Chinese carbon frame and wheels thread

[MichaelB]

Just got an email that my Circus Monkey hubs have been shipped , so now the big question that still needs to be worked out is what rims.

Farsports 29er MTB (23mm wide x 23mm deep (AT) 370g each) or 38mm deep carbon jobbies (@430g ea).

Total wheelset weight would be 1,404g or 1,514g.

Damn A$ falling makes it harder to decide......

[Crawf]

The wheels went very well though rear wheel seemed to have minor vibratory rattle on the rougher bitumen. It wasn't loose spokes either. I think it is just that they are lighter and hollow under the carbon rim (I presume), so some noises are magnified. Apart from that, I am still amazed at how much easier it is to accelerate, a primary function of 650g lighter wheel weight.

Try some black plumbers tape over (pierced through the tape) the valves.

[PawPaw]

Try some black plumbers tape over (pierced through the tape) the valves.

Thanks Crawf, I was wondering if it was the longer valve stem moving around a bit, and will try dampening it. Its my first set of deep section carbon so all new to me.

[Crawf]

Still waiting on my order from Farsports, the est ship date was 2 weeks ago - still nothing sent, you'd think it would be reasonably easy to drill some extra holes in two rims and send them!
Definitely the slackest China carbon business I have dealt with yet.

[Abby]

I'm guessing these are almost a 'Chinese carbon clincher', just with an Italian name...

Only $700, which is pretty good value, even in comparison to what PawPaw ordered - although they are heavier (albeit fractionally deeper) at 1600g for the pair...

http://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/N6W ... d-wheelset

How is your wheelset going, PawPaw??

Cheers,
Abby

[Crawf]

But is says... "Ness Designed in Italy, Made in Taiwan"
Maybe the stickers are designed in Italy?
Certainly shedloads of NESS parts coming out of China, not sure about the Taiwan claim, unless they are Gigantex rims?

[twizzle]

But is says... "Ness Designed in Italy, Made in Taiwan"
Maybe the stickers are designed in Italy?
Certainly shedloads of NESS parts coming out of China, not sure about the Taiwan claim, unless they are Gigantex rims?

They are, and I have a dead rear in my shed I was given for parts after a spoke pulled through. The owner admits to hopping some kerbs though, so maybe not the fault of the rim. 96kg weight limit.

[PawPaw]

One of the other tips I've received for stopping the valve from rattling is to cut a piece of drinking straw to length,and slip over the valve,then screw the valve cap on.

Abby, the wheels are going great guns. Raced on Sat again in the wet at Nundah Dome and the wheels were not an issue. I still don't feel an aero benefit, but hard to say.

Two Sundays ago, did a 200k ride to Landsborough, and no trouble.
Sunday I did some paceline and sprint work out of the saddle at Nundah. I had the rear brake in tight to see if the wheel was going to flex, and it didn't.
I also did 6 ascents of the Gateway Bridge last week, a lot of it out of the saddle, and they didn't flex or make a noise.
Haven't done any aggressive downhill cornering yet. May get over to Coot-tha backside on Friday morning for a few repeats.

Had a close look at the rim and flange spoke holes, to look for signs of wear, and nothing. The spokes all still seem resonant and the rims true. Will have a look at the freehub over the weekend, before doing a long hilly NSW ride in Cabarita Tyalgum area.
I'll take them back to my wheelbuilding LBS in a few weeks and get him to reassess.

Crawf, which guy are you liaising with at Farsports? I'll shoot Smart an email to enquire what the hold up is you like. He was keen to uphold their reputation. Though I've been unimpressed with their excuse for my wheelset's light weight.

[Crawf]

Crawf, which guy are you liaising with at Farsports? I'll shoot Smart an email to enquire what the hold up is you like. He was keen to uphold their reputation. Though I've been unimpressed with their excuse for my wheelset's light weight.

Have been emailing Smart too.

[AndrewBurns]

Johnson from Farsports just emailed me saying my 29er disc wheels have been shipped and giving me the tracking number. Unfortunately the China EMS website is a piece of garbage and has been broken on and off all day so I'm not able to check the order. Being EMS I'm hoping I'll see the order next week, I really should order some rim tape for these wheels too otherwise I'm not going to be able to use them when I get them!

[nickobec]

Andrew if your wheels takes the similar journey to mine, 24 hours before they register on the EMS site, then a few quick moves, nothing for 3 days, then they arrive in Sydney, nothing for a couple more days, then the arrived at my door.

Put a couple hundred kms into my front carbon clincher without any issues. My rear is my training wheel a powertap hub laced to a mavic open pro, which broke another spoke on the weekend.

Still on the way home got sole possession of a KOM for a Strava segment, that involves you belting down a hill, through 3 roundabout then climbing up the other side, with me trusting the front wheel and front brake, as I needed to back off the rear brake as the wheel was slightly out of true. The 30kmh tailwind helped.

[MichaelB]

Johnson from Farsports just emailed me saying my 29er disc wheels have been shipped and giving me the tracking number. Unfortunately the China EMS website is a piece of garbage and has been broken on and off all day so I'm not able to check the order. Being EMS I'm hoping I'll see the order next week, I really should order some rim tape for these wheels too otherwise I'm not going to be able to use them when I get them!

Be interesting to see what they look like and the weight is compared to the spec.

Which hubs did you get ?

[AndrewBurns]

Be interesting to see what they look like and the weight is compared to the spec.

Which hubs did you get ?

Standard hubs, Novatec D711/712 28 holes front and back with CXray spokes.

[Magpie]

Just received my Farsports 50 cabon clinchers via Johnson ,took a bit over 2 weeks from order to door
I weighedthem in at 1290 gms with Bitek hubs,will see how they go tomorrow after fitting

[PawPaw]

Interesting Magpie. Seems yours are underweight as well (1380 +/-30g for Bitek hubs). Be keen to know what you think.

[jheeno]

Just received my Farsports 50 cabon clinchers via Johnson ,took a bit over 2 weeks from order to door
I weighedthem in at 1290 gms with Bitek hubs,will see how they go tomorrow after fitting

mind me asking how much it was ?
I am considering it and thats the exact spec wheelset I want

[Magpie]

jheeno,
about 650 AUD including postage ,put them on yesterday couldn't be happier with the quality of finish and how they roll

[PawPaw]

Trek Madone 4.7 : Ultegra, Farsports 50mm 20/24 Carbon Clinchers (farsport rims 430g, sapim cxray spokes, hubsmith ceramic bearing hubs), Specialized Toupe Team saddle.

Some mates think it is bad ass as is, but I think the wheels could look better with white decals to complement the white in the frame (have ordered zipps).
I'm also getting a black Selle SMP saddle.

I raced yesterday in club age champ criterium at Nundah Dome. I'm still uncompetitive in sprints, so worked on keeping the average speed up by doing lots of work on the front and reeling in a couple of breaks. In the straight, there was a reasonable headwind with about 30degrees of yaw from the left; so the wheels had lots of opportunity to prove themselves. Accelerations still seem so much easier than my previous 1920g Bontrager Race L's.

[jheeno]

Trek Madone 4.7 : Ultegra, Farsports 50mm 20/24 Carbon Clinchers (farsport rims 430g, sapim cxray spokes, hubsmith ceramic bearing hubs), Specialized Toupe Team saddle.

Some mates think it is bad ass as is, but I think the wheels could look better with white decals to complement the white in the frame (have ordered zipps).
I'm also getting a black Selle SMP saddle.

I raced yesterday in club age champ criterium at Nundah Dome. I'm still uncompetitive in sprints, so worked on keeping the average speed up by doing lots of work on the front and reeling in a couple of breaks. In the straight, there was a reasonable headwind with about 30degrees of yaw from the left; so the wheels had lots of opportunity to prove themselves. Accelerations still seem so much easier than my previous 1920g Bontrager Race L's.
]

excellent feedback and thanks for the response ... quite a coincindence that i'm planning on booting my bontrager race lites and putting the same spec wheels on my madone too
did you opt for the ceramic bearings upgrade ?

[PawPaw]

did you opt for the ceramic bearings upgrade ?

yep, as indicated above, I upgraded to the lighter hubsmith ceramic bearing hubs...and they roll beautifully. earlier in teh thread, I've posted invoices and close up pics. a few of the guys had a look at them yesterday and were very impressed. and a few of them race Lightweight, Enve 25s/45s, and Zipp 404s.

raw weight ex skewers and rim tape was 1272 grams, which caused me some concern, as spec is 1350g +/- 30g.
I drove home to Smart that this is not a sign of good quality control. see earlier posts.

If you want to order, you may be able to get a discount if you email Smart on
sales7@farsports.cn

He and I talked about a discount for group buys, or buys generated through specific forums. (PM me for further info. BNA and other western forums are apparently inaccessible to Farsports)

[petie]

I'm feeling a little lazy and was wondering if anyone had a link to a geometry discussion of chinese carbon frames? I don't race and am coming to the realisation that I prefer comfort over speed/looks/racing position. I have been browsing hongfu and dengfu and most of the geometry seems to be hard edge racer (not surprisingly). I did see the FM028 on the dengfu site and it seemed like a more relaxed geometry. Has anyone had any experience with this particular frame or know somewhere with a good review of the geometry? (have tried google)

[MichaelB]

I'm feeling a little lazy and was wondering if anyone had a link to a geometry discussion of chinese carbon frames? I don't race and am coming to the realisation that I prefer comfort over speed/looks/racing position. I have been browsing hongfu and dengfu and most of the geometry seems to be hard edge racer (not surprisingly). I did see the FM028 on the dengfu site and it seemed like a more relaxed geometry. Has anyone had any experience with this particular frame or know somewhere with a good review of the geometry? (have tried google)

Look at the Road Bike Review forums - lots of threads re this issue of Chinese sourced carbon frames.

No short cuts I'm afraid.

[Purt]

I'm feeling a little lazy and was wondering if anyone had a link to a geometry discussion of chinese carbon frames? I don't race and am coming to the realisation that I prefer comfort over speed/looks/racing position. I have been browsing hongfu and dengfu and most of the geometry seems to be hard edge racer (not surprisingly). I did see the FM028 on the dengfu site and it seemed like a more relaxed geometry. Has anyone had any experience with this particular frame or know somewhere with a good review of the geometry? (have tried google)

People looking for a more relaxed ride seem to go for the fm028.

Racers head for the fm015. Not sure about the fm066, fm039 and fm098, but I'd say the fm066 is racer and fm039, fm098 are leaning toward racing as well.

As above though head over to roadbikereview, hundreds of pages to read through (took me about 2 weeks).

[Crawf]

nicobec, are you looking at an FM066?
Whats it going to cost you?

[steve-waters]

There is a new sites that has some good stuff and also the sellers of the CC stuff.

velobuild.com