Unbranded Chinese Carbon Track Bike

Last year I had a Cinelli Vigorelli for track riding then got a Dolan Forza briefly which was awesome, incredibly stiff and blew the Vigorelli out the water. Long story short, I had to return the Forza as it was stolen, got my money back but had to go back to riding the Vigorelli. Since then I have been lusting after frame of the level of the Forza but moving house has emptied the wallet.

So after not being able to afford a Dolan DF4 or similar, I decided to go down the Chinese Carbon route and bought a frame with little info, just knowing it has a 56cm top tube and looked pretty beefy. I couldn't find anyone info online about them from people that have bought them and there isn't a frame number to google like all the road frames have.

A couple of weeks after purchasing on ebay this turned up:

The box was a bit dented but it was packed well enough to not suffer in the post.

I have matched it with most of the parts that came off the Forza. Chinese carbon deep section wheels with formula hubs and bladed spokes, Challenge Criterium tyres, Shimano Ultegra 165 road cranks with a USE track chainring to give a good chain line and Romin saddle.

The Forza had a very short head tube so need a pointy uppy stem, which I then flipped when going back to the Vigorelli to give a level stem and paired with shallow bars. After a clear out of spare bits I only have a couple of stems and 1 pair of oversized bars left, so the new carbon frame has currently got an Enve stem with the logo's removed and some Deda RHM01 bars.

I bought some latex inner tubes because of reasons, I got Vittoria ones thinking they could use normal valve extenders and also because they were the cheapest. However when they turned up I realised they don't have removable cores so my extenders wouldn't work, luckily I had a single Zipp one kicking out that just screws over the top of the valve so I could get one wheel working.

A couple of cheap Planet X valve extenders later and I decided to put the tube in the front tyre, manage to pinch it when putting the final part of the tyre on and it exploded about 5 minutes later so that was £7 down the drain.

I have since put my final latex inner tube in the front tyre and it's not exploded yet and replaced the stupidly long rear extender with a better length Planet X one. Although I did manage to drop the extender inside the rim and had to spend about 20 minutes fishing it out with a very thin allen key and a flashlight.

I had a Super Toughness chain waiting to go on, then when coming to do it, realised it is 1 single link too short. Learn my lesson of buying second hand chains and had to put on a horrible old one from the spares box.

So now it's working, just need to get a couple of spacers on and chop the steerer. Had a ride down the road a few times and it feels very quick. Should be good fun when I get back to the track.

Nice. Did you get a weight of the frame before building up?

Unfortunately not, but it's definitely not much.

The thing that always put me off these was being scared of the forks, how's the quality?

Pretty decent actually, the finishing is good enough and I can't see any dodgy mould marks on the inside.

Got a link to the original sale page? Definitely interested!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331470912436?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&var=540644156822&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Who you going to get to paint this bad boy?

Finally a review/user of that frame, keep us updated. How long is the seatpost?

Great job !
Do you have pics of forza ??

Pretty long, I haven't measured it but I would say about 450mm end to end.

@Sumo, does the fork look like it could be successfully drilled?

I don't think so, it's pointy at the front. I'll grab a picture from my flicker to show you.

just out of curiosity: how did you manage to get the headset adjusted with that much steerer on top of it?
and can you put full load on the stem screws without an expander in the steerer that keeps you from crushing it?

easy enough to swap it out... I have been waiting to see them for sale without the fork, slap on an alpina for piece of mind and call it a day.

the bung should be placed where the stem clamps, so a standard screw will work in his case. issue would be lots of spacers above the stem.
at your own risk; but i think you may think the steerer bung is (needs to be) further down the steerer than it is (can be).

Chinese forks are fine

I didn't, I just pulled the forks through as much as I could then tightened the stem. Wouldn't actually ride it like that but going up and down my street was fine. The steerer has now been chopped with 2cm of spacers above and below the stem until I decide on a final height for it.

@Sumo have you test ride it yet? Is there much flex from the crabon?

Just a few times up and down my road, didn't notice any flex at all.

Like your bike very much.

its the same frame 7vrn sell isnt it, arent they somehow attached to velodrome shop?. The main issue with this frame is geo from what i saw when researching it..in that the frame sizes seem to just lengthen the top tube but not a lot else..i remember reading the small still left some with too much reach for it to be comfortable, something like that. Still kudos for diving in the deep end of the unknown. Bike looks nice.