indy fab or de rosa
 

for a single speed. i'm upgrading from a lemond fillmore i've ridden for a few years, and would like people's input on how the two ride. my lbs won't build up a de rosa neo primato to test (plus i'd have to special order the horizontal dropouts) but maybe someone has ridden a geared neo primato? or are there some steel crown jewel indy fab riders out there that love their bike? help please i'm dying....

alright maybe some pictures will elicit a response...

http://www.fitte.co.jp/images/2007_d...neoprimato.jpg
http://www.ifrider.com/register/00870a.jpg

hmm?

de rosa

its obviously the de rosa. how is there even a question?

De Rosa...one word...LUGS!!!

wow. no votes for the indy fab. interesting....

That De Rosa is so nice. When you say horizontal dropouts do you mean track ends or horizontal dropouts? Cuz if I was spending that much money on a frame I'd want to retain the option to gear up.

i mean horizontal dropouts. i know it sucks to not gear it up, but i love riding single speed so much and it's probably going to get more use that way. i'm not ready to go back to geared yet and who knows what kind of nano-organic magnetically levitating frames will be out by then. i'd have to do the eccentric bottom bracket thing with the vertical dropout and from what i hear it doesn't work out so well... anyone ridden the neo primato and know about my tru temper osx lemond fillmore with carbon fork? or care to take a guess as to the difference in riding characteristics? thanks...

No man, ss/fg with horizontal dropouts is cool in my book! It's all about keeping your options open. To me ordering an ultra high end road frame with track ends and no brazeons makes as little sense as hacking the brazeons and derailer hanger off that derosa up there. If I was ordering a dream ss frame it'd at least have a derailer hanger, a pip on the downtube and a cable stop on the right chainstay, a la the old path racers.

I wasn't wowed at first, but I've been liking Indy Fab stuff more and more lately.

Knowing both builders, I am torn on this one.

Doriano is a world class builder. He welds all the DeRosa's in house, including brazing the lugged models.
Its a little known fact, but back in the 70s, Merckx rode a DeRosa, rebranded as an EM, to victory in many races. One of those frames was built by a 15 year old Doriano. The bike still sits in their shop.

otoh, I have been to the shop in Boston of IF and they do world class work as well. I have seen them work. I have seen their quality control up close. I like the fact they are as close to totally green as a bike company can get.
Check out my blog post on my visit to IF (and ANT) . http://deedubbayoo.blogspot.com/2008...to-boston.html

Cant go wrong with either of them. They both do great work. Its going to come down to your personal preference. Dont listen to anyone but your heart.

DW

I would go with IF just because a number of bikes they build appeal to me and I wouldn't mind getting a small stable going (ss/fixed, 29er xc, cyclocross).

i personally love both. i would go with the indi fab though, because i really just don't want to see that de rosa built up as a "conversion," no matter how nice. the frame deserves better and frankly, if i'm gonna drop the kind of money i think you will, my bike isn't going to have shifter bosses and derailler hangers

IF is the De Rosa of the new century. Go with Indy.

what type of riding will you be doing? i know nothing about their geometries but i'm going to guess that the de rosa will be a much nicer distance bike. just keep in mind that if you're going to have horizontal dropouts, you won't be able to take it on the track.

it's hard to really give an answer without knowing your intentions.

Man the welds on that IF look pretty damn nice from here. is that welded or filet brazed? Either way I can't see anything wrong with it. The lugs on the Derosa are beautiful as well. You really can't go too far wrong with either. They are both beautiful frames in their own right, and I can't imagine either is likely to break. If it's a question of aesthetics, then do you prefer the clean simple lines of the IF, or the ornate lug work of the Derosa?

have you guys seen the new Indy fad catalog? those frames are give me pounds of *****s. get an indy shot peen ti frame.

derosa, nice. IF, nice too, http://www.ifbikes.com/frames2/single-road.shtml
i'd get a della santa.

Go for the...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2392/...e9775b9644.jpg
I love my Neo Primato, descends like it's on rails and jumps up hills.

I'd personally go Indy Fab, but I bet you'd be equally happy either way.

Robin Williams rides a 953 Indy Fab. I saw him at the Portland bike show.

IF all the way. I dream of getting one built one day.

My Yo Eddy is in storage back home and I have nightmares that some mad drip from the ceiling of the supposedly climate-controlled storage facility is corroding my love as I sleep innocently in Tokyo......

Do you know this for a fact? Is it in UCI regulations or something? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious. At my old local drome (Burnaby), road conversions weren't allowed but the reason they always gave was that the bbs are too low for the banking. Naturally this doesnt have to be a problem on a custom roadfix frame.

Wearyourtruth I see where you're coming from but it still seems absurd. You say that a custom high end road frame deserves better than to be run as a fg, and then in the same sentence you imply that a custom high end road frame is not good enough to run as a fg. I guess it has to do with personal preference but I really do like the old British path racer aesthetic for its built in flexibility.

Sorry bonzo for the OT.

I don't think there's any UCI regulation, but most velodromes I've seen aren't eager to allow road conversions on. There's usually some hang-wringing, someone measures a bottom bracket to determine whether or not, and the rider either gets a rental bike or goes home. Major Taylor in Indy has a whole fleet of conversions they use as rentals.