Which Chinese Brands Offer Custom-Painted and/or Branding-Less Framesets?

[Zhu Tou]

In my pursuit of a relatively obscure-brand/"non-branded" carbon road bike, I'm confirmed with the following companies whether or not they offer custom-painted and/or logo-less framesets:

• Elves - YES
• Evolve - NO
• SEKA - NO
• Tavelo - YES
• Yoeleo - YES

A reply from Winspace is pending. Do you folks know of any others? I'm less open to (but will nevertheless consider) factory-direct (ex. XM Carbon Speed) framesets.

[Lotnik]

LOL every OEM offers that. 
Topics are getting stupid here.

[Zhu Tou]

LOL read that again

[Lotnik]

I've read that in first, but what's the point of this thread? First you make thread about Taiwanese manufacturers on China market concentrated forum and now you're listing this. If youre looking for custom paint without branding why are you not open for OEM brands? It will be worse quality in your mind?

[Zhu Tou]

To answer your questions:

• The point of this thread is to get answers to the question indicated in the first post.
• By "OEM brands", do you mean companies (Trek, Giant, etc) or do you mean the manufacturers that make frames for these companies? I suppose it doesn't matter, as my first post indicates that I'm open to both.
• If "OEM brands" = manufacturer for a bike company, then yes, I think the chances of lower quality are higher, but that's not what this post is about. That's a separate topic for a separate post, but don't worry; I now see you're the forum police so I'll be sure to check with you before posting anything.

[kubackje]

Dude u are just making things worse with every post. You don't even know what OEM means

[Zhu Tou]

I suppose not. Educate me, please - what does Original Equipment Manufacturer mean, and how does my apparent non-understanding of its meaning make the original question (which Chinese brands offer custom-painted/logo-less framesets?) a stupid topic?

[kubackje]

I suppose not. Educate me, please - what does Original Equipment Manufacturer mean, and how does my apparent non-understanding of its meaning make the original question (which Chinese brands offer custom-painted/logo-less framesets?) a stupid topic?

Google is your friend

[Sakizashi]

I think the assumption that a branded frame is generally higher quality is probably incorrect. The more prominent brands used to hire third-party QC; I suspect they still do. They supposedly have dedicated lines in their factories too, but you won't be getting any of those frames unbranded.

OEM-makes a frame to customer specs, customer usually owns the designs
ODM-designs frame to sell through other brands (more or less in this case), factory owns the design

Most of the reputable factories discussed on this forum are functionally ODMs (despite the posters throwing shade about what an OEM is or isn't; but whatevs we can play loose with definitions). The top OEMs aren't selling low-volume framesets and seem to have no problems kicking out brands that don't meet their expected volumes (see the somewhat nasty divorce between Xiamen Lightweight Composites and Seka and all the leaked Seka Spear RDC stuff that resulted)

If you're talking about something like Quick Pro vs. Carbonda vs. Flybike (are they mainly an OEM or an ODM at this point? but I digress), they are all related companies, so if you get a better price on a Quick Pro with custom paint from Carbonda, I doubt there is any difference in quality.

The Same goes for Tavelo vs. Adapt (ODM who you cant buy direct from as a consumer) vs. a small brand like Oak who sells the same frameset. I highly doubt there is significant extra QC happening from a one or two man bike company.

[Da11as]

The Same goes for Tavelo vs. Adapt (ODM who you cant buy direct from as a consumer) vs. a small brand like Oak who sells the same frameset.

Having SC-R55 from Speeder, which is most likely a B2C of Adapt, I was amazed how good the frame is from top to bottom, you wont see it in most Western Brands. On the other hand, there was a gigantic backlash on the quality of Tavelo (which is another B2C of Adapt), so the quality aspect really depends on the budget balance of marketing, quality, and price.

[Blueberry]

Triaero/ICAN does custom painting. If it's a fairly simple job, they will do it without any extra charge.

[Zhu Tou]

I think the assumption that a branded frame is generally higher quality is probably incorrect. The more prominent brands used to hire third-party QC; I suspect they still do. They supposedly have dedicated lines in their factories too, but you won't be getting any of those frames unbranded.

OEM-makes a frame to customer specs, customer usually owns the designs
ODM-designs frame to sell through other brands (more or less in this case), factory owns the design

Most of the reputable factories discussed on this forum are functionally ODMs (despite the posters throwing shade about what an OEM is or isn't; but whatevs we can play loose with definitions). The top OEMs aren't selling low-volume framesets and seem to have no problems kicking out brands that don't meet their expected volumes (see the somewhat nasty divorce between Xiamen Lightweight Composites and Seka and all the leaked Seka Spear RDC stuff that resulted)

If you're talking about something like Quick Pro vs. Carbonda vs. Flybike (are they mainly an OEM or an ODM at this point? but I digress), they are all related companies, so if you get a better price on a Quick Pro with custom paint from Carbonda, I doubt there is any difference in quality.

The Same goes for Tavelo vs. Adapt (ODM who you cant buy direct from as a consumer) vs. a small brand like Oak who sells the same frameset. I highly doubt there is significant extra QC happening from a one or two man bike company.

Thanks; this really helps 

Rightly or wrongly, I lean towards purchasing a frameset from a brand because of the supposed "extra" QC you mentioned. That's why I reached out to the brands/companies listed in the first post, and it seems, contrary to what you stated, that some brands (Elves, Tavelo, Yoeleo) will sell custom-painted and/or logo-less framesets, as indicated in their response e-mails. They've basically stated, "No logo or branding? No problem. Send us the color(s) you want. We'll just a few extra weeks." Others have straight-up said no, and interestingly, upcoming brand evolve (from Elitewheels) told me that while it won't do it now, they'll consider it for the future and to contact them again in a few months.

Perhaps I'm still not fully understanding the different terms, but all I was initially looking for is information on which (Chinese) brands/companies, outside of the ones I already contacted, sell framesets with choose-your-own colors and don't require branding/logos. B2B entities don't matter for obvious reasons. For whatever reasons, some people felt that understanding the term "OEM" was relevant.

[BeR]

Having SC-R55 from Speeder, which is most likely a B2C of Adapt, I was amazed how good the frame is from top to bottom, you wont see it in most Western Brands. On the other hand, there was a gigantic backlash on the quality of Tavelo (which is another B2C of Adapt), so the quality aspect really depends on the budget balance of marketing, quality, and price.

+1 for the SC-R55D. Amazing finish.

[Sakizashi]

Having SC-R55 from Speeder, which is most likely a B2C of Adapt, I was amazed how good the frame is from top to bottom, you wont see it in most Western Brands. On the other hand, there was a gigantic backlash on the quality of Tavelo (which is another B2C of Adapt), so the quality aspect really depends on the budget balance of marketing, quality, and price.

Honestly, I have no idea what Speeder's relationship is with Tavelo and Adapt. I also have no idea what the scope is of what these companies does and if they operate their own factories or are more like Seka. Speeder appears to be a component brand at this point, with their forks showing up on other brands' bikes labeled as "Speeder" in spec sheets.

For me, the clearest examples are Flybike (OEM/ODM for large customers), Carbonda (ODM for B2C and smaller customers), and Quick Pro (OBM).

Regardless, if I wanted some help bringing a product to market or were buying an unbranded frameset, I would be comfortable with Speeder or any of the Flybike companies.

[Da11as]

Perhaps I'm still not fully understanding the different terms, but all I was initially looking for is information on which (Chinese) brands/companies, outside of the ones I already contacted, sell framesets with choose-your-own colors and don't require branding/logos. B2B entities don't matter for obvious reasons. For whatever reasons, some people felt that understanding the term "OEM" was relevant.

Almost every brand/manufacturer with dedicated frame thread on this forum provides frames without paintjob: Velobuild, Hygge, Hongfu, Dengfu, Speeder, Lightbicycle, XM Carbon Speed, you name it.

Honestly, I have no idea what Speeder's relationship is with Tavelo and Adapt. I also have no idea what the scope is of what these companies does and if they operate their own factories or are more like Seka. Speeder appears to be a component brand at this point, with their forks showing up on other brands' bikes labeled as "Speeder" in spec sheets.

Speeder and Tavelo, if not the same direct seller of Adapt frames, are at least very closely related to Adapt. What differs them, is that Tavelo is substantially more expensive, yet the finish of the frame is worse, as was indicated by 'bike mechanic-engineers' youtube bubble, the tolerances are worse and you need to get a file in your hands and get the job done right. With Speeder there were zero (or very minor) complaints regarding the frame or finishing kit and I can confirm the frame has top end quality.

A large chunk of Tavelo price comes from marketing expenses (influencer coverage) and target audience (westerners, who can simply pay more than the rest) at the expense of frame quality. Same goes for Seka, Winspace etc. That being said, more 'visible' brands more often than not provide worse 'value for money', even though they market themselves as 'value for money'.