Hey Mark,
I have verified from both Airborne and Changda, that Changda is, in fact, the sole OEM supplier of
frames to Airborne.
Jim
Mark Hickey <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:(Jim A) said:You're right. It would be wrong to assume that Changda would sell to the general public the exact
same product they are supplying to Airborne. For example, Airborne owns the design patent for
their headtubes. So Changda would not be permitted to sell one of those. And I imagine if someone
asked Changda to make a custom frameset using the exact same specs as, say, a Valkyrie, they
would have to decline. But design and aesthetic differences certainly don't mean that there is
also a disparity in craftsmanship. Anyone who would assume so is an ignorant provincialist who
doesn't know the first thing about the Chinese work ethic, especially in their emerging open
market sectors. Freedom and self respect are essences of the human spirit, and the Chinese will
split a dime along its edge just to earn just a fraction of what we take for granted. So I'd be
very confident that the frames Changda sells directly have the same spec tolerances as the ones
they sell to Airborne. Believe me, if I had enough venture capital (and a vocation I didn't
already love), I'd be hanging out a shingle. But don't take my word for it. Ask Mark Hickey,
someone who's had his hanging out it for 8 years now. (That's not to imply that Changda supplies
Habanero, because they don't).I don't usually jump in on these threads, but will mention that as far as I know, Changda does NOT
supply Airborne (or Habanero for that matter) unless they've had a fairly recent fabricator
change. Maybe they have, or maybe they just supply some models (or maybe something other than
frames).Anything I'd say beyond that would have to be taken with such a large grain of salt (or sand, your
pick) that you'd have to ignore it anyway. I don't really go out of my way to keep up with what
the competition is doing (unless it's something I like, of course). ;-)Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame