There’s a lot that goes into creating a great bicycle, but it all starts with the frame. With each bike we sell, we undertake rigorous quality control testing to ensure the fit and finish is up to our perfecting standards. Rather than having Flybike (aka Carbonda) handle quality control and paint to reduce costs, we bring unpainted frames to our own warehouse for a detailed inspection. This allows us to catch issues early, before they would end up hidden by paint. Oftentimes some finishing work is required to make sure the fitment and tolerances of our bikes is brought up to our exacting standards. Though our high level of quality control does increase costs, we believe the increase in reliability, longevity, and safety are worth every penny.
Some frames don’t make the cut, and are rejected and returned to the factory. Those that pass our first round of quality control will have every component interface checked to make sure it’s within our precise tolerances. Brake mounting surfaces are faced to prevent you from dealing with the frustration of a squawking brake caliper that can never be perfectly aligned. Bottom bracket tolerances are confirmed to ensure size and symmetry, preventing the dreaded creak from cropping up later in the life of the bike. Each frame’s dropout interfaces and spacing are checked to confirm alignment to maintain chainline and good tire clearance. This all adds up to a substantial investment that we strongly believe is worth every penny.
When buying a complete bike assembled by one of our professional mechanics, you get yet another round of quality control; a seasoned set of eyes is doing a top to bottom assessment of each part of your bike as it’s built. No assembly lines here.
To provide you with the best product at the best value, we build our bikes with house brand components that rival the best. You’ll be hard pressed to find a stem that is both lighter and stiffer than ours. Our innovative SteerSafe bonded insert does away with the fussy and potentially dangerous compression plugs that are common in the industry. Rather than saving a few dollars by using a disposable plastic press fit bottom bracket shell, we employ our own 2-piece aluminum thread-together shell design that won’t wear down and start creaking, with Japanese stainless steel bearings to keep you cranking smoothly for miles to come.
All of this relentless attention to details produces a product that we are proud to stand behind, with hands on customer support and a robust warranty. In our commitment to putting safe reliable bikes into the world we will provide full transparency should any manufacturing issues come to light.
Some of you have also reached out to us about issues with warranty issues on CRF-505 frames, which unfortunately we are not able to assist you with.