Buying Whole Bike from China

[polaxgr]

Will i die ?? I am sorry if this isnt the correct section for this and i am sorry that i bring up again this issue. I am guessing you have heard it a lot. But i cannot afford/or dont want to spend a fortune on a full carbon bike from a store ( and i dont like the way the "cheap" ones look like ). I dont care so much if they are as good as the ones from "original" brands or a bit worse. Well i do. But i mostly care if i dont die when and if the frame or carbon wheels break. I have read many opinions and events that have occured and i havent concluded if the risk is worth taking. So could i hear some advice or personal experience from people that bought from brands that have good reputation from china. For example i heard that Farsports make good carbon wheels and yoeleo and leadnovo good frames? Is this true ? Anyone had any of these? Please help if you can.

[fastpedaller]

I know it's "off topic" and not what you want to hear, but if you can't afford a carbon bike and parts, why not go for a steel one? Ok, steel frames can sometimes fail (but much less likely) and after all, it's your body that propels you along - not the bike! (unless it's an E bike )

[Airsporter1st]

Its a hard pill to swallow, I know, but I think it is pretty obvious that the best manufactured stuff from China is almost, if not exactly, as good as the best stuff from amywhere else these days and is usually cheaper.

The difficulty is in determining who makes/supplies the good stuff.

[rjb]

And don't forget to factor in the duty and VAT which will have to be paid.
https://www.gov.uk/goods-sent-from-abroad

[the snail]

Can't offer any experience of owning one of these bikes, but when I looked into doing this, I found a lot of positive feedback and no horror stories online. I suggest you google thoroughly on the particular brands. When I was looking, Dengfu came up a lot and seemed to get good reviews. Most of the online feedback I found was on U.S. based forums. In the end I decided against, mainly because the frames on offer weren't really what I wanted, and by the time I'd built one up and paid delivery and customs duty it wouldn't have been a cheap bike. Mind you, part of the reason for that was that I always get suckered into high spec components, and I would have probably gone for a custom paint job, so probably quite a lot of bike for the money.

[polaxgr]

Its a hard pill to swallow, I know, but I think it is pretty obvious that the best manufactured stuff from China is almost, if not exactly, as good as the best stuff from amywhere else these days and is usually cheaper.

The difficulty is in determining who makes/supplies the good stuff.

i decided for wheels to go with Farsports. Now i cannot decide on the frame.

[polaxgr]

I just like cipolini frames..so you can understand what i am looking for...thanks for the info and reply. I am 76kg and they told me they did tests on the frame with 200kg. Is that true? I dont know.. I ordered the frame(and wheels from farsport). I feel like i have gambled 1200euros in a casino..now lets wait and see what the outcome will be..I will post when i get them if you guys are interested

[Sweep]

Yes, am interested.

That's a big gamble, not necessarily because the outfit is chinese but because your point of contact is somewhat tenuous.

[RickH]

Overseas sellers are supposed to charge you the 20% VAT, If they haven't you may get charged at this end, if they do there will likely be another 20% duty on top. So, you need to be prepared to fork out another nearly £500 if you don't "get away with it".

[Brucey]

the frame you buy could be good, could be a POS.

The big brands would say so of course but there are a lot of dodgy fakes out there and some of the unbranded frames are no better than some of the fakes are. Then again there are some good unbranded frames too.


Some reading

http://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/717/could-your-bike-be-a-counterfeit
https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a20045553/to-catch-a-counterfeiter-the-sketchy-world-of-fake-bike-gear/
http://www.velonews.com/not-all-frames-are-created-equal-a-look-deep-inside-the-carbon-in-counterfeit-bikes

You might save some money (depending on duties and VAT etc) but the warranty (if there is one) will doubtless be problematic to utilise and the used value of the bike will be about zilch.

FWIW if I wanted a half-decent carbon race bike (with a warranty etc) for not much money I'd probably buy one from PX or something. They often have cracking deals, eg

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXMARR8000MIX/planet-x-maratona-shimano-ultegra-r8000-mix-carbon-road-bike

https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBHOLSPSHIM5800/holdsworth-super-professional-shimano-105-5800-road-bike

cheers

[The utility cyclist]

Its a hard pill to swallow, I know, but I think it is pretty obvious that the best manufactured stuff from China is almost, if not exactly, as good as the best stuff from amywhere else these days and is usually cheaper.

The difficulty is in determining who makes/supplies the good stuff.

No it isn't, Taiwan is the place to get your CF frame/forks/bars from because this is where the top manufacturers have their stuff made, Taiwan are massively better at mass producing carbon bits than China, importantly have far better QC and IMHO more integrity.
ATEOTD I would never buy a contact point component or frame from a Chinese based company currently unless they are very well established, that's pretty much no-one.
Farsports are probably the only company I might consider buying wheels IF they were competitive pricing wise which IMHO they aren't once you take the VAT/DUTY into account not to mention returns should things go wrong.There is still such a high risk factor IMHO and the quality on he whole is not anywhere close to Taiwan or in house makers closer to home.

As others have said, it's not just the 20% VAT it'll be import duty AND VAT on the import duty too which could well end up leaving you with a bigger bill and a rubbish frame.

I didn't want to spend a lot on a CF and was lucky enough to buy an unused Continental pro teams frameset at the end of the season through the manufacturers UK main dealer/team sponsor. This was £430, you can find 'old stock' framesets all over within the UK and from Europe from respected retailers.
A quick look and I found a new KTM Revelator with SRAM Force which looks like an ex conti pro team bike yes in Germany but a very well reviewed framset, decent Mavic wheels and £1500+post. 2014 NOS Scott Solace 10 with Dura Ace/Ultegra mix for £1450 in UK.
You could also go high end Aluminium like a Cannondale CAAD 10/12 though not many 'new' well below RRP of that brand.

[scottg]

Airsporter1st wrote:[snip]
The difficulty is in determining who makes/supplies the good stuff.

The interesting bit is batch variations, the company that delivered on spec stuff the first
two or three shipments, may sub out the fourth shipment. I seen interesting variations
in what was delivered over time. Sometimes you get good stuff, sometimes you get
bits that you bin.

If you buy a whole bike, figure on taking the whole thing to bits, to grease and torque
things properly. Figure on binning the the cables and brake pads, a great to place
save money if you are a manufacturer, along with own brand cockpit bits.

[The utility cyclist]

rebadged Ribble frames been sold under the Merlin brand with Ultegra mix for £1099 https://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-cor ... source=PHG (extra £11 back with cashback sites)
10 carbon bikes under £1k http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/210 ... cycle-work

[Raleigh Steve]

The thing you might find yourself reflecting on as you hurtle down a hill is that if there was a defect that required a recall, you might never hear about it. Whereas buying from somewhere reputable like Ribble etc. Would give you more confidence, and that might be worth the extra money.

[random37]

I owned a shop, for a while. Not a bike shop.

I got into importing things from China to sell. Musical instruments, mostly.

Out of about 20 units:

3 would be unplayable.
12 would be OK,
4 would be good,
and 1 would be exceptional.

This was surprisingly accurate. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same with bike frames.