|   From Russia...... | Igor Modin
Aug 2, 2002 5:55 AM | | The first russian titanium softail |
| a US marketed Russian Ti bike | Steve-O
Aug 2, 2002 6:06 AM | | Looks like you have that bike built up pretty light (Is that a carbon flite I see?).
FYI...REI began selling a NOVARA Ti Softail bike in the US this year. Several months ago the product manager for NOVARA was at my shop and he told me that they were sourcing the frame from Russia and that he was totally impressed with the quality. In fact, they decided to name the bike the "Komrade" which hints at it's heritage.
Unfortunately this bike will be sold on the web and bigger REI stores on the west coast so I won't be seeing it in person anytime too soon. Here's a pict and linkage...
http://www.rei.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=13310104&prmenbr=8000&cgrfnbr=4500838 |
| 62.118.136.230 | Igor Modin
Aug 2, 2002 7:37 AM | | I not sure |
| I not sure | Igor Modin
Aug 2, 2002 7:41 AM | | I am not shure that this frame was built in Russia. |
| Feedback | Steve-O
Aug 2, 2002 8:02 AM | | I am pretty sure it was made in Russia (given that I work part time as a wrench at an REI store in the Midwest). Our internal newsletter had a full write up on the bike a while back.
Typically once a year I get to visit with the product manager for the Novara bicycle line (REI's house brand). This is always interesting as I get to find out about new products, designs,etc. Most Novara bikes are sourced from Taiwan factories (same as Giant, Specialized, etc...). I was told that this bike was sourced from Russia.
Actually there is a fair amount of Russian titanium in the bike industry. For instance, it is a pretty well known fact that Colnago uses Russian titanium for their high end road bikes. Merlin has looked into Russian Titanium. Schmolke has also used Russian titanium for frames. |
| and a story | Steve-O
Aug 2, 2002 8:06 AM | | Taken from a recent magazine article that mentions the bike....
Bike jockey by design
When Steve Gluckman was a teenager in Austin, Tex., he crossed paths a time or two with a fellow Texan named Lance Armstrong. "We did some rides together," says Gluckman, 38, who has been crazy about bikes and cycling since he was 4. Unlike Armstrong, the repeat Tour de France champion, Gluckman never made a living in the saddle. "I love the sport, but I knew I was not going to be a racer at the elite level." So he did the next best thing: He became a master technician who designs the bikes that elite racers ride.
Gluckman's is no grease-covered gig in a neighborhood bike shop next to a Domino's pizza parlor. As product manager for REI's Novara bicycle brand, Gluckman combines his life's passion with skills in engineering, finance, marketing and public relations. He deals with vendors all over the world, and still has time to cover 7,000 miles a year on two wheels.
Gluckman's road began soon after he graduated from Southwest Texas State in 1989 with a degree in marketing. He was newly married, working in a local bike shop, and clueless about the future. Then REI, which now has 60 stores coast to coast, opened a shop in Austin and hired him for $7.50 an hour to be the bicycle service manager. After two weeks of training at the Barnett Bike Institute, in Colorado Springs, Colo., he became a certified master mechanic. And then he began dreaming about designing the kind of bikes riders would die for.
In 1992 Gluckman joined the staff at REI's headquarters, in Kent, Wash. Several promotions later, he's the guy in charge of REI's bike business. "Bikes are my creative outlet," he says, "just like some people are musicians or artists. I am responsible for the concept, the design, the development and every single detail."
Many days he cycles 20 miles round-trip from his home in Seattle to suburban Kent, where he has his own bike shop at REI's offices. He works with overseas suppliers to design the frame, and often assembles the prototypes himself.
His current hot project is the Komrade, a $2,500 mountain bike with a titanium frame custom-built in Russia by craftsmen who love the bike's name. "These guys are our sporting comrades, cyclists like you and me," says Gluckman. Another of his concepts is the Buzz, which he calls an "urban assault bicycle," a fat-tired street pounder inspired by the bike-messenger culture.
Gluckman travels to cycling events throughout the country, and several times a year he visits China, Japan and Taiwan, where most of REI's bike components and frames are manufactured. For this he makes a "comfortable" living, with a house near the water in Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Lisa, 35, and two children, Ryan, 8, and Abby, 5. The weather is suitable for year-round riding, and the kids are already avid cyclists. "This is really a dream job," says Gluckman. "In 13 years, I've gone from being a mechanic to knowing people all over the world." |
| and a story | hablen
Aug 2, 2002 2:19 PM | | Steve Gluckman was a teen when he rode with lance, hummm that would have made lance at 10yrs old or less , did he really ride with lance, like Ritchy invented tubless.
Anyone want to buy a bridge.
No, really i walked on the moon. |
| and a story (a big story) | knobb
Aug 2, 2002 2:36 PM | | Lance grew up in Plano Texas he moved to austin well after this guy was last a teen.
From the Lance web page...
The Early Years
Born September 18, 1971, Lance's natural athleticism was nurtured by his mother Linda, a single parent, while his temperament was molded by his participation in a variety of sports in their hometown of Plano, Texas. With the energy of youth, an inherent ability and a decidedly competitive nature on his side, Lance won the Iron Kids Triathlon at 13 and became a professional triathlete when he was just 16 years old. The swimming and running components of triathlon competition eventually gave way to cycling, however, and by the time Lance was a senior in high school he had a rolodex of potential cycling sponsors and a burgeoning career that was quickly replacing nearly everything else in his life. Long rides on Saturdays frequently took him to the Oklahoma border, where he had bicycled so far away from home he would have to call his mother to come and pick him up. Lance maintains that he was "born to race bikes." The evidence was mounting to support that theory even before he was out of high school |
| Actually the standard russian tube alloy 5Al/2Mn is superior... | DeeEight
Aug 2, 2002 9:59 AM | | to the standard american normal 3Al-2.5V in both tensile and yeild
strength falling nicely between it and 6Al/4V.
If you see frames described as 5/2 Alloy, they're russian. |
| In Russia this alloy called OT4(-) | Igor Modin
Aug 3, 2002 3:11 AM | | - |
| Which then gets mistaken with Grade 4 CP titanium by american... | DeeEight
Aug 3, 2002 2:34 PM | | Ti frame experts who go about whining about crappy russian tubing because
they can't compete with the foreign tubing and construction on price
terms. |
| US-designed magnesium bike w/MiG tubing | BadHabit
Aug 2, 2002 7:17 AM | | Litech previously Lodestar bikes are made with magnesium tubing from the MiG factory in Russia, the only source. Market inception of the Lodestar brand under its original owners was tarnished by allegations of money laundering by the company (YBM Magnex). |
| Magnesium frames (link) | Igor Modin
Aug 2, 2002 7:45 AM | | http://www.litech-mg.ru/ |
| |
