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The New State Bicycle Co. Titanium All-Road Bike Might Be Most Affordable on Market - Bikerumor

Introducing the newest member of State Bicycle’s drop bar family, their premier gravel and bikepacking bike, the Titanium All-Road. The Titanium All-Road frame combines the unmatched strength-to-weight ratio and lifelong durability that is inherent in titanium with carbon’s feathery weight, and steel’s stellar ride quality. It may be the perfect frame material.

Crafted from the “highest quality” double-butted Gr9 3AL/2.5V titanium the Titanium All-Road was designed to conquer any terrain while ensuring a comfy, long-lasting experience. But perhaps most importantly, the Titanium All-Road bike from State is affordable with a complete bike price starting at just $2,499. titanium tube distributor

Built with progressive geometry, the All-Road will be offered in five sizes from XS to XL.

Note that while this bike is called the All-Road, the tire clearance certainly makes it seem more like a gravel bike than what we’ve come to expect from all-road bikes. The frame is designed around 700c wheels with clearance for up to 53mm tires, which will also fit 650b x 2.2″ rubber. Complete bikes will ship with 700c x 47mm Vittoria Terreno Dry tires giving this “all-road” bike bigger stock tires than many gravel bikes.

The titanium frame utilizes a standard 68mm threaded BSA bottom bracket, and 100x12mm/142x12mm axles. Complete bikes include a ZS44/EC44 headset with ceramic bearings. Cable routing is internal with both frame and fork running flat mount brakes. It does not appear that the frame is dropper post-compatible.

Ron Frazelle is the Cycling Lifestyle Editor for Bikerumor, he has been writing about bicycles and the cycling way of life for 7+ years. Prior to Bikerumor, he worked in the bicycle industry, living and breathing bicycles since 1995. He is based in Anaheim, California, Frazelle is an avid cyclist of all disciplines, camper, father to 6 children, husband, musician and self-proclaimed retro-grouch.

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Before the haters. State Bikes is rad.

In today’s bike market, this is a miracle of price/value delivery. In a world of $2,500+ aluminum frames, I don’t even understand how this is possible. Even though the geo is a little off for my ride type, I may buy one just out of principle.

Cheapest titanium tubing possible, lowest labor costs possible. The high end aluminum framsets have a lot of r&d thrown at them, complicated tube shapes that are often triple butted, painting a bike also isn’t free and not the lowest labor cost imaginable.

I read Bikerumor for plenty long to get the gist of who says what on a regular basis. Your takes, mr. Veganpotter, are always very uninformed and yet blunt.

FYI, super-duper carbon fiber S-Works frameset with all the materials used, labor and paintjob costs just $225 in 2017 money. Today that must be around $280. What do big S sell these for? $5500? $6000 a pop? Absolutely ridiculous.

Titanium and steel bikes are more expensive labor-wise with much lower markup cap. Yet, materials are almost the same as in high-end custom metal framesets. You don’t get pipe iron quality in this area because steel and titanium tubing can be manufactured only at the factory the size of a small city. You get only two types of titanium to choose from: 3Al/2.5V or Ti-6Al-4V, full stop. The frame made out of either of these two alloys will be as quality as the labor involved in making the final product can weld tubes together. What the nonsense on “cheapest titanium possible” you are talking, dude? You don’t find lo-fi titanium manufacturing fab in a basement workshop. Stop talking if you are completely ignorant on the matter.

Steel alloys tailored for cycling can offer so much more from pedestrian hi-ten to stainless (XCr and 953). But again you don’t get any steel tubing manufactured at the basement workshop like you do with open mold carbon fiber fabs. What do you ride, dude? Whatever your carbon ride is, chances are: these were made in a noname sweashop with fancy sticker slapped on top. Cheap – this is why cycling manufacturers are marketing plastic-fantastic bikes to you.

Cut the middle man out of the equation and bicycles become pretty sensible price-wise. It’s just too much greed that drives those prices upwards to motorcycle levels, where true engineering takes place – not what we have as “engineering” and “innovation” in the cycling biz.

I was in the industry for 15yrs. I also have extensive experience working with metals on top of the associated degree. Do you seriously think there aren’t quality differences between the two predominant titanium alloys used in the bike industry? *I have a lot of bikes. I SEVEN I put over 200k miles on, an old Cervelo Soloist SL, Cervelo P5, Trek Domane, Canyon Grizl, a no brand Chinese hardtail with a Lauf Fork, an old Giant touring bike for groceries, a Fuji Rakaan… and a whole boat load of wheelsets. I should have a Handsling tr2evop pursuit that I ordered 5 months ago that was supposed to have a 4 week wait and I’m waiting for my refund. I’ll probably but a Dolan DF5 instead now. Nice try though

I suggest looking at Rodbikes and see what he’s said about titanium quality variation since you’re too biased to listen to anything I say. The reality is that there’s a massive amount of variation in tube quality now that most titanium tubing isn’t forced from manufacturers meeting aerospace standards which used to be the case for practically all titanium bikes.

Who is the “middle-man” you’d cut out of the equation? I think they people you’re thinking of are more likely the people who make the difference between the lowest common denominator products and the best products available. The cost of a top of the line product is far greater than just the material used to make it.

You’re telling me that Sandvik Ti tube is on par with stuff coming out of some factory in China that we don’t even know the name of? Where did you get your metallurgical engineering degree, again?

Chinese Ti frame factories: the most rushed tube prep, the most slap-dash weld process. I’ve seen Chinese factories do it, up close. Get a Lynskey. Quality, durability AND performance, for a reasonable price.

Honestly, Lynskey has its issues too. If you Google all the big names making bikes in the US and crack/failure, you’ll see Lynskey or a brand that hires Lynskey to fabricate for them seems to have the most failures. Of course, they’re also the biggest titanium frame builder in the US. They do have a lifetime warranty though. Albeit, I’ve definitely heard of people having trouble getting a frame warrantied by them. I’d fully trust Seven, Moots and Erickson. If I wanted a Chinese titanium bike to save money, I’d probably get a Salsa since they have a solid dealer network and you know they’ll very likely still be in business in 10yrs. Every bike has its failures but I’ve sold a lot of Salsas and have never seen a failure on one of their titanium bikes with my own eyes.

Salsa Ti isn’t made in China – thats Taiwanese. Did you really sell a lot of them?

Possibly not now. Salsa has most definitely made titanium bikes in China. And yes, I sold a lot of them.

Here in the PACNW, I ride with a bunch of people that have Lynsky’s, including myself and my son. Mine is an older GR250 and my son has the GR260. Both have been flawless and we are both ~200 pound riders. I have a friend that did have a gravel frame crack at the bottom bracket and Lynskey replaced the frame with no issues. Based on this experience, I would wholeheartedly recommend Lynskey and consider another if looking for a new ride.

Someone here posted a photo of a Lynskey they’re repairing due to bad welds. And it’s not the only Lynskey this month. They really do have a pretty lousy record as a titanium manufacturer, but yes, they don’t have a failure rate over 33% which is why you have 2 in your family without issue. Great that your friend got his frame replaced… even better that he didn’t actually get hurt though. The mentioned crack posted below could cause a major accident

All titanium used in bicycle industry comes from aerospace industry. There is no such thing as bicycle specific titanium tube. Titanium used in China, Taiwan or in USA is just the same thing. Only difference is in the type of tube used and the quality of welding. I have fix only this moth 3 Lynskey damaged frames. No 4 is sitting in the jig, State is making this frame in Asia. Factory they use is not cheap and uses only seamless tubing 0.9mm when they manufacture frames for oem. They also have good penetration welding. In short this frames will outlive most of the Lynskey, Moots, etc hi end frames. Well done to state on lowering down their margins and making titanium bikes accessible to everyone. Lates Lynskey repair picture attached. You can see that there is absolutely 0 penetration on the welding. They were so preoccupied with looks vs quality of build. My 5 cents.

That’s simply not true anymore. There are non-aerospace grade sources of titanium

yeah this bike seems pretty great and a good default rec or buy at that price

This almost seems like it could fall in the “too good be true” crowd. Something is making me wonder what corners may have been cut to get a good price on a Ti bike (besides the cliched ‘made in China’ comments)…

That’s the glass-half empty way to look at it. The way we’re looking at it is, “this is our first titanium bike, let’s not give anyone a reason to NOT get it”. We have to win on quality, looks, and PRICE.

I’d like to know how the frame builders are being paid. That’s a lot more important than any of us saving money on a toy.

Why do you not care? Caring about more than just price is important especially when it comes to people’s lives! I would rather spend a little more and know the workers aren’t complete sweatshop labor. If the guy at the top can make so much the many guys making it so he can make that kind of money could easily stand to get paid better and treated better.

Nothing wrong with a little human decency!

I like titanium and want something decent at a decent price but I am happy to spend a bit more to get something that is a little better all around not just quality but quality for the workers

Do check the wages and salaries of all the workers producing all the different things you buy?

I care about anyone getting fair pay for their work. That includes you

“Titanium Grade 9 is sometimes referred to as ‘half 6-4’. This alloy of titanium with 3% aluminium and 2.5% vanadium offers 20 to 50% greater mechanical strength than the  commercially pure (CP) titanium grades, but is more formable and weldable than Ti-6Al-4V (Grade 5).”

It’s what we used to call 3Al-2.5V titanium alloy

This thing is guaranteed to fall apart after a couple of rides. They bought the complete package in a Chinese factory. They’ll be lucky, if there’s grease in the BB. No way there’s any sufficient QC for that price.

Mehdi Farsi here, Co-Founder of State Bicycle Co. – That’s a pretty bold claim you’re “guaranteeing”. To clarify a few things – these do not come complete, they are built to order in our facility in Arizona. The frames are from China, we offer wheelsets and groupsets, from China, USA and Taiwan.

We are exceptionally good at doing things at an affordable scale, of course our quality and rider safety comes first. We’ve been around since 2009 and have put over 100,000 riders on the road. The number of times I’ve had to honor our 5-year warranty due do a weld failure (even on our $399) bikes is probably less than 10.

Furthermore, this particular model has been under testing for over 1 year and has passed with flying colors. Everything from stress-test in labs to real-world cross Japan bikepacking trips (even getting hit by a car).

I am happy to discuss any of this in further detail. I appreciate your skepticism but we’re delivering – our track record proves it.

Only a 5yr warranty on titanium is a great way to save money on your end. Most of these bikes will definitely last. But that warranty sure does stink for titanium if you’re confident in your product

Devil’s advocate: how much more would you be willing to pay for a lifetime warranty? Because you can bet that’s at least partially considered into the cost of a lower volume product. A warranty is against defects in manufacturing and workmanship which almost always appear in the first year or two of use, not a promise of eternal life.

Every bike I own outside of my Grizl and unbranded Chinese hardtail has a lifetime warranty. My coupled Seven frame was about $4100 in 2006, although I was a shop employee and paid around half of that(I got a better than EP price due to selling so many). As someone that’s run a lot of warranties for major manufacturers, problems definitely show up outside of 5 and 10yrs. Plus there’s the crash replacement most of the lifetime warranty brands offer. It’s absolutely worth a 20% markup to me.

I also don’t think this is a low volume product in the world of titanium bikes. My guess is that they’ll sell significantly more of these than any of the big brands making titanium frames in the US and offering lifetime warranties.

Obviously, you have insider information, data, and statistics. There is no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that assumption from a negative bias has crept into your analysis. Everyone who cares about facts and objectivity salutes you!

After buying their aluminum all road bike a year ago, I have had to replace wheelset, shifters and brakes. All failed, with no factory support, should have bought a bike with real parts.

But not the frame, huh?? That kinda settles the argument about the frame quality

A. Chinese production can be excellent. Any piece of “cheap Chinese junk” you’ve ever experienced was likely sourced and approved by an American project manager. You get what you pay tor, as they say.

B. How did they manage to his this price with a 25% tariff on Chinese goods hanging around its neck?

Yup, a lot of the very best bikes are from China. Of course, the very worst are largely also from China. But it’s not like even the US doesn’t manufacture absolute turds in various industries.

Welding titanium isn’t terribly complicated. This isn’t gonna just fall apart. But how are the laborers being paid?

Have you tried or seen State bikes before? I have, for the price they are super hard to beat imo.

@Marlon – Crapping all over someone’s business and life work. That is so messed up.

Start your own company. Spend hours of your life and pour your money into trying to make a good product, take care of your employees and create happy customers – oh and also hopefully make a profit for yourself as well. And then some rando hater on the internet slanders your life work.

You get what you pay for. They’re not trying to make the very best bikes possible(and that’s OK). They’re making accessible bikes and there are shortcomings with that. Do you think Chevrolet goes out of their way to make the very best vehicles on the planet?

An affordable Ti frame in the US that’s been around for a long time would be a Habanero, their gravel and MTB frames start at $1200 plus $50 shipping, road frame is $1395 plus $50 shipping. You can ride/test their bikes if your anywhere near their Salem MA store.

I’ve ridden my gravel Habanero 1700 miles so far with zero issues. They’ll build them with any components you want, they’ll even manufacture custom size frames if you need them. They also have their own Ti forks and seat posts, and affordable carbon rims.

Any properly built titanium frame “should” last hundreds of thousands of miles…and essentially forever if you don’t let parts seize into them. The reality is that most will never get there with mileage but even the best manufacturers will have premature failures. 200k miles on my Seven and it rides like the day I got it. But I’ve also run a very small number of warranties on SEVEN and Moots frames with low mileage failures. It happens. The company’s total failure rate and how much those bikes were ridden is really what matters.

Forgot to pop the popcorn before reading the comment section

So, some anonymous Chinese factory makes another Ti frame and an American brand puts their name on it. Yawn. I’ve seen plenty of badge-engineered frames crack around their overheated weldments. I hope they’re offering a lifetime warranty, like Lynskey & Moots, reputable on-shore Ti makers of repute and renown (and Lynskey’s prices aren’t far off these ones).

Only 5yrs which definitely isn’t long enough for a titanium bike they have confidence in. 5yrs on steel is sorta OK knowing how people treat them in bad weather but that’s a non-issue with titanium.

Anybody know how it rides compared to all these other bikes mentioned in the comments?

The frame is pretty normal in our eyes. We offer our titanium AllRoad in 11 sizes with a lifetime warranty at $1500.00. We have sold hundreds of them for the last 10 years. What IS pretty astounding is the complete for $2499.00. It would be interesting to see what the kit consists of.

LOTSA hating on this. If you don’t like it….don’t buy one. Those that do, should. Its a Ti bike from a brand that is reaching out to riders who don’t see the mainstream brands or even niche brands as accessible or welcoming. Good on you STATE and Medhi for taking a gamble. I truly hope it pays off and you sell through. How about some hope and positivity, you grumps!

Open forum for discussion. If criticism isn’t an option, positivity shouldn’t be either. In the end, there are a few things we know(its an outstanding value, its heavy for a titanium frame, its made in asia) and things we don’t know(the quality of manufacturing, sourcing of tubing, welfare/pay of the builder) about this bike.

As asked to someone above, do you know the welfare/pay of every person involved in the manufacture or production of every product you buy? Or is this just a bike thing?

I look into it for everything I buy. There are a lot of local restaurants I won’t go to, a lot of clothes I won’t buy. I’m not in the bike industry anymore. But I have a small coffee roasting company and I’m very picky with where I source my beans from. I’m 41 and have been thinking about worker pay since I was 13.

I’m reading these posts and have to ask…. has anyone here (other than Mehdi) seen one of the SBC Ti bikes or, better yet, ridden one?

The No.22 Great Divide is a thoroughly modern all-road bike with artsy features that add to its allure…and it rides really nicely, too.

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