Hello World
I'm looking for views/experiences with Chinese carbon, the black stuff acquired from eBay or Amazon for it's inexpensive qualities.
This would be for my commuter/gravel grinder, an aged Planet X Uncle John running cantis. Nothing on this bike is brand new, apart from chain and cassette and has been built out of spares (but it's my favourite bike to ride despite owning a kick ass road bike and a full sus 29er). I'd be reluctant to spend money on a fork costing significantly more then the rest of the bike or together!
UJ has disc mounts on the frame, but I'd need a new fork to go to discs. Otherwise I have the calipers and a disc/rim wheelset.
I note remarks about valuing teeth, face and other bodily parts but it can't all be terrible...can it?
Ran and still use various Chinese carbon parts from seatposts-handlebars-wheels and forks and all been fine. Just get tooseek or other known branded Chinese parts the quality is really good.
No issues here. The rigid forks on my bikepacking hardtail are unbranded carbon off ebay. Can't say it bothers me at all.
I'd go to a 'known' brand for forks (or handlebars) rather than a random punt on eBay, but there's no real reason for that frankly. I've had a random frame and still have a pair of wheels from an eBay seller chosen totally at random, and both were/are fine.
The Deng Fu road frame I have as my 'nice' bike is the best road bike I've had!
I haD an unbranded carbon bar on my Cannondale that I run as a rigid XC style rambler. No problem for nearly 4 years. I loan it to someone who had a bike out of action and he snapped the bar second ride.
Good Chinese carbon is reflected in user reviews... personally after two sets of carbon wheels (full wheels, not just rims), a carbon fork and a carbon frame, I would be happy to recommend ICAN for the product and customer service.
Can anyone in the know list recommended/ reliable Chinese suppliers?
The mtbr thread used to have the most up to date, frame and manufacturer info.
I bought a pair of carbon forks off a Chinese ebay seller, which looked the part but were quite frankly terrifying - flexed like mad and produced an appalling speed wobble. After a bit of to and fro, they agreed a full credit and I gave them to a pal who does carbon repairs to cut up and look at. Would definitely recommend going for someone with a good reputation! Avoided the issue by just buying a carbon frame and fork off Planet X in the sale...
Avoided the issue by just buying a carbon frame and fork off Planet X in the sale…
And they say irony is dead.
Chinese carbon forks on my gravel and plus bikes - both have seen some decent offroad action and have been fine...
Thanks everyone. Much appreciated. Food for thought...
I've been running a Chinese carbon road frame & fork from Dengfu (R02) for a couple of years. I've done all sorts on including plenty of long rides, road racing, Etape etc and I can't really fault it, it is stiff and comfortable and hasn't snapped in half yet ;-). I treated myself to a used Look 695 this year, which does feel nicer to ride but it's not in the whole different universe that the new price would suggest and I still use the Dengfu as well. I've also got some super cheap carbon road wheels (90/60mm on novatech hubs) that I bought as an experiment from CSC on eBay. Now, I wouldn't go bombing down an Alp, or take them on a hilly ride in the wet or winter but for dry weather riding on flattish roads they've been fine and lots of fun to dip my toe into deep section wheels. I used them for an Ironman last year without issue (only slight complaint is the 90mm rear isn't quite as laterally stiff as I'd like). I'm sure someone will be on to tell me they're about to snap or delaminate, but so far it's all good! Again, they're probably not as fast or stable as a set of Zipps or Enves, but they were about 10% of the price and still a noticeable increase in speed over my Ksyriums.
I've also had a Dengfu gravel thinger (FM059) for the last 6 years, it's been round Swiners , a number of the trails round the Surrey Hills and airborne on the odd occasions.
I've done over 10,000km on it and it just wont die!