Why so little love for Calfee?

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Is that like an e-ticket ride?

I have zero expectations, just curiosity.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

If yours is like mine it will ride very smoothly and not be especially stiff YMMV

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by mtechnica

If yours is like mine it will ride very smoothly and not be especially stiff YMMV

I think they use stiffer tubes on 60cm and up - but who knows what this one was built with..?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Two years and a month later, this itch has been scratched..

Nabbed what appears to be a NOS or built-and-never-ridden Tetra Pro off of The Pros Closet for a song.

I've seen plenty of these come up on eBay over the years, but almost all have been clear-coated or had something funky going on - and have been more than I wanted to spend.

So now I get to tick another box, enjoy a nice mechanical, externally-routed build, and see how I get on with this interesting hand-built beast of a bike. There are a lot more details to show on this one and the finish is really cool, but here are a couple quick ones from the unboxing. Those are 25mm tubs for reference..

Also, the pic is making the STA look whacky, it's a straightforward 72.5-STA, 73.5-HTA. And I think just their standard 62cm geometry.

Good for you. WE at Vecchio's sold them for along time and the early gen Tetra, DragonFly and Luna were/are great frames..then craig lost his mind, pissed off his entire workforce and then started his march to the stuff that pandas eat-bamboo. Working with him, and the raft of poor QCed frames we got, became a nightmare..and adios Calfee..BUT, if he's had just stuck to the 'do one thing and do it well'...nice carbon frames, he would still be in the frame biz with a dealer network today.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Good for you. WE at Vecchio's sold them for along time and the early gen Tetra, DragonFly and Luna were/are great frames..then craig lost his mind, pissed off his entire workforce and then started his march to the stuff that pandas eat-bamboo. Working with him, and the raft of poor QCed frames we got, became a nightmare..and adios Calfee..BUT, if he's had just stuck to the 'do one thing and do it well'...nice carbon frames, he would still be in the frame biz with a dealer network today.

Interesting info. From the little I've seen, the work Craig has done in under-served nations and his insistence on moving in the direction of sustainability with materials and manufacturing are more than noble and something it would be nice to see more in the industry doing. But of course a business must maintain viability and deliver its core product, or it can't continue to support those other priorities. Hopefully at this point (I know it's been a few years removed for you now) they've turned things in a better direction with their manufacturing and QC. It appears they have. The new bikes they are turning out are beautiful. It seems they are still doing good business with refinishing and repairing carbon too. Anyway, I'm excited to give this one a whirl and see how it performs for me.

[rallizes]

62cm??

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by rallizes

62cm??

I think so. May be custom geometry. TPC had it listed as a 22cm headtube, 60cm toptube, and the 73.5/72.5 angles. They are often off a bit though. A 62cm classic Calfee geometry would have those angles and a 59.3 TT with a 20cm headtube. I didn't have my tape measure with me when unboxing. Guess I'll find out when I start building!

[katematt]

Put in 81 road/gravel miles in NW NJ yesterday on my 20 YO Tetra P that was originally sold out of Vecchios and purchased from the Boulder Craigslist.

FWIW the 2017 Tarmac stayed home as the Calfee is generally preferred.

Thinking about sending it to Calfee for a inspection and paint, but I can't bare to part with it for too long.

[Saxon]

My 20 yo Tetra is still my main ride. I've been on more modern bikes to see what I'm missing, but haven't found another CF bike to lure me away yet. I thought I was having some problems with my frame a few years ago, but it just turned out to be a bulge in the rear tire.

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Good for you. WE at Vecchio's sold them for along time and the early gen Tetra, DragonFly and Luna were/are great frames..then craig lost his mind, pissed off his entire workforce and then started his march to the stuff that pandas eat-bamboo. Working with him, and the raft of poor QCed frames we got, became a nightmare..and adios Calfee..BUT, if he's had just stuck to the 'do one thing and do it well'...nice carbon frames, he would still be in the frame biz with a dealer network today.

I had a Luna s/n 2xx circa 1999. Ultegra triple 9sp rolling on 32h OP's. It was an ok bike - beautiful cab red fade paint that chipped so easily.

Dragonfly and then the other frames had a lot of production issues mid-2000's and despite only being 30 miles from the factory just about every LBS around here dropped him.

The manta is pretty cool - it works - but $$$

NO ONE around here rides Calfee anymore, unless it is a tandem.

[benb]

Nice bikes but why does it matter if your bike gets props here or anywhere else on the internet? If you have one and you like it that's all that should really matter!

I don't know why you would compare these to a Trek or a Giant made in Taiwan and be concerned about the Trek/Giant being higher performance.

The whole lugged construction with CF was never a high tech or desirable way to make frames for any reason except ease of making custom frames.... the march forward with CF frames has basically been the big companies who primarily manufacture in Taiwan steadily figuring out how to mold the CF frames out of fewer and fewer pieces to take ever more advantage of the properties of carbon. The complete opposite of the lugged construction.

Lugged construction is great for custom.. but if the stock bike from overseas fits you well the lugged custom bike is only an upgrade if you like having a less common bike. (You could argue lugged CF frames were what brought Serotta to its knees IMO.)

Definitely it's always regional with these smaller companies. We don't see many Calfee's here in the Boston area. But you'll see a Seven almost ever day you go for a ride... cause Seven is here. Most of us if we're going to buy from a small regional company that customizes stuff it makes way more sense to stay local, the advantages are too large.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by benb

The whole lugged construction with CF was never a high tech or desirable way to make frames for any reason except ease of making custom frames.... the march forward with CF frames has basically been the big companies who primarily manufacture in Taiwan steadily figuring out how to mold the CF frames out of fewer and fewer pieces to take ever more advantage of the properties of carbon. The complete opposite of the lugged construction.

Lugged construction is great for custom.. but if the stock bike from overseas fits you well the lugged custom bike is only an upgrade if you like having a less common bike. (You could argue lugged CF frames were what brought Serotta to its knees IMO.)

IDK man have you ridden a good lugged carbon bike? I would hesitate to claim they are inferior (besides probably being heavier) or don't employ properties of CF. Not to mention a tetra pro for example will almost certainly stand up to long term use better than a modern lightweight mass produced frame ever could.

[benb]

Originally Posted by mtechnica

IDK man have you ridden a good lugged carbon bike? I would hesitate to claim they are inferior (besides probably being heavier) or don't employ properties of CF. Not to mention a tetra pro for example will almost certainly stand up to long term use better than a modern lightweight mass produced frame ever could.

These kind of claims always seem to be anecdotal.

You might be right, but you might be wrong.

There's probably no one at the little companies even keeping count, and the sample size is too low.

And besides.. the bikes from the little companies likely don't get treated as roughly. They're expensive and precious, hard to replace, and probably bought by older clientele that doesn't buy them for racing and takes better care of them.

Yes I've ridden and owned a bunch of CF bikes of various construction and IMO there's no comparison.. the stuff monocoque stuff has always been considerably better controlling for fit. I pretty much always walked away with the bike with fewer molded parts when it came down to 2 bikes that both worked on geometry.

"Better" is super subjective anyway. Probably fine to say a particular Calfee (surely they're all different) was more comfortable/compliant than a Tarmac but probably ridiculous if you compared it to a Domane. And then everything comes down to which of those 3 bikes fit you best anyway. If the Calfee is custom made for you and you need custom fit it's going to seem better in every variable just cause the fit makes such a drastic difference compared to most of the stuff bike companies market.

I don't know.. unless you can prove some other inferiority lighter always seems to preferred with frames for most riders. Lighter is very objective.. most of these other things are not, we can't necessary prove lighter mass produced modern frames are less safe or reliable for example.

[mtechnica]

Originally Posted by benb

I don't know.. unless you can prove some other inferiority lighter always seems to preferred with frames for most riders. Lighter is very objective.. most of these other things are not, we can't necessary prove lighter mass produced modern frames are less safe or reliable for example.

The tetra pro was designed specifically for good impact resistance and overall durability by a guy renown for repairing CF frames, also evidenced by tons of 20+ yr old ones still being ridden with tons of miles on them and holding up perfectly, I think it's safe to say they are objectively more "reliable" and longer lasting. He also used titanium as to not react with the CF. It's not the lightest thing because there is material beyond the bare minimum for the structure like a lot of molded frames.

I'm not trying to sound like a fanboy I'm just saying.

Also I'd put my particular tetra pro up against anything for ride quality including steel bikes, but it's not as stiff FEELING for hard use as a lot of things - especially the front end. I'm not saying it's the end all be all but I think they're severely underestimated.

[Clean39T]

My interest in them is pure fascination. I'm not an engineer - but I do appreciate design. And to me, these are just really neat - so I've wanted to give one a try, get to see it up close, and revel in the oddity of it all.

[Mike V]

I have been looking for one of those with a 53/54 top tube for years.

Interested to hear your impression.