Bikeguide.org - Bike maintenance for BMX'ers
The Street => The Bike Shop => Topic started by: Nosferatu on November 13, 2014, 02:36:47 PM
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Well just read on solids Facebook that they are no longer making frames, bars, or cranks. They are going to focus on frame building materials. Sucks they made the best frames.
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Wow, that's a total bummer.
Probably realized that bmx frames don't have very large margins and they can make way more money on big bikes and motorcycle work.
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Just saw this as well, such a bummer. I was hoping to see some new shit from them for next year. So glad I picked up a King Cobra last year, best frame ever.
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Well now I need a new frame so I can hang my wasp on the wall.
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Well, shit.
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Sucks but outside of norcal I didn't see many Solid branded frames, plenty of their frames with other company logos on them though.
Is FBM basically the only American frame maker left now?
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except for standard, pedal driven cycles, S&M, "freed" or whatever, I'm sure there are more
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Solid was making freed frames
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If I had extra money is buy a solid lite stem right now.
http://youtu.be/xmkDD5oyy4s
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Shit, guess I'm gonna have to pick up some Cult Deathrow cranks sooner rather than later.
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I still need to pick up a coke can headtube just to have for a custom fantasy frame I'll never make
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I hope this means that my solid is suddenly going to be worth thousands.
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Worth or valued?
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/171539204142 Get it while it's hot.
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So we will never see the Reel sprockets again? Sucks. They always seemed so fuckin lazy/we will get to it when we get to it- regarding their parts.
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You might, Aaron said he'll be doing cncd pieces. He's likely kept all the programming for stems and sprockets.
I feel like I heard top load stems were supposed to come from a few different sources.
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Yeah, I would have really liked a 33t Reel sprocket.
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Anyone wanna buy my Solid Barcode?
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at least they'll still be putting out some products. a topload would be cool too. sucks about the frames... my portlander frame was one of the best i've ever ridden.
^ dibs on your solid made barcode.
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Makes me wish i never sold my Mid BB Killing Machine or All American. I tried too buy my old AA back as the person no longer rode. They didn't want too sell cause "they'd be outta bike too get too work on"
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I'm bummed to hear this! My first aftermarket frame was a solid wasp. Now I own a almost new killing machine euro, a solid duke, and a solid made deathrow.
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I might get a death row now sucks I wanted a king cobra guess that's not going down now
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Who's been making cults american frames? I feel like solid wasn't making them. FBM wasn't making them of recent either right?
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Should've picked up a pair of black 8.666 bars before they sold out :(
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Who's been making cults american frames? I feel like solid wasn't making them. FBM wasn't making them of recent either right?
I would like to know too. I asked Aaron if solid made the trey Jones sigs, he said they didn't do them. I wonder who did, because the welds are awesome on that frame. I shouldn't of sold mine.
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Quamen or arclite? Someome chimed in on that beforr
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What does it mean exactly when they say 'going to be focusing on frame building materials'?
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I was lucky enough to get a v1 deathrow from the empire frame sale. Definately solid made
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What does it mean exactly when they say 'going to be focusing on frame building materials'?
They didn't have anyone to weld anymore. Making head tubes, seattubes, bottom brackets, etc is still something they will be doing.
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I found out about this after contacting them about having a custom frame made up, such a bummer...
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I also have one of the last frames and i was thinking about selling it, might want to rethink that.
with one of the big ballers of the game it seems that recession is hitting bmx companies hard, just like t-1 opted for manufacturing their frames in taiwan.
This might actually be a good move for aaron in trying to re-size his company. It might actually get him the recognition solid always deserved.
So can we talk about solids influence in the bmx industry ?
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...one of the big ballers of the game........So can we talk about solids influence in the bmx industry ?
Come on now...
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So we will never see the Reel sprockets again? Sucks. They always seemed so fuckin lazy/we will get to it when we get to it- regarding their parts.
It was like that with their customs to but I can see why.
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...one of the big ballers of the game........So can we talk about solids influence in the bmx industry ?
Come on now...
I'm pretty sure solid makes the majority of headtubes and bottom brackets for companies making frames in the US, that on top of making frames for many smaller made in US companies like Freed and Native. Solid always seemed the cheapest place to get custom frames too, so probley more influence than you think.
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Not to mention the number of prototypes made for many, many companies.
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Making head tubes doesn't make you a big company, not that this is the issue. They're apparently still making headtubes, BBs and dropouts.They're not a big company, even if they made Cults. This isn't if like Cyclogic (or whatever they are called) stopped making BMX frames. Not stoked that they aren't making frames anymore. I've had a couple of Solid frames and a few stems.
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24 mm cranks back when everyone was going on 19 mm.
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l195/joelite44/Solid001_zps287ae383.jpg) (http://s96.photobucket.com/user/joelite44/media/Solid001_zps287ae383.jpg.html)
24 cruiser frame that was for sale for 200 once upon a time. Still regret not getting it.
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l195/joelite44/3c399fa6-5720-4abf-9f68-f49726c52d1c_zpsd68443b9.jpg) (http://s96.photobucket.com/user/joelite44/media/3c399fa6-5720-4abf-9f68-f49726c52d1c_zpsd68443b9.jpg.html)
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^^^ Is that the "Big Al's" cruiser? I never saw what they looked like
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24 cruiser frame that was for sale for 200 once upon a time. Still regret not getting it.
(http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l195/joelite44/3c399fa6-5720-4abf-9f68-f49726c52d1c_zpsd68443b9.jpg) (http://s96.photobucket.com/user/joelite44/media/3c399fa6-5720-4abf-9f68-f49726c52d1c_zpsd68443b9.jpg.html)
Doesn't really look like a "cruiser", got the high BB of a more Sunday inspired 24" BMX. Also looks very short on the front end, nearly got toe strike?
:)
G.
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I guess they'r back into making custom frames again now with new prices chart. http://www.solidbmx.com/read/customs/
But this texte confuses a little. http://www.solidbmx.com/read/2014/11/the-big-one/
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That's sick, they pretty much made their prices % 150 of what they used to be. And no I don't care about
their his overhead either.
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Contradictory posts...off to a good start
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Sure
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I was always thinking that other companies S&M FBM and standard will drop theyr custom frames prices, because they'r not that different from those on the market beside being "custom". but in fact it's the opposite, it is the lowest cost who actually raised.
3days ago i visited theyr website and found that they will be making custom bars soon for $70, and this made me thinking about getting one, now it's 100$. this made me think twice about getting one from Solid.
Their previous prices was what made them preffered for me.
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That custom frames/bars page was put up at the beginning of the year when he announced price changes in customs.
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The problem is most of these companies don't make much money off of customs, and they take a lot of time and extra detail.
I'm willing to bet they make more money off of T-shirts than they do custom frames.
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That's true for most of cases, but they charge $500 or more for a frame not different than those they make and are sold for $300 to $370 with what they call additional options included in most of times. In my opinion $400 with brake stuff and one wishbone/S bent CS option included is reasonable.
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That's true for most of cases, but they charge $500 or more for a frame not different than those they make and are sold for $300 to $370 with what they call additional options included in most of times. In my opinion $400 with brake stuff and one wishbone/S bent CS option included is reasonable.
Until you have built custom frames you have no idea what a ball-ache it is. Setting up jigs and machines, getting all the joints working, even just cutting the tube efficiently is more difficult... and that's before you get to the huge headache of talking to customers who have very specific wishes, want instant communication and delivery etc.
BMX custom frames have always been ridiculously cheap. If you want a custom road or MTB frame, look at the price of an off the shelf high end frame and double or triple it to get an idea of price. Off the shelf BMX frames are already stupidly cheap anyway, so expecting a custom frame for 30-50% more is totally unrealistic.
IMHO Aaron has made a very sensible decision and I wish him all the best with it.
:)
G.
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Definitely agree with that, a lot of people don't know what goes into a frame. With an OTS frame you have jigs set up for all of your cuts and welds, and parts are made in large batches. You can set the machine up and crank out 50 rear ends without having to measure each and every one. The machine set up, measuring, and jigging, is where most of the labor comes in, so in a way you can make 50 OTS frames just as easily as you can make 1 custom.
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Until you have built custom frames you have no idea what a ball-ache it is. Setting up jigs and machines, getting all the joints working, even just cutting the tube efficiently is more difficult... and that's before you get to the huge headache of talking to customers who have very specific wishes, want instant communication and delivery etc.
BMX custom frames have always been ridiculously cheap. If you want a custom road or MTB frame, look at the price of an off the shelf high end frame and double or triple it to get an idea of price. Off the shelf BMX frames are already stupidly cheap anyway, so expecting a custom frame for 30-50% more is totally unrealistic.
IMHO Aaron has made a very sensible decision and I wish him all the best with it.
:)
G.
Definitely agree with that, a lot of people don't know what goes into a frame. With an OTS frame you have jigs set up for all of your cuts and welds, and parts are made in large batches. You can set the machine up and crank out 50 rear ends without having to measure each and every one. The machine set up, measuring, and jigging, is where most of the labor comes in, so in a way you can make 50 OTS frames just as easily as you can make 1 custom.
I have no problem setting the jig and cutting tubes in angles IF i had dialed precise machines i can trust without having to remeasure everytime. But certainly the hardest part is communicating with customers especially with specific requirements.
I remember times when there was some really hard to build frames, each one of them had different geometry than the other. Now that was much harder to buid.
Surely increasing prices is a sensible decision. Good luck for him.
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Kind of a moot point since I guess he's not making them anymore, but yeah, I think it was a very good move to raise prices on custom frames. I'm actually really surprised it was as cheap as it had been across the board for so long.
I mean, look at any custom steel road or MTB frame, you're looking at $1500 base price at the VERY least. Typically way more than that, especially for an industry leader, which I think we can agree that Solid was for BMX.
Yes, BMX is far cheaper than road or MTB in general, but if you look at an average custom frame's price compared to the price of an average production frame, as a percentage it's still way below the rest of cycling.