M_Wales

I have been looking around and found some nice looking no name frames on eBay.

Does anyone have experience with any of the online/eBay no name carbon frames?

Here are a few.
https://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Black-...item5198f313e8

https://cgi.ebay.com/CARBON-FRAMESET-...item2310414b7d

https://cgi.ebay.com/100-CARBON-FIBER...item45f9e715c8

https://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Road-Bike-Fr...item2ea9042fc7

https://cgi.ebay.com/Full-Carbon-Fibe...item2c5c446697


Thanks

VA_Esquire

Their are quite a few threads on this over at roadbikereview.com

JustinHorne

I think the general consensus is that they're safe due to the quality of being overbuilt. However, overbuilt also means they weigh more than most branded CF frames.

Banzai

I'd totally buy it.

I'm in the BF minority camp that is pretty sure that most companies CF frames are being churned out of the same factory in Taiwan, and that the only true "research" the company in question does is to research how to better "brand", market, and label the frames.

Sure, you don't get a warranty...but at that price, who cares? And given some of the grief some BFers have been through to get warranties honored, I don't think it's really that important anyway. And, for reasons already mentioned, I think the frame failure rate will be roughly identical to the failure rates of almost every other bike company's frames.

JustinHorne

Well, other than the 1.04 kg in a 51CM, every frame he linked was in the 1.25 - 1.55 kg range. That's about 35% more than a lot of other "big name" CF frames.

Santaria

I buy into the premise that you're not just buying a frame, but a contract with the bike manufacturer. So while its cheaper to buy a no-name, you're not getting customer service, feedback and someone there if stuff goes south.

zitter

I like the third one. A teammate of mine has one similar to the second link and it is very nice.

Banzai

The fork with that "Bottechia" frame is the Cannondale "Ultra" fork. Trust me.

Banzai

The last one is fugly in so many ways beyond just the color.

SactoDoug

Buying a name brand is no guaranty that they will honor the warranty if something breaks.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...1#post12563558

beatlebee 

Looks like the forks are quite heavy: 588 g. That is an easy place to drop weight on these frame/fork combos. yes?

halfspeed

Nope.

kleinboogie

https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=241785

Plenty of opinions and ideas for paint/decals. They'll do it for you. GL

Trucker Dan

I like mine. Size 58 frame was 1200 grams and the fork was 380 uncut. Its 15.8 lbs with dura-ace and a 1350 gram wheelset. I've been riding it for a year now and probably have about 6000 miles on it with no problems.

Bob Dopolina 

This is so incorrect I don't even know where to start.

Bob Dopolina 

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!





How can you tell? Super fricken' super Magic X-Ray vision? Really?

Just because it has many of the same cosmetic features you think it is EXACTLY the same product?

Have you never seen a fake Chinese handbag?!? They look almost the same in the shop but fall apart six weeks later. Guess why? Because they are made with inferior materials and produced to a much lower quality standard.



I am in the middle of doing some destructive testing on frames with an assembly factory and I beg them daily to let me publish the data. It's like a fricken ritual. I beg; They decline.

Even frames that supposedly have passed the European safety standards fail way before they are supposed to. Again and again and again. there is one frame I'd love to sell (looks really cool) that we just can't get to pass the standards. We've trashed 6 frames now and the factory has given up. This frame is now dead to me.

So go ahead and roll the dice. I mean everyone knows that Chinese factories are associated with high quality goods that come with a comprehensive warranty.

Banzai

You can start by demonstrating a SUBSTANTIVE difference, one that goes beyond marketing copy. Sure, products are not exactly identical, but what most of these companies who make really expensive bicycles do is create a collabo with the same Taiwanese factories as everyone else. And the same pool of talent that created the frame can make frames that are remarkably similar just down the street, or across the strait.

What the high-end cycling company does is "engineer" branding that is more laterally obvious and vertically apparent. These innovations go beyond the frame itself - they are an integral part of the website copy, helping to achieve a complete psycho-somatic effect on the end user for a truly great cycling experience, pushing the rider's limits beyond what an unbranded frame could ever achieve.

Let's just say that for the differences, those no-name frames are similar enough, and won't cost anyone the race.

By the way, this isn't an "outsourcing" rant about Asian produced frames. My point here is that really nice frames are manufactured overseas - some just cost more because of the extra marketing involved used to "manufacture" a profit margin for traditional bicycle companies. And some don't have the marketing and the margin.

Bob Dopolina 

I hear the same thing time and time again from those who: Just. Don't. Get. It.

You don't understand manufacturing or the facts on the ground. There are more than a few factories involved....

Just because it is made by the same people in the same factory (they ARE NOT) doesn't mean they use the same materials and manufacture to the same standards. How hard is this to grasp?

I will leave you with one fact; Chinese factories have an annual employee turnover above 50%.

Draw your own conclusions.

rufvelo

Quite true. When the same motivation is provided, Western 'supervision' is not required to ensure quality of manufacture in Asia anymore. That motivation runs from financial reward, to ownership of process and ultimately the brand.

rufvelo

Then again maybe some of us do.

Not hard to grasp at all. The difference could lie in tasking a Chinese or Taiwanese or Korean EMPLOYEE of your company, a qualified engineer, with ensuring that quality standards are met versus the short sighted pure profit oriented dumping of manufacturing on a contractor who owns a shack with a lathe machine and making site visits for 'quality checks' in June. We've tried putting the squeeze on US auto suppliers for years remember?...they're thriving...NOT.

Which is why Cervelo insists on hand building every carbon frame in Canada correct? On a more serious note, there are employee retention issues in every company. In the US you can't easily walk and find a job today as you can in the far east manufacturing space or Indian software industry for example. One cannot conclude from this that Americans are thrilled with their lot in the workplace.

On cost and quality of overseas manufacture? Sure completed this exercise between 20-10yrs ago in Asia and S.America i.e. when the motivation provided is comparable, quality work whether manufacturing widgets or developing software, can be produced by any group of individuals (or larger company) regardless of geographical location, race, language, gender.

halfspeed

When people want something to be true, they become immune to facts.

When Americans moved off the farm, we became ignorant of how our food is produced. Now that we've moved out of the factories, we've become ignorant of what goes in to our manufactured goods.

Hunt-man

Check out the Pedal Force frames. I did a QS3 last year and really like it. 56 w/ fork was about 1000 grams, if I remember right.

WhyFi

Without a fork... maybe. WITH a fork - no friggin' way.

ThinLine

Most of these so called generic frames are made by reputable manufacturers mainly in China and Taiwan. I recently bought a Pedal Force RS2 frame which was made by a high quality manufacturer who also makes frames for the biggest names in the buisness.
Same with my Tomasso Aggriazato. There really is no way cheap CF frame due to the limited # of manufacturers.

maverick31210

Buy the generic Dogma and call it a day


to me it sounds like the people who buy expensive "branded" frames need to justify why they paid 3k for a frame that you can get for 700 unbranded. ****, i love logos and paint just as much as the next guy but let's be real none of us will be running these frames in the tour and i highly doubt and unbranded frame will make or break your next race. if you have the money to spend on graphics, brand, marketing and maybe a bit more performance....maybe...then go for it. if not, an unbranded frame will suit just fine from what i have gathered. to each his own.