Hongfu FM-066/Chinese open mould frame thread

[MON5TER]

Tantan X 21- Excellent communication with Rose. Frame painted, seems to be exactly to spec and on its way.

[blacktalon]

Does anyone know of an alternate source of the tantan x21?

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[jagheterjan]

The TT X21 geometry is the same as the Workswell WCB-R-268 and the Velobuild VB-R-099, so very likely the same mould. There are probably more vendors using the mould out there.

[LanceLegstrong]

More fun with my Tantan X-19. If you may remember my dealings with Tantan, I finally decided to pick up an SL7 and be done with the X-19. The frame was still around, and was using it on my trainer for some time, but had an idea to rebuild it as a 1x flat crit bike. I wouldn't really care if I crashed it as I've just decided to eat the loss after the hell of Tantan customer service. Started to build it up and noticed this below. The inside of the seat tube looks like carbon is flaking off. And the rear of it looks like it's splitting. It gets even worse when the seatpost is torqued down (5Nm). Needless to say, not wanting to ride this outside. Am I right to say this frame is toast? Can it live as my indoor trainer bike for a while?

Inside, looks to be losing carbon somehow, almost like it's flaking off.



Pre-tightening



Post-tightening (5Nm)

[none]

No bueno.
Poor design for seattube, seatpost wedge.

[Nefarious86]

I’d epoxy the post in and keep it as a kicker bike.

[RDY]

More and more bad stories about TanTan (and ICAN).

As far as frames go, IMO the only guaranteed quality and CS you'll get are Carbonda, LightCarbon, DengFu/HongFu. WorksWell & Velobuild are all open mould I think - and I guess quality can vary - but their CS is good.

[slippy]

Are you sure about Workswell selling open moulds? I was under the impression that they desinged and manufactured. I might be fooled by them though

[ms6073]

Pretty certain it is simply a marketing/export subsidiary that is co-located in the same industrial park with the actual manufacturing partners, although there is a good chance they all may be owned by a common entity, but Workswell itself is not a manufacturer.

[OnTheRivet]

Sand the paint off, repoxy with epoxy resin. Wouldn't epoxy the seatpost in, if you change the saddle the seatpost may need to go up/down. Fine for a trainer bike, I've done something similar.

[kroem]

Thought I'd try here: I built up a Winow/Tantan gravel but ordered a too long bar/stem - before I buy the same one, anyone have a suggestion for a bar that would work with a GR039 frame? it has full internal routing so 1-1/2"/1-1/2" head tube. Current bar is the same as Ican HB017: https://www.icanbikes.com/product/hb017 ... handlebar/

Another question - a friend wants my old bar - anyone know of a suitable 1-1/8" headset that would look "ok" for this kind of aero shape stem/bar?

[Toybota]

After seeing so many posts with people purchasing Chinese frame, what's the biggest merit?
Is it mostly the price?

These days you can get a branded frame from Merlin, Bike 24 and etc for fraction more...

Just want to know if I'm missing anything here.

[LanceLegstrong]

After seeing so many posts with people purchasing Chinese frame, what's the biggest merit?
Is it mostly the price?

These days you can get a branded frame from Merlin, Bike 24 and etc for fraction more...

Just want to know if I'm missing anything here.

For me it was mostly the price. The TT-X19 is a Specialized Tarmac copy so it was $600 vs $3000+ for the frame. I just had a bad experience. If you read through the thread, my experience is not the norm. It sounds like for every one of my stories, there are at least 10x as many positive experiences. So take from that what you will.

As far as getting a Merlin branded bike for a little more; I have nothing against Merlin and from what I read, they make solid bikes. But I don't think they'll compare to some of the open molds. You get a bigger company with better customer serivce, but the frames themselves I'd say aren't bettter quality. Buying open mold will be more of a gamble, and like me, you might get a bad frame and may have to eat the cost. But there are some quality frames out there.

[tigradekat]

Is there anyone here using a Workswell WCB-R-268 (aka Velobuild VB-R-099, aka LTBike LTK268) that can give any feedback about frame quality, ride quality, frame durability?
There are many brands selling this frame under different names, i.e. there's a really small shop near by where I live that sells it as a re-branded bike. Basic version with Shimano 105 R7000 disc (except for crankset, which is Shimano RS-510) and basic Fulcrum wheels for 1980€. The version in the image below is much more expensive (full Ultegra and Fulcrum Racing Zero CMPTZN DB at 3350€)

Hi, I was not on the forum for a while. I'm still very happy with the WCB-R-268. Like others say, it feels just damn fast. Workswell are a good company to deal with. My handlebar started to crack arount the screw hole insert. And while it took until last week for it to arrive (original warranty claim was made in October last year), they sent me a replacement handlebar without any fuss.

[Ant]

I sent an enquiry to Light Carbon last night about getting an LCR007-V

I have an itch to scratch with a smaller frame. Been looking for secondhand stuff but nothing has come up so I thought I'd try one of these. Geometry is exactly what I was looking for.