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

whoah - what happened here?

If you can put down badge snobbery

Ah, ya lost me right there. Well done though.

You mean like punching a virgin's ovaries to make it twang?

Where the hell do you pull these from?!

I think they're attached to the Fallopian tubes.

Hauling the thread back...

...sizing for the common Chinese frames.

Finished my FM004 build today. Everything went pretty smoothly, except waiting for ages for the last few parts. Setup still needs a few tweaks, but other than that I'm really happy with it. Took it for a quick spin when I was done; it feels really solid to ride, very smooth and definitely feels light for me (I nearly got take down by the wind a couple of times!).

Attempted to weigh it on the bathroom scales and it came up somewhere between 8 and 9 kg, but the accuracy of them is shit so I don't trust that at all.

total cost was...?

What are those tyres btw?

Haven't totaled everything up, but I think between £800 and 900 at this point.

The rear is a schwalbe blizzard hp and the front is a crescent, both 20mm. Just pulled them off an old wheelset I had lying around, probably going to replace them with a pair of these - http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/Road-Triathlon-Track-Folding-Tyres-Challenge-Open-Criterium-Folding-Tyre/CHALTYRF190 when my wallet has had a bit of a chance to recover.

dont buy those tyres.

they are 23" wide!!!!

lovely bike, good price, will look lots better with road pedals.

Nice- looking forward to a ride report.

dont buy those tyres.

they are 23" wide!!!!

Sheeeeeeeit! At least they'll hold good when winter comes!

^Hopefully get a proper ride report together when I actually get a chance to take it out for a decent distance, unfortunately I don't really have much experience of road bikes as a base to compare it to though. Also, i think its going to take quite a while before I properly get the hang of riding gears and make the most of it.

I'm waiting for the news that carbon fibre is the new asbestos...Although i must admit I was looking at a chinarello too.

They* should definitely make a bike out of carbon nano-tube technology.

Forget about computers and space materials, could make such a stiff and light bicycle!

*The scienticioners

Your wait is over.

Carbon Nanotubes May Cause Mesothelioma Cancer.

I was thinking more like when the asbestos link gets to the point where the government decide you need a special licence to handle or dispose of carbonfibre. #lovethenannystate

You're going to die!

I have Easton CNT carbon all over my fecking bike! If I snap my bars on a 80kph decent, the fear of my increased cancer risk index will be unbearable.

If the bars snap don't breath in

:)

Just like asbestos really, it's still a great product for what it was designed for but now it costs you a grand to get a sheet of it taken off a roof. You could quite happily lick that sheet of asbestos and nothing would happen to you, paranoia is awesome for jacking up prices though.

Anyway back on topic has anyone got stung by import tax yet? does the packaging that it comes in actually declare its true value or is it the typical hong kong labelled as a gift style deal?

My stuff was labelled as "sample", and did not attract a customs charge.

My stuff was labelled as "sample", and did not attract a customs charge.

Ditto.

Anyway back on topic has anyone got stung by import tax yet? does the packaging that it comes in actually declare its true value or is it the typical hong kong labelled as a gift style deal?

Yeah I payed £20 in total for my frame, unfortunately the packaging has already been recycled, and i didn't have a chance to properly look at it and see if it was labelled as a gift or not.

My stuff only small items, skewers and jockey wheels, where labelled as "sample" too .. no charge so far with Orient imports

Currently, 2,000 people a year are die from nanny state paranoia induced asbestosis. You can lick it all you want, but inhale the dust, and you're fucked.

Funny, the government website says it was 117 last year (with most of the cases confined to over 75s) but even if it were 2,000, in the grand scale of things considering how much asbestos is out there and for the amount of time it's been in use that really is quite a miniscule number.

The actual risks depends on the specific type of asbestos too, there are varying levels of danger depending on the type. Its one of those things though, a bit like smoking...There are people who worked round it all their lives and have no ill effects, then there are people who only did a few jobs and have come down with asbestosis.

Still a great product for what it was designed for though, but obviously you have to take the right precautions...i wonder if we would have 2,000 cases if employers hadn't been cutting corners on the safety gear back in the day to save themselves a few quid? I know my grandad was scrubbing asbestos tanks in the shipyards by hand and they were given nothing but a rag to cover their faces with. He did wind up with lung problems from it, but as he always said something is always going to get you one way or another.

Be interesting to see how many cases of asbestosis style illness cases there will be in the workforces of these carbon nanotube producing factories in china in 30-50 years time, something tells me that safety for the workers can hardly be top of the agenda if they are knocking out frames at less than 220 dollars a piece.

Anyway if you are considering cutting down any carbonfibre parts, it's handy to know that there is a link to asbestosis so you can take the necessary precautions to keep the dust down and wear appropriate gear.

Back on topic, my friend has just ordered a few carbonfibre bits including a seat,seatpost and handlebars from one of the ebay sellers so i shall get to have a closer looksie soon! in the mean time i am saving up the pennies.