Titanium Bikes

What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:20:09 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?
I think that someone got the word - 6.2% inflation in April alone.

On Sat, 15 May 2021 15:42:16 -0700 (PDT), Tom Kunich
wrote:

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:20:09 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?

Sorry. I don't have any inside info on Airborne Bicycles:
https://airbornebicycles.com
List prices seem to be $700 to $3,300 depending on model:
https://airbornebicycles.com/collections/bikes/?sort_by=price-descending

I think that someone got the word - 6.2% inflation in April alone.

Nope. That's not for April alone but for the 12 months ending in
April 2012:
https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm
"Inflation Rises in April at Highest Rate in More Than a Decade"
https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2021-05-12/inflation-rises-in-april-at-highest-rate-in-more-than-a-decade
"Inflation rose 0.8% in April and 4.2% on an annual basis, the highest
spike since 2008 driven by a huge increase in used car and truck
prices and food, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on
Wednesday."

--
Jeff Liebermann
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:42:18 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:20:09 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?
I think that someone got the word - 6.2% inflation in April alone.
Too bad that two moths ago it was just 2.1% Biden gave the Palestinians $250 Million tax dollars to that they could buy missiles from the Iranians to start another war with Israel. He gave Iran millions so that they would sell those missiles to Palestine. Want to know why super inflation is predicted by all economists?

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 5:42:18 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:20:09 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?
I think that someone got the word - 6.2% inflation in April alone.
I have an Airborne "Carpe Diem" which I bought new in 2001. It's a delightful bike. The frame has held up well over these 20 years. The only "down-side" I can think of is that the frame is made of straight gauge tubing, instead of butted. Anything particular I can elaborate on?
FWIW, the local dealer who declined to procure the bike for me leaving me to buy it from the internet told me I had purchased an over-priced Huffy... apparently, Airborne was owned by Huffy at the time. This made no difference to me; it's been a great bike.

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 5:42:18 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 3:20:09 PM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
What does anyone know about Airborne bikes? I was contacted with a real deal. Is there anything negative I should know?
I think that someone got the word - 6.2% inflation in April alone.
IIRC, Airborne morphed into "Flyte", and then "Van Nicholas" (https://www.vannicholas.com/)

On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 7:45:40 PM UTC-5, Steve Weeks wrote:

IIRC, Airborne morphed into "Flyte", and then "Van Nicholas" (https://www..vannicholas.com/)
More on the Airborne=Flyte=Van Nicholas history. I found this from 2007:

Airborne Europe and Airborne USA were different companies. Huffy purchased Airborne USA. Huffy decided to no longer offer Airborne bike so the old Airborne USA owner, Jamie Raddin, decided to keep producing Airborne bikes and license the name from Huffy. Huffy then decided to not renew that agreement so Jamie started Flyte. As to the status Flyte (take note that the link wasn't working in December, recently it has been fine), you'll have to contact Flyte. I believe Van Nicholas is what has become of Airborne Europe.

That is the story as I know it. I may be wrong on some of the details, but that is more or less it. Definitely a bummer to see Airborne go down like it did, I loved that company, their products and their customer service were all top notch. C'est la vie!
(Source: https://www.mtbr.com/threads/flyte-b...siness.250019/)

This is from the same source in 2008:

How sad this is. I started working for Airborne in October of 2001, while they were still owned by Huffy. Those were the glory days. Jamie Raddin ran Airborne at the time, and we had plenty of money because of Huffy's recent success with scooter sales... seriously.
Customer service was incredibly important to Jamie. Every bike heading out the door had to be perfect. I eventually became the production manager. I built over two thousand bicycles between 2001 and June of 2004. I received only one legit complaint from a customer during that time.
Huffy sold the company back to Jamie at some point in 2003, I think. There was no real change for a while. We remained in the Huffy building in Springboro, Ohio until April of 2004. We moved about a mile away to the Hiawatha address and were known as Flyte. The quality and mission remained the same. The deep Huffy money was no longer with us, unfortunately. In June of 2004, a few of us were permanently laid off. I left on very good terms and was very, very sad to go. It was a dream job for a bicycle mechanic.
I went back to visit my former coworkers about a year later, and things were the same. I stopped there again in the spring of 2007, and everything was gone. I tried to get in touch with Jamie and the former VP of the company, but had no success. I heard that Jamie moved back to Texas.
For those who think he is a crook, please let me tell you about him. Jamie Raddin is a family man (wife and three kids, last time I checked) who has a deep faith in God and his fellow man. He would NEVER knowingly rip off a customer. He had an incredible commitment to customer satisfaction during my time with his company. If his website continued to accept credit card payments after he went out of business, it was certainly an oversight. He is a man of integrity and passion.
-Craig

On Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 6:03:41 AM UTC-7, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 7:45:40 PM UTC-5, Steve Weeks wrote:

IIRC, Airborne morphed into "Flyte", and then "Van Nicholas" (https://www.vannicholas.com/)
More on the Airborne=Flyte=Van Nicholas history. I found this from 2007:

Airborne Europe and Airborne USA were different companies. Huffy purchased Airborne USA. Huffy decided to no longer offer Airborne bike so the old Airborne USA owner, Jamie Raddin, decided to keep producing Airborne bikes and license the name from Huffy. Huffy then decided to not renew that agreement so Jamie started Flyte. As to the status Flyte (take note that the link wasn't working in December, recently it has been fine), you'll have to contact Flyte. I believe Van Nicholas is what has become of Airborne Europe.

That is the story as I know it. I may be wrong on some of the details, but that is more or less it. Definitely a bummer to see Airborne go down like it did, I loved that company, their products and their customer service were all top notch. C'est la vie!
(Source: https://www.mtbr.com/threads/flyte-b...siness.250019/)

This is from the same source in 2008:

How sad this is. I started working for Airborne in October of 2001, while they were still owned by Huffy. Those were the glory days. Jamie Raddin ran Airborne at the time, and we had plenty of money because of Huffy's recent success with scooter sales... seriously.
Customer service was incredibly important to Jamie. Every bike heading out the door had to be perfect. I eventually became the production manager. I built over two thousand bicycles between 2001 and June of 2004. I received only one legit complaint from a customer during that time.
Huffy sold the company back to Jamie at some point in 2003, I think. There was no real change for a while. We remained in the Huffy building in Springboro, Ohio until April of 2004. We moved about a mile away to the Hiawatha address and were known as Flyte. The quality and mission remained the same. The deep Huffy money was no longer with us, unfortunately. In June of 2004, a few of us were permanently laid off. I left on very good terms and was very, very sad to go. It was a dream job for a bicycle mechanic.
I went back to visit my former coworkers about a year later, and things were the same. I stopped there again in the spring of 2007, and everything was gone. I tried to get in touch with Jamie and the former VP of the company, but had no success. I heard that Jamie moved back to Texas.
For those who think he is a crook, please let me tell you about him. Jamie Raddin is a family man (wife and three kids, last time I checked) who has a deep faith in God and his fellow man. He would NEVER knowingly rip off a customer. He had an incredible commitment to customer satisfaction during my time with his company. If his website continued to accept credit card payments after he went out of business, it was certainly an oversight. He is a man of integrity and passion.
-Craig

How does the current Airborne fit into all of this? https://airbornebicycles.com/ It's all BMX and MTB, and in fact, I bought my son an Airborne Goblin hard-tail for a birthday present when he was in high school.

My impression of the Goblin was that it was a good Chinese aluminum frame with bang-for-the-buck components with some corners cut (hubs/wheels). Certainly worth the price, but my son broke the rear axle within weeks, and I had to build a quick replacement wheel. Customer service sent me a replacement axle later -- which was a bitch to press-in. The hub itself was a Chinese commodity part that looked like every other alloy Chinese cartridge bearing hub and weighed a ton.

I recall that the Airborne Ti frames had QC issues but that you could get a good one (or a bad one). I wouldn't bother buying one in the used market to flip it. Zero warranty. Zero customer support. The thing breaks, and its land fill. And it was a bargain brand to start. Even if I were in the market for a Ti frame, a nearly 20 year old budget Ti frame would be at the bottom of my wish list.

-- Jay Beattie.

On Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 7:08:51 AM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 6:03:41 AM UTC-7, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 7:45:40 PM UTC-5, Steve Weeks wrote:

IIRC, Airborne morphed into "Flyte", and then "Van Nicholas" (https://www.vannicholas.com/)
More on the Airborne=Flyte=Van Nicholas history. I found this from 2007:

Airborne Europe and Airborne USA were different companies. Huffy purchased Airborne USA. Huffy decided to no longer offer Airborne bike so the old Airborne USA owner, Jamie Raddin, decided to keep producing Airborne bikes and license the name from Huffy. Huffy then decided to not renew that agreement so Jamie started Flyte. As to the status Flyte (take note that the link wasn't working in December, recently it has been fine), you'll have to contact Flyte. I believe Van Nicholas is what has become of Airborne Europe.

That is the story as I know it. I may be wrong on some of the details, but that is more or less it. Definitely a bummer to see Airborne go down like it did, I loved that company, their products and their customer service were all top notch. C'est la vie!
(Source: https://www.mtbr.com/threads/flyte-b...siness.250019/)

This is from the same source in 2008:

How sad this is. I started working for Airborne in October of 2001, while they were still owned by Huffy. Those were the glory days. Jamie Raddin ran Airborne at the time, and we had plenty of money because of Huffy's recent success with scooter sales... seriously.
Customer service was incredibly important to Jamie. Every bike heading out the door had to be perfect. I eventually became the production manager. I built over two thousand bicycles between 2001 and June of 2004. I received only one legit complaint from a customer during that time.
Huffy sold the company back to Jamie at some point in 2003, I think. There was no real change for a while. We remained in the Huffy building in Springboro, Ohio until April of 2004. We moved about a mile away to the Hiawatha address and were known as Flyte. The quality and mission remained the same. The deep Huffy money was no longer with us, unfortunately. In June of 2004, a few of us were permanently laid off. I left on very good terms and was very, very sad to go. It was a dream job for a bicycle mechanic.
I went back to visit my former coworkers about a year later, and things were the same. I stopped there again in the spring of 2007, and everything was gone. I tried to get in touch with Jamie and the former VP of the company, but had no success. I heard that Jamie moved back to Texas.
For those who think he is a crook, please let me tell you about him. Jamie Raddin is a family man (wife and three kids, last time I checked) who has a deep faith in God and his fellow man. He would NEVER knowingly rip off a customer. He had an incredible commitment to customer satisfaction during my time with his company. If his website continued to accept credit card payments after he went out of business, it was certainly an oversight. He is a man of integrity and passion.
-Craig
How does the current Airborne fit into all of this? https://airbornebicycles.com/ It's all BMX and MTB, and in fact, I bought my son an Airborne Goblin hard-tail for a birthday present when he was in high school.

My impression of the Goblin was that it was a good Chinese aluminum frame with bang-for-the-buck components with some corners cut (hubs/wheels). Certainly worth the price, but my son broke the rear axle within weeks, and I had to build a quick replacement wheel. Customer service sent me a replacement axle later -- which was a bitch to press-in. The hub itself was a Chinese commodity part that looked like every other alloy Chinese cartridge bearing hub and weighed a ton.

I recall that the Airborne Ti frames had QC issues but that you could get a good one (or a bad one). I wouldn't bother buying one in the used market to flip it. Zero warranty. Zero customer support. The thing breaks, and its land fill. And it was a bargain brand to start. Even if I were in the market for a Ti frame, a nearly 20 year old budget Ti frame would be at the bottom of my wish list.

Remember, we had this conversation before. If a Ti frame doesn't fail immediately it doesn't fail. The reasons for these failures have to do with poor coverage of the Argon or Nitrogen blanket that has to be around the titanium during welding to prevent oxidation. This occurred in a friend's brand new Litespeed so it isn't a case of poor technique but likely someone opening a door causing a breeze to wash away the blanket.

The reports on the Airborne Ti was almost entirely good, two people had the seat tube crack immediately and no customer service to replace the frame. Another thought it road too soft. He thought it was a noodle, But 210 lb racers said that it handled and cornered perfectly and was a top notch racer. They all thought that straight gauge tubing made for a heavier than necessary frame. But it is still light. I'll give you a report. The customer service problems appear to be when Huffy was running the show.

On Sunday, May 16, 2021 at 6:03:41 AM UTC-7, Steve Weeks wrote:
On Saturday, May 15, 2021 at 7:45:40 PM UTC-5, Steve Weeks wrote:

IIRC, Airborne morphed into "Flyte", and then "Van Nicholas" (https://www.vannicholas.com/)
More on the Airborne=Flyte=Van Nicholas history. I found this from 2007:

Airborne Europe and Airborne USA were different companies. Huffy purchased Airborne USA. Huffy decided to no longer offer Airborne bike so the old Airborne USA owner, Jamie Raddin, decided to keep producing Airborne bikes and license the name from Huffy. Huffy then decided to not renew that agreement so Jamie started Flyte. As to the status Flyte (take note that the link wasn't working in December, recently it has been fine), you'll have to contact Flyte. I believe Van Nicholas is what has become of Airborne Europe.

That is the story as I know it. I may be wrong on some of the details, but that is more or less it. Definitely a bummer to see Airborne go down like it did, I loved that company, their products and their customer service were all top notch. C'est la vie!
(Source: https://www.mtbr.com/threads/flyte-b...siness.250019/)

This is from the same source in 2008:

How sad this is. I started working for Airborne in October of 2001, while they were still owned by Huffy. Those were the glory days. Jamie Raddin ran Airborne at the time, and we had plenty of money because of Huffy's recent success with scooter sales... seriously.
Customer service was incredibly important to Jamie. Every bike heading out the door had to be perfect. I eventually became the production manager. I built over two thousand bicycles between 2001 and June of 2004. I received only one legit complaint from a customer during that time.
Huffy sold the company back to Jamie at some point in 2003, I think. There was no real change for a while. We remained in the Huffy building in Springboro, Ohio until April of 2004. We moved about a mile away to the Hiawatha address and were known as Flyte. The quality and mission remained the same. The deep Huffy money was no longer with us, unfortunately. In June of 2004, a few of us were permanently laid off. I left on very good terms and was very, very sad to go. It was a dream job for a bicycle mechanic.
I went back to visit my former coworkers about a year later, and things were the same. I stopped there again in the spring of 2007, and everything was gone. I tried to get in touch with Jamie and the former VP of the company, but had no success. I heard that Jamie moved back to Texas.
For those who think he is a crook, please let me tell you about him. Jamie Raddin is a family man (wife and three kids, last time I checked) who has a deep faith in God and his fellow man. He would NEVER knowingly rip off a customer. He had an incredible commitment to customer satisfaction during my time with his company. If his website continued to accept credit card payments after he went out of business, it was certainly an oversight. He is a man of integrity and passion.
-Craig
Thanks for the information Steve. I'll tell you how it goes. I actually have all the parts on hand to build it up.