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Ebay Carbon Frames
These things have gotten me all curious. There are a heap of sellers out of Hong Kong, Taiwan and China essentially selling the same carbon frames very cheaply.
I know someone who has bought one of the road frames and been very happy with it, but I was curious if anyone had tried one of the mtb hardtails. Wondering if these are worth looking at, or if its likely that what turns up will be some brittle excuse for a carbon frame.
For those with no idea what I am talking about, here are a few random links (and this is not even close to an exhaustive list).
1.29kg frame, $365 posted
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-Full-Carbon-Fib...
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-Full-Carbon-12K...
1.2kg frame, $460 posted
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-Full-Carbon-Mon...
1.25kg frame, $385 posted
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Brand-New-Full-Carbon-3K-...
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I'd be looking closely at the feedback for comments on how the frame performed.
On another forum I frequent, a young guy bought a cheap carbon ebay road frame. His nickname for it is "The Wet Noodle" - very flexy under high pedalling loads. Looks nice but he was rather disappointed with its performance.
Personally I wouldnt buy a Carbon frame from ebay or 2nd hand so yeah.
I've read the story about the road frame Sammydog is talking about, and certainly the rider sounds happy with it.
That said, here's something about stuff that looks nice on eBay:
I recently bought a seatpost from an eBay vendor that looked all the world to a 3T Doric Team. When it arrived it looked very nice and seems to do the job just fine. However, since then I have also received a genuine 3T Doric Team post and although they look pretty much identical outwardly (even down to the small red rods that come with it, sitting where the seat rails would), on closer inspection the construction was clearly different. The cross section where the clamp bonds to the carbon post is completely different on the 3T one.
Now, I'm not saying that this is a good or bad thing. What it does show though is that just because something looks identical in pictures, and may well look identical in the flesh, it would be a very brave punter that would bet the construction was the same and that it was the same as a high end frame with the decals missing (which a lot of sellers would have you believe).
After all that, I'm not overly fussed about this post. I mean, it's a post, what's the worst that's going to happen if it breaks? A frame though... what's the worst that could happen if a frame brakes? Hmmmm...?
I don't think those frames are claiming to be a direct copy of a "name" brand or anything like that.
I've seen other people on different forums that have been happy with these frames, I was just interested to see if anyone here had had any personal experience.
The only thing that concerns me is it being a Chinese carbon frame. If I had come from Taiwan I probably would have bought one by now. The road frame I have seen is nice and it's stiff and seems to be holding up very well, certainly the owner is very happy. That experience has left me wondering if one of these is worth a punt.
If the one you are thinking of getting is the same model from the same source as the one you have seen and / or ridden that belongs to your mate, then that reduces the risk substantially. For those prices, why not?
Same source, different bike. Mate picked up one of the road frames. A few months back I saw a track bike as well at the LBS but it was only just being built up.
I'd be really interested in buying one of these frames. I'd like to build up a XC SS bike and this frame might be the go. Let us know how the frame performs if you take the plunge and part with your hard earned...
One reason they may look like name brands but have no sticker is because they cam off the same production line but had a fault and didn't pass the quality assurance standards.
I have been stung with cheap memory cards that work fine until they get over 50% capacity then slow down or don't work.
The problem with these rejected products is you don't know they have faults until after the eBay feedback has been left.
Well - I was in a Sydney bike shop today and was talking to a mechanic who was building a hardtail for a customer who bough such a frame.
This particular frame had the weave showing and was badged as a Specilazed Epic, despite being a hardtail - dodgy as!
FWIW, this weave was very similar to a Viper frame I saw few years back. It looked nice enough but didn't feel 'air' light as with the last carbon frame I handled
The mechanic says he has seem cheap frames break but then again, shop mechanics also see a lot of genuine frames break too, eh?
Sorry, this doesn't help much, aside from to say some people have tried it. Guess you just have to hope you bump into the owner on the trails?