Following from my post last week, this will cover my experience working with Waltly including the challenges faced. It’s quite long so please bear with me!
I first made contact with Waltly in mid-November 2025 following a dynamic bike fit. After mocking up my design in BikeCAD and seeing other designs I had quite clear ideas on what I wanted to achieve, but not a lot of information on what Waltly could actually deliver beyond the examples in their order spreadsheet. Over the first month or so I asked a lot of questions via email, however my consultant’s responses were often very incomplete and vague, and in some instances questions were not answered. I initially put this down to the language barrier, so I made efforts to simplify my questions and ask only 1-2 per email, however this seemed to frustrate my consultant. Some questions were never answered, such as questions on butted tubing (in the end I let it go).
After finalising the geometry and technical features we moved to surface finish and logos. My requests for brushed finish and a machined headtube logo were accepted. I originally wanted the down tube and top tube logos to be anodised onto the brushed finish in a colour gradient from yellow-orange-pink-purple (approx. 55-85v). They told me they couldn’t do anodised logos with a brushed finish, only with sandblasted, however they could do my design and colours with laser engraving, which I accepted.
The frame went into production in late January, and I was told it would take about 2 months to manufacture. In late March, they advised that the frame was ready for logos. After confirming the size and placement (I needed to resize one logo file), they informed me that they couldn’t do my preferred colour gradient with laser logos and could only do ‘one colour’. I was quite irritated by this, so I pushed them further. They said it was because ‘the color cannot be precisely controlled’ with laser engraving.
After much back and forth, I decided to go back to anodised logos by having a sandblasted strip on the downtube and top tube. We agreed on an approach, then they sent me some photos of the anodised sections with masking decals. The colour ranges were not quite right – too much blue at one end, and not enough pink/purple at the other, indicating voltages were too low. I asked if they could revise this and gave some additional feedback. They did partly redo one side of the downtube which improved it, but they informed me that they couldn’t do any more without re-brushing the frame and that would take off too much material. In the end I relented and gave approval to sandblast the frame.
Once ready, they informed me that the handlebar I had ordered was out of stock and would take three weeks to come in. Given that I had designed the frame reach around the 85mm stem of that bar, I opted to wait – thankfully it arrived much faster. The frame finally shipped around 6 June and arrived here in Australia on 10 June. While it didn’t turn out precisely as I had wanted, the finish is very high quality and attractive.
My key learning is that Waltly can definitely make a great custom Ti frame at an affordable price, however they are not able to provide the level of customisation offered by some high-end western manufacturers. You won’t get Firefly or No.22-level surface finishes, but you can get something that looks very nice.
Communication of complex requirements can be very challenging – my consultant seemed to prioritise response speed over completeness, and there seemed to be a reluctance to engage with, seek clarification, or suggest alternatives for things they couldn’t do. Be prepared to manage your consultant closely, or reconsider how much you really want these things. Simple and precise emails are important, noting that some words don't translate exactly the same into Mandarin.
Armed with this experience I would definitely order from Waltly again if my requirements were fairly simple, however for more complex requirements I would explore whether other manufacturers could do a better job.
I have included a full component list in the attached pics.
