Orient Express - Cheap Chinese Rims / Wheels / Forks / Frames / Cranks / Etc

Someone has to do the leg work of collating everyone's requirements. On the last group order I did this. I contacted LB with the full spec for all rims / wheels and they provided a quote. I asked for the Tax Paid Delivery option so that everyone could see the total landed cost before they committed. Once everyone confirmed they were happy with the price and that they wanted to go ahead I then took payment from everyone. Once that was all in, I paid LB and then shared all the tracking info. The rims got delivered to my flat and then everyone collected from then.

Roughly the savings are 10% on standard rims / wheels and 20% on pro rims / wheels plus around another £40 in delivery savings. At the moment the Black Friday offer of 10% negates much of the savings on standard rims in a group buy (although a group buy is still cheaper but only around £40 ish). However, it is a much better saving on Pro series rims and in particular complete wheel builds on those rims as the 20% is applied to the whole wheel not just the rims.

For Farsports the prices are as per the two pricing documents I posted above, there is a minimum quantity of 10 rims to qualify, the group discount is better than their current 10% 11.11 offer.

Just a heads up on LB, they're suffering from Covid-related supply issues like much of the industry. My pair of rims have been in fabrication for 8 weeks now. Just one data point but if you need gear this side of Christmas I'd look elsewhere or at least get a candid time frame estimate.

They’ve had a huge backlog since Chinese New Year really. COVID slowdown has meant they can’t dig themselves out of it yet. My wheels took over 2 months to be shipped and another two weeks to get to me.

Are there any particular recommendations for 700c thru axle disc wheels? Wideish would be good

Is this still open? I'm keen on a 650b wheelset.

I've not had any messages from anyone with their preferred rim / wheel specs so haven't contacted LB / FS about it yet.

Sorry man as much as I want to do this (and who doesn't want nice new rims!) I will have to pass this time.

To be honest, I'm not sure I can really justify it either at the moment so no worries!

Edit: To Clarify, I can't afford an order at the moment so won't be co-ordinating. As I posted up thread it is a fairly simple process but does require someone to take on the role of pulling it together.

Does anyone have one of those canyon two part seatposts knocking about they'd like to part with? 27.2 diameter

Independent Fabrications now importing cheap open mould frames and branding them as Indy Fab. WTF.

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dependent fabrication

LOL. Though if Pegoretti had done the same people would have still paid over the odds for a name on the down-tube.

i.d on the frameset...?

Hongfu Generica 1011.275aa/4

I may have made that up

Seems reasonable if they are happy to dilute their USP, are clear about source and sell at cost (including shipping, taxes etc) plus a nominal mark up.

They aren’t going to do that though, are they?

My wheels took over 2 months to be shipped and another two weeks to get to me.

Called it. Just shipped at 9 weeks since ordering.

Can you get shopper bike wheels from China? But quite sporty ones?

Depends on the rim size. There's a certain amount of race gear for Bromptons, and of course 20" as long as it's the same 20" as BMX bikes use.

A mate bought the Silverock xr270 (kinlin) 451 wheel set from aliexpress for a fast folder and rates them, if that helps.

I would be happy to pay a local seller a markup for a generic hong fu frame if that meant I had proper warranty and after sales service. And a little extra for a nice paint job, sure why not.

EDIT: I just read the comments on that post. There are some very sensitive fanboys out there.

quite.

That's the problem, if you want to import and sell those frames you're going to be responsible for them and so you'll need additional in-house quality control and by that point to sell at a profit the RRP isn't much off a brand name frame and so there's no incentive for the consumer. The only way it seems to work is if you have a direct and close relationship with the factories and the legal structure in place in case one explodes while cycling and you get sued.

Is this not what Hunt is doing in the wheels sector?

Planet X, except paint and customer service is shit...

They've obviously found a factory they're happy with, I don't know how much QC they do in the UK but there's a reason a pair of 30mm disc brake wheels is £800 not the £400 some cost direct from china