ebay carbon asian framesets
- Thread starter buildyourown
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i've read other threads on bikeforums.net and roadbikereview.com about these. most seem to feel their ok, some have found the final finish isn't as nice. there was a group purchase on one frame that was supposedly a Ridley just without the stickers, i think they paid under $500 for the frame/fork.
Specialized has two people on staff to stop their counterfeit frame sales. The Roubaix knock off had a tendency to snap off at the head tube. I'll pass on having that happen on something that I'm going to do 40 mph on. They may look the same, but I can assure you that they are doing something in the layup process that is not as good. I wouldn't tempt fate with one.
Fake Specialized, or Giant, or Trek (or Felt!
) are one thing, but a lot of these "no-name" frames are being sold by the factories that make a lot of the "2nd tier" brands. Companies that don't own the molds, or whose bikes are open-mold bikes with some various tweaks. People like Pedal Force set themselves up as a "middleman" of sorts, which is why their bikes are so cheap, they just slap a "PF" decal on there.Weight Weenies has a lot of folks talking about and buying these various frames. You'll most likely get a nice, good-performing bike, but you won't have any warranty support from the seller or factory. So it's a tradeoff.
*Edit: What I meant to say is that these aren't replicas of brand-name bikes, these are the frames before the brands put their branding on them.
When I was at Superweek earlier this month, I stayed with a friend of a friend in Chicago who doing exactly this. He designs a bike, sends it to a manufacturer in Taiwan, and they stamp out frames. To keep costs down, he gives up the rights to the molds after a certain period of time.Fake Specialized, or Giant, or Trek (or Felt!
Weight Weenies has a lot of folks talking about and buying these various frames. You'll most likely get a nice, good-performing bike, but you won't have any warranty support from the seller or factory. So it's a tradeoff.
*Edit: What I meant to say is that these aren't replicas of brand-name bikes, these are the frames before the brands put their branding on them.
I want to try out his TT bike, which is sweet. It's so sweet, in fact, that a semi-large bike company has slapped their name on it, and then claims to have done years of research blah blah
I lost respect for that company when I found out.As James said, weightweenies has a lot of people using them. Hasa and PedalForce are two of the popular makes. People there seem to like them. Not sure if I'd ever buy one, but it is tempting...
I should point out a few things...the one my friend bought was a Hasa and it was damn close to the Scott Plasma, but had subtle differences. The top tube was narrower and the geo was a little bit different. Funny thing is that he thought the changes were an improvement and addressed many of his complaints about his Plasma.