Foffa Bikes

I like the look and idea of the frame, just not the build.

I like lots of other people like the way traditional track frames raise you when riding in the city. Hence why one of my bikes is an old track frame with risers. The idea of having a longer headtube makes sense if the handle bars are going to be higher. Also having some sort of sloping TT is practical - it's not just about weight and torsional stiffness.

I hate the hybrid look of the frame, but get your point.

White spokes though.

I think it looks quite nice.

It's not exactly a sympathetic colourscheme; there used to be (maybe still is) a Condor (Pista?) on their site in full fixie livery - black / white with snowflake wheels that looked dreadful, even thought the bike itself (though by no means a great looker) can look pretty good.

Everybody stop saying Foffa!

fixie fixie fixie foffa fixie fixie foffa foffa

Foff-ucks sake.

Hmmm, prices for the Ciao are going to start from £650 and the frame will be double-butted in chromoly 4130. Now proper 4130 when double-butted in terms of weight is very close to Reynolds 531 it just doesn't have the same anecdotal kudos. In terms of price personally I think it's a little steep but then it compares well to say a Gary Fisher Triton or a Genesis Flyer both in terms of frame material and price.

Really like that Ciao. I was thinking, can comfort be objective? What do you think, guys?

can comfort be objective?

Yes and no. The answer to your question depends on who you ask.

mdcc_tester have some rep for being a good sport.

No one else spot this in the Evening Standard yesterday?

(rubbish quality i know, had to use my phone)

looks even worse there. its such a fuck ugly bike!

I'm sure there's some issues with strength with that design.

The front end looks well flexy.

wow it does actually look worse there... mazin!

Hmmm, prices for the Ciao are going to start from £650 and the frame will be double-butted in chromoly 4130. Now proper 4130 when double-butted in terms of weight is very close to Reynolds 531

Six hundred quid for something which weighs the same as some outdated medium grade tubing without the strength?

£650

i just keep being astounded by the shiteness (not a word) of their bikes!

As much as I dislike a lot of elements of FOFFA - the customization features and the all-over sticker sets are a clever idea - The amount of customers I used to talk to who hated the standard spez/trek/giant paint schemes and would have liked more choice would attest to that...

No excuse for the prices though

Ah, somebody opened the Pandora box again! So here is my comments to clarify a few points:

Prancer, the bike that you saw was a display bike on a raised stand and clearly not designed for people to try out. It was merely to show case the new frames and forks coming out.

As for the geared machines, yes we started researching on them and we’ll take as long as it takes to produce them and make sure that we get them just right. If you want to give us some direct constructive feed back and what you want to see in a bike like that then we would love to hear from you.

Malaysian, our bikes cannot reach 819 pounds unless you select mudguards, helmet, light and a Kryptonite Dlock which you have, so I don’t know why you have to deceive people when we are just trying to run a genuine business. Our bikes start at £485.00 and obviously if you add a Brooks saddle and a £180 track wheelset the price will increase considerably.

Sushigeezer, I am not claiming that our wheels are H+Son, I am just stating that our rims are made in the same factory. And considering BLB will charge you 130 pounds for 2 rims alone then we feel the prices of our rims are reasonable.

As for the Ciao, I am glad it generated so much debate. Clearly the aesthetic aspect is something personal (although I used to get quite a few looks when riding it around town), but I will say that after going through a lot of tweaking (the version on the Evening Standard was our first prototype, which is why it looked different), it is by far one of the most comfortable bike I have ridden and this is the general feedback I got from everyone that tried the bike out.
The visibility is brilliant, the upright position feels way more comfortable than a more aggressive posture, and the handling is super smooth.
What I still don’t understand is whether the people that call £650 ‘overpriced’ for a double butted 4130 build, realise how much effort and money is involved in designing a bike from scratch and getting it into production (CAD drawings, testing to ensure the product complies with British Standards, prototyping, etc..).

And Nhat, RPM and everydoby else that likes to comment on our bikes without having ridden one, feel free to pop by the shop and try one out, then you will be in a position to make an accurate judgement and not defame companies trying to run a decent business.

Mdcc_tester, the Ciao is supposed to be our ‘hi-pro’ model but I am in the process of developing a ‘lo-pro’ which I am hoping to see in production by next Summer.

And here it is an early design for those that want to give us some constructive feedback:

That’s it for now.

Regardless of mudguards/accessories etc - £650 for a singlespeed bike with a variety of unbranded components is expensive - considering Charge Plugs, Fuji tracks and other basic otp's can be found from anywhere between 300-500 pounds. (I appreciate the tubing on a plug is plain gauge though)

Mdcc_tester, the Ciao is supposed to be our ‘hi-pro’ model but I am in the process of developing a ‘lo-pro’

You're mixing me up with somebody else, my rendering kept the head tube length but reversed the bendáge to make it look more like an old post office bike.

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And here it is an early design for those that want to give us some constructive feedback:

The fillets are in completely the wrong place. Fillet behind the head tube and above the BB, straighten the seat stays, straight top tube and put some bendáge in the seat tube at the bottom to allow very short chain stays.

put a curve in the seat tube to get closer wheelbase and I think that would look pretty fuckin sweet to be honest

Regardless of mudguards/accessories etc - £650 for a singlespeed bike with a variety of unbranded components is expensive - considering Charge Plugs, Fuji tracks and other basic otp's can be found from anywhere between 400-600 pounds. (I appreciate the tubing on a plug is plain gauge though)

fixed.

similar amount of money TBH, the cheapest were the Fuji Classic and the Mongoose Maurice going for less than £400.

Charge Plug cost £599, just £50 cheaper than the Foffa, although right now they're on sales for £399.

Regardless ed - point still stands - You can get better bikes from more reputable companies for less money.

• So why buy FOFFA?
  

That’s it for now.

What the cunt is that!? ^