Chinese Carbon Bikes - Ordering

     Once your size has been locked in and you know what frame you want, you have to place the order. When I was looking for a frame I had narrowed the frames I liked down to:

     The MC055 from Miracle Bike which is similar to the Cervelo S5. The frame is actually quite ugly to me but I like that you can easily set it up as a road bike and a TT bike by switching out the cockpit and using the appropriate saddle mount.

     The AC031/MC031 from Ican and Miracle Bike which is similar to the Cervelo S2/3. I decided against this one because I couldn't find any first hand reviews from anybody who has purchased the frame.

     The AC053/MC053 from Ican and Miracle which is similar to the Scott Foil. The frame looks nice but there were some early issues with slipping seatposts (I think this has been corrected in the newer versions).

     The FR315 from Flyxii which is similar to the Giant Defy. I decided not to go with Flyxii because there are some claims that while their products are usable they appear to be seconds that did not make the cut at other suppliers. A frames drop outs may be off a bit off or the wheels may be unevenly weighted.

     The FM098 from DengFu which is similar to the Specialized Venge. The frame is very popular on Velobuild.

     In the end I decided to go with the FM098 because of the large support community of people who have ordered the frame already, the reputation of the seller (DengFu), and the price. When ordering there are a couple of different ways you can go about it. The frames are available through Alibaba and EBay (search for carbon bicycle frame, set the region to China and prepare to be overwhelmed), directly from the manufacturer by contacting them through Email, or (I used this method) an organised group buy on a website like Velobuild.

     I decided to go with the group buy option from Velobuild primarily because of the cost savings. When ordered directly from the distributor the FM098 sells for as much as $600 but through the group buy it is priced at $450. The group saves the money by meeting a MOQ (minimum order quantity) for a bulk buy. Velobuild features a 'mall' where you can place your frame order (they also sell wheels and other accessories) and then submit your payment by Paypal. Once the MOQ for the group buy is reached the group closes and the orders are then processed by the distributor. In this case my frame will be sent from SchenZhen, China by DengFu.

     When ordering you have to select the frame size you want, the bottom bracket type (BB30 or BSA), Di2 or no Di2 compatibility, and the type of carbon weave preferred (3K, 12K or UD). You can also add some other items to your cart which are also slightly discounted. I included a tapered headset, some extra derailleur hangers, an extra seatpost collar, 2 colour custom paint, some carbon handlebars and two carbon bottle cages.The carbon bottle cages and handlebars alone were less than a quarter of what a similar product would cost for me here in Toronto.

     With my option for 2 colour custom paint I had to submit a design to the representative from DengFu and I will cover the process of my design in an upcoming post.

Sisters Of Mercy - Vision Thing

    
     This album was released in 1990 by British goth rock band Sisters of Mercy. Apparently the album was designed as an attack against the policies of the George H W Bush administration. I personally never thought of it that way, but rather as just a collection of awesome songs. However, I was ten when the album came out so Bush wasn't exactly on my mind. The album has just 8 tracks but they are all winners. I used to absolutely love the song Doctor Jeep and I probably wore that section out on the tape. Currently my favourites from the album are Vision Thing and More. This album gets a 10/10 from me and should be a part of everybody's music collection.

Bigfoot Killed By A Car

     Well, not really Bigfoot..... This past Sunday in Montana, Randy Lee Tenley was hit by two consecutive cars on HWY 93 South. Randy was running along the right hand lane of the highway dressed in a full length dark ghillie suit. He was tying to make people think there was a Sasquatch so they would call in a sighting. The dark ghillie suit made it difficult to see the man resulting in his death. People are wierd.

Fail Compilation For August 2012

     Another month, another one of the best fail compilations from the cool people over at TNL.

Chinese Carbon Bikes - Sizing

     After a couple of years of watching the Chinese Carbon and EBay Direct threads on the RoadBikeReview forums I have finally decided to try building up my own Chinese carbon bike.

     The most important thing when buying a new road bike is to know your frame size. There are many different ways to figure out what is right for you. There are some basic charts all over the Internet that give you a frame size based on your height or inseam. These charts are acceptable if you are perfectly proportioned and are buying a vintage frame which all had similar geometries. However, modern bikes come in all sorts of geometries and using a height based chart could result in a poor fitting bike which wastes both your time and money.

     There are a bunch of websites that have bike fitting calculators. These calculators work by collecting specific measurements from your body and using them to give you your ideal frame measurements. The main bike fitting calculators can be found on the Competitive Cyclist, Pedal Force, and Wrench Science websites. I personally like to use the one from Competitive Cyclist. I used it when ordering my BMC SLX01 from them and the results were great. I would not suggest measuring yourself as some of the numbers can be tricky to get solo. I first had my girlfriend help me but she was hopeless with the tape measure so I had a friend do it a second time.

     Once you have your results from a fitting calculator you can then begin shopping for a frame. Look for ones that you find visually appealing, that are within your budget, that have good reviews or are from reputable vendors... Once there are a few frames you have your eye on collect their geometry charts and compare them to your fitting results. If you have trouble finding the geometry for any given frame a quick email to the manufacturer will usually get you results within a day or two.

     Another way to fit a bike can be done by comparing a frame's stack and reach to your existing bike (if you already have a bike). Stack is an imaginary vertical line drawn from the centre of the crank axle straight up to the height of the top of the head tube. Reach is the horizontal line from the centre of the pedal axle to the centre of the head tube. In the geometry diagram above stack is labled as D and reach is labled as C. With these two measurements you can compare any frame to any other frame and get an idea of how it would fit on you. Many manufacturers currently include the stack and reach of a frame on their geometry charts to make sizing a bit easier.

Fresco Restoration In Spain

     This has to be one of the funniest real stories that I have seen on the news in ages. In Santuario De La Miseracordia, a Roman Catholic church in Borja Spain, an elderly parishioner in her 80's, Cecila Gimenez, took it upon herself to restore a 19th century fresco of Jesus Christ. The parishioner was upset that the fresco had begun to flake due to the moisture in the church. The hilarious result of her misguided attempt to help speaks for itself.

Bug-A-Salt

     I recently saw this bug annihilating gun on the Internet and thought it was pretty cool. I haven't tried one or ordered one yet but it is tempting. The Bug-A-Salt gun shoots small bursts of table salt at high speed, killing insects instantly. It seems like a more entertaining way to get rid of flies than a standard swatter!