I went to a shop called Franken-something on Spruce. They are the sole manufacturers of a bike called the Alpha which is a SS for under $400.

Nice design and decent components. Straight gauge Chromoly. Sweet deal for all the under $500 bike seekers.

He doesn't sell the frames though, only complete bikes.

Anyone ride one?

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=alpha

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=alpha

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=alpha

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ighlight=alpha

i think that's enough. good bike? "in a word, no".

edit: and "the alpha mercury will ruin your life".

For the under $500 seekers, spend an extra $50 and get an IRO.

Is $50 gonna break your bank? I hope not, eat two meals a day for a week.

The guy claims he "beat out Fuji".

Like I know what that means!

They are pretty much:

"...at building the dumbest, ugliest bike ever."

He forgot to finish his sentance.

the owner is an utter wackjob. do not buy that bicycle. the components are complete ****, and the frame is worse.

What if the OP is the owner???

Then I feel bad that he has to read on the internet that he is an utter wackjob?

Oh well. That shop does have cheap tubes though.

The bike looks like it's getting sucked into a wormhole.

don't ride too close to the event horizon, or that's what'll happen to your steed...

funny, last time i was in there he was going off about fuji. he must really hate them for some reason.

those are some hideous bikes.

a sweet deal for the under-$500 crowd is the Redline 9-2-5.

these alpha mercury ****s are a waste of money for the dont'-know-what-they're-buying crowd.

he gave me a 20 minute rant on how he beat out fuji also.

beat them out for what?

he told me that my old fuji was the last good fuji made. and that foreigners dont have the right to use his pumps and are stealing jobs from us hard working american kids. didn't tell him I'm a foreigner as well. oh and my friend did a documentary on him for a film class. pretty hilarious stuff.

Excuse me guys... I am not the bikeshop dude. I just found his shop and walked in to see what kind of deals I can find there... that's all.

I saw the bikes and posted here to let anyone who was pinching pennies know there was a below $400 bike out there.

I have a frame coming next week and a Special Edition IRO in a few months. I would never buy anything unless I had input from this forum. I wasn't even thinking of buying one of those bikes.

Good. Because everytime you think about those bikes, I die a little inside.

yeah they're trash, and the frame is just a gimmick

350 gets you a windsor or a mercier

280 gets you a dawes

540 gets you a schwinn madison

iro has already been named

175 gets you hooked up with a conversion 10 dolla bike 120 wheels off ebay 30cog and lock ring and you roll

thats word-imho the alpha frames are a harodiamondback ripoff big time- ugly to the nth degree and as a bonus they come with built in crumple zones- spend that loot elsewhere- you can do sooo much better- i believe theres not alot on them for a reason and what you do hear is welllll....

had to bust this out eventually

I saw one of the alpha bikes being soild locally for $150, used. If I were in the market, I might bite at $150 or so for a used one...

I'll admit it, if I could buy just the frame I would. I tend to fall and bang tender parts off the top tube of my bike, and an alpha frame would solve that. But no way is it worth 375 with the components on it.