Recumbent - Would you buy a frame only?

All this talk about how Actionbent delivers whole bikes, and many things need to be replaced immediately, and how expensive 'bents are in general has got me thinking; DF riders can buy frames and forks quite easily, but 'bent riders are often forced to buy a whole bike unless you're going for the really high-end stuff, which is very expensive.

Would you buy an entry-level or mid-level recumbent frame/fork/seat set, and then build the bike yourself if you were given that option?

Or would you rather buy the whole bike and then replace parts as-needed?

Don't let all this nonsense about AB scare you away. But if I had the mechanical knowledge(I'm taking a bike mechanic course this summer at my local CC) I would probably buy a frame+the other components if the price was right. Except for a few issues, like the seat. Recumbent seats are in short supply, that and handlebars that fit for USS especially. The seat especially might be cost prohibitive for me at least to buy the bike piece by piece. With a seat that costs 180 bucks it is almost worth it to just buy the whole damn thing and replace comp's that you don't like.

The "frameset" will include everything that you can't order from the the Gnashbar/Poorformance catalog. The problem is that the dealers want too much for the framesets--see my thread, "why does it cost so much to build up a custom 'bent?"

I would buy the base model of the bike that I wanted or could afford and immediately sell the components that you don't want as "brand new" on ebay or the forum. That's what I'm going to do in my future purchases.

A rolling frameset might work, ie. the frame, seat, wheels, and any non-standard parts. Then the buyer would be free to add their own components and make it as *bling* as they want.

Catrike allows you to buy a rolling chassis. You can then add the brakes and drivetrain of your choice. I guess in a way AB sells you a DIY kit. In many instances there seems be something that needs to be fixed. Many bikes in general may need upgrades to make it how you want it to be anyway. Sometimes it doesn't save much money if you do go with just chassis but at least you could buy exactly what you want.

My frame came from Denny LaDue in Nebraska, frame, handlebars and forks only. The rest came from discarded DFs. <$600 total.

My frame came from Denny LaDue in Nebraska, frame, handlebars and forks only. The rest came from discarded DFs. <$600 total.

My god, those are ugly. How's it ride? What did you put on it?

if item was offered with quality parts and at a price i could afford i would be interested

hugs

Jen

My last three tandem bents were frame sets only (Rans Screamer, Organic Engines Troika and Longbikes Gulfstream) If given the choice when I order a bent for a customer at the shop I try to order it as a frame set, so it can be built up for how the customer plans on using the bike. I've even been able to order a frame set unfinished (no paint) so that I could replace the stock drop-outs with dropouts that fit a Rolloff hub and then send the frame back to be finished.

Some builders will not offer a frame set, others are just as happy to sell you a frame set as a complete bike. All of the frame sets that I ordered included seats, handle bars etc. needed for that bike. One builder (Organic Engines) even sent me a list of the parts he used to build up a stock bike with the QBP part numbers! That was a real timesaver. Other bikes were a real pain in the (Above Seat Steering) to build up due to missing or unfinished parts, not built as ordered, missed shipping dates....

If your not buying at the wholsale level your not going to be able to save any money building up the bike. But you will get just the bike you want, with the parts you want. You may also run into parts avalibilty problems from time to time. I had just about every part on hand for the Gulfstream, except for the shifters, this was during the Shimano parts sortages. But I got lucky and found a pair of NOS Suntour shifters in a shop in Newport RI.

I just purchased the Manta Ray lwb model. It arrived undamaged in the box, and I had a LBS install the cables to the deraillers. I asked them when they were finished if the components were Wal-Mart quality or better. They told me that they are the same as they see on about $600 bikes, so I about got what I paid for ($635 including shipping). There was no damage in my shipment, but the pre-cut cable housings were too short from the handlebars to the frame. They were short by about 4 inches. I have ridden for about a week and am liking the bike more and more. I like the style and the frame and I think I would upgrade rather than get a new bike. It's really hard to beat the Actionbent price, especially for a first bent where you don't know if it's the way you are going to continue or not. Anyway, thanks for listenin.