> Anyone built both and can do a comparison for me? The LaBent looks
> simpler to me because it uses two donor bikes for most of the parts.

I haven't built a LaBent, but in looking at the web site and photos,
it does look like the frame is pretty simple. It's not too much
different from some of the designs in the book "Atomic Zombie's
Bicycle Builder's Bonanza". For the long tubes, I'd bet you'll have
to buy them or splice a couple together. No donor bike is going to
have a tube that long. Whenever you splice you can have frame
alignment issues. Of course, whenever you build you can have that
issue, but most times you can count on whole tubes to be straight.

As far as a direct comparison between a Bentech and a LaBent, I'd say
the Bentech LWB or SWB frame is simpler to build. I come to that
conclusion by looking at the number of tube intersections needed to
be aligned and welded to complete the frame.

As tedious it is to build the jigs needed to put together a Bentech,
it does ensure that you can get a straight frame out of the process.
Yes, it can also be a headache to get the tubes bent, but the single
main tube makes a good foundation for a straight frame.

If you're interested in building from donor bikes, you may also want
to look at the EconoBent, and/or Tom Traylor's FWD swivel nose bottom
bracket design. They both are built from 2 donor bikes. I'm building
a Traylor based design now. I don't think Econobent plans are still
available, but you can figure out the design from the photos.

Using donor bike frames has pros and cons. An advantage is lower
overall cost due to the components that come along with the donor
frames. The bikes I experiment with I get for nothing, so you can't
beat the cost. On the other hand they are older bikes, usually with
heavy mild steel frames and old, sometimes useless, components.

Another con is the amount of prep required for welding and finishing
frames prepared from donor bike tubes. You have to remove the paint
several inches back from the weld joint, which takes some effort to
do and a bit of skill to avoid damaging the tube if you use power
tools. Chemical strippers also do the job, but then there's another
step that produces some unpleasant fumes and waste products. After a
bit of this you may wish that you were dealing with new bare metal.

If you want to powder coat the resulting frame, you'll either have to
make sure that the powder coat media can adhere to the old paint (not
all can), or have it all stripped off beforehand. No matter what
finish you decide on, you'll want a nice smooth tube so you'll be
doing some sanding to feather that old paint.

In the end, it's up to you. You're going to expend a great deal of
effort in building a frame. If you're going to go through all of that
trouble, make sure you're going to be excited about the end result.
For example, if someone told me they would give me all of the parts
to build a bike but I could only choose between a Bentech or an HP
Velotechnik Street Machine clone, I'd choose the Street Machine, even
though it is more complex. Knowing I'd be riding something that looks
so great would motivate me when the build got difficult.

Good Luck!

Jim