UKC

To continue the carbon trend at the moment - does anyone have any experience with buying and building a bike with a carbon copy frame from China?

There is a fair amount of info on the internet about building "Chinarello's" , just wondered if any of the climbing fraternity have gone down this route.

Cheers

In reply to WillBroad: Yes, my TT frame is a 'Chinarello'. It's lasted a whole year now doing regular evening 10's, a couple of 25's and 50's. The only issues I had when building it up was having to clean up the area around the headset bearings. Other than that it has been fine.

In reply to WillBroad: Do a search on some of the cycling forums, there is pages of stuff on them.

This could potentially open a can of worms as it usually does on other cycling forums, those who have bought them would always say there is noting wrong with them, those who wouldn't buy them will always question the quality/strength.

There is some talk that they all come out of the same factory as major brands, I doubt that myself.

For the record, personally I wouldn't........

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

I quite often see the bright young things from British Cycling out an about in the Peak District, interestingly they ride plain black, un-branded stock carbon frames. Bought direct from the far east and built up by the team.

I suppose the team know what's what and where to buy the good stuff from.

On another tack you can pay £2k for a De Rosa Merak frame, and £900 for a Ribble 'Stealth' (I think). They are obviously out of the same mold, and I gather that they are in fact made in the same way and are one of Torayca's standard offerings. (Surely De Rosa can't be charging £1,100 for a set of decals!?)

In reply to blurty:


They do - as do Condor. I think there was an embarassing thread on Bikeradar where someone from Condor was trying to justify it.

E

In reply to blurty:


Out of the same mould and out of the same factory are VERY different things though, or is it the same factory producing them ?

I know a lot of Scott's and other major brands are made in the same factory, there was an article on Bikeradar or cyclingnews about it a while back with photos of the dispatch area and boxed bikes, it was like a who's who of carbon frames.

I think it's very much a case of caveat emptor with the cheap unbranded Chinese stuff.....

In reply to Dark-Cloud: And presumably same mould doesn't mean same grade and lay-up of carbon?

In reply to Nick Harvey: Correct, a mould is a mould, it's how the carbon is layed up that matters.

In reply to WillBroad:

Frames may come out of the same mould, but not only will the lays be different, the actual carbon-fibre (sheets) used can also differ significantly in terms of the fibre modulus (strength). There are also different resins to bind everything together.

However, you do pay over the odds for a branded bike - after all a brand has to support their development costs (such as the moulds themselves which the factories often use for their smaller customers and own unbranded frames, but usually only after the mould is no longer current for the originator brand), and they also have their very significant marketing costs (glossy ads, pro teams etc).

There are not that many factories making top-end cf bikes - maybe half a dozen to a dozen, so you will see many different brands being made by the one factory. Smaller brands use non-current moulds developed by major brands, although I am not sure how many bikes can be cast in the one set of moulds. They do have a finite life-span.

It is relatively straight forward for anyone to source suppliers/manufacturers of bike frames and components and set up their own brand - all they need is the start up capital and a distribution channel.

In reply to Dark-Cloud: Scott and Cervelo use the same factory. There is a good piece on bike radar with one of the engineers from Cervelo talking about lay up of the carbon fibres which is good to see. I was lucky enough to get one of the Scott CR1 Pro from Westbrook for 499. Fully built with ultegra and 3T carbon seat post and handlebars for around £1350.
I was looking at the Dolan Ares SL before that bargain came up. Love the bike, very comfy for the riding I do around Cheshire and North Wales.

One thing with the Chinese bikes is lack of warranty for some.

In reply to WillBroad:

I would happily buy a carbon frame direct from china, I would not buy a knock off copy. One is an un branded frame the other is a dodgy knock off that may have news paper as part of it's structure rather than carbon fibre.
I have yet to see a knock off product anywhere near as good as the real thing but have seen many (but not all) un branded items as good if not better than their well known competitors.

Personal choice at the end of the day but the option of choosing your own colours and design would tempt me. There are some awesome paint jobs on the Chinese carbon thread on bike radar.

Cheers

Toby

out of interest where would one view one of these carbon frames online?

In reply to goldmember:

Google - Chinese carbon frames - there's loads.

E