piwonka

so did you order from them without sending an email verifying the wait time?

when i ordered, i sent an email asking them how long. they said the current wait time was about three months and that's close to what it worked out to. i had to wait around the christmas and new years holidays which sucked, but overall i'm happy with their service and i'm definately happy with my frame and fork.

pichote

What I did was read the webpage, including the order form, assuming that it was up to date [since it took my money very promptly]. Then I contacted them when that proposed wait time ended, and couldn't get a human response. I finally heard from them, they suggested another wait time which turned out to be inaccurate.

The fact is that neither the webpage NOR the order confirmation say anything about the true wait time, and if it had, I would have cancelled my order simply because I needed something sooner.

I'm fully expecting to love the frame and fork, I'm just commenting on how hard it was to get a straight answer or even ANY answer out of them when requested. Know what I mean?

piwonka

sounds like some girl i'm trying to deal with right now...

pichote

I ran down to Philly on Saturday and scooped up the frame from Fedex. Immediately ran it over to my bke shop and took some pictures of the unwrapping. Should be all built up by next week and ready for some real road testing. Here's what I've got so far:

pirate

its all purdy-like

coelcanth

dude that fork is way too long !!

send it back

piwonka

threadless fork, what the hell.

mander

Niiiiiiiiiice Fraaaaaaaame

Also, outside of bfssfg bizarro world, threadless is a no brainer.

pichote

you know.. i'm embarrassed to admit that I was suprised myself when I realized it was threadless. I was going through my parts order list with the shop, and he goes "what stem do you want?" and I'm all "dude, you know I've got my favorite jaguar stem just waiting to be reunited with the bike..." and he's like "check the threads, do you see any?"

Just another one of those lack of information of the bob jackson site things, although its logical to assume that most modern bike builders would include it. I just thought with them being all old skool and shyte. Obviously thought wrong.

Its interesting that you guys caught that because I spent last night browsing BF threads trying to track down a decent lugged threaded fork so that I could swap out the ugly one on the Pista I bought as a beater while I waited for this frame. It would do my heart good to still have A bike to use the jag on, even if its my POS. Otherwise, anybody want to buy a 110 quill? For the record, as long as you change headset and fork to match the size headtube, you can use whichever, riiight? So far I'm really leaning towards the SOMA fork.

fixiation

thats very odd. my bj came with a threaded fork. weird.

piwonka

i've seen 'em either way...i specified threaded fork when i ordered mine.

pichote

CHRIST. well, that explains why I thought I'd seen the other BJ's on velospace with threaded forks. I told myself I had imagined it. Why the FU*K is that not made apparent on the site? They don't mention the fork at all on the product page, and the order form, which has lots of drop downs for lug lining and transfer colors, doesn't give you the option either.

All my bikes up to this point have been threaded, so I'm trying to convince myself that it will be a nice change, what with being able to change the bars frequently, but the aesthetics are still hurting me a little.

Can anyone here make me feel better by listing any of the qualities of threadless over threaded? I know its supposed to be *better*, but how much specifically better?

beforeimpact

Dude, if it's that big of a deal, take it and cut it to length and get threads cut in the fork. Any good shop can do it and it shouldn't cost more than $20 for about an inch of threads.

(this is assuming it's 1")

bombusben

Man, you whine a lot.

pichote

It's not really even that big of a deal, just more of a "cherry on top" after the process of getting this bike, you know? Like.. I didn't request it, so its my fault, but its just one more thing that didn't end up the way I expected it to.

I've never had threadless so I guess I should be looking forward to it. I've just got a bunch of nice threaded stems sitting around now.

pichote

Hi Bombusben: welcome to Bike Forums. You'll like it here.

haha.

pichote

Nah, I'd rather not alter a perfectly good fork like that. According to my bike guy, I've been living in a world of creaks with threaded, and that once I get over my aesthetics issue with the vintage/modern, that I'll be glad I made the change and never look back.

beforeimpact

It's not really altering a perfectly good fork, it's how you make a threaded fork. BJ has one type of fork and they either thread it or leave it alone for threadless. If you want threaded, get threads cut. It's your custom bike that you've waited for, why not get it like you want it? With a proper build and maintenance, I promise you won't be able to tell a "performance" difference.

pichote

I'm going to reveal my bike construction ignorance here, but I thought threaded forks were structurally different via the steerer, etc.

I guess this is the juncture to make the decision, b/c the headset is about to get ordered.

So the question still remains: why do people consider threadless better? Just the modern variety of stem options and better looking pop tops?

--- i guess i'm just being a stubborn punk b*tch. Velospace's threadless BJ's don't look all that bad. I guess its all in the build. I've had a good run with threaded, but I'm willing to give something new a try.
Velospace BJ search page

piwonka

well, that fork looks like inch and an eighth diameter steer tube so it looks like you're going threadless...unless you get another fork made.

pichote

haha... did you just eyeball an 1/8 of an inch? go you, dude.

i'm going to sit with threadless for a bit. But while we are on the topic, does anyone know if pistas made in the past 2-3 years are 1" or 1 1/8? Really thinking about swapping that fork out.

piwonka

yeah, i did just eyeball it, so what size is it? if it's 1" then cut it and thread it.
why would you change out a fork made exactly for that frame. pista (if you're talking Bianchi's) have a much steeper headtube than what that BJ probably has...meaning your trail is gonna be all weird if you use that.

Did they tell you what the geometry of that frame is or did you not bother to ask that either?

fixiation

it is really weird that they randomly send either a threadless or threaded if you don't specify what you want. lesson learned. when ordering a custom bike, tell them exactly what you want. threadless is nice, however. its stronger and you'll be very happy with the fact that bars can be changed with ease.

pichote

No no no. The pista alterations are a seperate project. Just an attempt to keep using my jag stem. No way in HELL i would ever put that pista fork on my BJ. Good LORD. Very different conversations, sorry I confused you.

I don't know if the BJ has 1inch or not. They don't specify on the page, and the frame is currently in Philly. I'll update for the hell of it, but I don't think I'll be threading it.

pichote

I mean.. its custom, but its not really custom. It's "off the peg" custom meaning that I don't get to choose any of the geometry etc. The assumption going into an order is that the manufacturer lists what options you have, and what you don't. Like... ok.. maybe I should have pushed my luck and asked for a threaded, but then maybe I should have asked for custom geometry? or maybe that they leave the decals off? Where's the limit?

All in all, I'm going to stop complaining on this thread. My frame is here, there are no dents (yet, haha), and its being built. Threadless will be fine. Can't wait. Blah blah blah.