CS-057 is on its way! [Has arrived!] Now with pictures!

[Giraffoto]

If you're planning to order a frame to the UK, this may be helpful information . . .

I contacted Mr Xu at Xiamen Carbon Speed last week, and placed my order for a CS-057 frame (size 21", UD matte, BSA BB, 135QR dropouts with the 142x12 dropouts included for future proofing). The price including delivery for that came to about £340 - exchange rates may change though.
Today I received the note from Parcelforce to say they have my parcel, and can I pay some VAT on it? The tracking details showed . . .
11th of May, I placed the order
12th of May, the parcel is passed to EMS in China
16th of May, it's in UK customs
17th of May, it's cleared customs and the charges have been assessed
18th of May, the note is sent to me asking for £37.99 in VAT and £13.50 clearance fee (corresponding to 20% of £189.95)
19th of May, I receive the note and pay it via their very easy website.
20th of May, (tomorrow!) the parcel is due to arrive!

20th of May, (today!) the parcel arrived at 09:20!



So, if all goes to plan, that will be is nine days from emailing my order to receiving the frame. Pictures to follow!

[Carbon_Dude]

Nice, fast shipping to the UK.  I suppose I should be glad that we don't have VAT or import fees in the US.  However, even with VAT, the Chiner frame is still a bargain compared to big brand frames.

[Giraffoto]

So, a very large and astonishingly light parcel arrived today. Once stripped of all the bubble wrap, it was even lighter - the quoted 1250 grams seems like an overestimate. The "extra" 142x12mm dropouts turned out to be the ones attached to the frame, and the 135qr ones were packaged separately - not a big deal - and absolutely everything else is to specification. Great service! I'll be building it up over the weekend - pictures (still) to follow.

[Carbon_Dude]

Glad you received the new frame and are happy with your purchase.  Once you detailed out the cost, I think even with VAT it's about the same as if I purchased a CS-057 and had it shipped to the states.

[325racer]

It's been over 8 hours since the update, what's taking so long for pictures?

[Giraffoto]

My sincere apologies for how long this has taken, and for the poor quality of the pictures when we finally got there!



The frame looked a bit bare without any make or model on it, so I re-used a spare set of stickers that I'd got for my previous frame. I might get something else, but I prefer the look with some sort of sticker on the downtube. Among other aesthetic considerations, I prefer the internally routed cable and hose, and generally prefer the look of this frame with its subtle curves and blended tubes.

So, this was a fully rigid 29er with an aluminium frame, and I've only changed the frame and headset. How has it changed?



It's noticeably lighter when riding, which means it's easier to steer, but even more noticeable is the improvement in stiffness. My impression of every aluminium frame I've ever ridden has been of some of the pedalling effort being absorbed by the frame, but with this frame you feel every bit of effort doing something. For all that, the ride is also smoother - like a lot of carbon frames, this one has the lower stiff section Head tube-down tube-chain stays that keeps the pedalling effort where it should be, and the upper compliant section Top tube-seat tube-seat stays that soaks up the bumps.

So . . . under £400 to shed about a kilogram of weight, improve the dynamics, fit a better headset and look better. Totally worth it. And in case anyone was wondering, it took about two hours to swap the frame, taking everything slow and steady and getting everything torqued properly.

[Carbon_Dude]

Nice red accents.  When I moved from aluminum to carbon it was nice to feel how the small vibrations from the trail seemed to be damped out and as you pointed out, how if you feel all your pedaling effort goes into propelling you forward.