MegaTom

So what is it then? The poor paint jobs or the breaking steer tubes?

Spring Water

FlatSix911

Nice vid on the TIME ...

scirocco

Here's one some guy on RBR built up. Don't particularly like the FM028, prefer the FM015.

Sixty Fiver

You forgot to add "friggin"... those are some fugly frames.

kaliayev

Total shill.

scirocco

Yeah, the Dengfu FM015 frame looks a lot better to my eyes than the FM018. Here's a couple that guys at RBR have built up, plus a Pinarello fake. One benefit of these $400 frames is that they will do whatever decals or colour scheme you want for a few bucks extra.

You can tell that the Pinarello Prince isn't genuine by the external brake cable routing.

Sixty Fiver

It has to be said...

It's nice to see all those hard earned dollars flowing across the pond to support Asian manufacturers and foreign economies... if it was not for a few small builders the North American bicycle industry would be dead.

All this talk about how good Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturing is... that used to be us and we used to make the products we consumed and used.

We used to make some world class bicycles and now, if it was not for a handful of small companies and builders, the North American bicycle industry would be dead.

We could do carbon fiber...

billyymc

Sixty Fiver - you've gone down that path in other threads. Put your money where your mouth is, and do it.

Sixty Fiver

I need company on this path.

Won't be riding or buying another bicycle that I did not make myself or wasn't built on this continent.

adam_mac84

I realize that, but if someone is looking for stack/reach information because they can't ride one of these before hand, this can be somewhat relevant information.

pics for ravenmore

FM028 Bike by adam_mac84, on Flickr

ravenmore

Which one is the FM015? Any ideas on the weights? Would be interested in links to the threads too.

ravenmore

But you're Canadian right?

Dude, so we should exclude options just because of nationality? I go out of my way to buy things at local bike shops - like the Castelli jacket I'm wearing right now that I could have bought much cheaper across the pond. These local businesses depend on items from overseas. Economics isn't as simple anymore.

faire_du_velo

The top two are Fm015s, the bottom one is the chinarello.
Here are the links to the threads on RBR, starting with the earliest one.

1: https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=198213
2: https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=217331
3: https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=225409
4: https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho...d.php?t=234445

reif

I do own one of these generic frames (HF-FM001 to be exact) but I must admit, from time to time I feel a bit bad when riding it. I did save some money by buying it direct from China but what did I do with the money I saved? Bought more Chinese crap. All the money went straight to east without any western middlemen. Somehow I have a feeling this will end bad.

There are some guys at Roadbikereview who seem to be actually very proud of their pirated Pinarello Prince or when they have put popular brand stickers to their frames.. Now that's idiotic.

Sixty Fiver

It is not about nationality and shopping local is important but it goes deeper.

Countries like ours and many countries in Europe were at one time, great industrial nations and now we have become nations of consumers... and debtors.

We buy a lot, but produce less and less.

Pretty soon, China will cease to be a source of cheap labour and they will follow Taiwan and Japan where the standard of living and wages have increased which makes local production too expensive... this is already happening in China.

So where do the jobs go next ?

I figure that soon people will be talking about how great these Indian and African made frames are and "Made in China" will be like "Made in Japan" in that these goods will no longer be cheap.

Would be nice to see the next wave of production have a "Made in USA" sticker or a "Made in Canada" sticker and maybe we could be like BobD and say, I just live a few miles down the road from the factory that made my stuff and this stuff is great.

If our economies continue to falter we may just be willing to provide some cheap labour just so people have jobs.

patentcad

Here's another problem with Chinese goods: right now the Road Bike Review and MTB Review boards are full of people moaning about how their 5 year old Litespeeds detonated and ABG (American Bicycle Group) is not honoring the warranties. ABG are just being weasels of course (the Chattanooga TN Better Business Bureau gives them an 'F' rating, this is their standard operating procedure, so think about that before you buy a Litespeed, Merlin or QR), but apparently the word is that they were buying cheaper Ti tubing from China a few years back, far inferior to the stuff they were using before. That's a key, the quality of the materials, and given Chinese companies' notorious reputation for ruthlessly cutting corners to save money (some firms literally don't care if it winds up killing you), I'd be rather circumspect about getting too excited about buying no-name Chinese stuff and expecting it to perform like a Cervelo or Trek. In other words, you are taking your chances here.

patentcad

That being said, it is possible to get Pacific rim products that perform and hold up - depends where it's sourced from - and Bikes Direct has done a great job in that area. I've also had good experience with them on customer service. I don't think they have had a lot of issues with all these low cost Ti frames they have been selling for the last several years. So it's company by company in this situation. You can find a good source, but don't assume they're all going to be good.

flatlander_48

I used to frequent Cosby II (never liked Cosby I, too much like a hole in the wall) and a co-worker told me about Cow Boy's shop. That's how I wound up going there. It was about 3 blocks away and around the corner. Just before I left town, he opened a 2nd shop on the street where the baseball stadium is/was (can't think of the name). His plan was to eventually consolidate at the new location, but I don't know if that happened. I heard the Robert (never knew his family name) eventually closed Cosby II. I was really surprised to come to Taichung to find that Robert had opened a branch here. Anyway, Cow Boy was a neat guy and a lot of fun to be around. I rode with him and his bunch once. Sort of weird to see 3 or 4 guys light up during our rest breaks...

Vee Haff Our Vays...

Walter

That is a shame about Litespeed. They were a very high standard of quality and a reputable company. ABG seems intent on pissing that away.

I own a 2001 Ultimate that I scored NOS off eBay awhile back but that seems to be around the cut-off date for when LS was really LS.

Shame...

Walter

Pcad has it right (egads...). You can and should be wary of some Chinese product w/o being xenophobic. Here in S. Fla, home of the housing bubble, "Chinese Drywall" (sheetrock) is a 4 letter word. Stuff gave out chemical gases that smelled and literally corroded electrical fixtures. People sued but there was, ultimately, no one the courts could reach. Brand new houses were having to be completely gutted of interior walls and ceilings.

Of course most of those houses are vacant and in foreclosure now......

mmmdonuts

You mean like Cervelo and Trek?

patentcad

Products sourced from the rim that have big western companies stamping their name on them, warrantying them and providing strict quality control - that certainly isn't the problem. It's the Taiwanese or Chinese products you get from these cheesy websites that have no guarantees. The implication that there is any similarity is not only grossly misleading, it's quite naive.

patentcad

I'll tell you what. The next time you build a house, get some of that high quality low cost Chinese sheetrock. Let us know how that works out for you.

I'll go to Home Depot and spend a couple of grand more on a North American main line brand.

mmmdonuts

I was half agreeing with you and supporting the point that it's the responsible companies that make it work, not the manufacturers of the goods. So Pacific rim products is a generalization with undeserving negative connotations...