Chinese bike experiences.

Looking for any feedback, especially from long term owners of imported Chinese frame and forks. Can be road, mtb, cross. Looking for genuine feedback rather than the normal rebukes. Pics would be nice too.

I’ve had a FM-028 road frame for a couple years built up as a winter/audax bike. Done 8000+ miles on it and it’s been great. Even did LEJOG on it with a carradice on the back.

My latest build of it has gone electric 🙂

You need less bikes, not more YoK! ;-)))

18 months on mine, no issues whatsoever. Build was easy, and Carbonal (who I dealt with), were very good.

got myself a flyxii 602 from aliexpress to replace my relatively heavy tcx2. i have just finished a season of cx racing on it and apart from a mech snappage due to deep sloppy mud a couple of weeks ago, the bike has been flawless all season. will continue to ride it on trails until next season and i’m also building a 2nd up as a spare too!!

(forgive the state of my garage but its my only pic!)

Here’s my 29er from eBay
Great bike had two years of use before replacing it recently with a Chinese eBay full suss carbon 29er because I fancied some bounce. The hardtail stood up to all sorts of abuse. I’d buy another.

I had a FM066 SL from Hongfu bikes. Good customer service and very pleased when it arrived.

Now sold though cos I felt it was a touch too small (I couldn’t decide between a 54 and a 56) and I should have gone for the larger size.

I would have another without a doubt.

Nice rig v12jat… Close to pushing button on a Chinese cx frame.. Was looking at the 602 like yours but they don’t do a ud/matt version 🙁

Hard to tell from pic is yours 3k/matt ? Is yours bb30 ?

I’m now looking at F014 which looks mint and ud/matt version but bit more money ..

Cheers

Col

cheers col, my 602s are matt 3k weave, im sure i saw on a forum somewhere a gloss ud finish one that someone had received as a warranty replacement so it may be worth asking them if they can do it in a ud finish?!

Here mine from Flyxii. Less than £300 delivered from the far east and without a shadow of doubt the best “feeling” road bike I have ever had. Smooth, responsive and quick handling, which may have something to do with the straight fork and the fact it is my first carbon bike. I have crashed it once and ridden it down small staircase and nothing has exploded or fallen in half. I was able to order it with an English (proper) BB thread and a 27.2 seatpost which was the deciding factor as it is compatible with my toolbox and spares bin.

Great stuff folks, all very good looking bikes too. Keep em coming.

NB I’m thinking of swapping my PlanetX SL for something new. One in one out…ish. Maybe a mtb later in the year.

Thanks for info v12jat 🙂 Sorry for hijacking your thread YoKaiser 🙁

Will post up soon when I decide !!! 🙂

I’ve got a road bike. Great so far, would happily buy another.

Do they do any hard tails that can run ss..???

Mattbike

Chinese eBay full suss carbon 29er

Have you got a photo of it?

lots of chat on my blog http://chris-noble-mtb.blogspot.co.uk

my first chinese bike from carbonal is coming up to 2000miles, now my winter trainer, light and stiff enough. raced last season on a hongfu fm056 great quality but always a touch too long in the top tube, now my spare race bike. recently sold my road bike due to having too many bikes!

Do they do any hard tails that can run ss..???

There are a few ecentric BB30 addapters which give enough adjustment when combined with a half link.

P1 no probs 🙂

Chris, looks like you might have loads of clearance on the Carbonal. What tyres/rims do you have in there?

the carbonal is ok clearance with RaRa 2.25″ but the hong fu is much better!

Ah, found the HongFu, very nice! Road bike too.

Had a 26″ hardtail, was good. TT was very short, otherwise fine. Rode it, sold it to a friend who rode it, then had a huge crash and broke it (and himself).

Would definitely have another one.

I bought a Java (Chinese built italian pseudo brand) 2 months ago, £330 got me alu frame, sealed cartridge bearings all round, hollow tech bb,carbon post and bars, heavy wheels and terrible forks(but its just for holidays) defo worth a look.You will save £200 over similar spec branded bike ,ive done 700 miles so far and its a decent ride.

Chinese Ebay 29er FS before I built it up

Been looking at the full Suss frames but there seems to be no info on travel ?

This thread should help

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/chinese-carbon-road-bikes-with-discs-like-wot-clubber-has-got

Here’s mine, plenty of pics!

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/newbie-carbon-china-bike-build-26er

So far I’m very impressed. Good service from Hongfu. I wouldn’t hesitate in ordering another one! Time will tell………..

My FM 066 arrived today after a month in Spanish customs while we argued over what it did or didn’t cost (waste of time that was) . Haven’t ridden it yet as it’s waiting on a chain and a couple of cables, but it looks nice quality and was easy to build up, no worries with non fitting headsets or cable routing etc.
Comes in at a few grams under 6kg without the chain so I’ll have to fit some heavier wheels or I’ll lose it in this wind…

^^^^^^

A month in customs, I think my frame was only in customs for 1 day! Did you get charged import tax?

To be fair it was my own fault. Tried to blag it as a ‘commercial sample’ (Hong Fu had marked it as such on the shipping note) and Customs were having none of it. It went to and fro for about a month, since they take a few days to answer any email and don’t bother to answer the phone. In the end they threatened to send it back to China so I stumped up VAT on the full amount (21% in Spain) plus charges, nearly 170€ in the end.
Annoyingly this made it not much cheaper than a CAAD10 which is what I was originally going to buy. Lesson learnt…

I reckon they’re getting pretty wise to people trying to blag/avoid import duties now. I’d strongly suggest just accepting the value you’re going to pay and getting it rated correctly to avoid hassle.

@damitamit – gone electric? do tell……………

Royalmail charged me import duty on my frame as well. A whole £30 including the handling fee. Pretty happy with that.

back2basics – Member

@damitamit – gone electric? do tell……………

Di2 presumably.

For those with the FR601/602 build (cross).. I’m trying to track down the Top tube measurement (actual/virtual).. Normally you see 2 measurements on a lot of geometry charts.

Was looking at the 55

if its a cross frame itll be a conventional TT, so the two will be the same wont they?

Just a bit weird how they’ve listed it

The top tube is an inch more than the seat tube?!

whereas the ICAN (the other chinese carbon ebay seller) has the 2:

I’ve took the plunge 🙂

Have one of these on way should get it this week …

http://www.speedercycling.com/Carbon-Bicycle-Disc-Cyclocross-Frame-FF-R014-_p32.html

giving a FR-322 a test earlier today