Posting this to hopefully prevent others to making the same mistake as I did.. Long story, but a lot has happened between me and Workswell...
Okt 2021 I purchased an WCB-M-299 frame from Workswell for about $1300. Which I thought was quite a lot of money when comparing to other vendors. The geometry was good for my purpose and I really liked that it had 2 bottles. Weight was heavy though with 2100 gram. Somehow (naive as I was) I thought the "premium" price stood for better quality so I decided to go for it. My first Chinese bike project.
When the frame arrived after about a month I noticed that they provided a linkage system with this frame that didn't match the industry standard size of 12.7mm for mounting the shock. The special bolt and linkage that they provided was over 13mm. After my initial frustration and wondering how they can screw up such an essential measurement I gave them that feedback and requested to send me the correct linkage.
They first suggested that I should just try to jam the bolt and that the shock slide bearing would take this difference! I couldn't believe they suggested this.
Anyway, after way to many emails back and forth with me indicating exactly which size was wrong and advising them what size it should have been they send me another linkage. I had a bike weekend coming up with friends and I really wanted to bring the new bike with me. I was able to source a slide bearing that I could temporarily use. It wasn't exactly the right dimension but as an emergency it did the job.
During the weekend the bike performed well and I had a blast on my new fully. There was just one strange problem. Two bolts of the linkage system came loose during every ride. I couldn't figure out what was causing this.
In the meantime, a few weeks later, after paying for import tax en customs clearing the new linkage arrived. I noticed that send me a linkage with exactly the same problem and they didn't take notice of my feedback (12.7mm bolt requirement)! Imagine the frustration... I did notice though that they equiped this linkage with extra bearings.
By then I figured out that with these extra bearings the problem of aforementioned two bolts that were coming loose was solved! So they are learning and improving. Just too bad that I'm (and probably others as well) are their field test bunnies. I like product development, but I didn't sign up for this!
After again way to many emails they send me another linkage promising me that this really was the right one. Again paying for customs clearing... It was the right one.
In May 2021 I was finally riding the bike trouble free. For less than a year....
When powering up a hill I heard a loud snap! The main pivot bolt had snapped.
No warranty. It was 1,5 year after I purchased the bike. They were not taking into consideration that I couldn't actually ride the bike the first 4/5 months because all the time they sent the wrong parts. I couldn't believe my ears.
I had a bolt made locally so I could at least ride again. But I didn't accept the no warranty comment. After a lot of wining and complaining they decided to send me a new bolt. I was trying to convince them to throw in an extra mech hanger for free as some kind of compromise for all the bullshit. They didn't accept that. When the bolt arrived I had to pay for customs clearing...
For over a year I was riding the bike with a lot of joy. I did some races with it. Took it with me on holidays to the Belgium Ardennes and France. I'm a good rider and push the bike's capabilities, but nothing out of the ordinary. I ride it the same way as my friends do with their premium Orbea Oiz, Sworks Epic, etc bikes.
After a while I started to realize that my shifting was getting off. When preparing to change the shifting cable I noticed a crack in my rear triangle. At the right hand side chainstay, towards the bb. Not a place where there's a lot of tension I imagined.
No warranty said Workswell. Why? I crashed my bike. Yes I did some times and it had some scratches. But I didn't buy the bike to put it in a display cabinet. Their reaction didn't surprise me after all that has gone before, but it was still disappointing to hear.
I took the bike to a local carbon repair shop and together we noticed 4 more cracks. 3 in the rear triangle and a big one around the bb. This bike is beyond repairing and Workswell doesn't take any responsibility.
When it works it's a great bike, but as you have read. More than once it didn't work.
Don't make the same mistake as I did. Stay very far away from Workswell. IMHO they don't deserve to be in business with this shameless attitude.
Now i'm riding an Orbea Oiz OMX frame. 1700gram frame + shock. much lighter than the Workswell, much stiffer. And with all the cost I had on the Workswell bike, the price difference isn't even that much. Resale value of the Orbea is also much higher. It will be hard to justify it for myself doing another project like this.
