing to distinguish him/herself. I like what Argonaut is doing with carbon but holy cow it's expensive. I like what Allied has done, bringing US carbon to the market but it's still a niche market. Your typical US rider will still buy a giantspecialtrekcanyondale.

[Burnette]

Originally Posted by bigbill

I think I had the last steel Argonaut which was lost almost two years ago when Southwest Frameworks burned down. Ben went towards custom carbon because the custom steel market was saturated and there was really only so much a builder could do with tubing to distinguish him/herself. I like what Argonaut is doing with carbon but holy cow it's expensive. I like what Allied has done, bringing US carbon to the market but it's still a niche market. Your typical US rider will still buy a giantspecialtrekcanyondale.

I remember a frame maker wrote in a post that the first thing he asked an aspiring frame maker was, "why would anybody buy a frame made by you?" It was and is an excellent question to anyone getting into the business.
As you say, to there's only so much you can do to stick out.

Looking at Allied's site, they are close in price to Canyon but do so by using lower cost components like Ultegra group and HED Belgium wheels, so they lose out there. Allied does have the color options but playing with the build my choice raised the price $500. To be fair, Canyon uses some proprietary pieces to reach their number.

I agree that the big three will not be phased by Allied but they will eyeball Canyon hard. Canyon is bigger, has scale and it's distribution is dialed, it has name recognition, a pretty good image and a helluva price.

[bitpuddle]

Originally Posted by FriarQuade

The manufacturing world is changing. Products coming out of Asia have gone up a lot in price. Plus you have to pay for them before they get shipped so you've got cash tied up for 6-8 weeks while the product is in transit. When you realize that you can domestically manufacture a bike part in the US in half the time it would be on the water and without the import hassell, QC challenges, cash flow hurdles and language barrier it starts to make the gap A LOT narrower than it was 2 decades ago when all the production went over there.

This, and in theory, the vertical integration would allow Allied to iterate/introduce change more quickly.

An Alpha is definitely on my short list for next bike, buy there are so many nice frames available now. They have a lot of competition.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by FlashUNC

The Waltons own 51% of Wal-Mart. The family still has ultimate control over the business decisions of the company. They built a $170 billion family fortune off a business that wreaked havoc across communities nationwide.

So yeah...cash the checks and all that. But plenty of bike companies don't take Walton money.

The consumer-direct company is part-owned by RZC, the investment vehicle that recently bought Rapha of the UK.

RZC was founded by two members of the billionaire Walmart dynasty, Steuart and Tom Walton, both grandsons of Sam, the retailer's founder. They are passionate mountain bikers – through their love of cycling the Walton Family Foundation has contributed $13 million toward MTB trails in Northwest Arkansas.

The grandsons were born into the Walton family and are doing a lot for cycling in Arkansas. BTW, their investment company, RZC, also owns Rapha. I’d love to peek in the closets of those bashing Allied because it took investment from Walton heirs.

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/rap...-in-usa/021715

http://RZCwww.bicycleretailer.com/in...a#.Wj-kxfFOnmo

[Bruce K]

OK gang

This discussion should be able to take place with personal attacks and the chippiness (you get the point) that has popped up in this discussion.

Let’s try to keep calm and discuss this civilly.

‘‘Tis the season...

BK

[djg21]

Originally Posted by J. Anquetil

There is a new brand of carbon-fiber frames being built in the US: Allied Cycles. Anyone has any opinions/experiences, etc., please...? Thank you.

I got home from work today and there was a big box waiting for me on the porch. . My new Allied Alpha, built with eTap, was waiting for me.

Allied has packing down to a science: the bike was completely built and well packed in an oversized bike box. All I had to do was take it out of the box, peel off the thin foam sleeves protecting the tubes, attach bottle cages, put the front wheel on, and install the seat and seatpost. Allied even supplied a small package of grease for the seatpost.

The only hitch was getting the derailleurs to shift. I ultimately realized after a few minutes that eTap ships without batteries installed in the derailleurs. The batteries were in a SRAM box with the battery charger and other SRAM paraphernalia that I failed to see in the bike box in my excitement.

The bike is beautiful, and eTap is really slick, granted I’ve only checked it out on my workstand.

I also love Ti, haven ridden Merlin, Litespeed and most recently, a custom Lynskey R440 that I have loved. I wanted a carbon bike, and the Allied had the longish toptube and geometry that I prefer and looked to be building really nice stuff.

Allied also made the choice pretty easy by virtue of its guarantee — if I don’t like the bike, I can return it for a refund no questions asked within a reasonable period from the delivery date. I scheduled the bike to be delivered in March, but of course I get it just in time for the second “bombogenesis” storm of the season. Hopefully it will just rain here and clean the salt off the roads, then warm up quickly.

[hollowgram5]

Originally Posted by djg21

I got home from work today and there was a big box waiting for me on the porch. . My new Allied Alpha, built with eTap, was waiting for me.

Allied has packing down to a science: the bike was completely built and well packed in an oversized bike box. All I had to do was take it out of the box, peel off the thin foam sleeves protecting the tubes, attach bottle cages, put the front wheel on, and install the seat and seatpost. Allied even supplied a small package of grease for the seatpost.

The only hitch was getting the derailleurs to shift. I ultimately realized after a few minutes that eTap ships without batteries installed in the derailleurs. The batteries were in a SRAM box with the battery charger and other SRAM paraphernalia that I failed to see in the bike box in my excitement.

The bike is beautiful, and eTap is really slick, granted I’ve only checked it out on my workstand.

I also love Ti, haven ridden Merlin, Litespeed and most recently, a custom Lynskey R440 that I have loved. I wanted a carbon bike, and the Allied had the longish toptube and geometry that I prefer and looked to be building really nice stuff.

Allied also made the choice pretty easy by virtue of its guarantee — if I don’t like the bike, I can return it for a refund no questions asked within a reasonable period from the delivery date. I scheduled the bike to be delivered in March, but of course I get it just in time for the second “bombogenesis” storm of the season. Hopefully it will just rain here and clean the salt off the roads, then warm up quickly.

Your bike looks stellar, and you aren't making the resistance of the short trip down the road to Little Rock to see their operation any easier.

That orange fade looks great! One of my favorite colors by far.