Chinese Carbon MTB Forums
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Re: Thoughts on Panda Podium?
If you follow chinese components you're probably aware of Joe's channel on youtube (China Cycling) and his upcoming venture Panda Podium. https://www.pandapodium.cc/coming-soon/ With rising prices on those Chinese components the last few years, what we do not need is a middleman to add some more to those prices... April 26, 2023, 03:36:06 AM |
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Re: Advice on fake frames
Hey Chris, can you share your experience with us? How bike is holding, what kind of negatives do you have? OK I pull this thread up again since there were several questions regarding copies of well known frames in the past weeks. Finally I got some more KM's on the bike and can share some experience after 650km on the road. The frame is a copy of the Trek Emonda 2022, which is a very accurate clone when comparing details from the original TREK manual. As you would expect, the frame and components do not come with their own manual, so downloading the original manual is of big help during assembly. So far everything is performing without issues and the ride feel is one of the best I had from a road bike so far. Would I recommend a "Copycat" carbon frame? Having the choice to buy a similar Chinese "open mold" from a reputable Chinese manufacturer it would be my first choice. I believe they will stand behind their quality and maintain good standards. The risk of a "Copy" frame is the quality of the carbon material, lay-up, lamination and QA, that is not easy to recognize even after using an endoscope camera to check for obvious flaws... With some experience building up Chinese bike frames and for me personally it is a reasonable choice. BR Chris May 10, 2023, 04:08:16 PM |
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Re: Consensus on replica frames ??
Is it the same mould? I remember chris miller mentioning that some chinese company that does direct to consumer had the factor moulds and would start selling them this year, people were saying ICAN tho. This winter I rode with a guy with a legit Ostro and and his friend had a fasterway version and they are really similar externally however the fake one is about 400g heavier. May 10, 2023, 10:37:41 PM |
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Re: Scott Foil replica
I coudn't find the source of these photos, and i know this background and fake grass, they use it for other frames as well, so it's a real Maybe they bought/borrowed the real bike to take some nice photos and then sell their fake framesets? Who knows... May 11, 2023, 01:52:46 AM |
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Re: Advice on fake frames
Thank you for your review! What's quality from the inside compared to the open mold brands? Like thickness, cleaness, voids and other factors I can only talk about the frames I have worked on so far: - 1x TanTan Seraph / Gravel, Carbon - 2x C-Wind / Gravel, Carbon - PyTitans / Gravel, Titan - Emonda Clone / Race, Carbon On all of them the inside of the frame was clean and they only needed facing the break mount points from excessive paint. There were no voids or other visible defects as far as I could tell on all the frames I checked. The Emonda clone had some Resin overflow in the head tube area, where the tubes join, so I used some sandpaper to clean it up. So far it seems I have been lucky with all of the frames, so no obvious flaws have surfaced during the build or the use so far. On another note my girlfriend tried to buy a Bianchi Specialissima frameset from a different AliExpress vendor. They happily took the money and made promises of when the frame would ship, but it never left China, even they had given her a tracking number. After some time she cancelled the order and got the money back from AliExpress. So buying a clone frame can be an issue... BR Chris May 11, 2023, 09:12:59 AM |
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Re: Advice on fake frames
I'd like to see humor replica frame brand labels, like Poorfellow instead of Pinarello, Dreck i/o Trek, Dwarf i/o Giant, Generalized i/o Specialized.
May 11, 2023, 12:41:12 PM |
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Re: Advice on fake frames
I bought a knock off of a system six three years ago through Costelo (areosix is what its called on aliexpress) they used to be a big reputable seller. The frame is quite heavy, but I think it looks great and the handling makes me descend faster on this than on any bike I've yet owned. I use it for training and absolutely beat the hell out of it - I'm nearly 90kg. It's still going well and no complaints except there is nearly 2kg of carbon in the frame and insanely stiff. That's probably why it seems bullet proof. Just got the Og Evkin frameset that looks like a madone. Og Evkin seems to have a good reputation and I've been happy with parts I've got from them. No isospeed, but it is clearly meant to look like a Madone. Haven't built it yet. Tolerances seem ok and carbon layup is far better than on the aerosix. It just feels much more refined and less agricultural. Unbelievably, I paid less for it. 550 euro including shipping and taxes. If I have a bit of bother building it I can live with that for the price. I've got the Yoeleo R9, people think its a Aeroad when I'm on group rides. Its solid enough. I don't love it, but its reliable, light and good value for money. But, the build was not straightforward at all and Yoeleo was a bit sketchy to deal with considering they are supposed to be premium chinese carbon. Saying all that, there are knock offs that I don't like the look of. Ads that don't show the full frame, or ads that are clearly pictures of the original frame. Seems like a scam. My take on it is that you are crazy to expect great aftersales support or the refinement of the original or a build that doesnt require some problem solving. But that doesnt mean that you are buying a death trap unless you are very unlucky or you are deailing with a seller/manfacturer with no reputation. May 12, 2023, 02:00:47 PM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-218
Quick update on my end: I noticed in the long run, that I routed my rear brake housing a bit too short, causing a kink in the housing at the headset and bad rear brake action. So I needed to put in new housing and therefore take apart the whole bike basically. So I decided to finally build up the replacement frame instead just for the sake of trying it. Also, I switched the groupset from Campy 11sp Centaur to 12sp Record - sourced the parts slightly used for cheap. Mechanical rim brake stuff isn't really worth much any more in this day and age. The build turned out very nice. The seatpost clamping area holds up. The BB did not cause me any trouble. The cups screwed right in, the cranks spin smoothly. Headtube bearing seats were slightly less tight on this frame, but the surface was a lot nicer finished. On my first frame it looked kinda rough. On this, it seems it was finished with some kind of lacquer coating. Again, I needed to drill the rear brake cable exit hole at the top tube. I explicitly told Chris at VB to make sure it's properly sized and he promised to take care of it. But alas, I guess stuff like this is just something you need to be prepared to do with Chiner frames. I got another one of the superlight SROAD cassettes. A 12sp 11-32 cassette made from one block of steel, weighing about 215g. They only had it in stock in rainbow colors. Wouldn't have been my favorite choice but now that it's on the bike, I quite like it. I found these one piece cassettes to transfer more noise, especially in combination with deep wheels. So if you like your drivetrain to be dead silent, they might not be the best choice. The build turned out very nice. I really like the bike. I dropped some weight in the process. This build as pictured, including all accessories (without Wahoo, bottles and saddle bag of course) does now weigh 7.6kg for the biggest available frame size (XXL/54). Thanks also to madmax for giving me setup tips with Record 12sp. May 16, 2023, 01:35:55 AM |
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Re: Velobuild VB-R-168 Frame
Make sure you tell that to Velobuild. More people saying that can only mean change for the better.
May 16, 2023, 02:09:17 AM |
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Re: Never gravelled before - need suggestions
My tip would be not to go for Chinese groupsets, but look second hand or at sales. You can find new parts on second hand sites for about half the price of new. If you have patience you can get most of the parts you need at a good price. When I replaced my Sensah SRX with Shimano GRX I got one never used shifter at half price and 2 never used 105 callipers incl hoses for the price of one new calliper. And if you want to go 2x11 you can find Ultegra groupsets for cheap since a lot of people are upgrading to 2x12. May 16, 2023, 04:08:50 AM |
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!!!! 