speedemon

I was surfing through for titanium frames and some how stumbled across this builder. How is the quality of their products? I have never heard of them at all. Their prices seem pretty fair for a custom titanium frame. This I know isn't a house hold name, that's probably why their prices are reasonable. Since have heard a lot mentioned in the past on workmanship on the custom frames, especially in the area of weld joints how are these on the weld joints on these frames? Are they pretty smooth nicely finished on the same level as Moots or Serotta? Serotta & Seven's are so proud of their names it's getting to the point where maybe they might be pricing themselves right out of the market. Any comments, knowledge or opinion would be appreciated.




https://www.deanbikes.com/menu.htm

Tarmacguy

my coach has a dean ti bike and swears by it...he gives me heaps for my carbon over his ti..he has ridden all sorts of bikes from avanti,mercxx to now dean and he swears by his, says its fantastic..looks rather sweet with a set of es mavics on it too.

rapidcarbon

DEAN are famous among mtb crowd

adam

I have seen them around these parts and they are a beautiful bike. Didn't know they were custom.

golfduke

Dean is one of the most popular mtb Ti manufacturers. I have ogled my friend's dean ride for a long time and it is confirmed- It is a Ti masterpiece. Unfortunately, wait times are through the roof. It took my friend about 7 months from order to get his delivered.

jemoryl

The bikes are very nice, but I hear a lot of grumbling about dealing with Dean during the ordering/construction phase.

spessx

My wife has a custom Dean bike made out of Columbus steel. We bought it from a buddy of mine who's had about 3 Dean bikes. It's a stiff and nice looking bike. I've considered having them build one for me but I hear gripes about leadtime on a new frame but its supposed to take a long time because its custom. The only other thing I can see is that the paint quality isn't the best in the world but who wants paint if you're ordering a Ti frame! The red paint on my wife's bike has faded somewhat as there wasn't any clear coat put on over the paint. Also, on the last frame my buddy ordered (whom we purchased my wife's bike from) Dean forgot to braze on the lugs for cable routing. He had to send the bike back to Dean and wait for them to finish it - so they can be lacking on attention to detail as well. Overall, they are very well respected bikes around these parts.

-Stephen

Bike Lover

It seems DEAN or Quiring are magical names around these parts. Very good reputations here.

marqueemoon

I too am considering a Dean (the same model the OP posted, actually). I'd love to hear some more feedback.

same time

A guy I used to ride with had one, he loved it. It was a beautifully made bike, and he had no gripes about the ordering process. Took about six months from order to delivery, which I think is pretty standard for big-name custom builds.

One thing, though, if you want a Dean, I hope you like that logo. My friend's bike had the word "DEAN" on it in about 64 different places, everyone on the ride would kid him about it. "Hey, what kind of bike is that?"

FunkyTang

I just ordered and received a Dean El Diente road bike. It took about 3 months from order to receipt. It's my first Ti bike, I like the ride.

Ramjm_2000

I've had 2. DEAN has actually been around quite a long time, one of the first companies to embrace ti in fact. I remember lusting after my pals Costanza for a good year back in the mid/late 90s before I got my first one. This is a pic of my old Vador, by far the most silky riding bike I've ever owned.

DEAN had a period of time where demand was greater than output and they had some CS issues but I've never had anything but great service, besides the prices are damn good for custom ti.

neilG

I've had a Dean El Diente for a year and a half. Great Ti frame at a reasonable price. I think it's a fairly small shop so I've heard delays are common. As for the welds and finish, did I mention the great price? Not perfect but far from sloppy.

chzman

i had a custom track bike built. it took Forever, but now i think it was worth the wait. The frame is awesome.

And if you don't like the decals... ask them to leave it blank, that is what i did.

brianallan

god I love this bike. Have you considered removing the ZIPP decals for a super stealth look?

classic1

Are you posting pictures of my trackbike again chzman?

I love that bike. Can you post details of the size angles etc please?

chzman

thanks for the kind words.

well... your bike has 56cm ST, 56.5cm TT, 74.5deg ST and HT, the BB was raised 5mm, 1 1/8in headset... and thats about it.

I think the Zipp decals are under a clear coat, so I didn't want to mess with the integrity of the carbon. So they stay, and I kind of like them.

speedemon

As I said earlier, one of the importance would be the weld joints, how smooth the welds are, this is one area you can really see the workmanship is the weld joints. I have seen the Moot’s, Serotta’s, Seven’s, I own a Litespeed eventually I would like to get a frame and build one myself. I would like to get the Serotta ultimately. But seems that the price for the Serotta or the Seven’s frames new aren’t that justified other than paying for the name. So I’m just looking around in other areas which may have a good quality workmanship and not give two arms and a leg.

classic1

It is my size! Bang in a 130mm or 140mm stem and my preferred bars and away I go! Thanks for that info.

Again, lovely bike. If I ever race track again I'll consider a Dean Ti (along with maybe an Argon 18 or something custom from one or two Aussie builders I know)

classic1

How neat the welds are may indicate that care has been taken in building the frame, but it doesn't give you the full story on whether or not the weld penetration is sufficient.

Ramjm_2000

This man speaks the truth. However, neat welds are usually indicative of the care/pride said welder has in his/her work. I'd be inclined to trust a neat over a sloppy weld any day. That said, Dean has some awesome talent welding up their pipes.

roadraccer

I would bet that most of the top brands weld penetration isn't going to be a problem, but what will separate them would be the finish work of their welds. The worst titanium frames I have seen are the Airborne which is no longer around. Those looked like someone wrapped a worm around the welds!

Blue Jays

Sharp-looking titanium bikes in this thread. I would definitely opt for the lower-profile decals rather than the multi-colored ones I've seen on some of their bikes.

marqueemoon

Nah. I like the Devo look.

chzman

i think you can request a polished/brushed contrast "decal"... it is not Devo, but still very cool.