Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal, Felt

Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

cce":1ntg3pce said:
the Merlin (lancashire) and coyotes of this world wanted something they could charge more for something with cachet
so the generic frame shops bought a pile of easton tubing...
I'd be interested to know what you mean by 'generic frame shops'. My understanding is that Easton only licenced certain factories to build with Easton Elite, so all Easton Elite frames were built in equivalent and high-standard factories. If there were cheap factories that worked to lower standards, Easton wouldn't have licenced them. However all factories made long runs of plain unbranded frames that were sold into the retail market and branded locally. They would be of the same quality as the factory's other produce and offer the same warranty to the distributor, but they'd just be plain designs - e.g., they wouldn't have had distinctive design features like this frame.

So you could pay £600 for a Kona Kula or £300 for a Handsome Dog Elite and they'd probably have been made in the same factory to the same standards. If you ever read contemporary tests of Handsome Dog, Merlin, Rock Lobster, Coyote, Ballistic etc, they all received high ratings, and there's no reason to doubt their quality. Of these brands, only Handsome Dog and Coyote made Easton Elite frames at that time, and this isn't a Handsome Dog, but it does look to me like a Coyote. If it was, I would expect it to show the Easton E (although they're very faint), but I don't know that for sure. There's nothing magic about Easton Elite though - it was just a guarantee of quality, but any other frame weighing 3.5lbs is likely to be built from db 7005 of similar tube profiles.
 
Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

Also bear in mind a lot of fakes are produced over there.
Just a sticker?
 
Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

Anthony":2h8rwgm2 said:
cce":2h8rwgm2 said:
the Merlin (lancashire) and coyotes of this world wanted something they could charge more for something with cachet
so the generic frame shops bought a pile of easton tubing...
I'd be interested to know what you mean by 'generic frame shops'. My understanding is that Easton only licenced certain factories to build with Easton Elite, so all Easton Elite frames were built in equivalent and high-standard factories. If there were cheap factories that worked to lower standards, Easton wouldn't have licenced them. However all factories made long runs of plain unbranded frames that were sold into the retail market and branded locally. They would be of the same quality as the factory's other produce and offer the same warranty to the distributor, but they'd just be plain designs - e.g., they wouldn't have had distinctive design features like this frame.

So you could pay £600 for a Kona Kula or £300 for a Handsome Dog Elite and they'd probably have been made in the same factory to the same standards. If you ever read contemporary tests of Handsome Dog, Merlin, Rock Lobster, Coyote, Ballistic etc, they all received high ratings, and there's no reason to doubt their quality. Of these brands, only Handsome Dog and Coyote made Easton Elite frames at that time, and this isn't a Handsome Dog, but it does look to me like a Coyote. If it was, I would expect it to show the Easton E (although they're very faint), but I don't know that for sure. There's nothing magic about Easton Elite though - it was just a guarantee of quality, but any other frame weighing 3.5lbs is likely to be built from db 7005 of similar tube profiles.

What I meant was the manufacturers who were pumping out frames like this to anyone who wanted to stick a label on them, as opposed to the ones making stuff to a customer's specific design.

No implications as to the quality of the work.
 
Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

Rampage":28zlwyze said:
Also bear in mind a lot of fakes are produced over there.
Just a sticker?

Really? Is there any evidence of this? There isn't even a sticker on my frame, and no serial number I noticed yesterday, it was as it is when I got it. Shiny.
 
Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

cyclinggardener":2pugah03 said:
Rampage":2pugah03 said:
Also bear in mind a lot of fakes are produced over there.
Just a sticker?

Really? Is there any evidence of this? There isn't even a sticker on my frame, and no serial number I noticed yesterday, it was as it is when I got it. Shiny.


The fakes tend to be of big brand names rather than subtle stuff like an Easton sticker.
 
Re: Frame Identification Please- Coyote, Ballistic, Jackal,

cyclinggardener":3mmdje01 said:
Rampage":3mmdje01 said:
Also bear in mind a lot of fakes are produced over there.
Just a sticker?

Really? Is there any evidence of this? There isn't even a sticker on my frame, and no serial number I noticed yesterday, it was as it is when I got it. Shiny.


I was meaning fakes in general, I don't know about bikes. I wouldn't be surprised though.
There's currently a shortage of Baby Forumula (powdered baby milk) in Hong Kong as they have found fake baby formula in China which is produced in the factory's over there. So people in the mainland are buying it from Hong Kong. This was on PCNE the Chinese TV channel.
 
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