Airborne Bicycles

[usskydiver]

I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it or much
about it. Does anyone have a spec sheet? It was advertised as a Med (I
don't know how Airbornes were sized). He and I are the same size so
I'm pretty sure between seats, seatposts, and stems, I can get it to
fit.

Would it be a good "rain bike"?

Is it lighter than my Kestrel Talon TT Bike and worth turning into a
"new" TT bike?

What are it's ride qualities, etc?

Thanks in advance...

Please repond to usskydiverataoldot com

 

[[email protected]]

fwiw--

I have both bikes. The Airborne is a nice riding bike, though nothing
special. The Kestrel is a fantastic TT bike--much more aero and
adjustable than the Airborne. I have the Airborne in a standard road
configuration and use it off season and for my long in season rides.
As a plus, if you get the Kestrel seatpost, you easily can adjust
effective seat angle for road and TT.

Don't get me wrong--I like my Airborne, but a TT bike it is not.

Don





usskydiver wrote:
> I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
> a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it or much
> about it. Does anyone have a spec sheet? It was advertised as a Med (I
> don't know how Airbornes were sized). He and I are the same size so
> I'm pretty sure between seats, seatposts, and stems, I can get it to
> fit.
>
> Would it be a good "rain bike"?
>
> Is it lighter than my Kestrel Talon TT Bike and worth turning into a
> "new" TT bike?
>
> What are it's ride qualities, etc?
>
> Thanks in advance...
>
> Please repond to usskydiverataoldot com

 

[Bill Sornson]

usskydiver wrote:
> I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
> a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it

Altogether now: RIDE IT.

HTH <eg>

 

[Espressopithecus (Java Man)]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Would it be a good "rain bike"?
>
The frame won't rust, but any steel on it may. Hubs and bearings won't
be any better sealed than any other bike.

Rick

 

[Lou Holtman]

usskydiver wrote:
> I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
> a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it or much
> about it. Does anyone have a spec sheet? It was advertised as a Med (I
> don't know how Airbornes were sized). He and I are the same size so
> I'm pretty sure between seats, seatposts, and stems, I can get it to
> fit.
>
> Would it be a good "rain bike"?
>
> Is it lighter than my Kestrel Talon TT Bike and worth turning into a
> "new" TT bike?

TT is about aerodynamics not weight.

>
> What are it's ride qualities, etc?

You have the bike? Ride it and find out yourself. It's fun you know.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

 

[usskydiver]

Thank to all. Yes, I will ride it between my Trek and Kestrel.....


Lou Holtman wrote:
> usskydiver wrote:
> > I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
> > a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it or much
> > about it. Does anyone have a spec sheet? It was advertised as a Med (I
> > don't know how Airbornes were sized). He and I are the same size so
> > I'm pretty sure between seats, seatposts, and stems, I can get it to
> > fit.
> >
> > Would it be a good "rain bike"?
> >
> > Is it lighter than my Kestrel Talon TT Bike and worth turning into a
> > "new" TT bike?
>
> TT is about aerodynamics not weight.
>
> >
> > What are it's ride qualities, etc?
>
> You have the bike? Ride it and find out yourself. It's fun you know.
>
> Lou
> --
> Posted by news://news.nb.nu

 

[Espressopithecus (Java Man)]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Thank to all. Yes, I will ride it between my Trek and Kestrel.....
>
Please post photos. This will be a "first".

;-)

Rick

 

[Donald Gillies]

"usskydiver" <[email protected]> writes:

>I just picked up an Airborne Zeppelin (Ultegra, Rolf Vectors etc) from
>a friend for a great price but I don't know what to do with it or much
>about it.

Airborne was the first bike maker to allow you to spec a bike
completely on the net (and they would quote the weight down to the
last gram and the price down to the last cent when you did it.) I
think they were also the first ones to source titanium framesets from
China.

Airborne Zeppelins are much-loved bikes in England, I believe that
Cycling+ put that frameset in the finals if not giving it the overall
prize as "bike of the year" sometime in the 2001-2003 time period.

The founder of Airborne sold the company to a firm that destroyed it
but now it's back from the dead. The founder has a new firm called
Flyte that is the successor to Airborne bikes.

http://www.flyte1.com/

I like the retro styling of the Airborne bikes.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

 

[[email protected]]

Donald Gillies wrote:

> Airborne

> I think they were also the first ones to source titanium framesets from
> China.

Altogether now! Oh No They Weren't !

Habanero at least were doing it before, because Airborne appeared
shortly after I got my Hab.

 

[Mark Hickey]

[email protected] wrote:

>Donald Gillies wrote:
>
>> Airborne
>
>> I think they were also the first ones to source titanium framesets from
>> China.
>
>Altogether now! Oh No They Weren't !
>
>Habanero at least were doing it before, because Airborne appeared
>shortly after I got my Hab.

And FWIW, we always allowed spec'ing the bike down to the water bottle
bolts (though we didn't try to calculate how many grams the end
product would be - a virtual impossibility with the wide range of
weights among otherwise similar parts).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles since 1995
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame