New bike buildup - advice please

sirhcjw

Likes Bikes
Hello all I am looking to build up a new bike a light weight hardtail.

I have some new 26in wheels I bought for my existing bike so I will reuse these and stay 26in.

I am thinking a Chinese carbon frame with 1 x 10 ( 30 x 11-42 ) and a 120mm fork.

I have found one I think will be good so this is not another should I buy a Chinese carbon frame I am past that now I am just interested in peoples thoughts about geometry and setup.

My current bike is a 2009 Giant Talon 70 degree Head angle 100mm forks 680mm bars and 90mm stem.

I figured I wanted to go for a slacker head angle for more stability on the downhill stuff make it a bit more AM/Trail.

But when I started looking 70 degrees was the slackest head angle I could find.

I then stated doing some more reading and I think if I go with 120mm fork and a short stem ( 50mm ) and wider bars ( ~760mm ) I should be able to achieve what I want with this frame.

Here are the details, pics and the geometry of the frame I am thinking of buying

Weave 3k/12K/UD
Size 19"
BB BB68/BB30/PF30
Include Frame+Headset+seat clamp
Headset TOP:1-1/8" DOWN:1-1/2"
Weight Frame: 980 g +/-40g
Cable System Internal Cable
Test (CEN +20% ) /SGS Test .
Warranty Two Years Time Warranty

geometry.jpg

1.jpg

2.jpg
 

Jeff BG

Squid
Have you started already?
Chinese carbon frame and Downhill stuff? They don´t belong together in my opinion. Noname carbon frames are much worse than proper but cheap mountain bikes online. You get the most of handling from stem, which you can change later if the feeling´s not right.
Let us know how you´re doing.
 

nzdans

Likes Dirt
No personal experience here but have a mate who got pretty beat up after some Chinese carbon let go.. Interestingly enough he also has a couple of (custom) Chinese Ti frames; they seem pretty good value.
 

Flow-Rider

Burner
I have owned a Chinese frame for about 6 months without any major issues. It's sort of a copy of an early model Scotts Spark with some differences. I didn't have the money to buy anything exotic, I wanted to try something in the XC field and only needed a frame. Most of the crap I have bought second hand has had some type of major problem so I decided to buy new, especially when you are talking about carbon. I'm not going to pay or prepared to pay 3/4 of new price without any warranty on a frame and without knowing the true history of it.

I have roughly done about 45kms a week on it and actually thrown the bike around on the trails without too many issues bar there is a slight bit of play in the bottom pivot bearings which I would expect on most bikes ridden over rough terrain. A lot of blokes I ride with have had their top end bikes crack or fail, like Santa Cruz and Ibis so it's not just Chinese frames that fail. I plan on getting something a bit better in the future that suits me with geometry possibly with a bit more travel but I wouldn't let it put you off on buying a Chinese frame. Part of the choice for buying the frame was to convert all my parts over from another bike without having to modify or change them, where if I had bought something normal all the standards for wheels and etc. are different and would require a complete bike.



20151014_164538.jpg
 
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JTmofo

XC Enthusiast
A lot of blokes I ride with have had their top end bikes crack or fail, like Santa Cruz and Ibis so it's not just Chinese frames that fail.
I think most people forget that 90%+ of carbon frames/Rims/parts are made in China or Taiwan anyway.......
 

Calvin27

Eats Squid
I build a chinese frame with a mate and they are not too bad. *Disclaimer we are both aerospace engineers and have decent CF experience. Some summarised experiences:

- Frame generally holds up ok. Some sections seem a bit thin for my liking but have held up pretty good in the 1000km so far.
- Fork was good as well (rigid)
- Chainstays are a little flexy in the left/rigth direction and very stiff in the up/down axis - this may be model specific, I don't know. The problem is chinese carbon manufacturers pretty much compete on weight - no one picks out stiffness as a performance metric, probably because there is no agreed standard.
- The claimed weights were spot on.
- Frame and fork interface were good
- Bottom bracket was good as well, we didn't need to face or anything.
- Dropouts are not perfect but not really noticable unless you are very meticulous, I doubt this would affect performance. We stuch a bare rim and noticed a significant problem with centering but then we found out that the axle was at fault, not the drop out. Still it wasn't 100% straight but not enough to be worried about it.
- The brake mounts were the worst. Do an online search and this is a problem for a lot of these frames - some are better than others. We had to custom mill a brake adaptor because the threaded holes were not straight at the rear. Front was ok. Anyhow this was probably the most annoying problem.

So in summary, do your research. Brands differ and even within one brand they may change design/mould and that changes the quality. The MTBR forums have a whole mega thread or two on this.

Good luck, hope this helps.
 
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Flow-Rider

Burner
I think most people forget that 90%+ of carbon frames/Rims/parts are made in China or Taiwan anyway.......
Yes for sure, I'm not going to say they are the best for everyone and possibly not built to the same standards as well known brands. I alternate between two bikes so it's never going to get ridden more than a few kms a week and the warranty part is a bit harder than just cruising into your LBS. The same manufacturer of the frame actually make their own carbon rims also.
 
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teK--

Eats Squid
Rather than say most/all products from a certain country are good or bad consider that any country including China can make a quality of product relative to any price level at the buyer's request. If you only want to pay bottom level prices then that's usually what you get in terms of quality.
 

golden path

Banned
I think most people forget that 90%+ of carbon frames/Rims/parts are made in China or Taiwan anyway.......
The difference being a big name brand will have more rigid production and QC standards and they are more accountable than some mystery seller or factory somewhere that may not.
 
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