I’m after a 29er hardtail frame ideally one I could use my current qr back wheel with. Its going to be used for xc duties, nothing to gnarly. Open to suggestions so blow my mind.
But keep it on topic… 🙂

I have – few years ago now, can’t recall exactly which company it was… if it comes back to me I’ll let you know.

Wanted a carbon frame to build an SS with 100mm fork, QR rear. Not much available with sliding dropouts without getting daft, so decided to go with a press-fit eccentric BB. Go east young man, someone advised, so I took a punt.

Arrived when they said it would, with no additional customs bill. Communication was fine, they answered any questions I had. Built up lovely and is still going strong.

Went back to them to buy a CX frameset for similar purposes. That’s my current race bike, weighs 6kg with pedals.

All great so far.

i bought an ican cx frame and forks about 6 years ago. used it briefly as a gravel bike, now its my road bike. it was a wee bit roughly finished, i had to file or sand a few of the brake mounts etc, nothing major
it is a very comfortable bike especially on long trips. vey light and still love to ride it. great value about £340 for f and f at the time

Ican, Deng Fu, Fly-Xi amongst many others – they’re typically manufacturers or resellers of products made by the likes of XPA – who supply the likes of P-X, Ribble. Alternatively, just buy one from Ebay or AliExpress from a seller with good feedback. You’ll often find the same Ebay sellers on AliExpress, but cheaper prices (lower fees) and often with discount coupons.

There’s also the thread about the bike frame that snapped in the first ride. It’s a bit like Russian roulette.

There’s lots of ways to make a carbon frame and lots of ways they can go wrong.

I’d suggest when you find one you like you post it on here for stw to review.

Had a Deng-fu road frame set, had 3 years use before I moved it on. Currently got some Toseek forks on my old steel commuter, again no complaints.

I had a Hongfu FM066 which was fine, looked identical to Planet-X RT80(?) when they started selling that.

A friend has an Ican aero road frame and that’s been fine too. I think it is the ones branded up to ape the top brands that you should be wary of. I would hazard a guess that (most) Chinese factories have a reputation they want to keep too.

I’ve had a dengfu road frame for about 2yrs now. Has been fine and thy were very easy to deal with

Also some ICAN 29er mtb wheels and 2 sets of lightbicycle road wheels

They’ve all been pretty much faultless (chainstay internal cable run in the frame is/was slightly blocked; can force down compressionless gear outer but wasn’t happy to try to get a di2 wire though (and then one day back out). Was going to chase them up but couldn’t be arsed)

All the ICAN stuff I have is good and still going.. Had good service and response to enquiries. Nothing failed yet from wheelsets, frames, forks…

Bear in mind that shipping from that part of the world hasn’t fully come back yet, and some sellers are asking biggish sums of money for frame shipping. $200 to send from China adds a fair chunk.

Not had a frame but have had wheels from China, I wouldn’t worry about it, Weight Weenies usually has a a relatively up to date topic on who’s good, although that maybe a more gravel road focus.

Typically Hong Fu and Deng Fu come with really strong recommendations as mentioned above.

The wheels I had the customer service was excellent and the shipping great I even got to prepay duty which worked like a dream.

Just be prepared to get bumped if somebody needs 100 frames and your is going to make up the order then…

But genuinely don’t stress about buying from China it’s no different to anywhere else in the world.

I’m looking at a Carbonda FM936, which is the same front triangle as the NS Synonym, with a different rear.
There is always some concern in the back of my mind, but I think it is the way I’m going to go.

I bought a Carbonda CFR696 (seemingly an Open Upper copy, but a little different in areas) in January. It’s been flawless. The ordering experience was great and they answered questions after the frame arrived quite quickly. In terms of quality – brakes mounts, BB, axles and, seatposts and internal routing was fine. The headset wasn’t a perfect fit possibly as I chose not to use their headset which has a rubber seal on the top cover, I used a CK and it required a little fettling to make sure there was no gap between the frame top and the top cover. I know other people have also had this problem, but not just with Carbonda, sometimes with Yeti, Santa Cruz, etc, so it may be a headset problem rather than a frame problem. There were some aspects of the mandrel bagging still inside the frame which wasn’t great, but wasn’t a problem and was removed easily. Most people probably wouldn’t have bothered. The pait finish was great, but it does seem that it’s easy to chip, but as I chose the colour, a touch-up is easy.

All in, I’d probably do it again, especially for a commuter which this is.

The most difficult aspect was actually getting the frame OUT of China – it was declined export 3 times, but Carbonda sorted it each time, just ended up with a delay.

This is mine before I uglied it up with guards, racks, etc.

I’ve got an icann XC mtb frame – which has been raced for the last 5 years and is still going strong.

Its not used as a daily rider – but there have been no issues with it. The only annoying thing is the rear 142 axle is a bit poor.. does not come loose, but not as nice as a maxle one.

I can’t justify a chnage as its light enough and fast enough for me.
Also had some of their carbon wheels – which were good – but did not keep them as they were not tubless compatible.

Got a fr320 on aliexpress a few years ago. With wheels.
No issues in 1000s of kilomètres.

Thanks for reply really helpful, feel more happier going down this route after hearing mostly positive experiences, just got got to take the plunge now…

I’ve got a Chinarello (unbranded/bare carbon of course). Bought the cheapest one I could find on Aliexpress. That was 3 years/5000+ miles ago, and it’s been perfect. Only issue was it arrived with a load of clag in the BB threads and I had to pay a shop £15 to chase it out. Rides nice too.