Titanium Bike: Firefly, Others?

[nmrt]

talk to the builders. See who "speaks" to you. Analyze ease of working with builder, the product, the price, timeline and choose one. Of the ones listed in this thread, you really cannot pick one builder who is better than others in their craft.

Then make a deposit!

Originally Posted by Sawas

I mean, I could wait ~3 months for something nice. The FF 13-15 months is just not reasonable I think.

[Black Dog]

T-Lab

[dbnm]

Alchemy is building a bike for me right now. They have a sale of $1000 off until May 1. I think the current wait time is 8 weeks.

https://alchemybicycles.com/

[Mike V]

Lifetime warranty to me doesn't mean much anymore.

My Merlin has a lifetime warranty but I can't find anyone to homer it.

[Sawas]

Originally Posted by Black Dog

T-Lab

I actually looked very very closely at t-lab initially. They have the shaped tubing on their bikes. I haven't ridden one and there isn't really information on what if any benefit there is to the shaped tubing. Aside from that, they look attractive.

[Mike V]

Potts

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by Sawas

I mean, I could wait ~3 months for something nice. The FF 13-15 months is just not reasonable I think.

Reasonable when compared to the wait for a Sachs (when he was taking orders )

But, yeah, I see your point. Glad found out about Firefly when I did 8 yrs ago (FF134]

[CTracer]

I have had a Moots and I currently have a No 22. Can't go wrong with either but I prefer the No 22. Once you start looking at FF, Seven, No 22, Mosaic, Moots, etc. you are splitting hairs a bit. All are going to be great but you just need to find which one pushes your buttons. Always fun working on a new project!!

[Sawas]

Originally Posted by Tony T

Reasonable when compared to the wait for a Sachs (when he was taking orders

But, yeah, I see your point. Glad found out about them when I did 8 yrs ago (FF134]

So are you still happy with your bike after all these years?

[dbnm]

I suspect 22 now has a sizable wait time since they ran their sale last month.

Beautiful bikes and as mentioned, what do you want the most?

[mistermo]

I believe Mosaic has a 6 wk wait. Alliance can also do it somewhat quickly, I believe.

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by Sawas

So are you still happy with your bike after all these years?

Absolutely. Doesn’t seem like 8 years, surprised myself when I looked up when I bought it. I remember that FF guys were great to work with.
Back then, Moots was my 2nd choice.

[JonB]

Check out Kualis cycles from Japan. Looks like he got his start @ Seven Cycles and has since moved to Japan.

I've been following his work on Instagram for a few years and there's some impressive welding, anodizing and paint.


http://www.kualiscycles.com

[nmrt]

I have a No22. It is a great bike.

If I were to get a different bike, I would go with a builder who would customize the bike (tubes, butting diameter etc) for my weight and riding style especially when there is no price difference between a true custom builder (Bingham, Strong, DeSalvo) and stock or semi-custom (Moots, No22, T-Lab etc). Of course I realize that Moots, No22, and T-lab can be had custom but they mostly deal with stock sizes and charge more for custom.

Again, nothing wrong at all with stock builders. I love my No22! It is just that i would like a different bike building experience second time around, meaning working with a custom bike builder. :-)

Originally Posted by Sawas

So are you still happy with your bike after all these years?

[buddybikes]

Where do you live? Can you visit FF (after Covid) to get a fitting in house?

This was my decision back in 2015. They saw me ride my old bike, got me up on their serotta? machine and manipulated. I didn't go with trends on tubing sizes and such (have std size head tube). This whole thing made easier than sending drawings back and forth continually. I actually went in twice, once for initial sizing and once right before the build.
I also went with FF for personal long term connection in Boston area.

this is what they built me (was their 3rd? carbon/ti) (wheels different and the made me seatpost with anodizing not shown. Personally I think it is the prettiest seat stay arrangement that I have ever seen: https://www.flickr.com/photos/firefl...7636160361504/