[Bike Lover]

So, I was recently a participant in a road bike group buy at Pedal Force and as I was going back to the web site to finalize my purchase, I discovered it is offering a Carbon Hardtail for $500 as a group buy prior to its official release (like the other group buy)! The frame will increase to $850 after the group buy passes, which is Feb. 14th! The GB needs 50 people for it to go through.

Oh, Link to PF site is HERE

This appears to be the same frame that Fuji is offering as its Team Issue MTB for $2000!:eekster: :thumbsup:

***Disclaimer- I have only a passing interest to see if this goes through. I'm considering joining this group buy but have not committed yet. It'd be cool to see this work out, like the road GB did.:thumbsup:

 

[SuperG]

Do you have information on the group buy? I'd be interested.

 

[Bike Lover]

Follow the link to the Pedal Force site- HERE, then there's a grey tab that says "Group Buy".

In that section, towards the bottom, there is an area where you can join the 50+ group buy for the $500. I haven't done this yet, but it looks like you'll have to input your contact info. According to the copy on the site, payment won't be necessary until the GB goes through.

 

[noshortcuts]

Nice looking frame. I like the naked one better than the Team Fuji. I haven't seen a carbon frame price this low in some months. 5 year warranty too! I wonder where it's built, Taiwan or China?

Doesn't look likely that there will be enough for a group buy. I imagine you need 100 signed up before you can bet that the needed 50 will follow through and pay up in February. But who knows.

 

[Bike Lover]

Yeah, surprisingly, we were able to get the necessary 100 for road bike buy. This was with some people buying two, but most buying one. Of course, some have sold thier spots to others since the group buy has been completed, but that's usually due to unforseen circumstances.

I need to be a last minute decision on my purchase though. I may be racing for a local store and should buy one of its bikes if I do. Although, a nice CF race frame is VERY tempting...

 

[darkclouds]

From their "About us" section: Pedal Force carbon bicycle frames and parts are made by a group of companies in Taiwan who are major Original Equipment Manufacturers of carbon bike components and sports equipment. These are the same manufacturers that produce some of the most high-end products for many well known brand names. We are a USA company selling direct to customers worldwide.

Question for me is, how reliable are these guys, not so much their product, although that is also a concern, but as an online retailer.

 

[noshortcuts]

...................

Question for me is, how reliable are these guys, not so much their product, although that is also a concern, but as an online retailer.

I don't know this either. One limited test is to email or call them with questions and judge the quality of the response. Concerning other carbon makers, I know people are happy with Ibis in this regard. Also, over the weekend, I emailed Token with a problem I have with a Token product and Token emailed me back very first thing Monday morning, with a complete and fair solution.

 

[lushmd]

Question for me is, how reliable are these guys, not so much their product, although that is also a concern, but as an online retailer.

Why not just go on the Roadbikereview.com forums and ask those guys how the Pedal Force roadie group buy they did worked out? IIRC, they seemed pretty content. I seem to recall something about them getting good deals on parts kits too...

 

[Bike Lover]

Yeah, road bike GP actually started on bikeforums.net and I was one of the original organizers of that one. We are still awaiting our frames/purchases from that buy (3 months to ship after it was completed). But everything went smoothly and PF is very responsive and helpful with regards to any changes of spots and questions that people had during the buy.

As far as a company, you can go over to the road section of bikeforums.net and do a search for Pedal Force. It gets good reviews from the people who have purchased from it. Additionally, Cycling Plus, from the UK, often recommends its frame over many others, including a Trek, I think it was the 5200.

However, this the first time PF has offered a mountain bike. Like I've said, I want to do this. I just need to worry about my finances... and my other purchases are depleating my bike funds for the year already. Maybe I can avoid an over night race I'm supposed to go to...

 

[aeroshots]

I just signed up. I will buy one even at the regular price.

 

[skygod74]

Count me in..I'm #24 26 to go

 

[RunningBrave]

Now up to 37.... Getting pretty darned close!

Nice pic on the site now of a real 17" frame hanging on a scale weighing only 2.55 lbs (under 1160g - so lighter than the S-Works carbon HT).

At some point the economics of it all will make it better for some people to buy two frames and count on selling the second for $500 or so later. After a big batch is delivered and people have built them all up with bling, ridden them in races, and posted them on various websites, the demand will surely rise. And if the PedalForce "regular" price is $850, it shouldn't be hard to find a buyer for one at $500 (or possibly more...).

 

[Call_me_Clyde]

Wait a minute....

Yeah, road bike GP actually started on bikeforums.net and I was one of the original organizers of that one. We are still awaiting our frames/purchases from that buy (3 months to ship after it was completed). But everything went smoothly and PF is very responsive and helpful with regards to any changes of spots and questions that people had during the buy. .

Your deal isn't even CLOSE to being done. How can you claim everything went smoothly?? Frames aren't even in hand, so you have no clue as to what the quality truly is, and for that matter whether they are even going to deliver the frames. I'm a huge proponent of buying direct/online and I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I truly hope these guys you're dealing with are legit, but please don't give people the impression that everything went smoothly when that isn't the case.......yet. Give people the thumbs up once the deal is complete, and that means that your frames are in hand and they are exactly what you ordered, not "They have my money and promised me a frame in 3 months". Big difference.

Just a dose of reality.

Bob

 

[Bike Lover]

Very true, it's not done. This is why I included that portion in my other statement. What is clearly understood in the original is: so far.

However, several people do own the RS road frame already, as well as others from PF, and have given them very positive reviews. PF is not a new company. It has been around for a while and was receiving positive reviews. For those who have already ordered the parts for the build, they have received these parts already and, yes, are still awaiting the frame.

PF exceeded our expectations with setting up the group buy and the ordering process. We were keeping a running tally of all people interested and we had 28 "certain", 9 "possible", and 5 "unlikely". It set up a web page and took over the registration and was able to take deposits when we were still just trying to figure out how this was actually going to work. It even offered it's discount pricing on components and fork, when we were just looking at the frame.

One can certainly hop over to bikeforums.net and do a search in the road section for PF and see the reviews for yourself. Additionally, one can read reviews of at least one of its road bikes at Cycling Plus, a British mag. I was actually surprised when I was looking at C+ in the book store and a person writing in for advice it was suggested to get a PF over a Trek (5200?).

Anyway, I'm not in anyway connected with them, but I do know it has been around for a while and many people are happy with thier bikes, including warranty. I expect nothing less.

 

[Call_me_Clyde]

Thanks for clarifying

Very true, it's not done. This is why I included that portion in my other statement. What is clearly understood in the original is: so far.

However, several people do own the RS road frame already, as well as others from PF, and have given them very positive reviews. PF is not a new company. It has been around for a while and was receiving positive reviews. For those who have already ordered the parts for the build, they have received these parts already and, yes, are still awaiting the frame.

PF exceeded our expectations with setting up the group buy and the ordering process. We were keeping a running tally of all people interested and we had 28 "certain", 9 "possible", and 5 "unlikely". It set up a web page and took over the registration and was able to take deposits when we were still just trying to figure out how this was actually going to work. It even offered it's discount pricing on components and fork, when we were just looking at the frame.

One can certainly hop over to bikeforums.net and do a search in the road section for PF and see the reviews for yourself. Additionally, one can read reviews of at least one of its road bikes at Cycling Plus, a British mag. I was actually surprised when I was looking at C+ in the book store and a person writing in for advice it was suggested to get a PF over a Trek (5200?).

Anyway, I'm not in anyway connected with them, but I do know it has been around for a while and many people are happy with thier bikes, including warranty. I expect nothing less.

So it sounds like folks on bikeforums.net have experience with this company and it's been positive. That's a great sign. Given the additional information provided, my skepticism is a bit less. I also understand what freely promoting a decent company is all about. I do it often on mtbr. How else can we find out about quality vendors unless people without a vested interest give their testimonials?

Bob

 

[MrKalentine]

At first it looked like the same frame as the fuji one, but if you look @ the upper-right hand parts of the frame, the fuji one is a bit
longer/bigger.

Some slight differences, does it matter?


P.S.

Carbon frames are hawt.

 

[Bike Lover]

You're right. The Fuji seems to have a larger head tube area. I would still bet they're produced in the same factory though. I know the RS, road frame, has the similar seat stay to top tube transition and is made by ADK. Our first attempt at a group buy was to contact them directly but we figured, given the warranty and the benefit of not having to figure out the shippng logistics, both to the states and then to the buyers, we went through PF (some of the discussion of how we were going to make the GB work).

Of course, that doesn't answer your question as to what the difference would be, mostly because I am unsure. I would think the larger area of the Fuji may result in greater torsional rigidity, but I'm not sure...

To me, it doesn't matter and, like I said, if I hadn't just bought my race bike through the LBS that's supporting me, I'd be all over this. YMMV.

CMC- To me the only disappointing thing about the MTB group buy is PF doesn't have build kits available for it. PF's road kits are listed great prices.

Yet, I'm still tempted...

 

[RunningBrave]

Actually...

At first it looked like the same frame as the fuji one, but if you look @ the upper-right hand parts of the frame, the fuji one is a bit
longer/bigger.

I did a bit more closer investigation, and although the head tube lengths appear to be different in the pictures, we are simply probably looking at different sizes of frames. If you investigate the Fuji frame geometry and compare it to the PedalForce frame geometry, you'll find them to essentially be IDENTICAL (though Pedal Force rounded to the nearest millimeter, and Fuji quotes down to 0.1 mm). For all intents and purposes, the PF frame IS a Fuji frame, at least from a geometry standpoint.

And from speaking with my brother (who actually is a materials and R&D engineer and well-versed in carbon fiber and other fabrication methods/materials), there is no obvious reason to suspect that anything else about the frames (i.e. construction method, material, and quality) would differ between the two.

There is no way to know with 100% certainty, of course, but his considered opinion is that if you buy a PF frame for $500, you are getting an essentially identical frame to the $2000 Fuji frame, less a few unnecessary decals. :thumbsup:

Good luck with the group buy - looks pretty tempting!

 

[jyeager]

Just signed up. We're at 40 now.

 

[EuroMack]

Does anyone know of other reviews for this frame?

I only found this one at http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Freeride_Hardtail/product_128606.shtml

"everything basically
geometry sucks so does all the components and parts
dont buy this unless yur an idiot"