So I've been having an issue with my IP-057 with the drivetrain popping after an upshift or downshift.  At first I kept thinking it was a problem with the rear derailleur or the chain.  I looked things over, removed the rear wheel, removed the XX1 cassette, re-greased everything, re-assemble and re-torqued everything and it was still making the same noise.  I continued looking and found the dropouts were loose, removed the screws, applied some blue Loctite to the screws and tightened them up.  Still no improvement but I'm glad I found the loose drop out screws and took care of them before a more major problem occurred.

Finally, I swapped the rear wheels on my IP-057 and IP-036, the popping then started in the IP-036 so now I knew it was an issue with the rear wheel.  So I removed the rear wheel and the cassette once more.  I then disassembled the rear hub and found my problem:



Notice the broken hub main body at the base of the pawls and the chunk of metal on the table next to the hub. 

I have been a fan of the Bitex hub due to the low cost and 6 pawl design.  The hub really has 6 twin pawls, as there are twelve pawls in the assembly.  Also the hub has 48T external tooth hub which gives it 7.5 deg of engagement.  The 6 pawls giving more distribution of torque over a 3 pawl design.

These hubs have at least a 1 year warranty and I have only had them since about June of 2014 so I decided to contact BiTex directly.  Being the weekend I did not expect a reply but amazingly enough, May at Bitex sent me an email saying they would be happy to ship me a replacement hub from Taiwan at no cost.  However, they said they have gone to a 54T design (6.67 deg of engagement) and I asked them if the could send the older design as I don't want to rebuild the wheel.  Perfectly happy with the 48T hub and I see no need to spend money to rebuild the wheel.  Bitex responded saying they would ship a 48T hub. 

I went ahead and cleaned and reassembled the hub, now that the loose chunk of metal is gone the hub is working fine even though the hub body is in poor condition.  I won't ride the bike on the trails until I get everything fixed but in the meantime it is rideable.  If Bitex was not going to warranty the hub, I had found a replacement Freehub for $35 on Ebay.  I might still order it for a spare, just in case.

If I were to purchase another wheelset, I'd seriously consider going with DT Swiss hubs as they appear to be a superior design with their Star-Rachet pawl design.  It's much simpler and would not be prone to breaking apart like this BiTex hub did.  However, a DT Swiss hub as about twice as expensive to start with.  HopePro Evo 2 hubs are also popular, they have a 4 pawl design and 40T (9 deg) of engagement and are about 30g heavier but are cheaper than the DT Swiss hubs and I would guess more robust.

All of us on Chinertown know that the Chiner frames are good and reasonably priced.  The frames are nothing fancy but they work well.

We also know that most if not all big name brands manufacture their carbon frames in China, possibly in the same factories.  Here is an excerpt from a story on MTBR about Intense Cycles.  Intense is a relatively newish brand that manufactures and sells lots of aluminum frames in the US but in the story, they freely admit their carbon frames come from China.

"Their carbon frames are made in China, since they have the best expertise in molding the raw carbon-fiber materials, and separate rear and front triangles are then shipped back to the factory for final assembly."

http://reviews.mtbr.com/factory-tour-intense-cycles

What other stories has everyone seen about the big name brands overseas manufacturing?

Ran across this website:
https://www.canyon.com/en/mountainbikes/bike.html?b=3656

They sell direct, complete bikes or framesets and have some impressive looking bikes.  What caught my eye was their Carbon Hardtail 29er with a Rockshox RS-1 (that's the new inverted fork) and DT Swiss Spline wheels for $3,499 Euros.  Not bad considering the fork alone is $1,500 and the wheelset is another $800 on eBay.  Not to mention, the front hub is unique for the RS-1 fork.

The website is nicely laid out the products appear to be high quality and not just run of the mill Chinese carbon frames.

As I continue to recover from my leg injury, I'm not sure how long it will be before I'm back on the trail flying down the bumpy downhill runs so I was thinking I would just ride my Chiners around the neighborhood for a while.  I even bought a set of flat pedals as my ankle doesn't twist so well for clipless pedals at the moment.

Then I was reading about the new Giant Flat Bar Disc bike.  A bit of a hybrid road/mountain bike.  Giant just came out with the 2015 model.  Carbon frame, disc brakes, flat bar.  For $1,750 you seem to get quite a bit for the money.  Maybe I need one of these to help speed my recovery .

Check out some pics:

Found a YouTube video showing several Fatbikes from one of the recent bike shows.  None were Chinese carbon but if you are getting ready to build a Fatbike the video may give you some ideas for component choices.

Enjoy!

Lots of new faces on Chinertown and I thought I'd start a new thread to find out what country, or state in the US, each of us lives.

Here is a list from members who have posted where they are from:

325racer -> Oceanside, Ca
Andy B. ->  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma USA
bdub -> Salt lake City, UT, USA
brmeyer135 ->Austin, TX, USA
byrt -> Western Australia
Carbon_Dude -> Atlanta, Georgia USA
carbonazza -> Brussels, Belgium
cmh -> Philadelphia, PA USA
Cnasta -> Nijmegen, The Netherlands
davidd -> Co.Clare , Ireland
davidriddel -> Canberra, Australia
ecaos -> Baja California, Mexico
Gliderboy -> Copenhagen, Denmark
JohnnyNT-> Gdansk/Poznan, Poland
jmorfe1925 -> Mexico Currently, Originally from Tacloban, Philippines
jwilds1 -> Downriver, Grosse Ile MI USA
mgy -> Hungary
Molothi -> Britany, France
mtber79779 -> NSW, Australia
MTB2223 -> Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
outriding9800 -> Rochester hills, Mi
Patrick C. -> West of Atlanta, GA USA
SamSkjord -> Bristol, UK
Sitar_Ned -> Arkansas, USA
trekcarbonboy -> Perkasie, PA
turboenterprise -> St. Louis, Missouri USA
Velofranner -> Århus, Denmark


This group is looking very diverse!

Hi Guys, wish I didn't but I did.  I broke my right leg (tibia & fibula) while on vacation last week.  A pretty bad break too, looks like I'll need surgery on it to make sure everything heals properly.  I will be glad to continue to give advice as I expect I will have plenty of time on the couch over the next few months.  Thanks in advance for the well wishes.

Not that I'm going to be changing out to Shimano anytime soon.  Particularly at those prices, people complain about SRAM's 1x setup being expensive, Shimano has set a new high for bicycle components.  Now a big brand bike with Shimano XTR electronic shifting will probably retail for $15,000.  Why so much?  Because someone will buy it.

http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Shimano/Shimano-XTR-11spd/?src=NEWSHIMANOXTR&trk_msg=FDULV8S2TADK7008VV8BSGV2NC&trk_contact=04AD1N40PM58R0LDIJ215I3RAG&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pricepoint.com%2fBrand%2fShimano%2fShimano-XTR-11spd%2f%3fsrc%3dNEWSHIMANOXTR&utm_campaign=20141110-NEWSHIMANOXTR