My Chinese Carbon : Updates

petemadoc

Finally built up and finished with decals.



Frame & Fork - bought through carbonzone off ebay, cost £400 with the paint job, as far as I know this is the same frame as the De Rosa R838 and the Ribble stealth and the Pedalforce RS3, frame weighed 1100 grams and uncut fork 400 grams

Shimano 105 groupset with the exception of the chainset which is Sram force as the BB is a BB30, this upgrade cost me just over £100 after selling the 105 chainset . . . . was it worth it? Well my ankles never clip the crank arm

seatpost - FSA carbon

Stem - Deda Zero

Saddle - my old Selle Italia G2, not sure what to replace this old tatty thing with, tried an Arione but not for me. Might give the Selle Italia SLR a go

Wheels - Aksiums

Tyres - Veloflex open corsa

Pedals - Speedplay Zero

Tape- Fizik microtex

After a few rides the bike feels super stiff and pretty aggressive. Not given it a longer ride yet but hop to this week sometime. I'm still riding with a couple of spacers under the stem and one above, I hope to loose the spacers and cut the steerer soon but want to make sure I'm happy with it first. I've swapped the saddle and tyres over a couple of times and come to the conclusion that the frame has much less to do with comfort than tyres, saddle and tyre pressures. My other bike is a alloy cyclocross bike and the most noticeable differences are much quicker acceleration and quicker up the hills.

Anyone thinking of using carbonzone, I'd highly recommend them, great service and bike was shipped with a tracking number in just over 7 days, considering the custom paint job I'd say that's good going. Things to note, you do not get downtube barrel adjusters or bottle cage bolts with these frames. The Neco headset and the BB30 bearings were so easy to fit and I've never fitted a headset before so really it must be fecking easy. Cutting a carbon steerer just needs a decent hacksaw and some bottle.

petemadoc

Oh

and I really want a headtube badge but no idea what to use or where to get it

gwillis

The bike is something to be very proud of. Love the look and the build looks spot on. Who did the decals for you and are they lacquered over?

willy b

Looks brilliant! Paint job looks spot on

TMR

Very nice paint job - love it!

petemadoc

gwillis wrote:

The bike is something to be very proud of. Love the look and the build looks spot on. Who did the decals for you and are they lacquered over?

Thanks for the comments

Carbonzone will do the decals under the clearcoat for you but I wanted to put them on after in case I decided to sell the frame one day. I got the decals from these guys

http://www.spincollective.co.uk/acatalog/index.html

Good quality vinyl and good service

mroli

Now, if I was to buy a chinese frame - that is where I'd go. Looks great, is totally unique and has a bit of "you" in it too! Good job mate.

Mind you - for a bit more bling - howabout 50mm carbon clinchers from Carbonzone: :twisted: ! Nothing against the Aksiums - they are good "do it all" wheels - but just think they'd look the business!

TommyEss

PeteMadoc wrote:

Cutting a carbon steerer just needs a decent hacksaw and some bottle.

Looking good - just a few words of caution about cutting carbon fibre though - you can buy special blades dedicated to cutting carbon fibre (not sure whether they're essential or just recommended), but you WILL need a decent facemask - the microscopic dust fibres generated when you're sawing are carcinogenic, so best keep them out of your lungs!

mididoctors

gwillis wrote:

The bike is something to be very proud of. Love the look and the build looks spot on. Who did the decals for you and are they lacquered over?

+1

yeah interested in the answer too

the reynolds like C14 decal made me laugh

dreamlx10

loose

!!!!!!!!!!

LOSE

petemadoc

dreamlx10 wrote:

loose

!!!!!!!!!!

LOSE

Thanks for pointing that out

I do plan on getting some 50mm carbon clinchers . . . . . or some nice lightweight wheels, can't decide and can't afford at the moment so they'll have to wait.

As previously mentioned Carbonzone will put decals on for you underneath the clearcoat finish but I opted to have some vinyl stickers printed by spincollective.co.uk. The stickers seem pretty good quality and I can always change them if selling or whatever.

carl_p

Very nice. Liking the colour scheme. Does Carbonzone offer a full range of colours? Actually prefer a bit of colour to the naked carbon versions.

petemadoc

I really don't like the the bottle cages I bought.

What do you guys think would go better, some of the normal elite race cages or something more retro like this



Carp_P Yeah I think they can do all colours, I just sent them a pic of what I wanted and they did it.

andy46

I'd go retro style like the one in your picture.

garnett

I've kept meaning to say, with all the chinarellos I've been put off these chinese carbon frames, but your bike and one other I can't find again are the reason I keep coming back to the idea. I love your bike. Fantastic colour design.

coman1985

sounds a little silly but i heard about carbzone on ebay there from china is there carbon any good or reliable im just weary of things off ebay and i wanted to get frame and forks from there and was just looking..

As you have purchased some wondered your opinion on quality??

petemadoc

Hi Coman

I've been really impressed with the quality of my frame and the service from carbonzone.

However some people buying from Chinese sellers have had annoying problems such as internal cable routing friction, cable guide issues, messed up bottle cage threads. Such issues are rare but they do happen and you are expected to return the frame at your own cost which isn't great. Just worth considering.

What I can tell you about mine is that the quality seems good, it's very very stiff and I'm very pleased with it. Longevity? Well I'll tell you in a few years time.

brettjmcc

Pete,
Have a Look for Cannondale GT40 waterbottle cages, very simple design. Think it may go well with your bike; http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=15172

Brett

PS Love the rear stay vinyl

amaferanga

brettjmcc wrote:

Pete,
Have a Look for Cannondale GT40 waterbottle cages, very simple design. Think it may go well with your bike; http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=15172

Brett

PS Love the rear stay vinyl

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petemadoc

Thanks for the cage suggestions. I've stuck some standard Elite race cages on for now but I'm not happy with the way they look really. I did buy the Elite ciussi inox which are really traditional looking but I think they're better suited to steel or titanium tube type frames so I sent them back. I quite like the look of those Cannondale ones but they seem to be an old model now.

Who'd have thought bottle cages could be such a worry

brettjmcc

amaferanga wrote:

brettjmcc wrote:

Pete,
Have a Look for Cannondale GT40 waterbottle cages, very simple design. Think it may go well with your bike; http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=15172

Brett

PS Love the rear stay vinyl

ITEM DISCONTINUED

You can find them, just CRC don't do them any more. I posted the link to show what they looked like... jeez, sometimes you are tough audience.

Found them here in UK: http://www.cycleworld.co.uk/product/147 ... ottle_Cage

or here in the US: http://www.cannondaleexperts.com/Cannon ... _p_34.html

I've used the US people quite a few times for my Cannondale parts and the postage is v reasonable.

jdmotion

So will anyone think twice now before buying the De Rosa R838? It's available for about £1650 with a Veloce groupset and Fulcrum Racing 7s. Can you reveal the total you paid? They both look good, in different ways.

Chris87

If you can find somebody with an industrial laser cutter you can get a head badge made, I had some done for a design project and they turned out quite well, quite pricey though....

petemadoc

jdmotion wrote:

So will anyone think twice now before buying the De Rosa R838? It's available for about £1650 with a Veloce groupset and Fulcrum Racing 7s. Can you reveal the total you paid? They both look good, in different ways.

Under 1100 quid including the price of the wheels which I already owned. You could build it for 160 ish less if it wasn't for the custom paint and the BB30 chainset. I compromised on the Groupset a little using shimano 5600 which you could say is a little dated now.

Chris, I don't know anyone with a laser cutter

petemadoc

Updates:

Wheels: Mavic kKsyrium Elites
Shifters, front & rear mech - Dura ace 7900
Deda Ditrissmo inline seat post
Steerer cut down and a headset replaced with a Deda one



Been riding this for a year now and it feels fantastic, weight is down to a smidge over 7Kg. Change of wheels made a big difference.

Yes I know the pic is crap, and yes I know it shouldn't have clip on TT bars but I was doing a TT the other night. . . so there.

Thing that I feel might be letting it down, the brakes are still 105, do I care about this, I'm not sure. White hoods, I really don't like them! I've bought some black ones but I didn't realise that you have to take all the cables out and take the shifters off to change them *sigh*

chimpanzee

I remember seeing this a while back. I have to say it's looking excellent with the addons.

(re: hoods. Yeah it's a bugger to get the replacement hoods on/off from the front but give it a go...I've used dabs of some water based lube on the tricky spots. Makes life a little less sweary and leaves no residue.)

mog812

if you still haven't decided on bottle cages yet, how about these things...
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... e-12-46168

sven_jto

I'm interested in the same upgrades to shifters and mechs as you. I am wondering how is braking performance with DA 7900 shifters with shimano 105 5600 brakes? I've heard cable pull ratios are different and these shifters require new DA brakes too.

petemadoc

mog812 wrote:

if you still haven't decided on bottle cages yet, how about these things...
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... e-12-46168

Err ok then, are they real or an April fool?

petemadoc

sven_jto wrote:

I'm interested in the same upgrades to shifters and mechs as you. I am wondering how is braking performance with DA 7900 shifters with shimano 105 5600 brakes? I've heard cable pull ratios are different and these shifters require new DA brakes too.

Braking is fine, the only reason I see to upgrade the brakes is weight. To be honest upgrading the groupset has little benefit. My old 5600 105 is as slick as anything, money is most likely better spent on wheels but if you've got the cash then why not I suppose. The only reason I did was because the shifter broke on my winter bike so through some strange logic and an irresistible deal on the DA this bike got the upgrade. Switching from Mavic Aksiums so Ksyrium Elites did make a noticeable improvement to the ride.

mog812

PeteMadoc wrote:

mog812 wrote:

if you still haven't decided on bottle cages yet, how about these things...
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... e-12-46168

Err ok then, are they real or an April fool?

lol, no, these things are for real
from other reviews I have seen, they look to be pretty good