Alchemy introduces more affordable steel Konis cross and Kyros road bikes

Don’t get me wrong, I love this bike, and I’d love to have one, but when a frameset that costs more than my entire bike is considered affordable… WTF.
It’s gorgeous, I understand why it costs so much, but don’t call it “affordable”. Compared to their other bikes maybe. I’m not rich enough for the way this sport is going lately… sigh.

Eh, it’s all relative. It’s very affordable given it’s an alchemy product. There are, however, dozens of other builders who will build you the same thing full-custom, with a premium tubeset, and your choice of paint for the same or less. Just like Indy Fab, or Serotta back in the day, some people just really want a certain brand. Alchemy is sort of in that upper tier class.

Would really like to heard what this tubing is, because I need something to justify the price besides the brand. $2600 for a stock frame size is a hefty cost.

“more affordable”

As pmurf stated… it’s relative.

Let’s have fun riding what we can each afford! (or is that unfair?)

Frameset sorry, not just the frame. (enve fork included)

For such a health outlay of cash, I would expect a horizontal top tube.

@Will, well.. it does say “more affordable” 🙂

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While I agree it’s pricy, I used to work at an Indy Fab dealer and a steel crown jewel with an ouzo pro was similar in pricepoint, though I guess the IF full custom treatment was included at that cost. It seems to be inline with the other ‘high end’ domestically produced quasi-custom frames out there.

This bike is amazing, and so is the guy who rides it! check out his bottle game below!

http://www.definecycling.bigcartel.com/product/set-of-christmas-bidons

It doesn’t mention it, but that steel bike weighs ~18lbs even with the trail pedals. That’s pretty rad for a CX bike of any material, but will ride much better. Sure you can get cheaper, but I doubt the quality will be matched.

Rikulau in Taiwan will build you a custom STAINLESS frame for about half that.

@ez if you think $2600 for this is a good deal, then the Wraith Paycheck must be the deal of the f***ing century. Half the price, Columbus tubing, Made in the USA, lightweight, disc tabs, spend the money you save upgrading to an ENVE fork if you must.

http://wraithfabrication.com/products/the-paycheck

You inexplicably picked six of the most expensive builders, with the longest wait times, in the country.

Here you go, literally off the top of my head:
Rock Lobster
333Fab
Elephant
O’Leary Bicycles
Strong Bikes
Spectrum
Gunnar
Davidson
DeSalvo
Curtlo
Shamrock
Primus Mootry

That’s a full dozen, and it took me about a minute to think of them all. Imagine what a little Googling could do.

Dude you are as lazy as you are cynical. That is a nice list of names, but you didn’t spec out the bikes. Some of them are the same, or more. Took you a minute to blast off a list, but zero thought went into it.

Rock Lobster – they aren’t bad at all, but you don’t get things like the 40 mm headtube. Also they have a much longer wait than Alchemy. It’s a much smaller operation.
333 Fab – their CX is exactly the same price as Alchemy.
Elephant – Not the same thing at all. No modern touches like 44 mm and the disc/carbon fork option uses a Ritchey. It’s just a very different kind of bike. Not apples to apples.
O’Leary Bikes – A nice, but smaller builder. You’ll definitely have a wait. Not sure if he can make a frame that’s the same, seems more retro. Probably not at that pricepoint.
Strong Bikes – $2k sans fork. So not really much cheaper.
Spectrum – $3000 for a road frameset, no CX option I could find. That’s MORE expensive.
Gunnar – Gunnar is a weird one. Cheap, but def kind of heavy. I have a friend who has three. He also had to wait a longtime to get each one. They’re not quick. I haven’t been too blown away by any of the newer ones I’ve seen.
Davidson – He doesn’t make CX bikes. The road ones are a good deal, not the lightest but pretty.
DeSalvo – Definitely cheaper. A totally different style of bike, though, and being a small builder (have you ever worked with one? I have, it takes much longer than Alchemy) he says his lead times are 2.5-5 months.
Curtlo – Definitely cheaper, but a very different kind of bike.
Shamrock – The Celtic Cross is $2250, pretty comparable. Options get it about the same.
Primus Mootry – Sadly no longer in the biz.

These are all great bikes, and you should order what speaks to you. My larger point is that many of the builders you mentioned charge just as much, some more. Some of the others are a totally different style of bike. All you’ve really said is “I hate things because ‘Internet’ and I can’t do actual research, I just say things.” Alchemy isn’t perfect, but if you want a race-ready, modern CX steel bike and don’t want to break the bank, these are it!

ez I think you’re missing the point that the $2600 pricepoint for a STOCK geometry frameset is on the higher end of the steel frame spectrum. If it were custom, it would fall smack in the middle of the spectrum when all options/upgrades were weighed in. However, it’s custom price of $3100 clearly places it into middle-higher end territory. There’s nothing wrong with that – it’s a beautiful bike from a pedigreed company! They should do them, and charge what they want – there’s a healthy market for their product

The point some of us are trying to make is that for the SAME or LESS than Alchemy’s STOCK frameset (and by less we’re talking between $500 and $200 less, which is not “pretty comparable” btw, that’s a new set of race tires or a carbon cockpit) you can get a CUSTOM frameset with these specs.

If you want to play the apples-to-apples game, Stoemper and Geekhouse come to mind – I’m sure there are more but I wouldn’t want to anger you by simply listing them without doing my research.

Stoempers come with the fork….I think. Not sure about geekhouse – if they did that’d be a heck of a deal.

To answer your last question: probably because I can’t afford any of these 🙂

I think you’re right about the Stoemper fork, Pmurf. It looks like the Greenhouse is $1700 for a 4130 Disc frame alone which is a really good deal. I’ve always drooled over Sevens that I can’t afford, but I still admire them.