Mountain Biking - Poll: Favorite Manuf.?

This is a poll on what your favourite bike maker is!

1 - kona
2 - specialized and giant
3 - hmmmmm

1. Kona
2. Santa Cruz
3. Specialized

First two for the paint / colour scheme, 3rd for the Horst link.

ooo forgot santa cruz...they are hot!

you need to add a lot more options

Giant makes Specialized, so those can be combined.

I'd go with Cannondale, for their originality. Santa Cruz is too diluted in our culture here ...

1. Jamis
2.Ellsworth
3.Foes

And I agree, you need a lot more options.

My #1 is definately the big S!!





Originally posted by Chi
Giant makes Specialized

Ummmmmmm..........no

Originally posted by Chi
Giant makes Specialized, so those can be combined.

I'd go with Cannondale, for their originality. Santa Cruz is too diluted in our culture here ...

Giant and Trek are affiliated. Hence why they both use Bontrager and design each others frames. Marita designs Specialized.

Originally posted by romeo_14_
1. Jamis
2.Ellsworth
3.Foes

And I agree, you need a lot more options.

Thats funny...low end for number one and then two of the most expensive companies available :D

Originally posted by Chi
Giant makes Specialized, so those can be combined.

I'd go with Cannondale, for their originality. Santa Cruz is too diluted in our culture here ...

But the bikes and designs are only similar and not exacting. The 4bars are even different and the patents purchased are different. So no they can't be combined even if affiliated. They have very distinct flavours.

Santa Cruz is too diluted. Do you mean that there are too many of them or there are too few?

Giant actually makes Specialized and Trek and i want NO silly arguements on this one. A close friend of mine visited Giant's main factory and warehouse in Taiwan and the place was FULL of specialized and trek frames as well as some other well known brands that i dont remember now. I didnt believe him up untill he showed me pictures and videos of the factory and main wharehouse in Taiwan.

1.Specialized
2.Kona
3.SantaCruz
4.Norco.
5.Cove

What do you mean more options?

Adding more choices. Norco (common its canadian), santa cruz etc...it is kind of impossible considering the variety of choices there :)

My top 3 in no real order are

1. Ellsworth
2. Santa Cruz
3. Kona

I dont own any of these, never even test ridden them, but they seem to produce the best bikes year in and out

I love my Crack'n'fails.

Originally posted by Chi
Giant makes Specialized, so those can be combined.

... NO THEY DO NOT!

Originally posted by Chi
I'd go with Cannondale, for their originality. That's hilarious!

Originally posted by math2p14
Giant actually makes Specialized and Trek and i want NO silly arguements on this one. A close friend of mine visited Giant's main factory and warehouse in Taiwan and the place was FULL of specialized and trek frames as well as some other well known brands that i dont remember now. I didnt believe him up untill he showed me pictures and videos of the factory and main wharehouse in Taiwan.
I want to see those pictures because I don't believe you at all. If that were true then why all the BS with the "innovations" Why not just take the best ideas and lump them into one bike company rather than 15 differant ones. I also notcied you didn't say anything about Gary Fisher. Fisher Trek and Lemond are the same company. Specialized is associated with Meridia (sp) of Europe.

I don't know about Specialized but certainly some of the low end Treks appear to share the same frame as low end Giants.

The name Giant is not a misnomer, they are the giants in the industry. They Build frames for Specialized, Kona and other manufacturers. However Giant does not design bikes for Specialized or Kona, they only weld the tubes toghether to the designers spec's.

Thats right Scooby, they're a manufacturing house. They don't design others bikes. Nor do they do the design of artwort etc, that is sorted by the respective brands.

My Favourites:

1) Cannondale (they're just different Ok)
2) Litespeed ( avery close 2nd to C'Dale though)
3) Speciliazed
4) Giant

Many companies share the same wearhouses and factories. In fact, most companies don't even own their Asian factories and wearhouses. China, among many other Asian governments, is communist. You can't own a factory or a wearhouse in a communist country. You bring the designs and such to the government and the government builds the bike for you in their factories for really cheap. Most companies with Asian factories don't make their own stuff. They contract the government to make it. Since the equipment and machines to make bike are all pretty much the same, no matter what company it is, and bikes can all be stored the same way, it doesn't suprise me that they would be made and stored in the same places.

Originally posted by Raiyn
I want to see those pictures because I don't believe you at all. If that were true then why all the BS with the "innovations" Why not just take the best ideas and lump them into one bike company rather than 15 differant ones. I also notcied you didn't say anything about Gary Fisher. Fisher Trek and Lemond are the same company. Specialized is associated with Meridia (sp) of Europe.

I dont really care to show you any pictures since i dont have any intention to quarrel with you. Specialized and many others JUST have their frames made BY Giant in GIANT'S factory. Giant doesnt design specialized, Giant doesnt make the specs or quality control of Specialized frames or anything else .GIANT ONLY WELDS FRAMES FOR OTHERS!.

easy there math...now back to the fav bike company....

1. Marin
2. Brodie
3. Specialiazed

I am easy but others arent always.

What? Intense isn't listed! It's a conspiracy I tell you, a conspiracy!

#1 - Intense
#2 - Yeti
#3 - Turner

L8R

... and missing all the ti-kings:

1. airborne
2. merlin
3. dean

Litespeed and Serrota are the top Ti kings.

and moots and seven and on and on.

Specialized is definately the best because their rear suspension design WORKS and they are way more affordable, but there are also S-works bikes. And they have a good variety, from hardtails to the demo 9 :D (9 inch rear travel)

Well specialized is top notch brand , the first available mtb in the world as well and a company with good ideology. I for one am a proud owner of a 2000$ (and still counting) rockhopper hardtail.

Oh, and Cannondale BLOWS! So what if they have one f***ing fork tube! Or a head shock! They don't work or even look cool! And they are expensive! So SHUT UP!

Yeah Math! Oh, I have a Stumpjumper Comp FSR and it is a great trail bike. It even has lockout, but it only weighs 26 or 27 lbs., STOCK!

Originally posted by cidmort
Oh, and Cannondale BLOWS! So what if they have one f***ing fork tube! Or a head shock! They don't work or even look cool! And they are expensive! So SHUT UP!

Relax man, we don't conduct ourselves like that here. While I don't like canondale they were very innovative in their ideas and designs.

True , I love specialized , i dont like cannondales but i would never misbehave against a brand that maybe a fellow rider here owns and likes.(like Jim311).

Originally posted by cidmort
Oh, and Cannondale BLOWS! So what if they have one f***ing fork tube! Or a head shock! They don't work or even look cool! And they are expensive! So SHUT UP!


When do the kids go back to school?
It seems we have more trolls around lately than usual....:mad:

1) Klein
2) Trek
3) Santa Cruz

No love for Klein.

1 - KONA
2- Canfield Bros.
3- Cortina

Well those are my 3 top choices and one day I wil get a Canfield but for now they are just a bit to pricy:D

:beer:

Hey DBD, do you have a link or a pic of a Canfield. I can humbly say I've never heard of them.

L8R

http://www.canfieldbrothers.com/

Jesus dbd, 12inches of travel..quite the bike :D

sworn to fun.
loyal to none.

I don't have a fav. company, I'll ride whatever I can get my hands on.

Um, Yeti anyone? There's some other good options others have mentioned that were not on the original list as well.
Couple flaws with the Giant/Specialized arrangement. First of all, Merida owns somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of Specialized. Merida and Giant are in direct competition as companies that build frames for other "manufacturers." Giant has a rather well-publicized manufacturing alliance with Trek. Besides these two items, our Specialized rep was adamant that Merida was the only company producing their bikes.
As an aside, look for pics of a Merida full suspension bike that is identical to the Epic-though it has no "brain" it has been in production for two years. Hmmmm...I'd post pics here but can't seem to find the Merida bike at the moment.

Thanks for grabbin' that one for me Mael.

The frames(Canfield) are sweet but cost a grip-o-cash. I road one up at BB and it was a sweet ride. Most of their stuff is built to order but they do have a few laying around.

:beer: :beer:

Hey Waldo:


What? Intense isn't listed! It's a conspiracy I tell you, a conspiracy!

#1 - Intense
#2 - Yeti
#3 - Turner

L8R

Almost bought a Yeti AS-X but bought my Intense instead. Yeti makes a sweet bike.

I wish I lived near some mountains so I could justify buying a DH-9.

L8R

Nicolai Nucleon FR - just for the looks

Originally posted by a2psyklnut
Hey Waldo:
Almost bought a Yeti AS-X but bought my Intense instead. Yeti makes a sweet bike.

I wish I lived near some mountains so I could justify buying a DH-9.

L8R
Whoops, I somehow managed to miss your post. As it happens, that was the 3 that I would be most inclined to list. I might have to change the order around a bit, but I have yet to have the privilege of owning an Intense...
One of the guys at my old shop had a DH-9 for a while. This is in Illinois, mind you. Talk about overkill. He liked it but found that he wasn't using it too mch around here (oddly enough).

I have rode most of the brands listed, the "best"?..... Yeti

Kona for me brothers and sisters.
I'd love to try out some of the frames from Banshee,Clifcat or Draco.

My Pro-FRO is STILL going strong 10 years on and 2 years of that racing. The only reason for ever retiring it is part wear and that the newer forks would completely mess up the handling.

If the new ones are anywhere near the quality of the Durango Yeti's, I will somehow, some way float a second mortgage and get one...

:D

I dont really care to show you any pictures since i dont have any intention to quarrel with you. Specialized and many others JUST have their frames made BY Giant in GIANT'S factory. Giant doesnt design specialized, Giant doesnt make the specs or quality control of Specialized frames or anything else .GIANT ONLY WELDS FRAMES FOR OTHERS!.


Specialized bikes are made by Merida. Merida own's the majority share of Specialized.