Ok, I really want this frame, but with the unanswered emails and all the other people posting bad things about Ardcore, I'm hoping someone knows the frame specs? Head tube Angle or anything? I've been searching for quite some time with no luck.. Any help would be great
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Hi Markmw and welcome,
yeah, Ardcore's delays in delivery have gotten them a seriously bad rep. These days I reckon the only safe way to deal with them is to collect the thing in person and only pay them when it's in your vehicle.
But welding on a hardtail won't alter the head tube angle at all and will only alter the head tube's effective angle if the dimensions you specify for your conversion change the rear axle height.
I'd ask why you'd want to do that to a bike that had rear suspension but doing so seems to annoy people.
Dunno why.
You have a perfect right to hardtail your bike.
I have the right to think you are a masochist.
Best of luck with the project anyway.
DrewMartin
Old fashioned new guy
Fred, I believe the "wizard sleeze" is a 100% new frame, not a hard tail weld on.
That being said, if you have a frame you like, but the business has questionable practices or other things I find undesirable, is it worth the risk to spend the money with them?
Plenty of reputable frame builders are glad to publish their information so their customers have all of the answers needed to make an educated decision on their products. If any shop says they won't because they're concerned about someone stealing their intellectual property it's absolute BS. I can almost guarantee anyone that would actually want to copy a frame won't achieve anywhere near the quality as the original.
And just my personal opinion. If I was looking for a frame to be built, I'd probably like the shop bike from the company to be built on something they're selling, not just a 4 ft long swingarm and a silly exhaust.
That being said, if you have a frame you like, but the business has questionable practices or other things I find undesirable, is it worth the risk to spend the money with them?
Plenty of reputable frame builders are glad to publish their information so their customers have all of the answers needed to make an educated decision on their products. If any shop says they won't because they're concerned about someone stealing their intellectual property it's absolute BS. I can almost guarantee anyone that would actually want to copy a frame won't achieve anywhere near the quality as the original.
And just my personal opinion. If I was looking for a frame to be built, I'd probably like the shop bike from the company to be built on something they're selling, not just a 4 ft long swingarm and a silly exhaust.
Hi Drew,
and I thought "wizard sleeze" was the OP's opinion of the way Ardcore did business.
However, Google shows it as one of their products, seems to be a one-off custom build and even if the frame is a full build instead of a weld-on it's front end looks really similar to that of a stock XS650's
But yeah, with them guys I'd want to have the finished product in the back of my truck and it's papers in my name before I parted with my money.
and I thought "wizard sleeze" was the OP's opinion of the way Ardcore did business.
However, Google shows it as one of their products, seems to be a one-off custom build and even if the frame is a full build instead of a weld-on it's front end looks really similar to that of a stock XS650's
But yeah, with them guys I'd want to have the finished product in the back of my truck and it's papers in my name before I parted with my money.
Yes, it's a new frame, not a hardtail weld-on thing. I guess I can kind of figure out what angle they used based on the forks and front wheel size. Ardcores sales email address no longer works, most of the links on there site don't work also, so I'm guessing they are done..to bad..
DrewMartin
Old fashioned new guy
Just a new website.... http://ardcorespeedandfab.com/
Photobucket is down right now otherwise I'd post a picture where I have derived (was super bored) the rake angle. It's right at about 30 degrees. In addition to this, while looking much closer at the frame I came across some new concerns. On the yellow "wizard sleeze" demo bike he built there's a weld in the middle of one of the frame tubes right behind the kick stand. From a structural standpoint this concerns me and would be a deal breaker for me if I were considering one of these.
Photobucket is down right now otherwise I'd post a picture where I have derived (was super bored) the rake angle. It's right at about 30 degrees. In addition to this, while looking much closer at the frame I came across some new concerns. On the yellow "wizard sleeze" demo bike he built there's a weld in the middle of one of the frame tubes right behind the kick stand. From a structural standpoint this concerns me and would be a deal breaker for me if I were considering one of these.
DrewMartin
Old fashioned new guy
Boom, dumped this in my CAD program to reference the rake angle compared to the lower frame tube. From what I can tell the bike has no forward rake so the lower tube should be pretty close to parallel with the ground.
Not perfect, but more than close enough.
*edit*
Redid the drawings, it's much closer to 34*
Not perfect, but more than close enough.
*edit*
Redid the drawings, it's much closer to 34*
DrewMartin
Old fashioned new guy
3rd time's the charm. Looking in other photos the bike does have forward rake.
Last edited:
1968GTdart
XS650 New Member
Hello, I too am very interested in the frame specs of Ard's bobber frame I have a few more pictures if it may help any more. I know its not the same bike, but it looked like a lot of their bikes had that same frame. I also have two shots of the frame. I really like the stance. I hear they are completely out of business now, I would have loved to get one of their frames.
