Koga gets the frames Made there, TW a subcontractor, but the Bikes are Built-up in Heerenveen .

so a Bike Built in any location is a question of which Part?

so if you buy a frame and fork online, and put it together , as a Whole Bike , it's Built in Your House..

Van Nicholas is made in Asia.

Wrong again fietsbob.

Probably true, but snob appeal aside, on a tourer, being used for that alone, what is the benefit to that material over, say, steel. So if the thing getting one into a box on geometry was the material, is that worth it either?

Made" meaning fully assembled and boxed up,as such complete and ready to ride at your friendly neighborhood bike shop.. oh all knowing young scamp.




as someone who got a field repair to a steel frame , by a non bike company's welding.

a Crack in a Ti frame needing welding would send me home .. trip done .

Actually there probably is none but titanium never rusts and will always stay shiny and should you run into Magneto on a bad day, you can still ride away.

There are practical reasons as well. Steel is a strong material but, let's be honest, it's heavy. Titanium has about the same strength of steel but half the weight. The fact that the material is relatively inert also makes it attractive. Steel's only advantage is that it is cheap.

Cheap to produce and even more importantly (to cyclists), relatively cheap to repair with a more common skillset requirement than Ti to repair.

Good luck finding a skilled Ti welder when on tour.
I can't even find a decent stainless steel welder for my rack locally and I'm only half an hour ride from a marina.
I've a Pass Hunter rack from Velo Orange
https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...nter-rack.html
which, due to a suspension corrected fork, need to move the rearmost stay/leg to a different position to make it enter my fork crown correctly.
Nightmare so far finding someone local and it looks like journeying a full days return travel to get the job done and a second day to go fetch it, hence its more than 6 months from original purchase date.

I'm now real glad I didnt buy Ti Tubus racks like I contemplated doing, but went with stainless.

Nope, it ain't

Good luck on finding a skilled welder who won't burn a hole through steel when they try to "repair" it. It is a fallacy that the tubes used for bicycle frames are easily repaired by anyone. I know this from direct experience. The machinest at work is highly skilled and welds everything from delicate scientific equipment to pressure vessels. He is also a cyclist. He was astounded at the thinness of the tubing wall on a steel mountain bike frame (1984 vintage). He said it would be incredibly easy to burn right through it.

40 plus years cycling never had a frame break, yes a TI frame would be the dogs to tour on for sure..

So where are you going, besides window shopping ?

well all going according to plan either staying here or ferry over to scotland meet up with a buddy tour with him for a week or if that fails hope on a different ferry and head to wales.but it depends on whether i get the frame sorted time off my new job and if theres enough dosh left over to finance all this.
sure i might as well dream here as in bed.

Ok, great to know and will have a bearing on my next frame purchase.
Appreciate the heads up - thank you

Whoa! Flashback!

I think John would have slapped Paul in the puss for that one : ) Good find.