Anyone have experiences?

I’ve properly got the bug after racing for the 1st time on sunday on a cross bike. I can see me getting hooked. With this i was thinking of building something up for next season.

I’ve seen all the threads on weight weight weenies, bikeradar and STW about the road carbon frames but not much about the carbon cyclocross frames

I’ve noticed a few on http://www.alibaba.com

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/377520052/2011_new_carbon_frame_carbon_CX.html

I’ve also seen a guy called carbonzone on ebay selling loads of mtb and road carbon frames but no cyclocross 🙁

Ideally want something with disc mounts

(yes i’m aware of the dirty disco which looks amazing but looking at options)

Just found this

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=94430

Oooohhhh… pimpy 8)

I quite like the look of those Chinese Alibaba frames!

I dislike the Dirty-disco, principally because of the disc-only setup. WTF is the point of cable operated disc brkes, anyways? I’d much prefer cantis all round on a ‘crosser. At least that way you know your braking will always be crap.

Edit:
^^^^ I think I may have just let out a sex-wee 😯

This, however, is my ultimate Cyclo-cross lust object:

Well i emailed carbonzone (some ppl on weightweenies and other sites suggest this is dengfu). THey have no carbon cyclocross frames 🙁

Might have to a look at an uncle john

Have a look at the CArbon Guercciotti CX frames on Plannet X..

I’ve got one.- Love it.

Stiffasfook ™ -If you rode over a crisp, you could tell what flavour it was, but bloody awesome IMHO…

I can recommend one of these:

Developed together with our club and Allebike, and handmade in Italy.

Interesting, and they have an online shop:
http://www.e-hongfu-bikes.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=247

This guy appears to have a good experience with Hongfu:
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/who-on-cc-has-bought-a-cheap-chinese-carbon-frame.72080/

FM028, 60CM, None ISP, SRAM Rival/Force, My Carbon Fibre Has Taken Its Maiden Voyage

The Guercciotti seems to be ‘the’ cyclocross bike for racing

just dredging this up again. Noticed some sellers on ebay selling a carbon cyclocross frame on ebay (only ever seen the chinese carbon road frames on ebay before)

Looks pretty good. Just wondered what it is similar looking to?

Just noticed you can run disc or cantis 🙂

I’d imagine they’d be fine.

The guys from Ritte cycles make no bones about using cheap China frames and having them painted up to appeal to the ‘Looks come first’ types. Though they are road.
Aren’t Planet X just el cheapo China frames anyway?

Aren’t Planet X just el cheapo China frames anyway?

I’ll think you find they all are, even the high end road bikes from trek/spesh/Pin etc etc.

The difference is having someone to shout at if it breaks. 😆

As you say though they are probably fine, if I wasn’t such a fat biffa I’d fancy one of the 29er frames.

I’ll think you find they all are, even the high end road bikes from trek/spesh/Pin etc etc

Not all. I do like to know what my carbon frames are made of, and where they have been made. Like a Giant Toray T800 from the Giant factory. Unlike folks like Cube

GTC Monocoque Advanced Twin Mold Technology

what’s that FFS string and varnish?

Aren’t Planet X just el cheapo China frames anyway?
I’ll think you find they all are, even the high end road bikes from trek/spesh/Pin etc etc.

The difference is having someone to shout at if it breaks.

And someone who occasionally does a bit of QC.

That’s weird.. He’s pulled the lot of them 😕

Giant Toray T800 from the Giant factory

We buy lots of frames from the factory that makes lots of frames for Giant.

How much were they before they got pulled? I hope to be in the market prior to the winter season and like the look of these.

£350 or there abouts

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FR-501-New-Full-Carbon-3K-Glossy-Bike-Bicycle-Cyclocross-Frame-Fork-540mm-/350569996821?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item519f99a215#ht_2033wt_1094

WTF is the point of cable operated disc brkes, anyways?

lots if you like brakes that work…

Might have to a look at an uncle john

I’ve just had my new Uncle John frame delivered and very nice it is too. Plus it was a good price. Just need to find a disc compatible fork for it as the Planet X fork only takes canti’s.

And someone who occasionally does a bit of QC.

The finish is actually a lot better than I was expecting for such a cheap frame although I have read that I can expect the gorgeous metallic blue paint to chip easily.

I bought a lovely carbon road frame before xmas direct from China.

Now I see you can get a carbon road frame from Ribble for a very similar price. I would have bought from Ribble (somewhere to take it back!) if they were as cheap back then. The price you get direct from china for one frame must be double the price of buying a container of 50, hence why Ribble can do them for that price.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/Road-Bike-Frames-Ribble-Evo-Pro-Carbon-Road-Frame/RIBBFRAR930

Can’t be long until someone offers the CX frames at direct prices but with UK support.

£350 starts to sound steep when its £200 – £250 for the road/mtb frames they knock out.

Hmm Just got this from the seller

fr501? the frame has trouble , So we stop selling it ,?
we will have new model, cross frame in next month

That’s a good sign though isn’t it? Much more encouraging than if they just knocked £100 off the price and kept punting them out from a different eBay account or whatever.

It doesn’t say what kind of “trouble”. Not long after I bought my Van Nicholas-alike Ti hardtail off ebay, the buyer had to stop selling them because of pressure from VN.

My advice is, trawl through as many carbon manufacturers as possible on trade listing sites (alibaba etc). Try and find someone who is selling an alrady marketed frame as OEM, e.g Dirty Disco. Many of the ‘different’ carbon manufacturers out their are probably the same, as they sell the same products and have the similar company contacts.

Look carefully at the quality in the photos and on the description. Some of these frames look pretty crap as they are heavy, and also beacause of the factory conditions: http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/555191030/2012_new_cyclocross_frame_FM059_carbon.html. The weight is a give away, 1300g for a carbon frame is heavy, do they care about QC?

I am assuming that there are common moulds as there are lots of seamingly identical frames out their.

I am probably going to go for this one http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/524967150/2012_carbon_cyclocross_bike_frame_disc.html. As i reckon it might be the dirty disco manufacturer if not the same mould. The joints/cuts/finishing look quite tidy.

Even though that’s 1300g and you’ve written that off as heavy and poor quality?

To be honest I sincerely doubt you’ll be able to tell the quality from the photos. The odds of them being photos of their exact product are pretty slim.

Must say though, the MTB I had was better quality than I expected.

Be a bit careful with these cheap carbon frames from China. Some people say that they are all made in the same factories as many brands you see in Europe/America but do you really think factories that produce frames for well known brands need to sell unbranded frames direct to consumers?

I suspect that these small factories selling direct are those that have not been able to obtain orders from major brands for whatever reason (which could just be price but equally it could be due to quality and experience).

Good carbon factories in China have good quality control, a high standard of work and have a lot of experience in carbon engineering which is, more often than not, gained through several years of partnerships with major brands.

Cheap carbon frames are heavy because they usually use cheaper materials, have more metal bonded parts and a heavier layup to account for lower modulus materials and poorer quality workmanship.

You get what you pay for. Just sayin’ like.

So that’s based on supposition and your opinion, as opposed to the thousands of happy customers on bike forums everywhere?

No comment on the chinese cx frames, but I’ve done 4000+ miles on my chinese road frame since September and its been great. I got a FM028, as there was loads of info about them on the forums so figured it was the most ‘tried and tested’ one. No problems so far and it doesnt ride much different to my Isaac. I’ve used it for lots of sunday club runs, a couple of long audaxes and a 9day LEJOG.

Us buying direct from the manufacturer are probably paying more than the big names do for theirs…just saying like…

PaulD

Damitamit- can you tell me about your saddle bag and its mountings please

Its a carradice barley and Bagman qr sport support. In that pic there’s a pair of trainers in a dry bag strapped to the top.

So that’s based on supposition and your opinion, as opposed to the thousands of happy customers on bike forums everywhere?

No, not at all. It’s based on some fact and a bit of common sense. I’m not saying every small carbon factory that sells direct produces lower quality frames, i’m sure there are some good ones. I’m just saying that these cheap frames are not coming out of the same factories as the majority of the well known brands (although some people still seem to think this) and it is unlikely (but not impossible) that the quality is comparable. In the majority of cases the weight will certainly not be comparable and neither will the warranty support, so the buyer should be aware and do there homework.

Maybe there are thousands of happy customers on forums everywhere (I’m not convinced. Some, but not thousands) that have taken the risk with customs, delivery and quality and purchased direct from a potentially unknown Chinese factory, but compare that to hundreds of thousands of carbon frames produced each year for the big brands.

Us buying direct from the manufacturer are probably paying more than the big names do for theirs…just saying like…

I’m sure you are right but the quantity is not even close. A Chinese factory does not want to be shipping single frames across the world, even if they do make a bit more money on each one. It wants to be shipping full containers out every day/week, which is why the better factories don’t need, or want to sell direct.

What facts are you referring to stim?

Also, customs allowance for goods brought into the UK from outside the EU is currently £390 which covers most of these frames
So what chance are people taking exactly?

some facts :

some less well made carbon frames look fine externally but are full of filler to achieve that look and consequently aren’t as strong/robust as frames that look near identical but are better made.

some well known brands that people commenting negatively about chinese carbon frames are almost certainly included in that statement above… ( they certainly were 5 years ago)

basically, you can buy cheap and it’ll probably be just fine. if it’snot though warranty will probably be a pain.

fwiw I’m thinking of buying a fm059 so make your own conclusions

They do offer a warranty on those frames (my seller did anyway), ok you’d have to ship it to China, but it exists. When I contacted the seller about delivery I got a swift reply in excellent English, I’d definitely buy another one.

I’m also interested in these facts stim.

Maybe there are thousands of happy customers on forums everywhere (I’m not convinced. Some, but not thousands)

Weight Weenies organised a group buy of MTB frames which ran into the hundreds. There are threads with thousands of replies on MTBR, Bike Radar and Weight Weenies that I know of regarding the road frames. I have heard of one horror story (snapped steerer on road fork), but that’s not exactly bad considering folk would rush to post any negative press.

I’ve had a road from from e_baygoods for 3 months now and it’s been great with no issues at all, commute every day and lots of other rides. Ordered an MTB frame last week.

OK, here’s what I know.
Stating the obvious but, not all materials are equal. Good carbon is high modulus and low/stable resin content. Cheap carbon is low modulus with a higher resin content but it is also produced in such a way that the ratio of resin/carbon is hard to regulate. unstable resin content means unstable strength and weight. Factories that produce for well known brands use better quality materials and have more stringent quality control because this is specified and overseen by the brands. Smaller factories that don’t produce for well known brands use cheaper materials to maximise profits as they are not regulated by a large customer. The give away is the extra weight. The same goes for manufacturing techniques and processes and also design/engineering.

I also know that order quantities from major brands are huge compared to the numbers that are sold direct, therefore factories producing for major brands don’t need to sell direct. Its would be a waste of time. This means factories selling single frames direct are almost certainly not producing for major brands (this might not be fact in every case, only in my experience, but it makes sense no?) which in turn means they have less quality control and regulation.

I would hope that all these cheap frames pass the minimum EN standard tests but could they pass the top performance EFBe tests? I’ve not looked in detail at the websites advertising these frames but do they mention what test standards they pass, if any? Are the layups optimised for stiffness, strength and weight through testing?

I’m not saying don’t buy them, just do your homework and if you do go down this route (I wouldn’t) then buy from a place which has a good reputation amongst the forum dwellers, because that is all you have for peace of mind. I think most of you do this anyway because you’re bike geeks like me, but don’t assume a carbon frame’s a carbon frame and the quality is necessarily comparable.

Right… So there’s some very basic carbon stuff in there, and a lot of speculation and supposition.

What are your facts?

they’re back on