Road Cycling - Airborne Direct bikes any good?

anyone have success with Airborne Direct as a road bike? Im looking at the Zeppelin and spectre frames, they look great but dunno how they ride.

Can anyone fill me in?

I won't answer your question directly since I don't own one. At roadbikereview.com there are several owner reviews and you may want to look at them. Btw most seem to be positive. RBR also has a General Discussion area and mentioning Airborne guarantees a flame war. It appears that Airborne is manufactured in China and is owned by Huffy. Perhaps that is meaningful to you, perhaps not. For some such facts mean you should go Litespeed automatically. If I were looking for a ti bike (I'm not, steel still floats my boat fine) I'd look at Airborne b/c most of my buying decisions are dictated by $ value. Others feel different. Some express that view very strongly; the Litespeed/Airborne wars at RBR are intense as well as amusing for this steel Colnago rider.

Regardless of brand and nation of manufacture be very sure of your personal and preferred bike measurements before you order. Airborne may be cheaper than Litespeed but it's still a good chunk of change to put on a bike that you won't put a leg over until you own it.

:beer:

For the price of an Airborne bike, you end up with a cheaply made, albiet titanium, bike. The same $$ could buy you a decent aluminium frame bike, or a really nice steel frame bike. All will weigh roughly the same, the aluminium bike probably will be a bit lighter. I guess it all boils down to one question: Is just the fact that the frame is titanium worth the extra money? It seems like that is the only reason people buy Airborne bikes.

I own an Airborne Carpe Diem, purchased in June 2001, now with about 3000 miles on it. It's set up as a light-touring/commuting bike, rather than a racing-style road bike: touring rims and tires, a mix of Ultegra and XTR for wideer gearing, etc.

I do about half of my commuting on this bike, plus a fair amount of 40-60 mile road rides.

I'm very happy with the frame. It's comfortable and quiet, not buzzy, plenty stiff around the bottom bracket (I weigh 210 and do a fair amount of standing when climbing here in hilly eastern PA), but not in the least punishing. This frame's comfort may owe something to its longer chainstays, of course.

The quality of the frame is top notch. Absolutely perfect alignment in every direction, excellent looking welds (if not the works of art on a Seven or a Merlin), blemishless throughout.

The buying experience was particularly pleasant because I had a local Airborne dealer that happened to be my regular bike shop. I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Airborne's CS in Ohio, talking about fit. Since the all of the finishing and assembly is done there at their Ohio facility, your bike comes exactly as you expect it. They will spend all the time you want discussing components and fit, and it's worth taking advantage of.

In the end, we decided to have my bike shipped with an uncut steerer so that my LBS could do the final fitting, but it turned out Airborne's calculations would have yielded the same dimensions.

I can't speak about the specific models you're considering, but I can certainly attest to the quality of the company and its products. Be aware that buying an Airborne will not earn you any fashion points, and that some people are actively hostile to the brand, something you'll have to choose to deal with or ignore.

The Carpe Diem, especially when configured as an "all-rounder," has less competition in the marketplace than the Zeppelin and their other road bikes, so it was an easier decision for me than choosing a Zepp might be for someone else. My advice would be to find a dealer, since I do agree with the principle that you must be satisfied with the fit and feel of a bike before you buy it. With an Airborne, of course, you can always send it back if you're not.

RichC