Who on BR has bought a 'cheap' Chinese carbon frame?

boondog

fm015 and fm028 riders, what size frames have you bought ? I'm 5 11 and wondering what frame size to go for ?

kilo

NapoleonD wrote:

My wheels have been in customs since the 18th. Getting a bit worried about getting stung

That does seem quite a long time I ordered a front 50mm carbon tub wheel from Carbonzone and from order to delivery in uk took 5 days, it went through customs in hours. First impression light, true and looks nice. Cost about £150 all in, I couldn't justify spanking out two or three times as much for a second front tt wheel

blakef111

My fm015 is currently in a parcelforce van en route to me, it has been custom painted so I'll post up a pic when i see it.

GoingCarbon

blakef111 wrote:

My fm015 is currently in a parcelforce van en route to me, it has been custom painted so I'll post up a pic when i see it.

Blake, I'm almost as excited as you are!

I can't wait to see the frame as Mina has sent me a mocked up image of my frame. She's just awaiting me placing my order.

Anonymous

Wheels have been released from customs, I think there may be a hefty bill with them...

petemadoc

NapoleonD wrote:

Wheels have been released from customs, I think there may be a hefty bill with them...

I might me wrong but don't you normally have to pay the bill to get them released.

Anonymous

PeteMadoc wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Wheels have been released from customs, I think there may be a hefty bill with them...

I might me wrong but don't you normally have to pay the bill to get them released.

I freaking hope so! Although when I had to pay on my Wheelbuilder disc covers FedEx sent a separate bill...

amaferanga

PeteMadoc wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Wheels have been released from customs, I think there may be a hefty bill with them...

I might me wrong but don't you normally have to pay the bill to get them released.

I think the courier normally sorts this out on your behalf so you pay the duty/VAT and an admin fee to the courier.

Anonymous

Wife has just informed me the wheels are sitting at home. We'll know in 2hrs...

Anonymous

Well, the wheels seem TOP

Weight is only 200g heavier than Zipp 808s, front 70g heavier and rear 130g heavier...

Build quality seems spot on, spokes are good, wheels true, rims look smart and the red nips and hubs look pimp.

No customs charge.

Looking forward to avvin a go!

sturmey

PHOTOS please!

gb155

NapoleonD wrote:

Well, the wheels seem TOP

Weight is only 200g heavier than Zipp 808s, front 70g heavier and rear 130g heavier...

Build quality seems spot on, spokes are good, wheels true, rims look smart and the red nips and hubs look pimp.

No customs charge.

Looking forward to avvin a go!

Pictures !!!!!

blakef111

So it arrived...

FM015 with custom paint.

Benjamin Hall

That looks very nice! What size frame is it?

blakef111

53cm, tony also included a free carbon bottlecage!

Benjamin Hall

Awesome! I've decided that im going to pull the trigger on one of these frames when the next student loan installment arrives....

Im going to book myself a fitting session with bike science bristol to figure out the exact geometry that fits me first though.

Where did you order from?

blakef111

Tony at dengfubikes.com, great communication and the finish is ace!

Anonymous

Wow! That paintjob looks ace!

kfinlay

NapoleonD wrote:

Well, the wheels seem TOP

Weight is only 200g heavier than Zipp 808s, front 70g heavier and rear 130g heavier...

Build quality seems spot on, spokes are good, wheels true, rims look smart and the red nips and hubs look pimp.

No customs charge.

Looking forward to avvin a go!

now just to find out if it can stand the (in)famous NapD QUAD POWER!?

stardude

how much extra are they for a paint job?

Benjamin Hall

about £30

slunker

What frame is this???

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Full-Carbon-3 ... 45f9524982

there are some many from carbon zone it hurts my head.......

Just looking for a light stiff frame and they seem to be the cheapest. Anyone bought from them??

gb155

I was quoted £80 for a Madone-Radioshack Paint job, Minus the Copyrighted Delcals.

daddylonglegs

I've not read all the posts, but the gist seems to be carbon frames = good, cheap carbon frames = better (apologies to anyone else who has said otherwise). The fact is, carbon fibre technology has been around for at least three decades, but was initially only available to a few specialist builders. But like most manufacturing technologies, once the techniques and the knowledge are mastered and passed on, the science developed and the tooling made available, more and more people start doing it.

We're now at a point where, once a manufacturer in a low-wage economy like China is able to buy in the tooling, they can start banging out carbon bikes to a price for themselves or for any US or European-based bike company who wants them (Most of these don't actually make anything, they just design and, crucially, market bikes made in the Far East).

That said, we are, I noticed, talking exclusively about monocoque carbon-fibre frames. These are frames made in one piece in a mould and lend themselves fairly easily to cheap mass-production. The down-side is they tend to be relatively heavy. Top of the range, hand-made carbon fibre frames on the other hand such as those produced by Look and others are a very different matter, with weights, comfort and stiffness that really do justice to the material as well as the huge price tags.

What I'm saying is, just because it's carbon fibre, doesn't mean it's any good. It might be wise if you're on a budget and are after genuinely decent performance, to look around at some currently less fashionable (and therefore less expensive) materials.

desweller

NapoleonD wrote:

Well, the wheels seem TOP

Weight is only 200g heavier than Zipp 808s, front 70g heavier and rear 130g heavier...

Build quality seems spot on, spokes are good, wheels true, rims look smart and the red nips and hubs look pimp.

No customs charge.

Looking forward to avvin a go!

I take it you went for the 80mm deep rims then? Have you had a chance to give them a spin yet?

Thinking of getting a pair of 60mm or 50mm rims and building them up!

gb155

FM028, 60CM, None ISP, SRAM Rival/Force

Anonymous

DesWeller wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

Well, the wheels seem TOP

Weight is only 200g heavier than Zipp 808s, front 70g heavier and rear 130g heavier...

Build quality seems spot on, spokes are good, wheels true, rims look smart and the red nips and hubs look pimp.

No customs charge.

Looking forward to avvin a go!

I take it you went for the 80mm deep rims then? Have you had a chance to give them a spin yet?

Thinking of getting a pair of 60mm or 50mm rims and building them up!

88mm.

Not tried it yet, need to get a valve extender...

yaya

Daddylonglegs wrote:

I've not read all the posts, but the gist seems to be carbon frames = good, cheap carbon frames = better (apologies to anyone else who has said otherwise). The fact is, carbon fibre technology has been around for at least three decades, but was initially only available to a few specialist builders. But like most manufacturing technologies, once the techniques and the knowledge are mastered and passed on, the science developed and the tooling made available, more and more people start doing it.

We're now at a point where, once a manufacturer in a low-wage economy like China is able to buy in the tooling, they can start banging out carbon bikes to a price for themselves or for any US or European-based bike company who wants them (Most of these don't actually make anything, they just design and, crucially, market bikes made in the Far East).

That said, we are, I noticed, talking exclusively about monocoque carbon-fibre frames. These are frames made in one piece in a mould and lend themselves fairly easily to cheap mass-production. The down-side is they tend to be relatively heavy. Top of the range, hand-made carbon fibre frames on the other hand such as those produced by Look and others are a very different matter, with weights, comfort and stiffness that really do justice to the material as well as the huge price tags.

What I'm saying is, just because it's carbon fibre, doesn't mean it's any good. It might be wise if you're on a budget and are after genuinely decent performance, to look around at some currently less fashionable (and therefore less expensive) materials.

I agree,

Two frames can come from the same factory, made in the same mould:

One is branded and distributed through a known US/ EU brand, goes through certain QA checks, gets some warranty put on, marked up etc.

The other one can look exactly the same: the outer 1-2 layers of CF look flash and cool with good finish. Underneath there can be lower quality CF or even cheap fibreglass. The resin used can be of a lower grade. That frame may be heavier and weaker or even dangerous to ride on

Not saying this is the case every time, but carbon fibre is an expensive raw material, as are good resins etc.

I guess time will tell and in a year or two we'll have more knowledge on how these frames perform and what real experience people have with them

Anonymous

Carbon fibre is an incredibly cheap raw material. It's the moulding and laying up that costs a lot...

kfinlay

DaddyLongLegs and Yaya, I get what your saying but how much do you think it costs to manufacture a Boardman Team Carbon frame considering the bike was available for £999?
These factories could be using spare maufacturing capacity to allow them to build and sell direct. There seems no reason why the same factory that builds for western companies can't sell just as high quality frames direct to the public at much less cost. Ribble and Planet X buy from these same companies hence the reason they can offer such good value or you have companies such as Canyon Bikes who sell complete bikes direct to the public and are better bikes and better specc'd than more established names - no bad reviews on these bikes and Tour magazine gave a Canyon SLX there best ever score for ANY bike - lucky Omega Pharma Lotto riders!
So yeah it pays to be cautious and not think all the chinese frames are top quality however there are some very good buys out there if you do a bit of homework.

Personally I looked into this and read all the info on other forums but have decided I want a Canyon (modern day classic in a similar vein to Cervelo) or maybe consider getting a true classic second hand Colnago C50 frame and build on that. Just got to keep on saving. Either way I'm not good enough to do them justice but will feel fabulous when out riding either one.