Carbon frame-sets from Hong Kong & the Far East.

[TheCyclingRooster]

Hi to you all out there.
I have been pondering for a while about buying direct from one or two of the Hong Kong sellers of Carbon frames & forks.
I am a little unsure whether a general use road bike is better in 3k or 12k weave carbon. The frame would be built using the kit from my Bianchi and ridden with dropped bars.
It might even be used as a Flat bar Hybrid using Shimano as the group-set.
Can any one tell me if they have bought direct themselves and what their findings were and also the better weave between 3k &12k carbon fibre.
The frames appear to be an unpainted finish but lacquered and ready to build or painted if required.

 

[Hacienda71]

I have one and GB155 I think has a couple. The one I bought has a tapered headset with a 3K weave (chosen from my point of view on an asthetic basis only). I am in the process of building it up with an Sram groupset. There are a number of comprehensive threads on Chinese carbon on a couple of other cycling websites all of which are pretty positive. My research was that the two types of carbon weave will show similar attributes at this price and there are a number of other more important factors that will have a bearing on how the frame handles.
They are cheaper than a Ribble or Planet X carbon frame, both of which are openly sourced in China, you won't get the aftercare or warranty that you would get from the UK company. The one thing I would change is I would have got one with a headset rather than having to source the headset in the UK as this has been a pain. I will post a pic of it when it is finished.
Getting the frame was hassle free with delivery in about a week. I did get caught with import VAT and had to hand over circa £20 before they would let me have the frame but I can't grumble too much as it is the first time I have been charged despite ordering a few things from the far east.

 

[Riding in Circles]

There was a post on here somewhere the other week about an epic failure in a Chinese carbon frame.

 

[smokeysmoo]

As Hacienda71 says, GB155 of this parish is your man in all matters CCF. I think he's had 3 now, and has put 1000's of miles on each, so IMO the best assurance your going to get would be to buy from wherever he did
Also, as Catrike mentions, there was indeed mention only recently of an unfortunate member having what he believed to be a CCF failure, this is his thread;
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/chinese-carbon.93057/

 

[Linford]

My neighbour had a built carbon framed bike, and shifted it on ASAP to buy a carbon framed Cube claiming he could feel the frame heating up fro the amount of flexing it had in it.

Any experiences of this as I'd never heard of it before he mentioned it.

 

[Andrew_P]

I have been doing some reasonable research on this. Bear in mind I am only able to research American bike brands, but I have not seen one that has China as its main source almost all I have looked at source from Taiwan.

Most of the Taiwan suppliers also sell their own bikes. I thought this was strange in that for private buyers China seems to be the place to buy from and not these Taiwan suppliers who make for the big names.

From a business POV unless you have good QC they will and do cut corners in China. Never bought a bike from China but bought lots of other items and if buy product X and it is good this container does not guarantee that the next container is the same quality.

 

[Hacienda71]

Here is mine

It has been fine for the first couple of hundred miles. Light and very responsive. I would say it is not as stiff as my aluminium bike but faster, frame flex is similar to my steel chromo frame but absorbs road vibration far more. I would say great for a sportive probably not for the serious racer who would want a mega stiff frame. The one critcism I have is that some of the cf weave is not as neat as I would like.