Van Nicholas frames.

[Thorpie]

Anyone know if Van Nicholas bike frames are any good? They are a dutch company and specialise in Titanium frames. Anyone got one?

Trevor.

 

[Dave_H]

Used to be Airborne I believe. Never ridden one but they seem to have a good reputation.

 

[stevek]

Back in '02 when they ran under the Airborne logo I had a Black Widow, very nice frame and very distinctive. I think the VN name is Tuareg.

I've heard of one or two claims of 'agricultural welding' but I must say that the welding on mine was spot on and the fella I sold it to has been very pleased with it.

They come with a lifetime warranty for the original owner and this can be transferred over to the new owner after inspection by VN.

 

[stevek]

Looking at that old pic of mine reminded me of the only bad thing about them - the decals were made of tissue paper!

 

[Anthony]

Trevor, Airborne was a US company and Van Nicholas was a separate company that ran the Airborne operation in Europe. Then the US owners ran into trouble and sold out to I think Huffy, who having bought it decided to close it. Well I guess we all do silly things sometimes on the spur of the moment. But nevertheless the owners of the Airborne brand didn't want to use that name.

So as Van Nicholas' business was profitable but they couldn't use the Airborne name, they just carried it on under their own name, buying the frames etc from the same builder as before. The frames are and always were made in Russia, utilising redundant aero-industry expertise, and I've heard very little other than positive comment about them.

 

[stevek]

I reckon that's about the gist of it Anthony.

I had mine for four years and it saw action in Wales the Peaks and the Lake District as well as regular two or three times a week 20+ to 30+ mile XC rides. Very nice frame, I'm getting all nostalgic for it now. :cry:

I only sold it to buy a Moots.

 

[hamster]

Interesting. I'd always assumed they used Chinese Ti. I feel a bit more positive about them now.