eBay Chinese Carbon Forks – Anyone Tried Them?

I’m on the lookout for something light and rigid for a new build in the pipeline and have seen many carbon rigid forks on eBay from China. Some look a bit rough/unfinished but some look much more ‘finished’ (branded as JAVA etc?).

Just wondering if anyone had tried any of them and if so which? After something for a 26″ wheel and straight steerer. Bolt through axle would be nice too…

http://www.carboncycles.cc/%5B/url%5D are a safe alternative for Chinese carbon. I’ve bought forks, bars and seatpost from them before, all good quality…

Ive got these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Carbon-Fiber-Fork-29er-Mountain-Bike-Tapered-Rigid-Fork-15x100mm-Axle-UD-Matt-/111441535370?hash=item19f26ee18a:g:kUQAAOSwNSxVdXbd

good comms and delivery. Had to pay about £25 import tax etc. Not fitted them but they were indeed a little roughly finished and had to take a small file to smooth a couple of areas.

they were indeed a little roughly finished and had to take a small file to smooth a couple of areas.

well that would fill me with confidence in using them…

I’ve got some Hylix branded forks, very similar to PaulGillespie’s

Seem absolutely fine.

CTM… they seem solid enough. If i’m eating through a straw in a months time, i’ll report back…if i’m still alive!

Used Trigon forks, 26″, straight steerer, 9mm axle. They have been fine for 5+ years.
Also had Hylix bar/stem combo, problems with that splitting around the steerer clamp after about 3 years.

Bought some for the fatty about 12 months ago. So far I’ve still got all my teeth.

These sort of threads are useless because the people who would like to post how they are rubbish can’t… because they are dead 😉

my hylix forks were fine for about a year.

then the steerer went soft…. there was a definable disconnection between the bars and the wheel.

it was flexing an twisting like a maddy,

i cut the “soft bit” off and finished the event with the stem slammed but they have not been used in anger since.

Is it the Hylix ones which were the same as the X-Lite ones CRC were knocking out for a short time? I had a pair of those and they looked really well made.

OK – thanks for the views all…

looked similar but nothing alike dimensionally after comparing to a mates would doubt they are mould brothers.

I bought these for my B+ Pact.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/650B-27-5er-29er-plus-MTB-Thru-Axle-fork-carbon-bicycle-fork-for-110-x15mm-axle-/151865092133?hash=item235bdd6825:g:~xAAAOSwl9BWMDvV

A complete stab in the dark as there was nothing else available at the time. They’ve been fine over the past 12 months or so (alternating duties with a set of Rebas). No problems with finish. Nice cable routing. Good fit.

The forks fitted to the new Shand hardtails look identical (though in much prettier colours).

Had some 29er ones for 4 years now they have been fine

I bought some cheap eBay ones for my cx disc build last winter, they cost about £40.
We’re well finished & light but quite flexy & in the back of my head when descending at speed I kept thinking about how cheap they were. In the end I put the stock alu ones back on.

In the past 4 years I’ve had one set of 29’r forks
One set of 26″ fat bike forks
One set of road forks
& one set of cyclo-cross forks
All from different sellers and manufactures – no issues at all.

I had hylixes, they were fine but sort of scarily light, they never did anything wrong but I struggled to trust them. Also very stiff, which I didn’t like. Broke the head off my hylix seatpost on the commuter, too, which didn’t exactly inspire confidence. But that’s all a bit judgemental considering they did me fine and as far as I know haven’t killed the dude that bought them off me.

My exotics were nicer to ride but also a fair bit heavier, still, if I wanted carbon forks today I’d buy exotic…

My Brother in Law bought some cheap chinese drop bars and seat post last year from e-bay.
The seat post gave up in spring snapping mid Strines ride, Oh how we chuckled as he rode back from Glossop stood up all the way, Of course we just left him as we all warned him they were shoite.

Bonfire Night this year he pulled a cheap eBay bought LED light from his pocket as he tried to explain to us about safety around fireworks and fires i asked him if he had read the posts on the interent about peoples charges catching fire.

Last weekend whilst out in our group he hit a pot hole and his bars snapped, 12 stitches in his chin, chipped and cracked teeth. Broken ribs and a very tender nose end thats missing some skin.

I personally wouldnt have bought them in the first place, he was warned but he’s never payed full price for anything. He has the cheapest tyres money can buy on His car, buys the cheapest washing machines, kettles, irons and replaces these often. I guess there is a market segment for this kind of buyer, i was once told Buy Cheap buy twice. He’s denying the fact that the carbon was to blame, I suppose he’s got to as he has a set of cheap Carbon wheels ready to roll. Along with his Cheapo 4.99 Tyres.

There are many posts from people who never have a problem and some that do, i’ve never witnessed it personally until he was unfortunate enough to come up short. The only positive from it. Some of the other riders have ditched their cheap carbon. I would steer well clear.

I friend of mine ended up in hospital then off work for two months after the steerer snapped on his Chinese forks.

There’s someone on here who ended up in hospital when his UK brand carbon forks snapped too…

It really depends is the answer. Get ones from a company with a decent reputation and you’ll be fine. Otherwise… 😯

Decent companies I know of: Sobatobikes, sobatostore (ebay), Miracle, hongfu , dengue, carbonzone, lightbike and no doubt others.

(owner of China direct carbon CX and B+ frames and forks)

might just buy some more Salsa Cromotos 😀

I stuck triple butted kona p2 cost 200,grams.

Lasted 5 year.

nemesis – Member

There’s someone on here who ended up in hospital when his UK brand carbon forks snapped too…

Was that possibly due to Legendary Pace Build Quality? I think I’d rather buy a no-name off ebay.

Trust’s a funny thing, I remember when I got my exotics someone on Bikeradar basically went into hysterics about how I was certain to die. I was an idiot not to have bought a reputable brand, like his Nukeproof carbon forks. Literally the same fork, with different stickers on it adding about £100 but because he bought them from CRC they were safe.

As a 100KG rider I wouldn’t touch cheap/unbranded carbon…

I’ve got OEM carbon forks/seatpost on my Defy, and forks on my Arkose which have been fine though.

I’d pay a bit more for name/provenance/UK supply.

I was hoping this thread would be more up-beat 😕 I need some forks for a build I’ve been putting off, it’s hard to find s/h forks with a long enough steerer and some cheap Chinese forks would have got me rolling. Hmm.

What sort of Forks are you after, i’ve got some Kinesis ones you can have “NOT the recalled ones that are dodgy”

They came off my CX bike, they are post mount for cantis actually so prob about as much use to you as an ashtray on a motorbike.

The offers there, Anyone else interested then theyre free to some one who will use them.

I’d be interested to know if anyone has tried a set of chinese carbon cranks? looking at these, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122206480320 but have the obvious concerns!

Got some Exotic carbon forks, straight steerer, 15mm axle, on my 456…. they were £90… & they seem ace tbf… done lots of daft things with them and I’m not dead (yet) or injured (it’s only a matter of time, the forks probably won’t be at fault though).

I got 29er ones to give a sag corrected front end equivalent of a 130mm 26″ fork.

Have a picture;

xyeti- If the OP can’t use it I might be able to give a good home to that fork!
I have a revolution cross I use for all the kind of stuff the posh kids use their gravel bikes for, its never going to be worth upgrading to disc but the steel fork weighs a ton and losing a chunk of weight would be ace, might be a bit easier on the wrists too. Let me know what you think, Ta, email in profile.

Been running ican 29ers on my rigid hardtail for a while, no fire and death yet!

sweepy – feel free. I’m looking for something for a rigid singlespeed MTB.

xyeti – not sure if your offer was to me or the DBW, but I need 29er with 15mm axle.

Travers have a competition to win a set of the new Prongs

https://www.facebook.com/Traversbikes/

I have some Exotic carbon forks on my MTB, been abused for about 4 years with no issues.

Been running some Exotic Carbon fatbike forks for 18 months and they’ve been brilliant

I’ve given them a hell of a hammering and they’ve been awesome

the maxle thing isn’t the best – but it is fit for purpose and hasn’t come undone