Chinese carbon frame and wheels thread

[Mitchd]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum, but had been reading this thread over past few weeks as part of my research on purchasing a set of carbon wheels. Finally took the plunge and bought a set of 23mm width 50mm carbon clinchers from wheelsfar (i believe same as farsports). Great communication and got them within 7 days of ordering!! Very happy.

Wheels look great and all seems ok, though i had a real effort getting the tyres on (i had recalled reading they can be a tight fit and this was certainly the case).

But first ride and no issues at all, though braking is clearly not as good as with alu rims, though might improve as they wear in??

My main question and concern, is i am having trouble getting the rear brake pad low enough to get below the red line (5mm from edge i believe). It is very close but probably 1-2 mm off this, and i wanted to know if this is likely to be an issue (i assume it is mostly risk of tyre blowout?).

If so, any tips to get the pads just that bit lower, without having to replace them completely
- I thought about filing out the housing hole a little more to lower it slightly, but being a carbon frame i am concerned about this effecting the strength/integrity of the frame. Any thoughts?
- Alternatively i could cut a thin sliver off the brake pad itself to make it a little narrower.

As an aside, i note that the directions they give for brake pad alignment dont leave much leeway between the red line (5mm from rim) and bottom of the brake track.

Interested to hear if others had similar issues and if so any solutions.

I am using swisstop yellow.

Cheers,
Mitch

[kylefoo]

Are any of your hubs use ceramics bearings? I am looking at the 50mm carbon & alloy clincher wheels(1500g +/-30g) but want ceramic bearings. What are the Bitex hubs and Yuhubs?

Hello Nailsaslegs, yeah we supply ceramic hub--ED ceramic, only 260g/set. the weight of 50mm carbon&alloy clincher wheels is 1550g/set+/-30g, more details you can write emails to me.

[flex5150]

No, divots. Verneers still measure even rim width around entire circumference. Great braking up until about 500ks. Then thudding not pulsing on front. You can feel the depressions with your fingers and its only the one spot.
Bought thru velobuild. But can't be f'd with the whole send it back at your expense crap ill have a dip at fixing it. And may get a replacement front wheel or rim if fixing fails.
All that said I really like the wheels and is hardly worth selling them given the price they fetch 2nd hand.

UPDATE,
re measured the front 38mm farsport carbon clincher. Re the thudding. The width at the circumferance is indeed uneven as crawf suggested. 80% of the wheel is 20.6mm but the area around the thuding ( valve hole area) is 21.38 approx.

been in touch with Kyle and Mae at farsport...we'll see what happens as I can find the velo build order or receipt.

[biker jk]

Hi All,

I am new to this forum, but had been reading this thread over past few weeks as part of my research on purchasing a set of carbon wheels. Finally took the plunge and bought a set of 23mm width 50mm carbon clinchers from wheelsfar (i believe same as farsports). Great communication and got them within 7 days of ordering!! Very happy.

Wheels look great and all seems ok, though i had a real effort getting the tyres on (i had recalled reading they can be a tight fit and this was certainly the case).

But first ride and no issues at all, though braking is clearly not as good as with alu rims, though might improve as they wear in??

My main question and concern, is i am having trouble getting the rear brake pad low enough to get below the red line (5mm from edge i believe). It is very close but probably 1-2 mm off this, and i wanted to know if this is likely to be an issue (i assume it is mostly risk of tyre blowout?).

If so, any tips to get the pads just that bit lower, without having to replace them completely
- I thought about filing out the housing hole a little more to lower it slightly, but being a carbon frame i am concerned about this effecting the strength/integrity of the frame. Any thoughts?
- Alternatively i could cut a thin sliver off the brake pad itself to make it a little narrower.

As an aside, i note that the directions they give for brake pad alignment dont leave much leeway between the red line (5mm from rim) and bottom of the brake track.

Interested to hear if others had similar issues and if so any solutions.

I am using swisstop yellow.

Cheers,
Mitch

You can purchase brake pad holders which lower the brake pads by around 7mm.

http://bdopcycling.com/BDop%20Offset%20Holders.asp

[Crawf]

People thinking about purchasing clinchers from Farsports should really think long and hard, the chances are very high that you'll get a set of 'surging' rims, we know QC is an issue with Chinese gear but it seems to have gone to a whole new level with these uneven rim widths. I have plenty of cheap Chinese carbon parts and will continue to buy them but the rims - no way.

[ldrcycles]

Wrong link biker jk.

[biker jk]

Wrong link biker jk.

Thanks. Now fixed.

[trailgumby]

UPDATE,
re measured the front 38mm farsport carbon clincher. Re the thudding. The width at the circumferance is indeed uneven as crawf suggested. 80% of the wheel is 20.6mm but the area around the thuding ( valve hole area) is 21.38 approx.

been in touch with Kyle and Mae at farsport...we'll see what happens as I can find the velo build order or receipt.

Wow, that's a huge difference.

[rjk]

i have carbon wheels from http://www.light-bicycle.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; these are cx/29er disc rims.

Over 12 months old now and bullet proof

[warthog1]

There is a bloke where I live who has had a good run out yishun cc wheels. Are these ok or was he just lucky?

[mattwilkinson]

Most of the chinese carbon's are fine, It's just some get unlucky and some companies have stricter Quality Control then others

[defy1]

4000kms on mine..still good

[biker jk]

4000kms on mine..still good

That's less than four months riding for many. I have read quite a few wheelset reviews where the owners say they are happy because they have done a few thousand kms without problem but until you have covered a decent distance (say 15k) it's early days yet.

[warthog1]

Thanks but yes 4k isn't much. It's good they're not pulsing the brake already though. Some on here have had that almost straight away.

[Dr_Mutley]

Kyle I sent an email to mae about my faulty front farsport 38mm clincher I have had no reply in over one month. The wheel is only 500k old.

Hello Flex5150, so sorry to hear that.
About the faulty wheels, the solution can be like that, according to our warranty policy pls contact the person/salesman who you bought from, then he or she will
offer you a complaint sheet to fill in the related details, then he or she will forward the complaint sheet(given back by you) to Mae, who will deal with it diretly.

Hope this can help you.

kyle Sloppy Kiss

So u can't email and deal directly with the manufacturer about the warranty issue? Well that's disappointing...

[boss]

Kyle I sent an email to mae about my faulty front farsport 38mm clincher I have had no reply in over one month. The wheel is only 500k old.

Hello Flex5150, so sorry to hear that.
About the faulty wheels, the solution can be like that, according to our warranty policy pls contact the person/salesman who you bought from, then he or she will
offer you a complaint sheet to fill in the related details, then he or she will forward the complaint sheet(given back by you) to Mae, who will deal with it diretly.

Hope this can help you.

kyle Sloppy Kiss

So u can't email and deal directly with the manufacturer about the warranty issue? Well that's disappointing...

It's pretty standard... I guess it's the manufacturers way of ensuring you're the original purchaser.

[mitchy_]

thought i would put up my 2 cents...

i have a Flyxii FR-602 carbon disc CX. has been built up for about 3 months now and it has been a great success.

bought through ebay, delivery took ~1.5 weeks to the Gold Coast. no issues arose during assembly (apart from this idiot forgetting to order a headset, fortunately i had spare bearings floating around). finish was good, there was 1 minor imperfection on the underside of the seat stays near the seat tube, but not noticeable unless upside down.

it's currently built up at a smidge over 7kg, and gets ridden pretty hard daily (90kg rider who takes the odd dirt track and drops off kerbs) so far i have nothing but praise. it's in the process of being converted to drop bars now. i have a Sram Red right hand shifter/brake, and a Sram S900 carbon left hand brake to keep it as 1x10. brakes will be a Hope V-Twin Hydraulic setup as i currently have Hope hydraulic brakes on the flat bar setup, and they are fantastic too.

[Rex]

That looks freaking rad.

What wheels are they?

[mitchy_]

Crank Brothers Cobalt 3. they're a 29er wheel, which is perfect for a disc CX with 135 rear spacing. they are advertised at 1670 grams however mine were closer to 1780 so i'm a little disappointed at the weight, but they have proven pretty resilient for daily duties... contemplating a lighter wheel build though.

[jasonc]

mitchy. how aggressive would you say the frame is (in terms of geometry)?

[Crawf]

Damn you Mitch, damn you. That is potentially the ultimate commuter frame. I wish you hadn't posted considering I just finished my Ti commuter
Is there an eyelet on the rear seat stay bridge & BB area, how would a rear mudguard mount up?

[jasonc]

[Crawf]

May stop some dirt from hitting your a55, but the frame still gets covered in crap.

[mitchy_]

Damn you Mitch, damn you. That is potentially the ultimate commuter frame. I wish you hadn't posted considering I just finished my Ti commuter
Is there an eyelet on the rear seat stay bridge & BB area, how would a rear mudguard mount up?

swapsies?

mitchy. how aggressive would you say the frame is (in terms of geometry)?

being a CX frame, it's not too aggressive. it has a pretty relaxed head angle at ~70.5° for my 53cm frame.

[BenevolantDictatorD]

I followed this thread around a year ago and then went ahead and built up a bike based on a Hongfu frame, saddle and other carbon bits from various parts of China, and Wheelsfar wheels with SRAM Red running gear. It came out at around 5.5kgs bare for around $4k. Mind you- I bought when the dollar was US$1.05 so it was the right time to buy so it would be at least $5k now. As a novice at bike mechanics I made every mistake you could think, so I had quite a few "learning experiences" along the way but - I can now fix and maintain as necessary. Apart from the tubbies there is nothing special on the bike - nothing exotic - yet.

I have put my wheelsfar 25mm tubbies through quite a lot over the time since the build - including a long fast downhill bumpy dirt section that made me think of becoming religious! - and they haven't blinked. I bought a set of 50s for the "old" bike and am equally happy with them. All up I would have done around 15k kms and can't be happier. I broke one spoke - non-drive side rear - and replaced it with no problems - I'm just assuming it was a dodgy sapim spoke. I can't tell the difference in the braking between these rims and my old Ksyriums.

And for those that can't grasp the tubbie concept - ask a mountain biker how they deal with punctures and apply that to your road bike - easy.