Chinese track frame group buy

Evening team,

I am at the early stages of organising a UK group buy for some track frames from China along with a few others from BCC. I'm in conversations with a manufacturer and looking at either these http://www.tantancycling.com/index.php?_m=mod_product&_a=view&p_id=1027 or the attached frame.

Let me know if you'd like to get in and if anyone else on the forum has done this before/can offer any tips I'd love to hear them so please get in touch.

Ride safe,
Henry

2 Attachments

• TR019 geometry.pdf
• 

What sort of price are we talking about for a frame like this?

I've just emailed the supplier to quote on the basis of a 10-frame order (mixed sizes, same paint for all) so I will update. The final price will be quite dependent on how many we can recruit but I'll reply with the info I have as soon as it arrives. In my head I'm aiming for <£500 but from what I can tell these things tend to vary over time quite a bit given the number of macro variables that feed into it.

H

Excellent thanks - I will keep an eye on this thread when there are any updates.
Cheers

If you expand into carbon wheels or rims, let us know.

I will ask the supplier. What were you looking for?

H

-Diameter: 349mm (16”, brommie) or 622mm (700c).
-Clincher.
-Carbon, rim brake, road use.
-Inner width: 19-23mm, whichever they regularly do.
-Spoke count: To Be Discussed depending on size(s) they do.
-Depth: also TBD, not more than 50mm.

If it’s not convenient for your group purchase then no pressure mate. Thanks in any case 👍

Interested in the track framesets, subject to geometry and paint options. And price, of course.

Would also be interested in 700c rims, 16h / 18h and 24h, 40-60mm depth with grooved braking surface.

@Leshaches @eespark noted. Geom charts are in the pdf/link above. Will ask about paint options. Going to put a post on track Facebook today to see if I can recruit a few more with the aim to make a 10 frame commitment.

H

Update from the supplier, he's just let me know that they don't actually have the rights to sell either of the two designs linked above in the UK so he's suggested the "TR011" (geom attached) but I'm now getting further away from what I was looking for. Have asked if he can let me know who owns the rights to the TR018 and that Handsling have exclusive distribution rights to the TR019 in the UK.

H

1 Attachment

Keen to stay in the loop with this!

Nothing back from supplier yet but will bump today.

Interesting, but why wouldn't you get what looks to be the same thing from Aliexpress for £300
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeYuxHv

Good q, few things behind this:

1. I'd really like to get hold of one of the integrated stem frames which from what I can tell are longer sold on ae as someone (still trying to figure out who) has bought the moulds.
   
2. I've seen the group buy work well for some other things and I'd like to see what kind of discount we can negotiate.
   
3. Hoping that going direct to manufacturer should be better from a QC perspective.
   
   

H

Ok, after much back-and-forth and diving down the rabbit hole I am speaking to Top Fire about their track frame and wheels. Decision has been driven by:

1. They seem to be a genuine OEM. I've spoken to 4 different companies who've each claimed to be the OEM for some of the more popular track frames which is a bit concerning
   
2. Their track frame is exactly what I'm looking for (https://www.top-fire.com/aero-carbon-track-bike-frame-for-bsa-system_p13.html, I think Viviani won a WC on it in 2021 and it's very similar to the Electron Pro geom)
   
3. They have a good selection of wheels and other bits if people want to order some to go with.
   
   

Still remains to be seen whether there are any cost savings to be had vs. just buying on AE as mentioned above but @Rjfreeman, @eespark, @Charger, @Leshaches if you're interested have a look around the site and let me know what you'd be ordering and then I can move towards getting a quote.

What would the individual price be? I'm keen - I've been racing on chinese carbon wheels all season and they've been pretty great. I'm just looking at the models now and the aero one wont fit me, would the deal still work if it's a different frame? https://www.top-fire.com/light-carbon-track-bike-frame-for-bsa-system_p67.html

@Amcharl I'll ask but I'll put you down in principle for one of those.

I have/had one of those frames. The BB came unglued after 13 months. The seat post also had a massive slip issue, which was an absolute PITA to stop. Sanding the post, adding carbon paste, then adding sandpaper to the inside of the seat tube did nothing.

They are not worth the money, and there are far better Chinese options out there (that cost a little bit more).

Or getting a proper quality used frameset in good condition. Why anyone would buy some cheap chinese crap is beyond me

Is this a scam?

@kal, useful insight, are you referring to the Top-fire ones?
@johnnettles2 nope, other BCC riders/the many people I've traded with over the years on here can vouch for me. Still remains to be seen whether this is in fact a better/cheaper way of buying vs. individual purchases on Aliexpress but I'm willing to put in some leg work to see if it is.

@Nbenja3 thanks for your input, we'll keep it in mind 👍

Apologies for the delay in updating, currently job hunting and it's taken priority over riding for the moment. Couple of things I've learned going back and forth with a some manufacturers over the past few weeks:

• It's hard to figure out who the actual OEM is for a given frame as lots of companies claim to own the rights for the more popular moulds (e.g. the AliExpress specials). No one is transparent about where they come from, what QC looks like or shows much knowledge of mfg processes (e.g. bladder vs. sol core) even when talking about a big order.
  
• Frames that are unique to one seller tend to be a lot more expensive than the AliExpress specials. One quote I had was for 900USD ex-shipping, dropping to 850 for an order of 10 frames. They weren't willing to ship them as freight so no savings to be had on shipping costs either. On the plus side they seemed much more knowledgeable about what goes into making their products (e.g. using soluble core vs. bladders)
  
• I found it quite difficult to negotiate a discount across multiple product lines, seems we'd need to be buying 10x of every wheel and frame to get any appreciable discount so it doesn't really work when everyone wants something different.
  
  

All this in mind, seems that the group buy format probably isn't the one for these frames. If you're after a track frame your options remain either the $500 AE special of unknown provenance or the ~$1k frame from a known OEM. The bulk discount factor just isn't there and I even if it were I'd only be comfortable taking that risk on something without known provenance from an OEM, at which point it's getting quite expensive.

Happy to share findings with anyone else looking to buy and will come back with a review after I've got some income again and pulled the trigger on one. H