Chinese carbon stuff.....views?

not-another-hillǃ

OK, Im bound to open a can of worms here, but hey-ho, here goes...

Im thinking of buying a set of FSA Plasma integrated bars from a Chinese supplier.........I love the look of these bars and have ridden a bike with a "real" pair fitted and they feel awesome..........BUT, I cant afford over £300 on a set of handlebars.

I can pick some up from China for about £70 delivered.

Has anyone any experience of these bars/similar bars? AmI going to be tootling away some day and the bar/stem snaps and I have an off?
Are they pretty much as good as FSA but without the R&D costs and associated price tag?

Ive read much about carbon frames and their simlilarity....and I know the ethical question of ripping off "real" manufacturers, but a bargains a bargain, right?

Any views welcome

cougie

OK so they're cheap and you think they look awesome.

But.

Not adjustable - how do you know exactly what you want ?
Very hard to return to the supplier
You don't want to break the bars or the stem - oh...
Are they any lighter than alloy ?
If your bike falls over - will you replace the whole assembly or just trust that it probably wont break ?
Are you putting out that much power that alloy bars can't cope ?
Can't fit tri or aerobars to them
Most pros dont even bother with them and they get free kit.

If you just want the bike to look nice to you - then go for it - but there's no valid reason other than that to risk them.

Raffles

amazing bargains can be had buying from china.provided you dont ride your bike like a wild animal there is no reason why a chinese carbon product shouldnt give many years of enjoyment. when the naysayers start spouting.....i stop reading.

not-another-hillǃ

Two diverse views there....thanks chaps.

I dont use tri bars, so thats not a problem.
Im careful with my bikes, so I dont think Ill damage them by dropping it
In terms of adjustability, I run a flat stem now, and I know I need 420mm bars, so thats an easy answer.
Yes, I love the look and want them because they look cool.
Im not a weight weenie, and I have old second hand carbon 3t bars currently, so probably no major difference, if any.

I guess ultimately, you pays your money you takes your chances....just wondered if anyone had any experience.

Theres a few chinese frame horror stories about, but theres also lots of praise and good comments about them too.

But those bars.....They do look lovely though

Monty Dog

There are plenty of cheap carbon parts, painted / sticker-up to look like branded products - the majority are cheap fakes with no guarantees that they are even fit for purpose. Like you wouldn't buy your partner / wife bottles of Chanel No.5 down the market for a fiver and expect genuine product - caveat emptor.

However, there are lots of companies dealing in unbranded OEM parts from sellers with a decent rep - stick with one of those and you should be OK.

ricky1980

there are plenty people singing from both sides of the story. The point is you want the integrated bar to save money while the bar can still do the job. so why not the chinese carb.

it's an integrated bar so naturally there will be no adjustment but you need to order the right size stem and bar size so measure up your current setup and order away. the carbon bar will perform as well as any other bars, long as you don't over torque the bolts and use some carbon binder or whatever the paste stuff on the interface with the steerer.

I don't think you save that much weight over a conventional alloy & carb bar setup but it does look good and keep the front end cleaner. I have also been toying about the idea which I will get once i built my own chinese carb bike

pkripper

I don't like the taste of tarmac.

bigmat

I wouldn't be that worried about them failing on you - most of the carbon stuff is made in the Far East so chances are they know what they are doing. Its a handlebar at the end of the day - not a complex feat of engineering. Re durability of carbon bars v alloy, I had a smash in a race earlier this year and my carbon bars snapped clean off at the point of the right shifter. Proper fooked. Expensive repair job had I replaced with carbon, but I went for cheap alloy. I had another crash on my commuter a few months later (dozy ped stepped out in front of me) and guess what, my alloy bars - were also fooked; not snapped, but bent beyond repair. I guess they were cheaper to replace at least.

cougie

That's the thing with handlebars - they're pretty much consumables. In any kind of crash your bars always take a knock - so I cant see the point in spending megabucks on them.

petemadoc

I've been riding and racing on a Chinese carbon frame for 18 months now. Very pleased with it and have no plans to replace. The groupset, wheels and everything else has been upgraded but the frame remains.... no complaints

However

I think there are probably some lower quality dealers about and it's hard to differentiate between the good and the bad sometimes. The Pinarello knock offs seem a bit suss, but then again that's just what they do in China.

There are tonnes of carbon rims and frames coming straight from China/Taiwan to UK retailers so I don't see much difference really. Easier to deal with a warranty claim but you pay a bit more.

I've seem horror carbon crack pictures from all sorts of high end brands. Personally I wouldn't ride carbon bars but they do look cool.

http://www.bustedcarbon.com/

Mercury-10

check this out, I just posted this up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc9jKhik ... e=youtu.be

rolf_f

Anyone see the prog this week on fake goods? Showed a Chinese back street workshop making fuse boxes. Only there wasn't actually any circuitry in them so they had a tendency to catch fire rather than trip the circuit. But on the outside they looked perfectly convincing.

I'm sure there are great unbranded frames coming in from the Far East but there is no reason at all why there shouldn't also be lethal ones. Why would anyone assume that by definition, all of them will be good? And if not all of them are good, how do you make sure that the one you buy is one of the good ones?