hause

Anyone done a successful group buy from this company or know of a US retailer besides BD? I'm digging a bunch of their frames,
especially the Ti touring model. I ran across a Ti cyclocross frame they had with SS couplers but can't seem to find it at the moment.
Anyway, looks like the minimum order on most frames is 20. It would be pretty sweet if we could set up a group buy at wholesale pricing
coupled with custom sizing for everyone, just need to settle on one frame.

catalog

Ora Engineering Co., Ltd. (2014)

ordering

Products_Ora Engineering Co., Ltd.

hause

up

AristoNYC

I would have loved to get a Di2 titanium road frame. unfortunately I gave up and I am having Colossi build me a steel frame since I didn't have luck getting a Di2 ORA frame.
I currently have an ORA frame (well, a motobecane fantom cross) and I love it.
I contacted ORA and they gave me a retailer but I didn't see just the frames: Rikulau internation Co Taiwan Rikulau, Bikes, Road Bike, Mountain Bike
They also told me who they make frames for in the US: Bundnitz, Jeff Jones, Surly, Motobecane, and GT.

CliffordK

I'm seeing a number of their frames on Alibaba (not on AliExpress).

Road 15-ra-301 - Buy Road Product on Alibaba.com
Road 15-ra-303 - Buy Road Product on Alibaba.com
Road 15-ra-603 - Buy Road Product on Alibaba.com

I find their web page to be a bit frustrating. It appears as if there are chromoly, stainless, and titanium frames.

Anyway, I don't see a minimum order listed on Alibaba, so it wouldn't hurt to contact the supplier. Perhaps you could get an order size of a couple.

rpenmanparker 

OP, you're dreaming if you think you can pull off a group buy for 20 frames. Never have you had as much aggravation as that would entail. Like herding cats. Not to mention the logistics, shipping frames to the buyers, collecting money, dealing with dissatisfaction. Why would anyone want to deal with you and forfeit all warranty and return possibility? You would be undertaking very significant liability. And all for what, to save a few bucks relative to a Habanero or Motobecane. Is BD not stocking the Motobecanes anymore?

And make no mistake, ORA isn't going to give you the same pricing it gives to Moto, not by a long shot. So how are you going to save anything?

My advice is to give it up.

Wingsprint

I agree with this ^

The time, aggravation and don't forget shipping costs make this a losing deal in the end.

hause

I really like that Rikulau renolds 931 cross bike, I reached out to a US retailer for pricing, we"ll see. I may very well end up getting a fanton cross 105 groupset, just a long wait for stock to replenish. The other groupsets aren't near the value. Colossi bikes look phenomenal, I bet your counting down the days.

hause

I figured it was a long shot, just wanted to get some feedback, hopefully find a semi local retailer. Just trying to figure out the best way to procure a nice 953,931, or Ti cross/light touring bike without breaking the bank.

dr_lha

Given that they make BD's Ti bikes, why not just buy a BD Ti bike? I bet you could match the frames off the BD website with that catalog you posted.

hause

Looking at BD bikes is how I found ORA. The 105 cross from BD won't be in stock till this Fall and they're saying the Century Ti won't be in till January. BD doesn't carry any any of the 953/931 bikes or frames with SS couplers which would be ideal.

dr_lha

Fair enough. I knew that BD doesn't do any high end steel bikes, but didn't realize their Ti bikes were so rare.

rpenmanparker 

They never seem to have any. I don't get it. Considering how popular the Ti frames and bikes are, you'd think they would keep them in stock. I doubt ORA has any problem keeping up with demand.

hause

It appears to me that BD orders a batch of frames and they build them with a groupset to meet a price point. I guess from their viewpoint its best to sell out months early than to be stuck with extras. From what I can tell, the problem is that their tiered groupset prcing is way way off. They sell out of 105's super early because Rival is a $300 premium, and Ultegra is $600, that's just nonsense. Idk if they do the same across the rest of their bike line.

dr_lha

Perhaps these bikes are a "loss leader" for BD? They get to have the prestige of selling Ti Bikes at low cost, but not have to take the hit by actually selling that many of them. If it drives people to go to their website, it's probably a benefit to them. I agree that it's hard to imagine the ORA can't adequately supply the demand that DB has.

rms13

If you believe in then that much, buy in bulk and set up and ebay store selling the frames and make some money

rms13

From what I've heard they are pretty much buit to order. Lead time on the moto ti road bike is about 2 months from what I've read on the forum. You order and pay than BD uses your money to order the bike from the factory. BD is not sitting on stock

rpenmanparker 

Quite possibly, but they don't have to be that cheap to sell. They could bump them up a couple or three hundred bucks and still sell a pants load of them. As it is, I think they just turn customers off and send them to Habanero. And why are they still showing the 2013 model? Something is cocked up. Maybe a falling out with ORA.

rpenmanparker 

Perhaps, but it doesn't imply that anywhere that I have seen on the website. They have a drop down menu of sizes right now that has one 48 cm frame available. I don't see where you are supposed to place a special order.

Sidney Porter

Is blasted the same as brushed? Looks like they offer brushed in a road bike.
Save Up to 60% OFf Shimano Dura Ace DA9000 Road Bikes | Titanium Road Bikes | Roadbikes - Motobecane Le Champion Team Ti

rpenmanparker 

Okay, so they have the bikes in every size, just not the frames. Good to know.

hause

See to me their 2016's that you have linked look much better. I think this is more of a raw Ti look compared to their 2015 models Save Up To 60% Off Titanium Road Bikes and Bicycles from bikesdirect.com which BD say is brushed... idk. ORA calls the look scotch brite, which to me is polished. Either way the outlined decals are better.

I'm constantly emailing BD with questions, they've never mentioned to me a special order option.

It's quite possible their using a loss leader marketing strategy.

Jarrett2

Anyone know how the ORA/BD frames compare to Lynskey?

CliffordK

I agree it would be complicated. Especially since there are both different frame models and different frame sizes. So if you have a small orderer planned, it would probably have to be a pre-order from your group.


Quite possibly. But, I have no doubt that Bikes Direct turns a profit on the frames they sell. Probably both Motobecane and Bikes Direct. So, it wouldn't be surprising of a $1000 retail frame costs $500 wholesale.

International shipping is a pain, but say it costs $50 to mail out the frames once you get them... so you pay.....
$500 + $50 or so international shipping + $50 or so domestic shipping, and get/sell frames for around $600 (perhaps )

Of course, as the OP pointed out, BD doesn't have the current stock.

As far as E-Bay, the buyers can be tough on no-name (or former European companies now Chinese). I wouldn't expect to match the BD pricing with direct E-Bay sales.

Keep your eyes open for DEALS though.

It does look like there is a bit of a hole in offerings of disc brake compatible 700c cyclocross frames. However, I am running 700c tires in a 26" Litespeed frame. I've got 25's on it now, but I think 32's would probably fit, but would be very tight.

However, you could probably do well doing a 26" to 650b conversion if that would do what you wanted, and might open up quite a few frame possibilities.

ZippyThePinhead

There have been a few threads here and there on BF regarding this. Here's one; unfortunately, many of the images that once made the thread of interest are no longer available.

After a bike mechanic friend looked over my then-new BD Motobecane, saying the welds looked very good, I started to look at the welds on various titanium frames, just out of curiosity. I've been to an LBS that stocks a decent selection of titanium frames, and asked them about the welds on the frames they had at the time (Moots, et al.). The owner of the shop told me one way that you can make a weld look good is to weld/go over the bead twice. Some high end Ti frames are apparently welded in this way.

Regarding the purchase of ORA frames, you may want to consider this eBay seller.

hause

That's what I'm saying, I'm sure its a long shot and would take alot of work to make it happen. But I know there's 20 ppl on BF that would pay $600 for a custom Ti or SS frame :/