Very nice. Fair play for giving it a go. You’ve clearly go the mechanical engineers skills and learning some chemical engineering in the process. I’ve built 5 bikes - 3 of them Chinese carbon frames bought off Aliexpress 😱 - another a strip down and DIY carbon fibre repair and re spray - definitely rewarding once you get it all complete and out for a test ride. 👍Boys, I'd like you to meet Tracy. She's been through a lot but is on track to make a full recovery:
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The orange bits are discoloured and there are a few chips here and there but other than that good as newDoesn't stink anymore so keeping her indoors from now on.
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berty bassett
Legendary Member
- Location
- I'boro
what is your honest opinion of the aliexpress ones ? guessing not too bad if you've had 3
Aleman
Knees are FUBAR but I don't like to mention it
- Location
- Blackpool UK
I'm impressed with my £200 quid S5 frame ... And the whooshy wheels are damn nice too ... Bloody quick bike compared to my Giant AL defy 0 👍
I'd go down that route again with no qualms
I'm intrigued... post a pic!
Yeah no complaints at all. I built one for myself which has close to 10,000 miles on the clock and is still going well. Then a couple of years later I bought two other frames - one for my brother and the other for my good lady wife 😁
Vast majority of frames are manufactured in China. All you have to do is trawl Alibaba, AliExpress to find which manufactures are producing said frames. Then anything you get from these companies will be decent quality- at a fraction of the cost. Its even an opportunity to go plain carbon and have a custom paint job
<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
There are some really useful threads out there detailing peoples experiences with various Chinese companies. Not all experiences are positive… although many are. Some of these factories are clearly better than others in terms of production quality. It’s pretty dreadful advice to suggest someone just goes onto Ali express and assumes all things are equal based on their country of origin. Or even that two frames from the same factory are of equal quality….
I don’t think anyone here would do that to be honest, but considering how much damage could be caused by frame failure I think it’s worth saying.
Peter Salt
Bittersweet
- Location
- Yorkshire, UK
Can I just say, for those that are considering getting that Chinese or any other frame and building a bike - be mentally prepared for internal cable routing. What a faff! I started doing it yesterday and couldn't go to sleep before getting it done, as a result stayed up until 1:20 am 
Can anyone tell me if this looks remotely right:
I did it the same way it was before, the handlebar is new and the stem is used but almost new. That angle on the cable where the handlebars bend looks quite aggressive - is this how you do it?
Knee feeling much better - planning to go swimming over the weekend and start riding on Monday if it's still OK.
Can anyone tell me if this looks remotely right:
I did it the same way it was before, the handlebar is new and the stem is used but almost new. That angle on the cable where the handlebars bend looks quite aggressive - is this how you do it?
Knee feeling much better - planning to go swimming over the weekend and start riding on Monday if it's still OK.
Aleman
Knees are FUBAR but I don't like to mention it
- Location
- Blackpool UK
It won't help you @Peter Salt but when you buy a new frame it comes with thin plastic tubes down the cable routing channels ... All you need to do is (for cable operation) is slide the inner cable wire down the middle of the plastic tube ... remove the plastic tube, and slide the outer up the inner cable wire ... Takes about 10 minutes to do both brake and gear cable 
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Took me about three days to sort out the inner handlebar routing though
... What a frickin' nightmare ... would be so much easier with hydraulic brakes ... I'm looking for a set of ultegra hydraulic levers if anyone knows of a set going 
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Took me about three days to sort out the inner handlebar routing though
... What a frickin' nightmare ... would be so much easier with hydraulic brakes ... I'm looking for a set of ultegra hydraulic levers if anyone knows of a set going
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<Tommy>
Illegitimi non carborundum
- Location
- Camden, London
Can I just say, for those that are considering getting that Chinese or any other frame and building a bike - be mentally prepared for internal cable routing. What a faff! I started doing it yesterday and couldn't go to sleep before getting it done, as a result stayed up until 1:20 am
Can anyone tell me if this looks remotely right:
View attachment 625342 View attachment 625343
I did it the same way it was before, the handlebar is new and the stem is used but almost new. That angle on the cable where the handlebars bend looks quite aggressive - is this how you do it?
Knee feeling much better - planning to go swimming over the weekend and start riding on Monday if it's still OK.
I think that’s looks really tidy. You need to be able to turn bars in both directions and see if you have enough length on the cable Housing. But it looks very smart.
Magnates and long nose pliers can make internal routing less painful.
Looks tidy.Can I just say, for those that are considering getting that Chinese or any other frame and building a bike - be mentally prepared for internal cable routing. What a faff! I started doing it yesterday and couldn't go to sleep before getting it done, as a result stayed up until 1:20 am
Can anyone tell me if this looks remotely right:
View attachment 625342 View attachment 625343
I did it the same way it was before, the handlebar is new and the stem is used but almost new. That angle on the cable where the handlebars bend looks quite aggressive - is this how you do it?
Knee feeling much better - planning to go swimming over the weekend and start riding on Monday if it's still OK.
For awkward routing
You try sewing cotton, fed in one hole, use vacuum to draw other end thru, then attach stronger pull cord to string
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Another day another session 
Legs
usually riding on Zwift...
- Location
- Staffordshire
Do you really need the panniers on the turbo? (says he, who has lights on his turbo bike...)Another day another session
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
its just listed as default bike , i really need to change that , i do carry a pump though
