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Re: Patty's Long Rant and Guide To Affordable Frames
I'm going to be brutally honest here as well. I'm likely one of the "super experienced members" you mentioned. For about a decade, I've been assembling frames and wheels directly from China. My journey began with discovering groups like MTBR, iPlay, Pieter, etc., and eventually led me to chinertown.com Infinite thanks and love to Sitar_Ned!! I hope my contributions have helped build this fantastic forum and gave something back from what I learned here. I'm fortunate to have a well-paying job that allows me to build bikes for friends and family as a hobby, at no cost to them. My goal is to provide them with great bikes at fair prices and to make them happy. I'm historically particularly biased towards Carbonda and Lightbicycle, brands that you amusingly never mention. This isn't because they pay me (they don't). It's because, among all the providers I've tested, they have never let me down. Their products are neither the cheapest nor overly expensive. Moreover, if anything goes wrong, their customer support surpasses that of any Western brand I've dealt with. I understand that some people, like Trace Velo, Joe, to some extent Hambini, many others, maybe you, chasing followers to carve out a living on YouTube and social media. However, this has turned on the marketing machine around here. No-name frames are suddenly sub par, while stickered frames selling at double the price, or even worse, branded frames are the real deal. Persuading folks they need some stiffness and aero benefits only pros might need. And it works! People are seeking broader validation and rely on branded visuals to reassure themselves they're not making a misguided decision. It doesn’t bother me people trying do their thing on YouTube and elsewhere. But your arrival here has sadly contributed unintentionally to the spoiling of the pristine wilderness that Chinertown once was 
January 31, 2024, 05:19:05 AM |
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Re: Replica Factor Ostro VAM
I disagree because that line of reasoning is anti human and frankly just nihilistic, and ultimately puts on the same plane the worst criminals with the best operators. Or it ultimately implies that due diligence is useless. I do not think it is nihilistic. That is the consequence of virtually zero custom protection when purchasing through these channels. There is a reason why customer protection laws are established, or the situation would be very similar elsewhere. What good is an answer if you have no way of telling if it is accurate? Seller tells a buyer that the frame is 90% T800 and 10% T1100 - there is no way of knowing if its accurate (knowingly or unknowingly), but I understand why it can make the buyer more inclined to make the purchase. There are many motivations to give you a genuine answer, many motivations/reasons to not give you an answer at all - not necessarily due to malice or connected to quality of the product - and there are no repercussions either way whatsoever. I did not say that nobody can be trusted, but that empirical evidence is all that matters. Whether we like it or not, it is a gamble - even established, tested Chinese brands sometimes ship a flop. All of us are just trying to improve our odds, either by asking questions or relying on (someone's) first-hand experience. Edit: I don't know, perhaps it's just my job, where experimental evidence is the only thing that matters, manifesting... February 27, 2025, 10:16:29 AM |
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