How to buy a Chinese frame/wheelset

[Luegolover]

Bit more work on the bike, discovered that the disc is warped slightly, poo. I put a post on the technical page about whether I need a liner for the gear cables or not but not had a reply so have decided to get one anyway. Whilst I'm at it I'm going for a in-line cable adjuster as well. Evans here I come.

 

[tincaman]

Bit more work on the bike, discovered that the disc is warped slightly, poo. I put a post on the technical page about whether I need a liner for the gear cables or not but not had a reply so have decided to get one anyway. Whilst I'm at it I'm going for a in-line cable adjuster as well. Evans here I come.

Easy to get the warp out just using your fingers. Just identify the section you need by running it back and forth through the caliper, then push or pull with your fingers, you could also do it with an adjustable spanner

 

[Luegolover]

Ah, had I known that I wouldn't have bought a new one. Oh well, it's a spare now.

 

[silk186]

If you want to buy Chinese stuff you should use taobao, like ebay. Alibaba is for distributes and many won't small quantities.
Ask a Chinese friend to help. I import things every so often. Some companies offer a service, you order multiple items from different venders, they box them up and export them for you.
Slow but cheap.

 

[Luegolover]

The bike is finished, thanks Derrick for the hanger alignment tool, but un tested. I couldn't bring myself to take it out in the rain for it's first ride. Tomorrow I am off with my wife to do a few days cycling in Wimbleball so I won't get a chance to test it again until Friday. It felt comparable to the carbon Fuji which is cool and I am a little concerned about the brakes, not sure that they are bled correctly but until I ride it I won't know.

It looks very cool though.

 

[derrick]

Give us a shout if you go out Friday, i'll tag along, and if it's all good and i am sure it will be, we can celebrate with a beer.

 

[Luegolover]

Well I went for the inaugural ride on Friday. Photo attached. I did about 3 miles and came away feeling somewhat underwhelmed. The brakes are not working well, it seemed a little rough round the edges.

 

[vickster]

That'll be because it's black No clipless pedals? Might help

 

[Luegolover]

So today I decided to have a fresh go and cycle a little further, in fact I decided to cycle to Ace Cafe for breakfast which is about 13 miles away. I noticed loads about the bike over a longer ride:

The brakes don't work (1st mile)
The gears clang a lot
the handlebars are very comfortable.
The frame feels stable
High speed ridding is very stable
The saddle needed adjusting

 

[Luegolover]

By the time I arrived at the Ace Cafe I really rather liked the bike, clearly just as well. The saddle had worked itself loose and I felt a little stupid for not bringing my multi-tool but hey - ho. On the way back I stopped three times to try to sort the saddle to no avail.

The brakes got better, much better but it came at a price - they started squealing FFS. The wheels don't make that cool swishing noise that tri-athlong bikes do, poo.

 

[Luegolover]

I have proper pedals and handlebar tape, just not go round to fitting them, yet..

 

[jarlrmai]

Observations

Is that an oval chain-ring?
That rear dérailleur cage looks a bit long for a road bike, what cassette do you have, or is that a disc brake thing?
I have Zipp 60mm clinchers and they make the cool noise.

 

[Luegolover]

I don't have a oval ring although I'd consider one. I've got a compact set up but bought the mid size derailleur cage because I am going to a full size 53 chain ring when I have the money.

Envious about the noise........

 

[Luegolover]

So I figured it was time for an update. Having ridden the bike for a while there are some things that I love about it and some that I don't so I decided to do something about it.

I love the frame, it is stable and light, the bike rides like a dream.
I love the handlebars, they're comfy.
I love the saddle ( I was lucky enough to get a brooks saddle with titanium rails for my birthday, I love my wife)

I don't like the brakes, they take too much effort to work. I did sort out the squealing though.
I don't like the gears, they drag on changing. I know this is my doing.
I don't like the wheels, true they look fab but I know they are fake and that is annoying. Also, they don't have enough spokes to support my great belly so they creak and groan (literally) when I'm riding up hills.

So I decided that the only sensible thing to do was to build some new wheels and upgrade to the Shimano Di2 / hydraulic brake system.

Now I am not the bank of England so I have had to save my pennies, beg for Christmas presents and then finally stick a load on the old faithful credit card. I started off by buying the hubs (DT Swiss 350 with Shimano centre lock brakes) several months back. I ordered some 40mm rims from China shortly afterwards. I started to read my wheel builders book which is free so good. I measured the rims (which like the hubs are beautiful) and ordered some spokes having checked out several spoke length calculator tools, all or which gave different answers!

Christmas was good to me and along came a Di2 front derailleur and a set of hydraulic brake levers and callipers.

Then I sat back and realised that Ribble were doing great deals on cable sets so I took the plunge and ordered the rest of it on the credit card. No regrets yet but the bill hasn't arrived. I also got a 52/36 Ultegra chainset which is beautiful and very light.

So, now I need to build the wheels so that I can fit the lot and go riding in style.

More to follow.

 

[Luegolover]

So my wheels require a wheel stand and the instructions for this came with the book. I have spent the last two nights in the garage cutting wood up which is quite funny as I only every work with metal. Here are the pictures to go with it: