I thought some people might be interested in my experience so here goes.
This is the first time buying from China, and the experience has been good so far.
Transaction was by email and payment through paypal.
The frame was at my door within a week.
Note:
I own or have owned in the past Dual, P3SL, P2SL, P2c, Felt DA (08), Airfoil Pro SL, SLC-SL, Trek SC 7.0, and a couple of other road bikes; this is more of a fun project than a bike i plan to race regularly on. at least it was the case at the time when i ordered it.
The frame i decided to get was :
Apologies if the pics turn out very big.
So the frame arrived very well packaged with all the crush spacers in place in the dropouts, and the BB, headtube had protective rubber covers in place too. Very impressed. Better packed than my cervelos.
Actual frame looks like this:
At first glance my main concern was the shape of the rear cutout and whether it would mate well to a rear wheel at all.
Well as it turns out, it was better than expected. Just a bit of daylight at the bottom.
Top tube cable routing with cable guides. Bare gear cables run in the downtube to save weight. i will put some liner when i do the build to eliminate friction but very cool feature. rear brake routing appears to require the whole housing, which is fine by me. the rear brake always tends to get a bit sticky on my cervelos after a while.
dropped downtube for improved aerodynamics. seems to mate well with a 3T fork. but i will be using a blackwell time bandit with it instead of the provided fork, which is a dead ringer for an Easton EC90 Aero.
Bottom bracket area is very clean. BB86 which is a bit of a pain since i am using a Sram Quarq and BB86 is a standard used by Giant (guess where this mold was adapted from) and Scott, both of whom are not big on Sram at least in my country, so i had to buy the press fit BB separately off Ebay. That part is still in the hands of USPS so can't build the frame yet.
Headtube is also fairly sleek. similar to a P2/P3 shape but slightly thicker. Widest point is 2.5mm wider on either side than a 1 1/8" headset bearing cup.
The headtube takes a campag compatible 1 1/8" headset which was another pain for me. i have cane creek compatible headsets on all my other bikes so again i had to buy this off Ebay and again its still in the mail.
Other things i like:
replaceable RD hanger.
Dual bottle cage bosses ( with slight kamm recess for bottle on downtube):
Transition-like seat and chainstays but not so narrow that they affect my wheel choices:
Plenty of clearance for an 808 firecrest:
Haven't got my digital scale with me and i can't seem to find my calipers, but frame weighs about 1.4-1.5kg. downtube width is slightly fatter than the cervelo and Trek SC but definitely narrower than a kestrel. top tube is narrower than both the SC and the cervelo, especially as it tapers towards the seatpost.
Gripes:
BB86; would have preferred BB30 or BSA as it's easier to source parts but i think this is because of the mold it was adapted from.
Horizontal rear drop outs do not have set screws so i do have to rely on feel to set the spacing but it's not a deal breaker. The rear wheel is never supposed to slip even without screws anyway.
Campy compatible headset required. ok now i'm nitpicking but i would have preferred a cane creek standard.
Likes:
conventional rear brake placement
rear wheel cutout is fairly well designed
cable guides in place
top tube cable routing
dual bottle cage bosses
dropped downtube
slim headtube
**PRICE** (OK after the cost of the headset and BB adaptor the cost went up a bit but overally still pretty damn good value for money. i'd bet good money that it's more aero than a P3SL/P2C)
Geometry is quite middle of the road.
i will post more pics as i build this up once the headset and BB adaptors are in.
This is the first time buying from China, and the experience has been good so far.
Transaction was by email and payment through paypal.
The frame was at my door within a week.
Note:
I own or have owned in the past Dual, P3SL, P2SL, P2c, Felt DA (08), Airfoil Pro SL, SLC-SL, Trek SC 7.0, and a couple of other road bikes; this is more of a fun project than a bike i plan to race regularly on. at least it was the case at the time when i ordered it.
The frame i decided to get was :
Apologies if the pics turn out very big.
So the frame arrived very well packaged with all the crush spacers in place in the dropouts, and the BB, headtube had protective rubber covers in place too. Very impressed. Better packed than my cervelos.
Actual frame looks like this:
At first glance my main concern was the shape of the rear cutout and whether it would mate well to a rear wheel at all.
Well as it turns out, it was better than expected. Just a bit of daylight at the bottom.
Top tube cable routing with cable guides. Bare gear cables run in the downtube to save weight. i will put some liner when i do the build to eliminate friction but very cool feature. rear brake routing appears to require the whole housing, which is fine by me. the rear brake always tends to get a bit sticky on my cervelos after a while.
dropped downtube for improved aerodynamics. seems to mate well with a 3T fork. but i will be using a blackwell time bandit with it instead of the provided fork, which is a dead ringer for an Easton EC90 Aero.
Bottom bracket area is very clean. BB86 which is a bit of a pain since i am using a Sram Quarq and BB86 is a standard used by Giant (guess where this mold was adapted from) and Scott, both of whom are not big on Sram at least in my country, so i had to buy the press fit BB separately off Ebay. That part is still in the hands of USPS so can't build the frame yet.
Headtube is also fairly sleek. similar to a P2/P3 shape but slightly thicker. Widest point is 2.5mm wider on either side than a 1 1/8" headset bearing cup.
The headtube takes a campag compatible 1 1/8" headset which was another pain for me. i have cane creek compatible headsets on all my other bikes so again i had to buy this off Ebay and again its still in the mail.
Other things i like:
replaceable RD hanger.
Dual bottle cage bosses ( with slight kamm recess for bottle on downtube):
Transition-like seat and chainstays but not so narrow that they affect my wheel choices:
Plenty of clearance for an 808 firecrest:
Haven't got my digital scale with me and i can't seem to find my calipers, but frame weighs about 1.4-1.5kg. downtube width is slightly fatter than the cervelo and Trek SC but definitely narrower than a kestrel. top tube is narrower than both the SC and the cervelo, especially as it tapers towards the seatpost.
Gripes:
BB86; would have preferred BB30 or BSA as it's easier to source parts but i think this is because of the mold it was adapted from.
Horizontal rear drop outs do not have set screws so i do have to rely on feel to set the spacing but it's not a deal breaker. The rear wheel is never supposed to slip even without screws anyway.
Campy compatible headset required. ok now i'm nitpicking but i would have preferred a cane creek standard.
Likes:
conventional rear brake placement
rear wheel cutout is fairly well designed
cable guides in place
top tube cable routing
dual bottle cage bosses
dropped downtube
slim headtube
**PRICE** (OK after the cost of the headset and BB adaptor the cost went up a bit but overally still pretty damn good value for money. i'd bet good money that it's more aero than a P3SL/P2C)
Geometry is quite middle of the road.
i will post more pics as i build this up once the headset and BB adaptors are in.
