Yeah, I’d you compare the entry level TT bike I see what you’re saying
But I’m getting a super light frame, painted so it’s unique, and the value calc is much different
For me to buy a similarly light road bike, would be someone near ~$5k. And to get custom painted would be another $500+?
Yeah, I’d you compare the entry level TT bike I see what you’re saying
But I’m getting a super light frame, painted so it’s unique, and the value calc is much different
For me to buy a similarly light road bike, would be someone near ~$5k. And to get custom painted would be another $500+?
Yeah I don’t have a problem buying Chinese, would love to get a custom painted frame and build it up. Hopefully the prices will come down at some point.
You realize there’s a lot more to what goes into a bike frame than just the manufacturing, right?
Marketing, lots of marketing.
You gotta be kidding me if you think this thread is really about xenophobia - it’s NOT.
I’m sure it’s not in most cases. However, there is a huge difference between buying ‘copies’ manufactured in the far east, buying open moulds and then ‘buying chinese’.
People who keep referring to this debate as inferring some kind of a choice between buying ‘chinese or not’ are not reflecting the differences I mention above and demonstrates a ridiculous understanding of just how good many manufacturing companies are out there at the moment, let alone that many products and components in your home or in your sports bag may well have originated in that part of the world.
I would suggest if people are going to refer to a bike frame purchase, be as specific as you can in its actual brand or factory (as many have done above with places like Dengfu, etc) as we would be with any other product or brand. That will be really helpful for those of us looking to source goods and more helpful than generalising it to a whole country of origin.
You gotta be kidding me if you think this thread is really about xenophobia - it’s NOT.
I’m sure it’s not in most cases. However, there is a huge difference between buying ‘copies’ manufactured in the far east, buying open moulds and then ‘buying chinese’.
People who keep referring to this debate as inferring some kind of a choice between buying ‘chinese or not’ are not reflecting the differences I mention above and demonstrates a ridiculous understanding of just how good many manufacturing companies are out there at the moment, let alone that many products and components in your home or in your sports bag may well have originated in that part of the world.
I would suggest if people are going to refer to a bike frame purchase, be as specific as you can in its actual brand or factory (as many have done above with places like Dengfu, etc) as we would be with any other product or brand. That will be really helpful for those of us looking to source goods and more helpful than generalising it to a whole country of origin.
Actually, it almost certainly is an issue of chinese vs not for this discussion.
Carbon fiber bicycle manufacturing, as far as I know, is almost entirely in Taiwan and China. And most of the no-name/unknown frames sold are from China, not Taiwan. (If there are other significant worldwide bicycle CF manufacturers you know of, let me know - I’m curious!). In this specific case, when people refer to chinese-no-name-carbon bike frames, that is actually very specific, and more often than not, especially for this thread, not meant to throw shade on an entire culture. Even though yes, I’m aware that you can easily do so if you are not careful with your terminology.
And when we’re talking about ‘no-name’ or ‘knockoff’ bike frames, by definition, it’s going to be hard about talking to actual brands or factories. Which is why I asked specifically about the known ‘good’ chinese factories in my prior thread, as it is helpful to differentiate those from the other ones out there that seem to be fly-by-night operations that come and go quickly, at least from product support perspective.
As much as I dislike generalizing and xenophobia, I think it’s fair to be wary of a lot of Chinese made products, because of practices allowed to be rampant there and the seemingly large amount of copycat products under “brand names” that are essentially letter soup. You make a fair point about talking about brands and factories vs country of origin, but I think in general the policies that enable such a mixed bag in quality and counterfeiting are worth commenting on. I enjoy guitars as well and there’s an issue with straight up copies of Gibson Les Pauls (branded as gibson) coming out of factories there, but there are also some good manufacturers not resorting to those practices. As you said, it would probably be more beneficial for folks to talk about the brands like Dengfu which stand behind their products and try to marginalize the fly by night brands making a quick buck making cheap copies with bad customer service, but I think it’s fair to more broadly comment on a system that allows such hit or miss stuff to proliferate. Just my fairly uninformed opinion!
My wife owned a bridal shop for a number of years. She also did alterations.
She would see the cheap Chinese dresses when I bride brought it in for altering. The quality was very poor and the brides figured that out after it was too late to get another dress.
I wonder what the QC is like on the knockoffs. I’d hate to be out on a ride and have an ill timed frame failure.
So I had a marketing email from Aliexpress, these “mavic” wheels are $136 for 30mm wheels from a shop with a generic name. Has to be legit, right???
So I had a marketing email from Aliexpress, these “mavic” wheels are $136 for 30mm wheels from a shop with a generic name. Has to be legit, right???
Those look like a pretty nice “alloy V brake bike wheels BMX road bike wheelset” to me… 
Hey don’t forget “Make the safest night driving”
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I don’t think Winspace count as a knock off brand. They have an importer here in the UK. They are obviously trying to build a brand name, sponsoring Minsk Conti cycling team and have employed Joe (aka China Cycling) a popular youtuber. This is probably why a number of other bloggers have had their wheels to review such as Hambini, Peak Torque & Cam Nichols through Joe. I think the T1500 used designers / engineers from outside China for aerodynamic input so I am guessing this will be computer rather than wind tunnel models. It seems a bit heavy compared to say a Venge, and know idea how it stacks up aerodynamically, but seems reasonable enough from the reviews if not ground breaking. I would say Costello is more playing on the copy thing as one of their bikes looks very Cervelo S3 like! I think there are a number of brands particularly for wheels (rg light bicycle, Farsports, Yoleo) that are trying to grow their reputation and direct to market credentials.
For many years I buy stuff through aliexpress, in general satisfied with the products, but… just bought a rear rim brake disc wheel through the shop “Acesprint”, can only say keep your hands off that shop, the ordered wheel was out of true by quite a margin and the finish and product itself was of bad quality. The hooks left/right had a difference in thickness of one mm.
Asked seller if they would pay shipment upon returning, but they kept me on the long line without giving me a answer to my question.
There are many good options on Aliexpress to chose from, but defenitely not Acesprint.
What do you mean? You design the frame and then you manufacture it…really, that’s it. Are you talking about support after purchasing ? I have heard it’s pretty good for Dengfu and others.
Lots of misconception here.
People assuming all Chinese carbon bikes are the same (or even remotely similar) is like telling those billionaires who died in the submarine that all submarines are pretty much the same if they’re made of steel.
Just way too expensive. I’m not sure who is buying these bikes.
I don’t have anything to say about bikes like the WinSpace. They may have features thar are similar to name brands, but they clearly aren’t what I would consider a forgery.
I did see a “Cervelo S5” on one of the Facebook groups, where someone was asking what model year it was. The answer was that it was a $1600 Chinese bike that had been painted to exactly match the current S5. It also had some knockoff ENVE wheels, but unless you really knew what you were looking at, there was no way 90% of customers would know it was a complete scam… You get the impression that the guy asking the question because he was thinking of buying it, so I think that is the real problem.