Fleabiscuit

Hmmmm, lots of posts from "happy customers" who only have one or two posts. If I was not a trusting person, I would say there is a good chance these people are SHILLS. But I'm trusting and think it might be just a coincidence. Why not. Just kidding, these are shills.

mchyzer

Yes, the types of person who buys Tomasso is the type of person who hangs out on bike forums... last summer Tommaso was sold out of Imolas (or whatever the cheapest one is) in almost all sizes. That tells me that they are selling lots of bikes. Im sure some of those people are happy customers. Maybe this person is too. I would think if they were shills they wouldnt say the documentation was crap, but maybe Tommaso shills are just that smart. And if they are that smart, maybe their bikes are good... hmm. I posted before and said my Imola had problems, but my Monza was good. Now that it is too cold to change flats in Philadelphia, I put specialized armadillos on my monza. No flats, though those tires are slow. As soon as daylight savings takes place I will find some faster kevlar tires. I just got a racing bike, a Kestrel Talon Tri. I havent ridden it that much but it already has had trouble with my commute (crap Philly roads). Ive had to spend money to a bike shop adding more spoke prep, and truing the wheels... anyways, the Monza is still going strong after about 3k miles (and a new rear wheel and new tires). btw, anyone who bikes at night should get some Dinotte lights... they are 3/4 the price of an imola, but they are worth it.

Thhaze

I've been riding a Tommaso for around 7 years. It's titanium and I don't believe they carry it anymore. It's been a great bike and came with top end Shimano components. Originally it came with Neuvation wheels and I found they were made for a much less aggressive rider than me. Over the years I've upgraded everything on it other than the frame and I'm very happy with it. At some point I'll probably upgrade to a carbon frame... Or not.

Good luck!

Ducksoup6

I have owned many road bikes in my life. My last and current was a Tommaso t1 Titanium road bike. I bought it in 07 and it has been a fabulous bike on flat roads as well as n the upper Rockies in the US and the Pyrenees, here in Spain. It has been a great bike. I have only had problems with the Campy Chorus shifters but none with the bike. Due to back issues I am currently in the process of trading it for a mountain bike.

cyberbiker

I'm replacing a 2007 Trek 1000 that got stolen. As I compared the Tommaso with the current Trek 1 Series the Tommaso Tiempo was $100-150 under the Trek for the same components, frame and weight.

However, there is hardly any Tommaso owner chatter on the net.
That's a bit baffling, but it also makes one reluctant to spend $750-800. For a bike that is only sold and shipped from the manufacturer.

The current lineup can be viewed at tommasobikes dot com.

Steve B.

I had one. They are imported by a company in Florida from Chinese open mold sources, then sold thru Tomasso and GiantNerd. The Tomasso brand used to be sold by Randall Scott Company out of Boulder, now seemingly re-named as GiantNerd. The frames are very nice, my Team Carbon was as nice a riding bike as I've owned, but was a replacement for a cracked Aggraziato. The crack was a horizontal separation of the seat tube, about an inch above the seatpost clamp. Nothing major, but an obvious frame failure that they hemmed and hawed about.

They honored the warranty claim - mostly, by shipping me a completely different frame with no fork, telling me to use the fork off the old frame, whose paint scheme was completely different. Their attitude was "the frame" had failed, thus they replaced the frame and FU about the fork. I ended up buying a Profile fork, which only matched as it also was black. Randal Scott - now GiantNerd is a company I will never again do business with as they were as well, very snarky and unpleasant to deal with, thus never again.

There are other companies to deal with for house brand Chinese open-mold, Nashbar comes to mind, Bikes Direct, Stradalli, etc... I'd personally go with a Nashbar house carbon, as they are rock solid with their warranties.

indyfabz

It's alive!

cyberbiker

Very oinformative, Steve. Thanks

rcaldw

I just bought a Tommaso Monza. It arrives today, so I can't comment on anything about it. But I'm hoping that someone who already has one might see this and tell me... what components would you upgrade on it, and what did you choose as the replacement components?

Nachoman

Personally, I think these fake shill posts reflect very negatively on the product that they're trying to trick you into buying.

rcaldw

I personally don't know what shills people are referring to, but I can assure you that I'm a very real customer, and brand new to cycling. I got mine this past week and am trying to build up my mileage. My last ride was 6.2 miles in 30 minutes. My first goal is to build up to 15. I loved it. Bike was a HUGE improvement over what I've ridden in the past. I was very happy with it.

indyfabz

Why would one buy a bike and then immediately consider upgrading the components? And how can you be "brand new to cycling" and, at the sane time, have enough experience to compare what you have ridden in the past.

rcaldw

Honestly, I don't know why someone would get on to a bike forum and post anything other than what REALLY IS!

So, let me answer your questions:

1. Because I don't know what good components are and what are not. So, I've heard, for example, upgrade the tires right away. I'm thinking about getting Gatorskins in the future. That kind of stuff.

2. What I mean by new to cycling is not that I've never ridden a bicycle before (I'm 53 years old!). Rather, this is the first time I've ever owned a bike better than Walmart brand.

Again, has this forum had trouble with fake posters in the past? Because I signed up for one reason and one reason only - all of this is new to me, pretty fun and exciting, and I was simply looking to talk about my bike with people who know more than I do.

Steve B.

Don't fix or replace anything on the bike till you've got a year or so riding it, or blow out a tire, brake 3 spokes on the rear wheel, etc...

Just ride the bike for a while till you get a good feel for how it rides, what you like about it, don't like. etc....

In theory you shouldn't need to replace anything for a while. The Tiagra components are very reliable and won't need anything except cable tension adjustments to keep the shifting crisp. I'd look into Shimano (or equiv.) SPD style pedals and mt. bike shoes down the road, it makes the riding more efficient with you feet being more comfortable then riding in sneakers.

Depending on your weight, you could develop issues with the wheels, usually starting with spokes breaking on the drive-line side of the rear wheel. The wheels are typically the weakest component on a budget bike. As this is a mail-order, you may end up dealing with manufacturer to resolve issues, that might leave you with no bike unless you buy a spare to use while the original gets fixed (all worst case speculation here !).

Other then that, some folks would swap tires after 1000 miles or so, if only to move to a wider tire. The bike comes with (according to the spec's) 23mm tires. Moving to 25 or 28 mm tires increases ride comfort, so a thought for the future.

Good luck with the bike.

rcaldw

Thank you Steve. That's tremendous help!

phtomita

I got a Tommaso Tiempo last year and logged some 2k miles from May. I like the bike, very responsive and easy to pedal.
After talking to my LBS guy, he suggested me to get a steel frame one for what I am doing and just got a Nishiki Tri-A.

Anyone have a good price suggestion for my Tommaso Tiempo?

Scimber

Wow, this is a pretty old thread that wont die apparently - here to resurrect it.

I have a 2016 Tommaso Aggraziato with about 3000 miles on it. It replaced a 2007 K2 Mod 4.0 that had more than 20K on the clock.

Over all I still like the bike but I had some issues that, so far, have not been related to the Frame or Tommaso branded parts.

The first issue I had was with the Alex ALX rims they spec'ed the 2016 bike with. The wheel went out of true very quickly and was never durable - ultimately they totally replaced the wheel with another which also had the same issue. Then they replaced the whole set with Mavic Askiums. There never was any issue with service or having to debate them into replacing the wheels. I actually went and visited their Denver location and met the team. They all seemed like nice guys who love riding and are excited about their brand. From what I was told the Tommaso brand was bought by Giantnerd and is still designed in Italy but the frames are Chinese. They are shipped to their location in Denver and then direct to the customer. Hence the lower prices.

Then next issue I have had with the bike was the front derailleur. The bike came with the Ultegra 6800 cranks, chain, cassette, front and rear derailleurs. The front derailleur would often go out of tune. I had it tuned several times and then started to engage with Gaintnerd about it. I even had it tuned in their shop once in Denver. To pay me back for the money I spent tuning it they gave me a set of Shimano Ultegra peddles. Ultimately I decided that the FD was the actual issue but I was out of warranty by that time and will have it replaced with a newer design. I have read the 6800 FD was a pile of **** and was redesigned quickly.

Other than that I find that I have a rattle somewhere I have not yet located that is only apparent on rough road surface.

Honestly despite the issues with the bike I would buy a Tommaso again. They are a good value and they took care of me in regards to the warranty.

Cvolatile1

Painted over bike with suntour superb pro derailleur and some decal of a t on the fork.. didn't let me post pics bc haven't made enough posts yet

Bah Humbug

This thread is old enough to drive.

UsedToBeFaster

Over 17 years old!

shelbyfv

Old enough to be a grandma in W VA.

Bah Humbug

Scimber

Update:

This is an update to my previous post on the Tommaso Aggraziato I reviewed above.

I replaced the front derailleur with a newer Ultegra unit and have had no further issues. I did however develop one significant issue with the frame, which came with a lifetime warranty, the metal reinforcing ring on one of the rear dropouts (where the skewer attaches) fell off. It was the internal reinforcement which is bonded to the carbon fiber. I contacted Giantnerd/Tommaso regarding service. At first they offered me a replacement frame for $400, not what was expecting for sure. I went though the issue and stated that it was an adhesives issue and that I should know because I was in reliability engineering - this was a materials issue through and through. The rep apologized and shipped me a frame free of charge. He stated that they have to deal with scammers regularly who are making up issues to get new frames. They didn't require that I send the old frame back so I can see where they might be targeted by scammers just wanting a new carbon frame.

The frame arrived quickly and actually was of better quality than the original in the fit and finish. (One of the bottle lugs was slightly misaligned on the original frame.)

So, with a bit of a prod they did totally honor their warranty.

bpcyclist

Well, okay. Very glad you were able to get what you needed, but I guess the question here is, was this a positive customer service experience, or a negative customer service experience? Someone less sophisticated than you just spent 400 bucks resolving this. Is that appropriate in this circumstance? Exactly who is scamining whom?

nomadmax 

Tommaso = Thomas Eason (hence the play on his first name), former owner of Ten Speed Drive Imports. The old steel bikes were built by Billato.