Celebrating Craftsmanship
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- We got sent a Blackheart frame to check prior to a customer accepting delivery. We were super pleased to see the craftsmanship and perfection in in this road bike frame. Blackheart are an American company, specialising in custom build projects. It is rare to see them in the UK. The T47 bottom bracket was perfect, the brake mounts were perfect too. I really loved how the bottle cage mounts have been welded in. Even edges on the inside of the frame has a small radius on. Immaculate.
Well done Blackheart. - Sport
Ask your client to send in photos of the full bike once finished please , looks like it will be awesome !!
Wow, thank you for the review. Always nice to hear from someone who appreciates the extra time and effort we put into our frames 🖤
How about actually celebrating the craftmanship that goes into the frame by including images of its Taiwanese manufacturers as a selling point - as you would if you were building the frame in Europe or America - rather than burying info about their work in a tiny bit of your website's FAQ? Mapdec have clearly looked at the website and come away thinking that the quality here is thanks to an 'American company', not the workmanship of skilled Taiwanese frame builders.
@@davidcooper8241 Couldn't agree more and a shame that Mapdec give all credit to the firm that simply spec'd and imported the frame and then just assembled the bike !!
You make a great point.
@@davidcooper8241 Thanks for the comment. We are very transparent that our frames are welded at the factory. Happy to make it more clear on the website thought if that helps.
@@grahamricketts-bq1ft Thanks for the comment. More work goes into the process than simply spec'ing, importing, and assembling. We are very transparent that we weld at the factory. Happy to make it more clear on the website thought if that helps.
These are definitely from a factory that mass produces titanium frames. Plenty of very good welders work on big production lines.
This has been a brand I've had an eye on. They pop up on social media from to time. I was so skeptical about them it's so great their frame pop up here. I was actually thinking about doing the same thing as your customer. Buy a frame and build it out myself.
I have a Blackheart Allroad Ti. I still find myself just looking at the welds and clean lines of the bike, its really beautiful. Rides so smooth and future proofed for a while. Can't recommend Blackheart enough
Seems like every Ti frame manufacturer is mentioned in the comments below except Lynskey. So here it is. :-) Every one of their bikes I've seen has welds that are a work of art. Seriously. (I think the founder started the original Lightspeed before the company was sold. Then he started a new, separate company years later. The story I heard was there was a lot of Ti welding and fab expertise in Tennessee, USA because of the amount of nuclear reactor work done there). Anyways, a shout out for Lynskey Ti craftsmanship too.
I have currently 5 titanium bikes (6 before I sold one) and of those 5bikes 3 are from lynskey. The welds are perfect. I don't know why so many talk crap or disregard them. They mass produce perfectly built and welded frames.
I'm really enjoying your factual, no nonsense and down to earth approach.
I do hope for more MTB videos 🤞🏻
Me too. Not many MTB brands sell frame only anymore. Trying to get the new fox forks in.
Nice what to look for vid. The fact that the frames are from a Californian USA company, fabricated in Taiwan to quality standards that appear to match high end USA Ti specialist output is a great credit to Blackheart and their Taiwanese based fabricators. Potentially add another quality name to the list (Litespeed / Lynskey, Seven, No.22 ……… if possible would love to hear more about performance once built. Cheers 👍
I haven’t seen a modern Lynsky yet. They ware in a spot of bother a few years back and the frames kept cracking near the headtube. I can’t remember if they got bought out, or just refinanced.
@@Mapdec yes Paul I think that coincided with changes within the business, more volume comparatively lower price point. Like you I haven’t seen the latest. Production 10 -15 years ago absolutely bombproof. Those frames look like new after a quick wipe over excepting the decals flake, but replacements readily available.
you really should link to them in the description
Once you ride ti you’re hooked, I wouldn’t ride anything else. I have an Enigma Esprit and Escape, both great bikes.
external t47 was a very good design choice. thin interfaces are a bane to my existence as a home mechanic.
Man that’s a great looking frame. Great review
Thank you! Always good to see the great stuff being praised.
Finally, a Ti roadbike on mapdec.🎉
Love my Blackheart Ti. The mechanic that built mine up was also impressed, only issue we ran into was having to be a bit careful about rear brake hose routing since it’s tight around BB but still doable.
Does it show a lot of fingerprints?
Actually yes, it’s shows fingerprints, hence me using cloth.
@@ginomordocco4710 it does but not nearly as bad as a polished finish. Not noticeable unless inspecting closely.
@@ginomordocco4710 All Ti does, just give it a wipe with stainless steel appliance cleaner 🖤
This is awesome! It's nice to see other brands being assessed that get the seal of approval other than look!
More of these please 😊
I've seen a few Blackheart bikes, with lovely painted forks, they're super cool and extremely sexy!
Beautiful craftsmanship
I have the very same frame, I ditched a 2021 trek madone slr for it, yes it's slightly heavier and not as aero but what a bike, I'd highly recommend buying one, just be aware of the import duty for frame and forks is around £340 😮
I have a Lynskey GR Pro gravel bike delivering to me in a week or 2. Hopefully it is as high of quality as this frame.
I’ve been riding one for a little over a year. You will not be disappointed.
Titanium 🤘🤘; especially a MOOTS mountain bike frame🤘🤘
They have nice alloy bikes too
Too bad it only runs integrated internal routing, but at least it's compatible with mechanical groupsets, but can only take four front derailleur models and they're all Shimano.
@@yonglingng5640 Can run a non-integrated bar and stem through the headset. Electronic only and compatible with Shimano, SRAM, and Campagnolo.
@@blackheartbikeco ☹
While it's a great looking frame I went with a company producing ti frames stateside for my gravel bike build. As I've gotten older things like that matter. It's the same reason I'm holding off on buying a new Time frame until they start coming off the production line in SC.
Will definitely be getting one next year and replacing my Teammachine frame with it.
That’s pretty good for outsourced welding
Yeah. I’m not sure if black heart do the final QC or what, but the result is good.
@@Mapdec We QC at the factory before shipping to our warehouse in California, and haven't had to chase or face a single frame 🖤
Hi
Great review
Not sure where to share this experience
As this is the latest video I thought I would share this with you and you viewers
This is an issue with BMC customer sevice
Bought a BMC roadmachine amp x one two
Bit of a mouthful I know
Yellow Frame TQ motor
I ride about 8000 miles a year 30 miles a day on b and c country roads after about
After 2 months notice a rattling sound it was getting worse so long story short the two bolts on the down tube had come lose on the battery
I could not tighten them but they had not dropped out so my dealer was 4 hours away so took it to a local BMC dealer to sort out
Basically battery had detached from the frame and had smashed it self to pieces but still working
10 weeks later got the battery and bracket replaced
Back on the road
2 weeks later same problem
But this time battery had 😢punched a hole in the carbon frame
So took it back to the dealer I bought it from
So the battery bracket which was absolute rubbish an engineering disaster had be redesigned by TQ
So to the frame BMC agreed to replace the Frame and so they should
But would not supply a yellow frame they offered only one colour green and red I refused
BMC will not supply a yellow frame no stock although they are still in production
This is now 4 weeks no bike off the road
So apart from poor engineering long winded parts delivery
And refusing to replace a frame for the same colour
BMC service is appalling
Simply don’t care about there customers
So another make I will never buy again
Still with dealer waiting for the frame
So bought another bike
Pinerello e5 with same group set and motor
Will accept the frame from BMC
And sell the bike
No reflection on the dealer they have been good
All down to BMC shocking behaviour
Not the right place to share
That sucks. But I doubt you will ever get that yellow frame. I would accept that frame asap and get a fully working bike back in your possession asap. BMC are reported to have financial issues and could well get sold or close down. I doubt the staff there are particularly well motivated to help right now.
Thanks for the reply definitely worth sharing
As you have giving me information I did not know and now this makes a bit more sense
Thank you for the info
Love your channel
Any day over a carbon frame.
BEAU-Ti 😎👍💯
Beautiful frame #bikeporn
Is this Chinese made frame heat treated after welding? No mention of that on Blackheart website.
American design and Taiwan manufacturing.
They're not cheap are they, I took the plunge and specc'd and ordered a Ti frame direct from Waltly Titanium in China back in 2015 and it's superb, cost then was about £800 excluding forks, worth considering if you know exactly what you want.
What do you expect? With an American corporation as the middleman. One extra layer of profit to be made by someone sits in the office all day long. Buy direct.
I did the same last year, speced every option, and paid about 1800,- dollar including shipping to Europe. Never had a moment of regret.
When I see this frame, I suspect it has been made by Waltly too, as it uses the same dropouts, bottle cage, and DI2 holes.
Have been eyeing Blackheart myself, was a little skeptical of another importer of OEM Ti frames with nice finishing kit... but this is certainly good to see that their work is up to spec.
Hi, thanks for the comment. Our frames are not OEM. We design them from scratch and manufacture to our spec.
@@blackheartbikeco apologies!
@@strangemobius All good! Just making sure all is clear for the community 🖤
TurnerTi Cyclosys made in Taiwan is even better IMHO. Welds are superb. Handles fantastic. Also designed for internal cabling which most Ti manufacturers can’t do. Not too expensive and Dave Turner is an MTB legend, so any questions go straight through to him.
These may be made by the same people. It's not 2005 anymore. A lot of people can weld titanium well.
I really like my Blackheart Allroad Ti, very good quality and works really well as a dedicated 'all road' bike with 30-32mm tires.
that rear, rear brake mount (3:33 in video) doesn't give you any concern re. getting bent when torquing caliper bolt to the approx. 7nm?
Hey Sean. Brake mounts are super sturdy with no flex 🖤
@@blackheartbikeco I checked mine out the other day and they seem 100% (as well as being beautifully done), but I saw some review on one of your aluminum bikes I think which called into question that 'potential problem' and I guess I sort of got a brain worm about it.
Cheers.
@@seanmccuen6970 Yep, not an issue.
Would this frame be shipped to the UK or are there any local distributors
How much do you usually charge for a frame inspection/correction? I've got a Light Carbon frame on the way from China and I'd quite like to get it checked over. Only issue is I'm a fair way from the Lakes.
Not much. It will cost you more is shipping.
@@Mapdec The correct answer was that it’s a good opportunity for a holiday 😂. I’ll give you a shout when it arrives.
It is a beautiful frame. On steel or Ti frames I think the bottle bosses are always brazed or welded in. Drilling a hole in a tube weakens it quite a lot and a rivnut would not get any of that strength back.
I have an old Seven from 2006. My bosses are definitely rivnuts. It's actually of less importance in a metal bike than carbon because there's more material for the rivnut to grab. For steel, brazing often looks better if there's something ornamental around the boss.
*Putting a tightly fit rivnut into a void definitely gives strength back to a tube. Not all of it but it's also a very low stress part of a frame. I've never seen a frame(any material) fail at the hole for a bottle cage😂
@@veganpotterthevegan That's interesting! I have made a number of steel frames and the metal behind the upper DT bottle boss is often after the end of the butt. It's therefore usually about 0.5mm thick or sometimes even less. I really wouldn't want to trust that to a rivnut. Maybe with Ti it's OK as the walls will be thicker and it's often not butted.
@benc8386 carbon can be thinner than that. But more importantly, you're breaking strands which is what gives carbon it's strength. It's still not a spot where bikes ever fail, even in crashes. A head on crash where a frame doesn't make contact with anything typically gets you a broken steer tube/fork, and/or head tube. The top and downtube often break in a bad enough crash too but it's never near the bottle bosses no matter the material. Or if it is near, it's coincidental and the crack still doesn't come across those bosses. I honestly have little issue drilling into anything. I've done a lot of carbon repair and have converted frames to internal routing by drilling into them. I've had to repair some of those frames after crashes and none had any breaks in relation to the holes I've drilled... this is with carbon bikes where holes weaken frames more than with metal.
*I've definitely repaired steel frames too but it's typically been seat stays pulling away from the seat tube and a couple bikes with chainstays that had water ingress and rust at the BB.
Is it stress relieved?
Hard to say with my tools. It machines easily.
What does that mean?
@@randomname8442 ti like most metals is affected by heat, as you weld you alter the micro structure and the material can contain areas of stress. With Ti you can slowly release that stress by heating in an oven in a very controlled way. Stress relieving brings the material back to original properties, where as heating up further would be called annealing and makes the metal more ductile
Fascinating, I just learned sumfink, thanks. Do you thing this would be a differentiator between cheaper Ti frames and the more expensive builders?
@@randomname8442 hard to say. It’s unlikely the small makers have a big oven, then again, they might take more care in making everything fit perfectly before welding. Welding Ti is hard. You need a lot of argon to purge oxygen. Most factories do this is a big tank, so I imagine they would also have ovens for heat treatments. Cottage frame builders have to rely on purging with tubes fed inside the frame and a free flow of argon over the weld area.
For titanium how would you chase the threads in the bottom bracket?
Exactly the same. You just need sharp tools and lube.
The old Lightspeed frames looked like someone dripped candel wax on the joints. Nasty welds indeed. Nice to see the clean workmanship.
US “craftsmanship” vs China “manufacturing over capacity”
@@blackjackpinoko Blackheart frames are built in Taiwan
Back in the day, Lightspeeds were a pretty cheap option compared to.. Merlin. The welds on my 1998 Extralight looks just like the ones shown here, marvelous to look at. Good welders are good welders, wherever he ( she ) may live.. Rgr
That is great quality for a Chinese welded brand engineering bike. But you should expect that for a frame north of 3k dollars welded in the far east. Yeah good job but you are certainly paying premium cash
Noice,👍
Bet that is a Waltly frame they've paid a premium for.
Yep sure is or somebody else. Somebody took up all their time so they can't make my wacky bike ideas. Is waltly taking orders yet?
Agreed - I have a Waltly and was thinking the same thing. Love mine!
I have a Waltly Ti (via an OEM) and it’s actually top notch! Absolutely faultless and on par with Litespeed, Linskey, Blackheart (yes, that’s Waltly).
Hi, thanks for the comment. We do not rebrand other company's frames. All of our bikes are our own design with our own molds, dropouts, etc. and we manufacture to our spec.
@@tomgeorge3759 Not a Waltly
Anyone can chase the BB threads out, what is the alignment like? There are no end of stories on forums with poor alignment on Ti Frames
Yeah. We did film this, but was out of focus and went on a bit. Frame jig is good, have to use inside of dropouts as reference. Head tube is good. Pop. A fork in and measure off centre line.
Have never had an issue in the past 6 years, and lifetime warranty for the original owner if a customer ever does 🖤
Pity of geometry !
$3150 USD frame/carbon forks. Beautiful though.
Hey Paul what’s the secret with the pro look weight loss 😉
I did vids on it. Did you see?
@@Mapdec No been in Mallorca unfortunately 😉 I’ll have a look.
How heavy ?
No idea. Does it matter? You don’t buy a Ti bike to be light.
@@Mapdec just curious .
Sorry. Get asked this a lot. Caught me grumpy. 🤦♂️
It’s on their website
@@randomname8442 cheers.
Wonder if whoever sent you this has some form of affiliation with blackheart
No idea. It’s up to us what we choose to film. As far as I know they are a light paranoid buyer that wanted our 2nd opinion.
We are not affiliated with the film or providing of the frame. It was independently done by the customer, but we're glad they did!
Ps I have the Trek Madone Slr frameset for sale, freshly painted in a metallic black by Addicted Cycles in Huddersfield, only painted because I picked a stone up on the non drive side and it marked the chain stay, not structural damage just cosmetic.
ORA Engineering?
czcams.com/video/EpA2v9upCZQ/video.html