Have you had a bad experience with a Chinese frame?
Not aimed at you in particular but the inferred closet xenophobia in this thread is a little surprising.
That’s also generally BS. Chinese, Taiwanes parts are covered with warranty the same way other products from any part of the world.
I had the best customer service from parts ordered directly in China, received replacement parts in less than a week (all the way across the globe!). Wich I can’t say from many, many known big brand manufacturers.
Louis 
Depends on which company you order from.
I’ve ordered small parts from several companies in China - all of them took 3 months to arrive. I emailed one with a question about one, never heard back. Two of those companies outright disappeared less than 6 months after they showed up.
This is not unique as well - look on Amazon.com and just look at how many ‘weird’ chinese bike companies, chinese bike jersey manufacturers, etc. have proliferated, and then check back again in 6 months and over half of them will have changed names or straight up disappeared. So forget about whatever warrantee, etc. And you want to try suing a Chinese company with zero US presence for a catastrophic failure where you get injured? Good luck with that.
You pay more for US-based customer service, and for the most part, as of now, it’s more reliable than all these companies I’ve mentioned.
I will acknowledge that it may be different if there is a ‘good’ CF provider, possibly like that one linked to in the youtube above, but you’re also paying more for that as well.
Did yo0u buy from Dengfu? That’s a company whose frames are mentioned a lot here, with people having success, but even there, you have to buy from Aliexpress (at least I couldn’t buy directly from their website). I know Aliexpress isn’t the end of the world, but that’s one online merchant site that at least from the US, I’m not comfortable dropping $1000+ on, at least right now.
Again, there is nothing relating specifically asian bike companies to bad service.
The worst products and service I ever had from bike companies was from…US ones.
Bad products, no return calls, company shut down and disappeared with my $$, arrgghh !
The problem is more with customers. They don’t do their homework before buying stuff.
I’m including myself. I bought stupidly cheap stuff that didn’t even last one ride, like bottle cages from unknown seller, and THESE were knockoffs.
For rims, and frames I shopped a while, and asked many questions before buying first.
I had great success buying carbon rims from Flybike Sports, who sold me in-house manufactured rims, but also re-sales (CX and MTB Frames) from Deng-Fu Bikes. My first rims were built in 2015, they have approx. 25 000 km’s had a few high speed bike crashes, and still running fine. They’re tubular rims, so the build is stronger than a clincher rim.
I also bought Carbon rims from Farsports. Flawless, very nice quality rims.
I bought a TT frame from Fllyxiii, built but never used it. I lent it to my son-in-law (150 lbs, 320W FTP). The seatpost-seat tube bond isn’t very grippy, like many older Cervelo P series experienced, but other than that he says the frame is ok (he’s coming from a Louis Garneau TT frame).
Louis
Again, there is nothing relating specifically asian bike companies to bad service.
The worst products and service I ever had from bike companies was from…US ones.
Bad products, no return calls, company shut down and disappeared with my $$, arrgghh !
The problem is more with customers. They don’t do their homework before buying stuff.
I’m including myself. I bought stupidly cheap stuff that didn’t even last one ride, like bottle cages from unknown seller, and THESE were knockoffs.
For rims, and frames I shopped a while, and asked many questions before buying first.
I had great success buying carbon rims from Flybike Sports, who sold me in-house manufactured rims, but also re-sales (CX and MTB Frames) from Deng-Fu Bikes. My first rims were built in 2015, they have approx. 25 000 km’s had a few high speed bike crashes, and still running fine. They’re tubular rims, so the build is stronger than a clincher rim.
I also bought Carbon rims from Farsports. Flawless, very nice quality rims.
I bought a TT frame from Fllyxiii, built but never used it. I lent it to my son-in-law (150 lbs, 320W FTP). The seatpost-seat tube bond isn’t very grippy, like many older Cervelo P series experienced, but other than that he says the frame is ok (he’s coming from a Louis Garneau TT frame).
Louis
It’s helpful to know which are the ‘good’ chinese companies to consider, thanks for the info.
Importantly though, what merchant platform do you use to order Flybike and Dengfu? Aliexpress? That itself is a no-go for me, hopefully there are other options.
I found a way to order directly from them. Flybike “officially” sells only through Ebay (maybe Aliexpress but I never shopped there) if I remember.
It helps to gather meaningful information from any seller you’re dealing with on your PC. I remember returning emails with the sales responsible, he was telling me he wouldn’t be available between some dates because they had a booth a the biggest asian bike shows then (Taipei, etc…), wich I verified…
I even “pushed the enveloppe” as far as buying stuff with multiple payments (because I’m so cheap), never had problems ;-).
Back to Winspace, there’s a review of their wheels from Hambini somewhere on Youtube (positive review !), might be something to look for :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdHhfcU_wmw
Louis
What is your issue with AliExpress? It is one of the worlds largest retail sites.
I have been using light bike wheel sets for cyclocross for a while since I have limited live expectations there. They have held up incredibly well and hurts a bit less in the budget when you have three sets of kids racing.
This sums it up. There are plenty of reviews and comparisons online. You pay a little less for . Bought a frame out of curiosity and it was ok, but material and workmanship was kind of crappy. Quality isn’t consistent and some vendors are better than others.
What is your issue with AliExpress? It is one of the worlds largest retail sites.
I have been using light bike wheel sets for cyclocross for a while since I have limited live expectations there. They have held up incredibly well and hurts a bit less in the budget when you have three sets of kids racing.
I’ve read too many scams on there that were legit scams. Even now, do I really want to be shopping on a website where outright knockoffs are sold wide in the open? I mean, ok, if you’re willing to tolerate counterfits as well as potentially very poor quality with no recourse, sure, but when you’re talking $500+ like typical carbon frames, it’s a whole different ballgame. Plus, even with reputable companies, things can go wrong - with shipping, damage, lost items, etc. Do I really want to be messing with Aliexpress for something like that from the US?
Depends on what you price/risk tolerance is.
No, there is no warranty. You need to buy from legitimate sellers, just like on amazon, ebay, marketplace, etc. Its always a risk if you don’t do your homework.
This doesn’t worry me though, since the vast majority of my bikes are bought used over the internet where I have no recourse against these things either, and actually lesser so than via Aliexpress. With three kids and me racing three or four disciplines, we go through a lot of equipment. Buying new for a frame that might only fit for one season doesn’t make sense in my world. We buy, sell, trade, and barter every few months.
So for Aliexpress, is probably lower risk than majority of the rest of my internet deals. Luckily I have done well, minus almost every bike ending up with some scratches in shipping at least. People and more so local bike shops need to work on packing and wrapping skills.
Have you had a bad experience with a Chinese frame?
Not aimed at you in particular but the inferred closet xenophobia in this thread is a little surprising.
I understand where you are coming from but as a person that has used and am looking for new frames I’d like to know from which company a bad experience has been had so I can avoid them.
Could be quality or even service. If I need a part like a seatpost or fork, it is available? Has the shipping been poor? Did something like sizing not match up?
I’d like to know.
Have you had a bad experience with a Chinese frame?
Not aimed at you in particular but the inferred closet xenophobia in this thread is a little surprising.
Thank you for bringing this up. We can mark this thread for review next time Dan talks about why triathlon has a problem with D&I
Have you had a bad experience with a Chinese frame?
Not aimed at you in particular but the inferred closet xenophobia in this thread is a little surprising.
Thank you for bringing this up. We can mark this thread for review next time Dan talks about why triathlon has a problem with D&I
You gotta be kidding me if you think this thread is really about xenophobia - it’s NOT.
We’re debating the pros and cons of buying frames, possibly from upstart no-name Chinese brands (could be any country, but China happens to be a big purveyor as of now) so we’re asking which ones are ‘reliable’, and also pointing out that Aliexpress has significant purchase risk - to the point that it’s worth reminding folks that BUYER BEWARE is in full force, and that you HAVE to do your research before buying - a lot moreso than if you bought for example Specialized bike from a certified vendor. For example, I like the idea of considering Dengfu frames after the posts above, but I still won’t go Aliexpress and would likely try and buy it directly as louis did above.
Have you had a bad experience with a Chinese frame?
Not aimed at you in particular but the inferred closet xenophobia in this thread is a little surprising.
Thank you for bringing this up. We can mark this thread for review next time Dan talks about why triathlon has a problem with D&I
You gotta be kidding me if you think this thread is really about xenophobia - it’s NOT.
We’re debating the pros and cons of buying frames, possibly from upstart no-name Chinese brands (could be any country, but China happens to be a big purveyor as of now) so we’re asking which ones are ‘reliable’, and also pointing out that Aliexpress has significant purchase risk - to the point that it’s worth reminding folks that BUYER BEWARE is in full force, and that you HAVE to do your research before buying - a lot moreso than if you bought for example Specialized bike from a certified vendor. For example, I like the idea of considering Dengfu frames after the posts above, but I still won’t go Aliexpress and would likely try and buy it directly as louis did above.
You’re right, most of the respondents, like yourself, are working to specify companies rather than the industry so I apologize. There are a couple in here though and the thread name isn’t really indicative to the actual conversation happening here, especially as it seems it has been agreed that the frame in question isn’t actually a “knock off”
Like the Chinese wheels, way over priced, PITA if there are warranty issues and resale is horrendous.
Life’s too short to ride a POS Chinese knock-off
Wow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMgvvKt4RDk
These guys did a pretty thourough inspection of the frame and ended up thinking otherwise.
Louis
I have no problem with cheap chinese frames per se, but I do have a problem if they are passing off counterfeit frames as the genuine article
I also would not have a problem riding a cheap frame knowing that the extra weight compared to a “big name” brand probably means that catastrophic is unlikely
However, I would have a problem with riding a cheap frame that is also light.
That is a recipe for disaster when you dont know exactly what you’re buying.
And as an Australian, I currently have an issue with buying ANYTHING that is made in China as the CCP continues to try and bully Australia into silencing our opposition to their current political direction.
My first few road bikes are from Dengfu. Super Cheap
This seems to be some urban myth that wheels and frames from China are cheap. They’re not. In Australia you can get a new Cervelo P2 for US $2300. If you’re looking at a reputable Chinese company like Yoleo or Winspace a TT frame is around $1600 which leaves $700 to buy:
bars
bar tape
groupset
wheels
tyres
tubes
pedals
seatpost
saddle
Even if you managed to keep the price close to $2300 by sourcing 2nd hand parts you would have a bike that is going to depreciate a truckload more than a Cervelo.
My frames and wheels have been super cheap.
My Dengfu frames, painted to my liking with fork, seat tube, bars, etc came to my door for around $800
I always have extra wheels on hand, and everything else comes in at around $1000-1200
Way more bang for buck w a Chinese frame.
I ride them into the ground, and the $800 frame gets tossed, I buy again and repeat.
Hard to beat the value IMO
My first few road bikes are from Dengfu. Super Cheap
This seems to be some urban myth that wheels and frames from China are cheap. They’re not. In Australia you can get a new Cervelo P2 for US $2300. If you’re looking at a reputable Chinese company like Yoleo or Winspace a TT frame is around $1600 which leaves $700 to buy:
bars
bar tape
groupset
wheels
tyres
tubes
pedals
seatpost
saddle
Even if you managed to keep the price close to $2300 by sourcing 2nd hand parts you would have a bike that is going to depreciate a truckload more than a Cervelo.
The key point here is REPUTABLE.
For sure, there used to be more not-that-reputable carbon frames being sold for in the $500-$700 that the ‘real’ version frame would be $1500+.
Heck, my carbon handlebars from such a no-name company for my road bike (this company has managed to ‘disappear’ a year after I bought from them) were like $60 shipped! (Back at the time I bought them, the most inexpensive carbon road handlebar was $250+. I wanted carbon to avoid rust issues under the tape, was a good decision.)
Which Dengfu frames do you like?
I’m not interested in buy a frame now but I have a lot of friends that are in the market.
My frames and wheels have been super cheap.
My Dengfu frames, painted to my liking with fork, seat tube, bars, etc came to my door for around $800
I always have extra wheels on hand, and everything else comes in at around $1000-1200
Way more bang for buck w a Chinese frame.
I ride them into the ground, and the $800 frame gets tossed, I buy again and repeat.
Hard to beat the value IMO
How’s that more bang for your buck? You’ve spent $2k on a bike with no wheels that will get tossed in a few years vs $2.3k for a new Cervelo P2 with wheels that you can probably sell for $1500 in a few years.
Which Dengfu frames do you like?
I’m not interested in buy a frame now but I have a lot of friends that are in the market.
I most recently had the R01, which is as just about as light as the cervelo r5
Previously I had the fm098. This one looks closer to the previously version of the venge.
Would have no issues recommending either