Ben's TChiner 29er

[tripleDot]

I guess it's time for me to really be a part of this forum with a chronicle of my new TChiner 29er.  Btw, "T" stands for "Taiwan", another country but still a Chiner.

Some of you were aware of me consider getting a Chiner CF frame set from Huapu.  But I ended up with something else and this is what happened.

Last week, I was actually set to make the order but checked out the local bike market Facebook group and saw an ad. A local guy who frequently orders custom CF frames from a Taiwanese CF company for himself and friends got his latest batch.  Turns out 1 of the frames sent was a wrong size.  Instead of 15.5", he was sent an 18.5" (which is around my size range, I'm 5'10").  Since the mess was the factory's fault, they agreed to sent him the right size frame and because it was custom painted, they (the factory) figured that they won't be able to sell it easily at their end.  They asked the guy to sell it locally at a discount with the standard 2 year warranty instead of having it shipped back.  So, I just shell out US$330 for the frame and CF seat post.

It was painted the Peter Sagan color scheme.  I still haven't taken photos of it but below a pic of a similar color scheme.



Built: TChiner 29er carbon fibre bike
Part                            Cost         Weight (kg)
------------------------------------------------------------------
cf ht frame                     US$ 330.00    1.300 (w/ headset)
Carbonium (cf) 29er rigid fork      110.00    0.575

cf seat post                          0.00    0.190
Specialized 60mm stem                28.00    0.130
Crank Bros Iodine 3 handle bar       38.70    0.270
DDK Saddle                           15.00    0.290
Easton grips                          0.00    0.130
Atomic pedals                        19.35    0.360

Shimano XT MT8000 group set         450.00    2.660 (w/ wrappers)
38T narrow-wide chainring            42.00    0.110

WTB 29er Speed Disk rims (pair)       0.00    1.080
Spokes & nipples                     53.75    0.390
Shimano 180mm Icetech Rotors          0.00    -tba-
Hubs (DT Swiss pair)                129.00    -tba-
Wheels (Maxxis Litethread pair)      64.50    -tba-
Maxis Tubes (pair)                    6.50    -tba-
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total:                        US$ 1,286.80    7.595kg (16.709lbs)


If price is 0.00 it simply means it's from my old bike or part of set.  Forgot to weight the rotors and inner tubes.  I'm currently missing only the hubs and wheels.  And will be getting the before the week ends.  Looking forward to have it up and running next week.

Edit:
Wasn't able to weight the hubs, rotors, tubes and wheels individually.  But the parts are currently being assembled in an lbs. 

[Carbon_Dude]

Nice deal for you since they sent the wrong frame!

My only question is, does your frame have Specialized S-Works graphics?  Branding a Chiner frame with a big brand company name is something I personally do not care for.  It makes the frame a counterfeit and perpetuates the stereotype of all Chinese products being illegal cheap knock-offs of brand name products.  When in fact the Chiner frames can stand on their own as a low cost alternative to the high priced big brands.

It's up to you, but I don't care to misrepresent the brand of bike that I ride, no matter if it's similar or not.

If your new frame doesn't have the Specialized S-Works name on it, then please disregard my small rant on this topic.

[SportingGoods]

I'm confused here, what are we talking about? A 29er MTB frame or a road frame? You mention 29er but that frame looks like a road frame to me (no disk brake mounts).

[tripleDot]

It is a 29er mtb frame but the guy who ordered it had it custom painted with Peter Sagan's road bike color scheme... that's what I assume.

@Carbon_Dude, sadly, it does came with the S-Work graphics.  I personally don't care about the current paint scheme, the first question I popped at the guy was "Would it void warranty if I repainted it?"  His answer was "Yes, but why would you want to repaint it?"  Apparantly some folks have different outlook.  I guess I just have to wait for the warranty to lapse before I repaint it.  To be honest, I was kind'a baffled why they have it custom made as a knock-off instead of personalizing it... and it was like 2 or 3 frames with the same paint scheme.

@SportingGoods, the picture is not the actual frame I got, it's another frame with a similar paint scheme.  My frame actually have the disc brake mount on the chainstay.

[tripleDot]

Here's some pictures of the actual frame and seatpost.

[tripleDot]

Just need to complete the wheel set and it's ready for assembling.

[tripleDot]

Got pretty much 95% of the parts needed for the bike. Unfortunately, I don't have the tools nor the skill to assemble it myself, so it's up to the local bike shop to put them all together.  So excited!

[tripleDot]

It's done.  I had to add $100.00 for miscellaneous expenses such as assembly fee, chain stay guard, bathroom tape, rotor adaptors, bottle cage, crank boots, couple of Gu gels and some parts for the headset.

Total cost: $1,386.80  (my initial budget was $1,720.00, got some good deals)
Total weight:  9.6kg (21.12lbs)  (w/ tires inflated, was going for 22-24lbs, so this was a good surprise)

Very happy with the built, it's below my projected budget (although it could go lower if I had waited for better deals) and weight.  And considering there are still parts for future upgrades, it can go lighter.  The only thing left is to suffer that it's currently more of a cheap imitation rather than a custom painted bike that I was hoping for.

[SportingGoods]

WOW and Wow!
First one for the bike. Second one for the total cost.

You got a really good deal on the assembly! I would ask more then $100

[tripleDot]

Thanks Sports.

This is gonna sound unfair but if you live in the Philippines, that 100 dollar assembly fee is actually 15-20 dollars too much. I just went with it to check their service quality.  And the conclusion is, they are simply just more expensive.

[tripleDot]

Just saying goodbye to this bike and thanks for the wonderful 2 years of fun, sweat & pain.

From Billy Goat to Buffalo.

In case you are wondering, everything missing on the goat is now on the buffalo.

[dopestar]

nice build. can you tell me where you buy your frame?

[tripleDot]

nice build. can you tell me where you buy your frame?

The 29er was from a local buyer/seller who didn't want to disclose his source. But it is Taiwan made.

The 29+ is from Carbon Speed from China.