rleite

My son has a chance to join a race team but would be required to purchase an Airborne bicycle. Does anyone have any information or advice concerning Airborne bikes or titanium frames in general? Also, is anyone familiar with Team Airborne or have any information on it? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

timnoles

Airborne
Here is a website I found doing a google search. Hope it helps.

Grampy™

I own an Airborne. Very good company to deal with. Good quality bikes at a somewhat reduced price as compared to Lightspeed, Merlin, Seven as well as some others. Whenever I have contacted them either by phone or e-mail I've always gotten a quick polite and helpful response. Their warrenty is one of the best in the business. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again.
Titanium bikes are more expensive than aluminium or some steel, but in my opinion it is worth it, having ridden all three. Just my .02 worth....

late

Hi,
I have an Airborne as well. It's a good company. But there is something I don't understand. Seems odd he has to buy an Airborne
to ride on their team. But I've never raced. Post a question about this situation in the racing forum and see what they say.

rleite

This was one of my concerns. All I can think of is that, as the primary name sponsor of the team, they don't want people riding in their jerseys but on different bikes. I'm new to all this, though, so I don't know. Anyway, thanks for the input.

shopdogg

I would not personally buy an Airborne, every frame (5) that has come in this year has had a crack where the top tube meets the seat tube. Buy a Litespeed, team or no team it's the best titanium frame by far.

Al.canoe

I'm just now building up an Airborne Carpe Diem. I wouldn't worry about the frame. They have a very nice guarantee. I have a friend who's wife is on the Air Force Racing team. They use Airborne.

Do a google search. You'll find few if any owner negatives. I did extensive searches to see what was out there before I bought a frame set. However, I only investigated two frames: the Valkyrie and the Carpe Diem.

Litespeed is a more sophisticated frame, they make more high-end frames/bikes and you pay a lot more for them. Litespeed Ti frames are 4 to 6 ounces lighter than Airbornes's in general.

The main reason I went Airborne is nobody makes a frame like a Carpe Diem, it was only a few hundred more than the equivalent steel frame and it seemed to be the best Ti value. It wasn't a cheapie, $1400 for the frameset.

Titanium is stronger than steel or Aluminum, generally the frames are lighter than steel, about the same as Aluminum and heavier than carbon. It doesn't corrode so most are not painted, just polished. It's hard to work and to weld. It has a much longer life than Aluminum or Carbon. Supposedly Ti frames absorb road vibration better than Aluminum or steel but doesn't feel as "dead" as Carbon.

Airborne's are made in China. Supposedly a welder has to be trained for two years before he's allowed to make a frameset. Litespeed's are made just a few miles NE of Chattanooga. They give factory tours if you call ahead.

They supposedly have a dealer network, but it would have cost me another $150 to go through the lbs. They don't seem to support their dealers all that well as they compete with them with their WEB sales.

Al

dwatson

I hope that if you have to buy the bike, you will get it at cost and not retail. I raced for a team many years ago that made us ride Treks, we got the frames and cost and then had to build them.

late

Hi Al.canoe,
I have a Carpe Diem, this is my 2nd year with it. I made some good decisions putting it together, and some bad ones. I was wondering what you picked out for wheels,and fork. I have a Surly fork on it now, and it weighs a ton (over 1K grams). Next year I am putting a different fork on it, just not sure which one. I like my wheels, they have survived, which is saying a lot. But I sometimes wish I had wheels with a nicer ride.

Pessi

I have looked at Airborne cycles, and I am not impressed. The frames are poorly welded, and for a similar price you can purchase a lighter, better manufactured steel frame bicycle.

capsicum

Yes you should definately be getting a 'Pro deal' (cost or better) after all you are advertising for them. It should still come with the same great warrenty. If you contact and talk nicly to enough people at the company you'll get the deal you just have to find the right person(never say the last guy turned you down, just say you were directed to whomever your talking to)

rleite

Thanks to everyone for the input. Not having previously researched Airbornes, I appreciate all your comments. In terms of the team questions, as I understand it, there would be a substantial cost reduction on the bike so it might make it worth it. From what little information I have, it does sound like it would be something at or near wholesale.

Al.canoe

Hello late. I had bought the wheels about 8 months before the CD to use on my old clunker. They're Mavic Open Pro with Ultegra hubs and 25 mm tires. I limited myself to the Airborne fork as they are specially made to be about 15mm taller than standard forks. A standard fork would effectively increase the head tube angle and make the bike too twitchy for me. I like the standard 72 degrees. Airborne uses their Aileron carbon fork now. It's not light at 780 gms (measured), but I like rugged. It does have eyelets for fenders, but no facility for a front rack. The price is reasonable @ $175.

I've indulged myself with a TA Zephyr Crankset, out of production for a few years, so I can use a 22 small ring. I'm using XT deraileurs, STI, V-brake front and cantilever rear; similar to my old clunker.

Still putting it together. So far so good.

How are your welds? Mine are about as good as I've seen.

Al

late

Hi,
I have put close to 2,000 miles on the bike. I am heavy, and I like to go fast. When you live on a mountain, it's not hard to do.
I hit 35 just coasting downhill at one spot on my commute.
The welds aren't pretty, but they have held up nicely. I saw in Cycling Plus today that Thorn makes a touring fork. Maybe they make it in a 1" steerer which is what my CD is.

guttata

I have an '01 Zeppelin, which I bought used. I've put roughly 800 miles on it now, and I have really liked it. No problems at all, until a pinging creak started just recently. Probably just my BB, though.

prestonjb

Shoppdogg: Pessi-mistic:

What is the deal here. I got a Carpe Diem and the welds are BEAUTIFUL! Very smooth and strong...

Reliet:
I too would question the team to see if they have a special pricing plan... if not you could buy $20 in decals from Airborne and then get something like one of those clear-coated unpainted aluminum frames and just put the airborne decals on it

I so far like my bike... I've racked up 2300 miles since April and it is going strong.

Al.canoe, Late:
I've built up my Carpe with Dura-Ace triple, the Aileron carbon fork and advid canti's...

The bike I got from them was a CUSTOM where the biggest change is that the top tube is 5mm longer than their standard frame. I also had them put on DOWN-TUBE-SHIFTER bosses and a pump-peg. I still use STI but I like the DTS cable mounts vs the welded on junk nearly all bikes are coming out with today... Oh yea I also de-cyclo-crossed it when I moved the brake cable from the top of the top tube to under the top tube... I think it is a cleaner "tourer" look and I don't plan to through this bike over my shoulder and hurdle over the boards

I run several wheelsets so when I ordered the bike I got it with FSA RD200s which work nice but my workhorse wheeset are MAVIC COSMOS. I use Topolinos for day tours in the mountains. I am planning a cross USA trip and may swap out the COSMOS for more conventional OPEN PRO 32x3s probably with Ultegra hubs ($200 at price point or super go at the moment).

I plan to run a JANDD rear-rack, large tail-light (cant remember the name) and the new cateye EL500 1200 candle LED lights (two of them) for my cross USA trip.

When this bike is not touring I run it with a set of Carbon Strike aero-bars and I cruise around town at 24mph... 30mph with traffic... This bike is STIFF and resposive though the longer wheelbase makes it a bit slow comming out of a sharp turn (like a right turn at a corner). For the most part I can stay with all of the local crazies and often find myself cruizin at 27mph in groups with sprints up to 34mph. Not bad for a cyclocross/touring bike!

Back to general comments about Airborne. I found the local support people, I worked with Jay Ferguson and I found him quite helpful on choosing the type of bike and being patient on my changes (or as I changed my mind). It took me about 3 months to get all of the measurements and decide all of the particulars and it took them like 2 weeks to draw up the plans and another 2 weeks to build the bike (though Jay says they have to say 4-6weeks).

Would I do it again? yes I would. I enjoyed the experience and the bike rivels my LITESPEED... That's not to say I don't like my LITESPEED... The tough decision is my LITESPEED is due for an update and it is a pure racer... So next year will be time to replace it... What to buy... Man its going to be a tough decision!

condor63

Here's a link which will direct you to the manufacturer of Airborne(Huffy) bikes in China. https://www.totalbike.com/directory/d...w.xacd.com.cn/

prestonjb

Note: If you visit this web site you will see that their frames differ from what Airborne sells... So you are not just getting an Xian frame with Airborne logos... Airborne does their own design and Xian makes the frames...

iamsomeguy

dredging an old topic , cheap TI frames anyone ?

chrisvu05

seriously....dragging up a topic from 5 years ago? Airborne is now out of business IIRC.

iamsomeguy

jesus calm down , i said sorry

Flatballer

Dude, just make a new thread. It's not like we're paying by the thread. I just wasted 5 minutes reading this thread before I looked at the date.

And just for the record, you didn't say sorry in your first post.

coldass

Oh why not. Lets make the digging worth it.
Airborne became Van Nicholas. Making some very nice Ti:
https://vannicholas.com/

DrPete 

Airborne actually became Flyte for a while--nice bikes, good prices, good service. Went broke as well. I guess they sold off their Ti frame business to these guys...

Drag

Airborne had always had their frames built by a Chinese fabricator named "Hi-Light". Straight gauge tubing plus inexpensive labor allowed them to keep their prices ridiculously low. Even though the U.S. brand of "Airborne" no longer exists, the Chinese manufacturer itself still exists and supposedly does really well in the Asia arena. My impression is they made frames for some other brands as well. Those who own or have seen their frames say the welds look top notch.

https://www.ti-bicycle.com/gywm/gywm-e.htm