Anyone else own a Black Mountain Cycles bike?
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After building up his road frame last June, I got hooked on his frames. This time around I decided to get one built by the man himself.
Thanks again to @dr_lha for turning me on to them.
#27
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Me too, if I ever make it out that way, I will stop by to shake his hand.
After building up his road frame last June, I got hooked on his frames. This time around I decided to get one built by the man himself.
Thanks again to @dr_lha for turning me on to them.
After building up his road frame last June, I got hooked on his frames. This time around I decided to get one built by the man himself.
Thanks again to @dr_lha for turning me on to them.
Mike Varley should be sending me a commission.
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I don't see them talked about too much around here. @dr_lha turned me on to the company/Mike Varley when he did his MonsterCross build.
That led me to do a road bike build of my own which has turned into my favorite bike I've ever owned.
Attachment 547338
I like it so much that I've decided to sell off my gravel bike and my touring bike to fund building up a single gravel/touring bike next using his forthcoming MonsterCross frames.
Attachment 547339
Anyone else out there own one of Mike's cool bikes?
That led me to do a road bike build of my own which has turned into my favorite bike I've ever owned.
Attachment 547338
I like it so much that I've decided to sell off my gravel bike and my touring bike to fund building up a single gravel/touring bike next using his forthcoming MonsterCross frames.
Attachment 547339
Anyone else out there own one of Mike's cool bikes?
#29
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Check out the frame differences here:
Frames - Black Mountain Cycles
Aside from the differences in the frame, it has gravel tires, more climbing gears, mini-V brakes, racks, possible fenders, etc.
Frames - Black Mountain Cycles
Aside from the differences in the frame, it has gravel tires, more climbing gears, mini-V brakes, racks, possible fenders, etc.
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Isn't it?
Years ago I almost bought an emerald green Torelli with chromed fork crowns. It was $650 for the frame. I was on the verge of buying it but didn't. Now I kick myself as it was a beautiful paint job and lugged steel frame.
Looking at the black cherry paint sure reminds me of how I screwed up.
#33
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So these are foreign made frames? Though it was not posted, I got the wrong impression thinking they were domestic.
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So mine is a V4. The V5 came stateside March or so of '16 with the Pacenti fork crown and different geometry sizing. The newest frames(yours, i would guess) is apparently called V5.2 and from what I read last year, they would effectively be the same as V5 but with different colors.
Interesting that the script was used up until V5. Wonder if it was on all the earlier versions or introduced after a version or two?
Ive read that the script literally translates to 'Black Mountain Self Propelled Vehicle'. Not sure if there is no word on Mandarin for 'Cycles' or what.
#37
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They're made in Taiwan, much like most of the bikes you can buy today. He also sells USA made versions of the frames, but unsurprisingly they cost a lot more.
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I read something about his shop in the bay area and assumed they were made here figuring it was a frame building shop.
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As mentioned, they have a domestic frame that costs something like 3.5xmore money. Domestic steel, domestic machined bits, domestic built.
No chance the frame could be made domestically for the price they are sold.
I grew up riding japanese and taiwan built bikes and have a fascination and love for japanese frame building and component history. Because of that, i have no issue buying a frame made over there. Especially when its designed and sold by a small business owner here stateside.
But i get the desire to buy something thats built here.
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#44
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Those are some really nice bikes. Myself....I am a big Soma fan and looking at these bikes on this thread reminds me of certain models on the Soma Blog with their fancy vintage racks etc. Soma also has their frames manufactured in Taiwan and it is my understanding that other than USA made customs, Taiwan builds the better frames by far compared to China which usually builds frames for cheaper models. If I was in the market and had the money I most certainly would consider a Black Mountain frame just for some variety. Beautiful!!!!
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In general, I like to buy US-built products when I can. So with cycling, I got hooked on that concept for a while too. I bought and rode a few US-built frames. Then comparing them to the Black Mountain Taiwan-built road frame, I liked the Taiwanese stuff better and they are considerably less expensive. So I sold off my US built stuff and kept the Black Mountain Cycles road frame and bought one of their cross bikes as well.
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#49
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