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Just wanted to tell a little story for everyone that is interested in the chinese carbon fiber builds since they are so attractively cheap.
Last winter i had a bunch of extra parts, brakes, stems, bars, chain rings, a set of old 29er wheels that were still strait, tires….etc…
In January i had some free time so i decided to build a bike. Low on funding, I began researching the market for frames. I hopped on a webside a that was recommended by a friend. It was called AliExpress. I found the “Gogoing Store” that sold blank 29er frames shipped free for dirt cheap. I think i paid $350 for a carbon frame and a fork with a matte finish bare carbon. Came with a seatpost clamp, headset, front and rear axles and a 2 YEAR WARRANTY!!!! Initally everything looked good. My only complaint was the threads on the bottom bracket looks pretty rough. Anyway, I loaded up the cups with dope and assembled the bike. Rode it, everything was good until i got to about the 600 mile mark. BTW, all my miles on the bike were done on gravel roads so I wasnt able to actually put the bike through the ringer. Heres where the problems start.
I noticed a strange creak in the bottom bracket. So i pulled the crank off, and noticed a perfect hairline fracture around where the resin and aluminum bottom bracket body come together. Well, i was not happy about this, I took the whole bike apart and bought a different aluminum frame. Well, this takes us to about september the same year. I figured i should get ahold of the frame mfg. since they claimed the frame was under warranty for 2 years. I took a bunch of detailed photos and sent him a description of the defect. No response…..then i got ahold of the website customer service, they contacted him and finally he messaged me back. Said no problem, we will replace it for you. Ok, sounds good.
Well here i am, 3 months later and 10+ times contacting aliexpress service and the Gogoing store “Hursh Ju” and he continues to make excuses for why he hasnt sent it yet, and im sick of trying to get answers
Do not buy frames from “Gogoing Store” who sells BXT bicycle frames. The guy names Hursh Ju is a liar and does not stand by his word.
Also his Engrish is no too good.
This is just advice when you get the itch to build a carbon bike.
I have multiple nice brand name bikes but i wanted to do something cheap and easy. Heres my
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Dude, that sucks.
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I fear that cautionary tale will not be headed by others. As much as it sucks, I have not heard a good story about cheap open mold Chinese carbon frames. Everything from the frame being out of alignment to ones that were painted in spesh colours failing mid ride leading to the death of a rider. Glad you caught it early and all it hurt was your wallet and not your body. Good luck fighting the warranty fight and enjoy the alloy frame.
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Well I’m on my 4th Chinese build and have yet to break one.
If you want to build one go to lightcarbon.com they back their warranty. Going bxta AliExpress you are scraping the bottom of the barrel
I sold my Intense Recluse to build this one up (not my build) https://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/light-carbon-fs937-downcountry-29er-build-1101497.html
The Chinese are progressing they have engineers they have r&d small companies are putting their name on them and racing them in uci world cups.
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You’ll probably end up writing this one off to experience. I dipped my tooties in the carbon waters after doing tons of research and very deliberately. About eight years ago I had an Easton carbon bar. It worked great and was trouble free. I did not think much about it and sold it when I sold the bike.
Fast forward to ’11 and ENVE was everywhere. I scored an ENVE CX fork and it was killer, IMHO the best thing they ever made. It tracked great, no shuddering (yeah, cantis) and was bombproof.
In ’14 I wanted to upgrade my wheels and again everyone was flapping about carbon wheels, ENVE, yada, yada however there was no way in hell I was going to spend $2K+ on a wheelset. I did a ton of research online, and personally spoke with a number of riders and mechanics finally deciding to score a set of Light Bicycle rims to build my new wheels with. I did not eff around with going for super light bs and instead opted for 32h AM/DH 35mm wide rims. A respected local builder laced them to my Hadley hubs and those wheels are still going strong nearly four years later. I thought this was highly improbable since I weigh over 200 lbs and ride with all of the grace of an angry bear aboard a 160mm travel sled. Nonetheless, VitalMTB had a similar experience when they tested a set LB’s DH rims with on a DH bike over a 2 year period with zero problems.
I will eventually build a new set of wheels with the same LB rims albeit in 29er size without any concerns. I imagine there may be some inexpensive Chinese frames to be had that may work, but that is a big leap of faith that an atheist creep like myself isn’t willing to take.
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Dear all,
Let me share my experience I had with a carbon frame manufacturer in China called Trident Thrust (http://www.thrust.cn/).
I have order a new mtb frame from Trident Thrust using AliExpress as a platform. I have ordered the frame October 2017.
I received my frame December 2017.
I assemble the bike and did not experience any issues (Was quite exited)
After a couple of rides (in a months’ time from purchase) the frame cracked.
I immediately reported it to Trident Thrust. They have asked me the strip the paint around the crack area and send a photo. They confirmed that it is not repairable and I don’t need to send the frame back to them. They promised me they will send me a warranty frame. The Chinese New Year and issues with the freight company was excuses of not sending the frame. I followed up regularly. Trident Thrust requested then in May 2018 to send photos of the frame been cut up. I have explained to them after the confirmation that the frame cannot be repaired I discarded it. I still keep on following up until they just turned silent in November 2018…
I did report this to AliExpress a few time with no luck of getting a refund or fighting the case for me.
One of my other frustrations is I cannot leave a review now on AliExpress or on Trident Thrust’s site. So there is no opportunity to leave a comment.
I’m sure it was a manufacturing fault and would love to try another Chinese carbon frame, but if you look on the website the warranty clause that gave me peace of mind is fake and they don’t keep to it.
Cheers.
Safe rolling.
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I don’t get why anyone would risk messing with this stuff. I’m of the opinion that no part of a bike no matter the cost has an excuse to catastrophically fail. Thinking of how hard I’ve eaten shit breaking a chain I can only imagine a headtube snapping off!
Disclaimer: I have been riding for over 20 years from street and park bmx to hitting big jumps and drops on my first legit mtb and have never had a part break (except aforementioned chains and cheaper cranks) as to injure me. I’ve never even witnessed something like that happen from a “real” bike brand that wasn’t 100% user error.
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I know its been over a year since the post. They ended up blocking me on the site after i continued nagging them with warranty requests. I now own a few carbon bikes, niner’s and a felt road bike. Thousands of miles and not a single issue. Wish i wouldnt have wasted the 350 bucks on the chiner frame. Lesson learned
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I never purchased any carbon parts from overseas and surely will not now. I have purchased Shimano branded parts from AliExpress with steep discounts and never had any issues with them other than it takes 2 months to arrive.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Cant speak to your particular case. But I’ve been riding a BXT hardtail frame on rough trail for a number of years. It rocks and never had one complaint. Full carbon, light as a feather and cost me $200 and some change.</p>
I’ve seen their testing lab. Its extreme and looks similar to the one used by Santa Cruz.I hate to break it to you guys. But BXT and other Chinese carbon makers are suppliers to the big names. They also build build in house frames of their own design.
Those are the facts.
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Most major brands have entry level bikes. What price range of frame comes on a 500$ bike? The latest tech 2000$ bike frame you purchase has markups for the manufacturer, the global dist. , the local dist. and the bike shop. The company has to protect the bike shop price when they sell online. The Chinese make 150$ 3 D printers tooling for a bike frame is way cheaper.
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This is what comes from not having a functional legal system. No one, especially a westerner, can hold one of these Chinese manufacturers/sellers to account for shoddy products and business practices.
Western companies know they would be sued into Bolivia, as well as having “customer relations” problems with similar practices.
And while these same Chinese companies (or closely related, “brother-in-law” entities) may manufacture for big name western companies, do not discount the quality control exerted by the western companies. Chinese seem to have few qualms (again likely because of a complete lack of legal ramifications) about selling goods made initially to western specifications, often using idle western tooling (so “counterfeit” to boot), but without western or any quality control.
By reputation, the “Light Bicycle” company has chosen to do things the right way while still availing itself of cheap labor. While it is a company located in PRC, it is directly across the Formosa Strait from Taiwan, which indicates to me that there is Taiwanese and thus western influence on their business operations.
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I’ve been riding a BXT hardtail for the past couple of years..
It’s solid in every respect.
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Unfortunately, what companies say and what they do are often different. I’ve had frame issues with two Trek bikes. The first one the shop fought me until I went straight to Trek. Trek offered me a new frame or credit for the frame. Unfortunately, the shop wanted to charge me $400 to swap parts. I ended up using the credit and had issues again, but I think it is the shop at fault. I’ve had warranty claims with Pearl Izumi and they claimed it was my fault when my shorts ripped when I dragged my butt on my tire and I had a similar experience with Mountain Hardware. I also tried to deal with RaceFace and never heard back after many attempts. I find buying gear at REI is worth it. They support their gear when the other companies just don’t give a sh*t. My two cents. I worked at Wave Rave in Mammoth, but other than that I have no connections in the industry.
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I want to know my family can sue somebody if a bike or bike part kills me. I want an established US legal entity that stands behind the product. Business practices and liability exposure drives a higher level of quality and responsibility. It is worth the money to me. I accept that many good factories exist overseas, and I have been to many of them. Most good bike companies make their stuff overseas.
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Poor you! Many are getting fooled by good-looking products for cheap that doesn’t last long.
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Quick note: My $4500 XC carbon Trek cracked across the downtube and Trek said sorry but we can give you 20% off on a new frame that we cannot give you an ETA on. I don’t think this helps but it does give an impression that even high end name brands will not back products either.
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Frame Materials
For many cyclists, there is no alternative to carbon fiber. It is widely used as the dominant material in the racing world, it is much lighter and harder than other frame materials. No doubt that it can also be the most expensive.
Carbon is the most flexible material, which provides the designer with huge space to adjust the way the bike rides. They are also not limited by their tubular shape.
However, carbon fiber frames are not all the same. There is a huge difference between cheap and expensive carbon fiber, and it has deep effect not only on everything from the type of fiber used, but also on how it is manufactured to other important factors. Carbon fiber can be operated relatively easily by designers to create frames with the special balance of properties they want, no matter on its light weight, comfort, or hardness. Click here: https://lytron-bike.com/
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