Low cost

Terrible customer service, poor paint and quality control.

Although not for this exact frame, I bought the older version and used it for a couple months before having some quality control issues. Derailleur hanger was miswelded and the paint started to flake off. Leader was incredibly difficult and rude when it came to returning the frame, by far the WORST customer service in the business. Overcharged on shipping costs and made me pay both ways for something that was clearly their fault. AVOID!

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Bianchi, Fuji, Trek and Soma frames

Overall construction, Service, even the paint job is sweet!!!! Rides great.

N/A

Fantastic Deal!!! Solid alum aero'd frame for amazing price. I love everything about the bike.

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Felt 80, Soft-ride, tested Cervelo p1

Horizontal dropouts for the rear wheel, zero-stack headset, fairly light weight, internal cable routing, good aerodynamics. Customer support responds fairly quickly via e-mail to various questions.

The frame came without any even basic documentation, it took a few hours to figure out the set-screws for the horizontal dropouts, and the internal cable routing. I believe that the cables are intended to be routed through the frame fully housed, but it's not indicated anywhere and there seem to be several way that could work using step-down cable ends. After trying several different schemes of running the cables I think they intend for the cables to be fully housed through the frame. Waiting on a confirmation from Leader on this.

I initially made a mistake of buying a road-geometry bike aero'd up and marketed for triathlons, but quickly learned all about the geometry differences between time-trial frames and road-bike frames. To rectify my mistake, I stripped the old bike and put everything on the Leader 735TT frame, and am now very satisfied. The geometry is great for the aero position.

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Various road geometry bikes

Price, weight isnt all that bad for the price range. The flat black is old school hot rod colors

Seat clamp not tightening down enough. Reccomend using a carbon post it fixed the problem.

Bought a blem frame(wheel cut out not perfect) from leader to try out quality. Welds look good and the frame ride great. Had problem with the seat binder bolt but lead immediately warrantied it and there hav been no other issues but the common seat post problem not staying in place(fixed with carbon post)Built with Campy veloce and record comp.

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Giant ocr,cannondale caad8

Great bargain on the frame. Very impressively light UAL aluminum. Very good frame. You save $1K by settling for aluminum and visible welds. No big deal.

Good customer service.

The pitfalls of buying mailorder.
Not-quite-right placement of front derailleur hanger.

I'm very happy with my Leader bike and with the support I got before and after purchase. I decked out a bargain frame with Dura-Ace and other high-end equipment and it's pretty sweet. Are there better frames? Yes, but it would have cost another $1K just to go a small step up in frames. This is the one to get for most of us.
I had a little bit of a setup issue with the front derailleur which I attribute to a combination of factors. The front derailleur when adjusted for it's maximum inward travel won't clear the chain in the easiest gear. To rectify this I had to give it a slightly turned in angle which makes it a little pickier to adjust out chain rub in the other gears. This is probably a combination of the 10-speed gear spread, the very short chain stays, and the placement of the derailleur braze-on (it could be just a little bit better placed).

I also ordered Q-rings and can't use them both simultaneously. The chain ends up rubbing the buttom of the derailleur cage at the small chain ring's 'flat' spot in 6 of the ten cogs. I suspect if I use the stock small chainring I'll be fine. This could be rectified by using a front derailleur designed for a triple, or perhaps by clocking the front derailleur braze-on a little further counter clockwise.
Back to the support. Sal was very helpful pre-sale with all sorts of advice on which handlebar/stem size, frame size, crank arm size. He even looked over my order and recommended a better seat (for ease of positioning). I declined due to my budget and he threw it in free. (don't expect free stuff just because I got it! But it indicates a good customer service attitude).
After the sale, as I was setting up the bike and had questions, I got prompt attention via email...even got referred directly to a rep at Rotor Corp. for consultation regarding the Q-rings. Buying a bike mail-order will always leave you with less support, but you always have your LBS to fall back on.

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None.

Awesome looks
Great geometry
Stiff

The only suggestion I would make to my new friend Sal at Leader Bike is to put the rear dropout set screws in a separate Ziploc baggie with detailed instructions on how to install them. Since most road bikes today do not come with horizontal dropouts, most riders (myself included) wouldn't know that the set screws are necessary.

I was in the market for a good time trial bike, but I did not want to pay a lot of money. I found the Leader LD-735TT on eBay, and I was intrigued by it. I came onto this site to read the reviews, and I decided I needed to get myself one of these. What a great frame! It's light, stiff, and can withstand the weight of a larger rider. What I'm most proud of is the money I saved not only in the frame but also in the components. Just about every single component I put on this frame was on sale, and I paid a total of less than $1300. That's less than just about every single TT bike on the market today. No single component cost me more than $99.

While this is a review of the frame, I need to mention the wheels. I went with a set of Vuelta XRP Comp wheels that I got on eBay brand new for $99. These wheels are the real deal! Like I mentioned, I am a rather large rider (albeit shrinking rapidly following gastric bypass surgery). These wheels are able to stand up to my weight with no problem!

Stiff and smooth very straight frame Awesome paint job

Seat slid a litle at the beginning had to crank the seatbolt down without the post to get it to stay.

I wanted a new frame so I went online and found Leader Bike through a friend. I got the the frame and was really impressed by the workmanship. A couple of people have said that they were missing set screws. My frame did come with them but they were longer bolts kind of like cantilever bolts which worked great. My seatpost was kind of hard to get set up but it just took some time. I built it up with Dura Ace. When I first took out this bike I was in total amazement. This frame is straight as can be, nice and steady. I could not believe that only spent $560 on this frame and fork. It rode like a frame that would cost 3 to 4 times as much, very stiff but not harsh. And the fork was nice and plush with hardly any flex. The cockpit has great dimensions, very comfortable. On the first ride I rode 30 miles and expected it to take some to get use to but instead it felt like a bike that I've had for years. When I talked to Sal at Leader Bike he was great. He answered all my questions and was very professional on the phone. You can tell he really loves bikes and his business. He returned my voicemail on a Sunday, incredible!! Overall I am very happy with this frame and hopefully I will be riding it for years to come. And when I do buy another bike or frame it will be from Sal and Laeder Bikes. Great frame and fork at a great price!

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Solid, inexpensive TT frame easy build-up

emails go unanswered little things (no set screws for the rear dropouts, as advertised)

I bought the 735TT frame, LD806 carbon fork and Cane Creek I6 headset for less than $550 at the Leader eBay store. I built up the bike in just a couple of hours. This is a good, stiff, quality aluminum frame. I ride a Trek 2000 road bike, which is also aluminum, with OCLV carbon fork. The 735TT is stiffer, but certainly no harsher a ride. All in all, I really like the design. However, that said, this frame lacks some little things. There were no set screws for the horizontal dropouts, despite them being advertised as included on the Leader eBay store. Without the screws, on my very first ride, the rear wheel managed to slide forward enough to start rubbing the frame at the cutout. Had to stop and adjust it. I suppose if I had the set srews this wouldn't happen. Internal cable routing would be nice, but it's understandable why it wasn't included. It probably would increase the frame cost, and would make the vuild-up that much more difficult.

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None

steep angles, great looking finish, great aero design, fit is very comfortable for aero position, looks sharp!....price fantastic!!

bottom bracket shell threads, external cable routing, no down tube H20 bottle

I was amazed at the quality for the price. The Time trialing aspects of this bike are impressive. Angles are steep and appropriate. It's relatively light. Completely aero (except for external cable routings). It looks fabulous. And you'd have to pay 2x or 3x to get an equivalent. Like other reviews I had a hard time initially getting the bottom bracket in, but just forced it a little and it eventually it went in fine. The horizontal dropouts make for a very tight aero fit behind the seat post tube. There weren't set screws as advertised. The ride is very responsive. The stiff aluminum makes for a little bit of a harsh ride, but is softened with carbon seatpost and fork. The service provided on the phone was excellent and very helpful. I only wish they'd h20 bosses on the down tube. Jn Cobb's wind tunnel testing revealed that a water bottle here is actually more aero than one without. I also wish there were internal cable routings (except for rear der...I like having that exterior for crisper shifting). I am ecstatic at my new bike. With Leader I could afford the kind of bike I feel I needed for a fast Ironman time. Thanks Guys!!!

Stiff, reasonably light, good value, funny saying on the seat tube

Cut-out isn't really aero Customer service a bit sketchy

I only do 5 to 10 time trials a year (I mostly do road races) but clip-ons for my road bike had never put me in the right position plus it was a pain to switch them on and off. I wanted a TT bike, but wanted to build it on the cheap. This frame let me do just that. I bought it off ebay along with the Leader fork and the transaction went smoothly. I used a combination of parts I had around the house, scrounged from friends, with a few new additions (Renn disk wheel, etc). The result was a pretty nice TT bike for around a grand. The frame is pretty nice and a good value, but not the quality of a Cervelo. You know right away you've got an offshore product as the decal on the seat tube says "stranger, better". Uh, guys...did you mean 'stronger'? I think it's hilarious and point it out whenever someone asks about the bike. As others have noted, the rear wheel placement allows way too much space for aero advantage, but they've apparently fixed that on the new ones by putting in horizontal dropouts. The paint job is well done, if somewhat subject to chipping. Others have described the ride as stiff in a good way. I would say it is stiff, bordering on harsh, but definitely acceptable for most TTs. I've ridden a friend's Cervelo P3, and it has a better thought out design and a somewhat nicer, more stable feeling ride than my Leader - but not by much, especially considering the price difference. Leader now has an even cheaper TT frame, the 730TT, which my wife is considering purchasing. I can't really tell what the difference is from the 735TT other than $120, and Leader doesn't return my e-mails on the subject, which may give a hint at their customer service if you ever did have a problem.

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