Leaving aside any arguments about the overall quality of Chinese components that have been covered on [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cheap-chinese-carbon-bars-and-titanium-skewers-any-good ]the other thread[/url], let's hear you [b]specific[/b] experiences of Chinese carbon or titanium wheels, handlebars, seat posts etc.
Which are the trusted brands with a good reputation, either direct sellers or via ebay?
Light Bicycle and Far Sports are the obvious ones for wheels, but IIRC they only do one piece bar/stem for road bikes, which I'm just not a fan of!
Flyxii are reputable for frames particularly, I'm sure they do drop bars, not sure about MTB ones though.
Miracle or Ican (same company I think) are the people I've used and had good experiences with.
http://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-miracle-bikes.html
titanium wheels
Is that a thing?
Deng Fu and Hong Fu (does 'Fu' mean bike?) are also well regarded though I don't have personal experience with them.
"fu" means fortune or luck. Take from that what you will 😉
I'm marking this thread for future use...
Is it that simple? FM336 for example..
[url= http://www.hongfu-bikes.com/html_products/2015-full-carbon-All-mountain-Frame-309.html ]Hong Fu[/url]
[url= http://giantnewbicycle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/650b-all-mountain-mtb-frame-gn-fm336.html ]Giant New Bicycle[/url]
Who is the manufacturer? Who do I buy from?
Seconded for Hong Fu and Deng Fu... Most road bike forums will have members with these bikes and will heartily recommend them.
Will probably do this next summer, frame from one of the above, put my 3T fork on it, move my Superstar wheels across and buy Shimano's new 11-speed 105 groupset...I reckon that'll be a nice road bike for not much money.
Conan, I believe Hong Fu manufacture as well as sell.
Couldn't believe how cheap the 5800 105 groupset was on CRC, sorely tempted myself!
Sorely tempted by one of the ICAN's on ebay, for a while they were offering their branded frames for under £300 shipped! The plain frames were more, so maybe they're trying to build the brand?
Never known whether Exotic are a brander or a manufacturer or a bit of both, I've been told that they make the carbon parts inhouse then others rebrand, but really don't know that for a fact (the finish etc is very consistent so it's probably not from a hundred sources like some rebranders). So anyway- Exotic, maybe
Hylix are similiar but I've not been as impressed, Trailrat broke his forks (mine are fine but weigh so little they worry me a bit) and I broke my seatpost when the head unbonded from the carbon tube and cracked the post (disclaimer- it weighed ****-all and did last a fair while so it's not that disappointing)
Blimey I would go for one of those carbon all mountain frames. Group buy?
Happy with light bicycle. Is tempting me further into the world of direct buying from china
dbcooper - Member
Blimey I would go for one of those carbon all mountain frames. Group buy?
I intend to get one next year, with a CCDB Air Inline...
Frame is £500 I think, £300 for the shock could make a great price carbon 650b ride
sounds good. Need more details, travel? 142?
Don't want to clog this thread, I posted about it a while ago so you can check out some thoughts of mine there...
But... 142x12. 150mm travel. Weight around 2700g.
ok found it.
[i]"fu" means fortune or luck. Take from that what you will[/i]
It can mean a lot more things than that...
The word for bike is zi-xing-che ???
My flyxii frame has lasted 12 months with no issues
Some tasty looking fat framesets coming through now aswell
[url= http://giantnewbicycle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/full-carbon-suspension-mtb-frame-gn.html ]2400g DH frame [/url] 😯
Longteng bikes were a pleasure to deal with. Road disc frameset has not caught fire yet.
I am on the lookout for some carbon road clincher rims - surprisingly expensive, which makes the Planet X ones look more tempting, as they're just down the road. Anyone know why rims don't seem to have the same cost savings as the frames?
Rims are generally c$150 or so, with wheelsets for $500, seems on par with frames...?
Prob because so many are happy to buy them direct, and if you compare them to Enve for example they do have the same saving. A carbon frame direct from china isnt much less than what PX are doing them for for obvious reasons
Out of interest how did you chaps deal with the payment? PayPal? Western Union? Im in the process of buying some carbon wheels from I can and they aren't keen to go through Paypal (even though their website says they will accept PayPal) Im not so keen to pay with Western Union...
My one with Miracle/Ican was paid through Aliexpress by credit card. They did offer paypal as an option too IIRC.
I paid PayPal for my frame and rims.
Out of interest how did you chaps deal with the payment? PayPal? Western Union? Im in the process of buying some carbon wheels from I can and they aren't keen to go through Paypal (even though their website says they will accept PayPal) Im not so keen to pay with Western Union.
CC through aliexpress, they only release funds once you inspect parcel & accept it
Paypal for various bits over the years. Never had issue with any of it.
A shout for Flyxii here. 6000 miles. Raced and crashed without issue.
Pedalforce for carbon frames - though mainly roadie ones, and as they're nominally a US company there's probably an extra layer which makes them cost a bit more than some of the proper direct Chinese companies.
Used Carbonal loads of times with no issues. Two frames still going strong, one still being used by a 16st ex international prop.
Used Carbonzone with no issues. Wheels have been reliable, well built with great finish.
I've had plenty of boutique brands in my time and the finish of the Chinese stuff has often been better. The last off the shelf buy was an On One Dirty Disco that was out of alignment to the point where the rear tyre rubbed - got told to use a smaller tyre and not the one they supplied and specced #retarded
Massive thread on MTBR about Chinese frames. You'll get most questions answered there.
Putting build quality to one side for the moment...
...at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, presumably you need a pretty good idea of the geometry you're after / understanding of geo if you're going down this route. I have some idea of what geometry means, but would I trust myself to pick at distance, a frame I'd like based purely on geo???
The last bike I bought was based on test rides, on a well received / reviewed models. I didn't really look too hard or compare the geo figures.
Just checking that I'm not missing something...
Couldn't believe how cheap the 5800 105 groupset was on CRC, sorely tempted myself!
cheaper than CRC with their COMP code? £286.19.
Eh? It was that offer I was referring to!
njee, Brain fart of highest order- I read wiggle in another window at same time as reading your post. I was planning to bookmark this thread anyway...
Chum- no different to buying mail order, surely? I've never test ridden a bike but I have an idea what I want size/geo wise (and different manufacturers size differently so you need to have some idea about the geo that suits you). Getting my Lapierre road bike unseen from CRC in Ireland (or my Orange Alpine from probikeshop in France) no different to getting a bike/frame from China. They both fit and are keepers.