Welcome to Chinertown - Introduce Yourself!

[rkeran]

Howdy folks,

Ron from Denver, CO here.  My 16 yr. old son has informed me that he's "inheriting" my old race bike (a 2000 Intense Tracer, heavily upgraded) and that we're going to start riding together now that we've moved back to the U.S.  Could any father be prouder?  But, I need a bike now and, because COVID, there's nothing to be found so I started looking at building up a Chinese titanium or carbon full-suspension 29er.  In addition to everything changing since I've been gone - press-fit BBs?  tapered steering tubes? dropper posts? no titanium frames to speak of??? - I've noticed that anything bike related has gotten crazy expensive.  I've built up almost every bike I have, and designed a couple of them (geometry, etc.)...so that part for me is fun.  But, man, I'm having some trouble finding the trust to make a purchase which is why I'm here.

My goal is to build up a 29er downcountry (or light trail i guess) bike with an active rear suspension design (4-bar, dw-link preferred unless someone talks me out of it).  I am hoping to find recommendations and testimonials from other riders here so that I can build up something I can brag about to my friends who were able to acquire their $7000 tallboy/trail 429/SB115 bikes before lockdown hit.

Looking forward to chatting with some of y'all!

[Paul]

hello,everyone. 

[Schumo]

I'm Andreas, 29, from Germany.
I bought myself a 2-speed SRAM Automatix "Singlespeed" 4 years or so ago, which unfortunately was stolen last year.
This spring I got a mid 90s Batavus Carbon Composite Roadbike in a swap deal, which brought me more into serious cycling. But the urge for an upgrade came up, and so I came across chinese carbon.
And now I'm building a Dengfu R12 Roadbike and an OG-Evkin CF-052 Hardtail.

[carbonazza]

... OG-Evkin CF-052 Hardtail...

Good luck for your builds, don't hesitate to post pictures.
What shipping method did you choose ?

[Schumo]

Thanks! Yeah, will do!
Dengfu was ordered directly from China with XDB, and I was lucky to get the OG-Evkin on 11.11 from Spain warehouse. But that was more like a pre-order, so the frames weren't in stock on 11.11.
My last status update was that it should be shipped on first december, but yeah, I still haven't got a tracking number. 

[Jeroen]

Hello all,

First post here - I'm Jeroen, currently living in Germany but originally from the Netherlands. I'm a roadbike kinda guy, but decided to build up a Chiner fully over the upcoming winter as a successor to my old, faithful Klein Palomino.
This will not be my first build, I already own a Lightcarbon LCR004D roadbike (+matching Yishun wheels) and I've been riding and repairing bikes for the last 20 years minimum.
Overall, I must say that I'm very happy with Lightcarbon until now - but let's wait for the next project.

Last weekend, my Lightcarbon LCFS911 arrived and I'm now searching the net for parts. My first question will be around the ofset/rake you guys used for building, but I'll post that in the LCFS911 thread.
After that, I'll be investing some time and money in the paint job for this bike, as I'm a sucker for the old Klein paint jobs. Of course, this doesn't make sense at all - period. But: that's cool with a naked carbon bike, you can make your own dream.

Stay healthy!

[Zipper85]

Hello everyone My name is Giulio I write from Italy and I would like to buy a gravel frame, I accept advice. I was looking at velobuild especially for the price

[RedCruz]

Hi everyone!

First: thanks for starting Chinertown!

I'm Rene from Quebec, Canada.
I'm very new to MTB as I started in May, 2020.
I spent many hours online on how to assemble a bike from scratch and I found it very fun!
I think you won't save big bucks by building you own rig but realistically 10-20% savings is possible,
and even more if you reuse parts from your older bikes.

As of now I've built or currently building 3 bikes:
1 FM1156 medium, see my posts
1 FM936 medium for my son
1 FM936 small for my daughter

[Cowboy]

Hello everyone!

My name is Markus and I'm from germany.

I am currently in the process of specifying/find the best frame for a Trail Bike with 140mm fork travel and 130-135mm frame travel.
Looking for a modern frame design with an appropriate amount of reach.
The bike should be rather light weight (12-13kg) yet have enough downhill performance for my local trails in the black forest region.

Any suggestions are highly appreciated.
Cheers.

[josean999]

Hi everyone,

I'm going to build a bicycle from a Chinese frame. I hope to share experience and learn from yours

kind regards

[Sdp74]

Hello guys, I introduce myself after spending a while reading. My native language is Spanish so it is possible that there are errors in the way I express myself. I hope I can bring something positive to the forum. A greeting.

[Shredder]

Hey,

My name is Izzy and I'm from Israel.
I didn't ride a bike for prob 15 years but returned riding for a year now.
I've built an hard-tail with a frame from china (BXT, Ali-express), and looking to build a full-sus setup next,
I likely can get away with my XC on most of the trails near me, but I'm hoping that a slack full-sus trail bike will give me the safety/confidence/courage boost that I need.
I mainly built my bike for the fun of it (and even laced my wheels (and keep truing them every now and then cuz I prob did a crappy job )), but I guess I actually can save a nice amount considering bikes are kinda pricy in my country and one can avoid paying some taxes by buying parts from aliexpress/ebay

[Birdy79]

Hi,

My name is Steven, living in Belgium.
Since a long time I feel like building a bike with a Chinese frame.
My thoughts are now on the Carbonda FM 936 and presumably I will order the frame this week (Normal version).
Whatever I build, it can't be any less good than what I have now (been riding a 26 inch rockrider for about 11 years  )

[slowpoke]

Greetings from Chicago,

Saying hi as I'm looking forward to my first build, AM831 order placed recently. It was time to retire my trusty Trek 930 and I decided to build something bit more contemporary. As my first go around I think I will mostly leverage PinkBike classifieds and AliExpress for parts. This forum has been very helpful with giving me an idea what I'm getting into.
Happy wrenching.

[Jal]

Hello everybody.
I have been reading the forum for a long time and interested in chinese frames, thanks to all the members for the time and information they donate to the forum, great help. I intend to buy the AM831 frame, so I am going to contact Eddy to join the purchase group.
All the best