|   I'm Getting a 2003 Balfa Belair! (Long with shout outs!) | CTRider
Mar 10, 2003 4:18 PM | | Well I know a lot of you out there have been following my quest for a full suspension ride for a while now so I thought I'd post now that MTBR is up and running at full speed again to fill everyone in on the details and to let you know that this version of the quest over.
I'm going to be getting a 2003 Balfa Belair - regular frame size - in Velvet Blue for my first full suspension bike! Here's the long story. As you guys all know all too well I have been test riding a bunch of designs and contacting folks like the Hilltop boys and Larry Mettler (Ventanarama) and Charles Coker (Hammerheadbikes) for price quotes on various FS rigs. I almost committed to ordering a Heckler, but then had reservations and then found out about the long wait,I was very close to ordering a Ventana Pantera, but I couldn't work out a way to actually test ride one for several different reasons. And with both of these two bikes, I was a little uncertain of the geometry and top tube/cockpit lengths etc. etc. Little things that were preventing me from placing an order. I'm now glad that I was patient with my decision making.
I was able to see a Balfa Belair a few weekends ago and was thoroughly impressed. I was actually visiting a shop as part of my part-time sales rep gig with Vulgar Equipment - a Montreal based MTB clothing company - http://www.vulgarequipment.com and happened upon the Belair owned by the wrench at said shop. Unfortunately on that weekend the bike was sans wheels and tires so no ride that Saturday.......but the quality of the bike and it's design struck a chord with me....I knew I had to go back and ride that bike!
So I went back the next weekend and I was able to give the bike a good long ride along with two other FS rigs (both Rocky Mountains). Well after riding the Belair, and putting it through it's paces...the rig had studded tires on it so I was able to ride it over frozen snowbanks and over bumpy icy sidewalks etc. etc. (sort of winterized urban riding if you will!)...I knew that this was the bike for me. The Belair is built extremely well, I had plenty of standover room, the cockpit fit me great and the new subtle changes for 2003 will make for an even better fit, and the the bike handled extremely well - even with heavy home-made studded tires that added a lot of weight to the bike! I knew after that test ride that I had found the bike for me and I was stoked. I drove over an hour and a half to test ride that bike on a cold Saturday afternoon and I couldn't have been any happier with my decision to make the journey to ride it.
So I was talking to some of my friends and to Mark Gottlieb, the guy behind Vulgar Equipment - a very cool guy from Montreal who rides a fully rigid Spot Brand Single Speed - about the Belair the following Monday. Vulgar equipment is a Montreal-based MTB clothing company that Mark started as a spinoff of his family's children's clothing company called Claire Belle. http://www.vulgarequipment.com
I've been serving as the Vulgar sales rep for Connecticut and parts of Massachusetts for several months now and enjoying it immensely. Mark replies in our phone conversation that he knows Balfa well and has ridden several times with the main Balfa welder and a couple of other Balfa employees. He goes, "I'd be happy to call the guys at Balfa on your behalf to see if I can get you a Belair direct from the factory." I replied, "Sure! That would be great! That's very kind of you Mark!"
So Mark has a conversation with Stephane at Balfa and yep they are willing to sell me a Belair direct......and Mark went on to tell Stephane about the work I've been doing for Vulgar here in CT and Stephane mentions that Balfa is looking for a sales rep for this region!! The next thing you know I'm on the phone with Stephane talking bikes and talking about the sales rep position and he offers me the job! We are working on finalizing all the details but it's a go!
So I'll be riding my own Belair, and in addition, I'll also be traveling to shops, festivals, races, events etc. with a second Balfa Demo bike (most likely a 2Step DH!)!
I would have purchased the Belair from someone somewhere no matter what as it's definitely the bike for me! But this is just icing on the cake and as Tscheezy put it in a thread below....finally some good Karma flowing in my direction for a change!!!
I'm stoked and will be sure to post pictures of my Belair and write a throrough ride review as well. In addition, I'll put up some pics of my Balfa Demo rig as well.
I also want to take time out in this post to say thanks to everyone on this forum for being so cool and so helpful to me. Mountain Bikers rock!
I especially want to thank Don (Innocent Bystander) and Brian (Esquire) from Hilltop Ski and Bike up in Maine for all their help, advice, and guidance - I just couldn't pass up the Belair and this offer guys! I also want to thank Charles Coker for all his advice, input and numerous price quotes. Charles, had I not got the offer from Balfa, I would have placed a Belair order through you. And my third thank you of this paragraph goes out to Larry Mettler (aka Ventanarama) for all of his help, advice guidance and also for his numerous price quotes. All of you reading this......these guys and these shops all rock!! They may not be your LBS, but they are all bike shops and damned good ones to boot! And I'm sure I'll be throwing parts orders and upgrade orders to all three of these shops in the years to come!! Thanks again Don, Brian, Charles and Larry!! I really do appreciate all of your help!
And thanks again to everyone on the forum for reading my numerous posts, offering your insights, inputs, recommendations etc. etc. I really appreciate all of it!!
Cheers!!!
Mark |
| Thank God! | Shylock
Mar 10, 2003 5:11 PM | | ....I was beginning to think you were going to quit biking and take up shuffleboard or somethin'.
Enjoy.
Feel the gin |
| SWEET! | moff_quigley
Mar 10, 2003 7:16 PM | | Congrats on the Sales Rep position w/Balfa. Also, glad you are getting a bike that ignites the "passion" that you have for riding. Does this mean that you will have an "insiders" hook-up on bike parts too? Just kidding.
Later on,
Travis |
| Thanks Travis! I'm most excited about the Belair..... | CTRider
Mar 10, 2003 7:25 PM | | the sales rep thing is just a nice bonus of sorts. It could also be short lived as Balfa may open up a search for a full time all-New England sales rep, but until then I'll do my best and enjoy the position.
Are you still heading east for 4th of July? If so, will you be staying long? Would love to meet you for a ride sometime. We could do a little Heckler vs. Belair comparison test! ;-)
Cheers,
Mark |
| Balfa Belair giving birth to a Fox Float spotted! | Tscheezy
Mar 10, 2003 10:14 PM | | Or perhaps it is a Fox colostomy on a Balfa frame. Or... hell, I have no idea what I am looking at. Mark, why does it look like this frame is trying to pinch a Float loaf? Could you explain how the shock is actuated and how the linkage moves?
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Thanks,
tscheezy
BTW- Cool lookin' rig!! |
| Kinda looks like the old Boulder Starship design... | wfl3
Mar 11, 2003 1:52 AM | | ...well the shock compressing into the toptube part anyway. I always thought that design looked really cool. |
| I wont be using your analogies when I visit shops Tscheezy | CTRider
Mar 11, 2003 6:28 AM | | But in a nutshell the Belair is a single pivot bike. It's kind of hard to see in those photos but it's a fairly high single pivot design. Go to the FAQ section of the Balfa site to learn a little bit more about their philosphy methods for designing and building their frames/bikes.
Essentially you have a front triangle, then a smaller triangle of sorts around the pivot and the shock (those black plates you see there) and then you have the rear triangle with the cromoly swingarm, which is way cool, asymmetrical and can accommodate at least a 2.3 tire if not wider in the rear if one chose to use that wide a tire in the rear. The rear swingarm is cool, the chainstay on the drivetrain side is a round tube and on the other side it's a burly square shaped burly cromoly tube.
I was told by Stephane that in addition to the Float, you could also run a Vanilla on the Belair......and I wonder if a Romic would fit inside that tube as well...hmmmm....I'll have to ask.
I need to get up to speed on the technical nature of the Balfa rigs, and am planning a trip to Montreal to tour the Balfa factory and to ask questions and listen to the brains behind the bikes. Perhaps I should take a refresher French course or something!
BTW, how the heck did you get that picture from the web site onto this one? It's all a java or flash-based site and I couldn't figure out how to save pictures from it.
Essentially that's what my rig will look like right there!!! The bike I test rode was a black frame, so I'm excited to see the Velvet Blue color in the real so to speak. It looks sweet on the web site and in photos I've seen from Interbike and the Vancouver Outdoor expo show.
BTW, the site also operates in an English version and you can also choose cool punk or techno background music while browsing. Kinda cool in my opinion.
Cheers,
Mark |
| Not even the colostomy one?? | Tscheezy
Mar 11, 2003 11:34 AM | | I guess what I was having trouble with was that it seemed like there was not a parallelogram driving the shock, so it should move in an arc to some degree. The tube the shock sits in looks like a pretty close fit, so I wondered how they kept the shock from hitting the inside as the rear moves through it's travel. Obviously it does not, but I was wondering how they worked that out.
The Romic is fatter than the Vanilla (coil has a large diameter).
I got the pic by grabbing a screen shot while at the site. I tried to click the link for English but I got a message saying it did not exist or something. Personally I generally hate flash sites because it often does not add to the site's content in a meaningful way (e.g. Turner and Intense both suck imo), but some do a good job and it is almost worth the bandwidth (Balfa, Raceface, Jericho, Bombshell).
Cool bike!
tscheezy |
| Especially not the colostomy one! LOL | CTRider
Mar 11, 2003 11:43 AM | | It's hard to tell from the pictures...it helps to see it close up and to see how it works in action......I'm not good at describing it yet, but there is some room between the tube and the shock. I doubt a Romic would fit in the tube then, but according to Stephane at Balfa a Vanilla would fit.
I'm neither a shock or a suspension expert (most of these suspension related threads are like greek to me) but I know that the Belair's suspension worked for me. I need to talk with the Balfa suspsension guys to learn about their various FS designs......some pretty cool designs IMO.
The Belair I tested worked fine with the Float.
I'll try and get the technical details and post to the forum.
Cheers,
Mark |
| Great news, Mark! | Mackie
Mar 11, 2003 2:23 AM | | I'm glad that something is going your way. And remember, it's the crappier parts of our lives that help us appreciate the good things when they happen.
Do will you be at the 24 H of A in Dalton with those bikes? i'd love a test ride, as an unforseen financial obligation (one of those "crappy" things mentioned above) is going to delay my frame pruchase. I'm 99% set on a Loco or a Pantera, but I'm open to new ideas.
Again, congrats on everything going your way.
See you on the trails. |
| Thanks Mackie! | CTRider
Mar 11, 2003 6:52 AM | | I'm not sure about Dalton yet, but it's a possibility. Where do you live Mackie? If it's not too far, I'd be happy to meet you somewhere at a trailhead if you were interested in testing the Belair out. The Loco and the Pantera were on my short list as well, but for some reason the Loco didn't do it for me and I was unable to work out a way to do the Ventana test ride program. There isn't a local shop that deals KHS within an hours drive I don't think and when I tried to do it through the Hilltop guys, try as they did and I thank them for their efforts, it just wouldn't work out. First,Ventana wanted to hang on to their demo bikes for Sea Otter or Downieville can't remember which and I would have had to drive up to Maine to get the bike...then ride it and then drive it back.....just didn't make sense.
In the end, the Belair was the right bike for me anyway. I wasn't sure about the fit of a 17" Pantera - hence the desire to test ride one. But the regular Belair fit like a glove!
Let me know where you live and if you are interested in giving the Belair a go as I can either meet you somewhere or tell you where you might find one at a local shop that carries Balfas. The 2003 Balfa line is just now starting to hit shops.
Cheers,
Mark |
| I can't wait to see/ride that bad boy a bit.... | esquire
Mar 11, 2003 6:19 AM | | You have to get up here and show that thing off a bit, perhaps taking it around to some of the local races, events.
Congrats on the rep gig, I know you'll put your heart and soul into it, and make Balfa proud. Are you going to build her up, or is it comming built. Nothing like building up your own ride man, NOTHING....well, maybe a screaming trip down tight, rocky, Maine singletrack, but not much more.
I'm just glad you got a bike you can hang your hat on and say, "Thats mine," without reservation. I'd have hated for you to spend good money on a Heckler, and 2 weeks down the road, hate the geometry, hate the bike, etc. So, that being said, let us know if you need anything else, on the build, setup (not much help here), or parts upgrades. |
| I'll definitely be bringing the Belair up and probably a second | CTRider
Mar 11, 2003 6:41 AM | | Balfa for you Maine-iacs to test out. How's that sound?
I'm getting a complete Belair since it's spec'd out so well from Balfa and the demo I get will also be a complete bike (probably a 2Step DH)
I'm glad I took my time too and I feel great about the Belair decision. It's going to serve me well and I plan on riding the heck out of it this season!
I'll definitely be at Mount Snow for the NORBA event, and will also be at other NEMBA events, festivals, regional races etc. with my two Balfas.
The Belair comes with Rapid Fires and I'm going to give em a go at first, but I may be in touch with you guys for a set of Rocket Shorty shifters if I'm not satisfied with the rapidfires.
Take care and thanks again to you and Don for all your great customer service, advice, humor, and good will!
Cheers,
Mark |
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