I'm seriously thinking of getting an Airborne Zeppelin and was wondering if anybody has had a bad experience with the company or with the bike? Can't seem to find anything bad said about the bike or company (except they are made in China).
Anybody had a bad experience with Airborne?
JohnGalt
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
I'm seriously thinking of getting an Airborne Zeppelin and was wondering if anybody has had a bad experience with the company or with the bike? Can't seem to find anything bad said about the bike or company (except they are made in China).
I was at a shop recently looking at some bikes and asked about an airborne that was just built up for a customer. Two staff members just laughed. The pulled it from the rack, held onto the brake and put some weight on the cranks. The amount of flex was amazing! The did the same with a Seven, that was titanium as well, and the flex was hardly noticable. Their opinion was that it was junk. I don't know what model it was only that it was an airborne Ti bike. hope that helps.
Joined
·
8,116 Posts
I thought they were only available by mail order/internet...bjm said:
I'm no expert...
...on frame flex etc. and I have only about a 1000 miles on my zep, but at 250 lbs and an occasional hard standing push to climb or sprint I can not say that I have felt anything that caused any concern.
It seems to me that if a a framed or wheels flexed allot with just a little pressure on the crank at a stand still the bike would not be ridable.
While you will find some, if you are having to dig deep to find any bad reviews of a company than I think it speaks pretty well for them and the product.
Go 4 it and Good luck.
...on frame flex etc. and I have only about a 1000 miles on my zep, but at 250 lbs and an occasional hard standing push to climb or sprint I can not say that I have felt anything that caused any concern.
It seems to me that if a a framed or wheels flexed allot with just a little pressure on the crank at a stand still the bike would not be ridable.
While you will find some, if you are having to dig deep to find any bad reviews of a company than I think it speaks pretty well for them and the product.
Go 4 it and Good luck.
Alot talk about Airborne's recently!! (Marketing really does work) Anyway I thought that these bikes were good, at 1st I thought that this company was like boutique type brand. I'm just now starting to hear about how they are not.... LOL, they LOOK nice, but I cannot comment on quality or anything.
While we haven't learned much about the quality of Airborne, we did learn here's an example of a bad bike shop. As to the original question, I think you're only asking for trouble the way you ask the question. Any company that sells a reasonable number of bikes will have some failure rate. It may be big or it may be small, but by only asking for bad experiences, you only see one side of the picture. So someone has had a bad experience with Airborne (that's almost guaranteed), how significant is that? Is it a 1 in a million thing or 1 in 10? How will you know the difference if all you have are bad examples?bjm said:
I have been riding on of their mountain bikes for 6 years now and I like it. Sure it is not as top notch as a Merlin or Seven, but at about half the price, you get what you pay for. The finish quality could have been nicer, but I have surly put it through it's paces and it still keep on trucking. I would consider another when it come time to replace it.
Joined
·
1,243 Posts
I have owned both a Zeppelin and a Torch. The Zep was a size too large, but was the most comfortable bike I've ever ridden for long rides. The Torch is fantastic also, and a bit stiffer. Without more info about exactly what the LBS guys did, and the different models of Airborne vs. Seven, I can't really address their comparison. 3/2.5 Ti (the Zep) is generally a bit more flexy than 6/4 Ti (the Torch), and there was some flex with the Zep (I'm 195), but no more so than with my steel Zurich. I plan to buy another Zep in the correct size sometime soon. Airbornes lave long top tubes, so consider than in sizing. Might try a Manhattan Project if I find one on eBay.JohnGalt said:
I have test ridden stock Sevens (not custom) and Merlins. There was no major difference with the Airbornes. In fact, the stock Seven Axiom was one of the flexier Ti bikes I've ridden, though if you got it custom, they could make it as stiff as you'd want. If you like the brushed Ti look (I do), then the Zep's shaped tubing makes it one of the more beautiful bikes out there.
I've done fairly well financially, and also have a wife who understands my passion for cycling, so if I wanted to drop $7K on a bike, it wouldn't be that big a deal to do it. But I'm naturally frugal, and have not yet seen a reason to do so. The Airbornes are a great combination of price and quality.
And what would you be hearing??? Two idiots at a bike shop pushing on the bottom bracket and pronouncing the bike to be crap? I don't own an airborne, but have seen several posts over the past few months of experience riders who have bought them and been estatic. The only complaint I have seen from actual owners, it the toptubes run relatively long in a given size.R1000 said:
Compare that to Litespeed where I see many posts about breakage issues since they were aquired by American Bike, not to mention the issue with speed wobble problems from some of their frames. Dean gets complaints, they make great bikes, assuming you can get them to deliver it and actually build it as designed. Finally, we just had a thread about Seven not building to the specs requested in several instances and then offering to correct the problem by building another frame for full price.
For TI, it seems you have a few good choices. 1) TST, inexpensive and good quality. 2) Airborne, good quality and moderate price. 3) Lemond, don't hear anything about them, but Trek stands behind their product. 4) Titus, great quality, great service, getting up there in price. 5) Moots, good service, expensive, and so pretty. There are also some smaller builders that do TI.
Joined
·
5,241 Posts
Long time Airborne rider...
While I don't have any significant time on a Zepp, I've got a Spectre and MP... and have noted no undo "flex" or quality issues. As mentioned, it's hard to please everyone every time... but Airborne seems to have as consistent and as loyal a following as any other large brand... especially when you consider their roots are the internet instead of the immediately tangible brick and mortar.
As for demonstrations of BB flex... there are other factors that may or may not have presented themselves during this... "test". Outside of lab conditions, such methods could be useless showboating.
While I don't have any significant time on a Zepp, I've got a Spectre and MP... and have noted no undo "flex" or quality issues. As mentioned, it's hard to please everyone every time... but Airborne seems to have as consistent and as loyal a following as any other large brand... especially when you consider their roots are the internet instead of the immediately tangible brick and mortar.
As for demonstrations of BB flex... there are other factors that may or may not have presented themselves during this... "test". Outside of lab conditions, such methods could be useless showboating.
Joined
·
122 Posts
I recently bought a Thunderbolt (Al road frame) from Airborne, and doing business with the company was a delight. They're very efficient and responsive.JohnGalt said:
The frame was generally good, though I think the front barrel adjusters are located too far forward on the headtube thus causing the shifter housings to interfere more than necessary with the front brake housing.
Also, the water bottle screws on the seat tube were not centered medio-laterally - they were very obviously not placed properly.
I built the frame up with Ultegra 10 components, Mavic CXP-33 rims, Conti Ultragatorskin tires, FSA K Wing bars, Thomson setback seatpost, and a Brooks saddle. It rides very well, though I must say I have rather fallen in love with the ride of the Specialized Allez Comp steel frame I recently built up in a similar fashion.
Joined
·
414 Posts
'05 Blackbird here...
I went through my LBS on this one. If you have a LBS that deals in Airborne, that is the way to go. This puts the responsibility on the shop to assemble correctly and take care of any issues you might have. Pricing will be almost the same (if not cheaper), so why not put some $$$ in the local guys coffer.
With that being said, I can't speak for the Ti frames, only the Aluminum (w/carbon stays and Reynolds carbon fork). If there is flex, I don't notice it. I feel that it handles fast turns very tightly, accelleration is excellent (limited only by the rider...), hill climbing is also positive.
Sounds to me (as it was said) that you've got a questionable LBS there. If they seem so against the Airborne due to their "flex", then why are they carrying them??? My shop sells a ton of them. I suspect that there will be a healthy amount of Carpe' Diems at the Cross Crusade this year...
I went through my LBS on this one. If you have a LBS that deals in Airborne, that is the way to go. This puts the responsibility on the shop to assemble correctly and take care of any issues you might have. Pricing will be almost the same (if not cheaper), so why not put some $$$ in the local guys coffer.
With that being said, I can't speak for the Ti frames, only the Aluminum (w/carbon stays and Reynolds carbon fork). If there is flex, I don't notice it. I feel that it handles fast turns very tightly, accelleration is excellent (limited only by the rider...), hill climbing is also positive.
Sounds to me (as it was said) that you've got a questionable LBS there. If they seem so against the Airborne due to their "flex", then why are they carrying them??? My shop sells a ton of them. I suspect that there will be a healthy amount of Carpe' Diems at the Cross Crusade this year...
You had to post that pic!!!
I'm a sucker for shiny bikes, I have a 1980 Schwinn Voyageur 11.8 that is solid chrome, shines like that. I don't want to fool with my decals though, I'll leave it alone and maybe try and bring the shine up a little.firstrax said:
I think i saved about $150
by going LBS vs internet. I only wanted frame/fork/hs/bar/stem/post/collar. I don't get all wild and crazy over bars/stem/post so I stuck with the house brand and saved money there and put that towards better components. And actually my only dealings so far are with the LBS on the bike purchase. I built it up, LBS did the HS and fork cut.
Manhatten Project, very stable at speed, turns very stable, almost wants to track straight. So far very happy with the bike, I require a longer top tube the geometry works for me.
by going LBS vs internet. I only wanted frame/fork/hs/bar/stem/post/collar. I don't get all wild and crazy over bars/stem/post so I stuck with the house brand and saved money there and put that towards better components. And actually my only dealings so far are with the LBS on the bike purchase. I built it up, LBS did the HS and fork cut.
Manhatten Project, very stable at speed, turns very stable, almost wants to track straight. So far very happy with the bike, I require a longer top tube the geometry works for me.
Joined
·
4,232 Posts
A friend of mine owns a Zep, and got mad when Huffy didn't send him the free water bottle they promised him for spamming the reviews section here......
Trek does not stand behind their products
Sorry to correct you but Lemond/Trek does not stand behind their product. I have a cracked carbon frame which I asked them if they would take a look at to ascertain if it was rideable. Gave me the big middle finger up and told me no because of "liability issues."cdmc said:
1 - 20 of 24 Posts
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
-
?
