How are your Chinarellos doing ?

michael196

I am hearing of hairline cracked frames on Chinarellos less than a year old after low- moderate use.

Also Chinarellos selling on less than 1 year after purchase.

What are ur stories on these chinarellos ?

bcmf

Are you asking about chinese generic frame's in general or the frames that have an uncanny resemblence to a pinarello?
If its generic then mine is is doing fine. About to replace the forks as where i route the cables has just worn a small groove in the carbon.

Quigs Snr

Have seen 2 Chinarello's up close, both came from the same place. One is a teammates ..about 2 years old, maybe 8000k - 10,000k mostly wet training miles, no trouble with it. Picked up one myself at the start of the year to test a Di2 gruppo (I am a Cervelo fan, so going Di2 with Cervelo would be a 3k frame for me - S5 vwd - wanted to try it out for a prolonged period - I am a convert by the way). Anyway, Not too much mileage on it, maybe 1000km, a couple of crits etc (ideal for crashfests like crits really, costs about the same as a pair of decent shifters).... Did 100 miles on it today on very badly broken up roads. No trouble, frame seems to be solid. Wouldn't surprise me if others have worse luck though, from what I can tell its very hit and miss.

Looks nice too. Offends my inner poseur though to have a fake lurking in the middle of my collection - and worst of all its the one that draws the most ooohhs and aaahh's when I bring it out, so I am going to maybe get rid of it now that I know I like the Di2 - or keep it as a bike for those days when a crash is likely.

Pawlie

Quigs Snr wrote: »

Have seen 2 Chinarello's up close, both came from the same place. One is a teammates ..about 2 years old, maybe 8000k - 10,000k mostly wet training miles, no trouble with it. Picked up one myself at the start of the year to test a Di2 gruppo (I am a Cervelo fan, so going Di2 with Cervelo would be a 3k frame for me - S5 vwd - wanted to try it out for a prolonged period - I am a convert by the way). Anyway, Not too much mileage on it, maybe 1000km, a couple of crits etc (ideal for crashfests like crits really, costs about the same as a pair of decent shifters).... Did 100 miles on it today on very badly broken up roads. No trouble, frame seems to be solid. Wouldn't surprise me if others have worse luck though, from what I can tell its very hit and miss.

Looks nice too. Offends my inner poseur though to have a fake lurking in the middle of my collection - and worst of all its the one that draws the most ooohhs and aaahh's when I bring it out, so I am going to maybe get rid of it now that I know I like the Di2 - or keep it as a bike for those days when a crash is likely.

Quigs yea really love the dogma really........

I have one,and could not be happier,have done some real hard long training and racing every wk end since the opener back in feb,its stiff out great for climbing and sprinting,anyone getting one yea have to put a campag groupie on it

Anyway whats the diff,the real and chinerallo are both made in far east,my frame ways less than a kg and the forks are 390grams,it cost 460 euros including headset and seatpost set,and alot of lads have thought it is the real version when looking at it.

Beasty

Pawlie wrote: »

Anyway whats the diff

An increased risk of catastrophic failure and no comeback if anthing goes wrong are a couple of downsides that immediately come to mind

Lumen

Beasty wrote: »

An increased risk of catastrophic failure and no comeback if anthing goes wrong are a couple of downsides that immediately come to mind

On the upside, the fake is several hundred grams lighter.

Pawlie

Beasty wrote: »

An increased risk of catastrophic failure and no comeback if anthing goes wrong are a couple of downsides that immediately come to mind

As I stated,there has been no failure to date with my frame,and just wondering have you experienced no come back on a Chinese made frame,
Why would they be an increased risk with it being made in Far East,the vast majority of pro team bikes are made in Far East.

ford2600

Pawlie wrote: »

As I stated,there has been no failure to date with my frame,and just wondering have you experienced no come back on a Chinese made frame,
Why would they be an increased risk with it being made in Far East,the vast majority of pro team bikes are made in Far East.

No expert, but I'd imagine recognised brands would take quality control quite seriously.

I think that is less likely with an imitation.

How are the imitations designed? How do they do stress analysis? How are they making weight savings?

I'd want answers to those questions before hurtling off side of Slieve Mann at 70km

Beasty

The Far East is a big place!

Pinarellos undergo strict quality controls - there is nothing wrong with frames made under such controls - the problem is you really have no idea what controls have been applied in the production of your own frame

If a Chinarello frame is lighter it either is weaker than the corresponding Pinarello, or uses a higher quality (and therefore more expensive:rolleyes:) carbon.

The fact you have not encountered a catastrophic failure so far says little about the increased risk of encountering one in the future. I am not saying you will, and most people probably never do, but the chances are higher, as are the chances of cracks as alluded to by the OP

EDIT - hae a look at some of the comments in this thread on roadbikereview.com

Pawlie

Beasty wrote: »

The Far East is a big place!

Pinarellos undergo strict quality controls - there is nothing wrong with frames made under such controls - the problem is you really have no idea what controls have been applied in the production of your own frame

If a Chinarello frame is lighter it either is weaker than the corresponding Pinarello, or uses a higher quality (and therefore more expensive:rolleyes:) carbon.

The fact you have not encountered a catastrophic failure so far says little about the increased risk of encountering one in the future. I am not saying you will, and most people probably never do, but the chances are higher, as are the chances of cracks as alluded to by the OP

EDIT - hae a look at some of the comments in this thread on roadbikereview.
Look each to their own I suppose,I'm happy with mine,I've clocked 80km going down climbs,with no issues,I've done every wk end race since feb with no issues,I'm sure lads have had bad experiences but mine is not (to date) :-)

Raam

I will just point out that no Cervelo in the world has ever broken, EVAR! FACT!

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

I will just point out that no Cervelo in the world has ever broken, EVAR! FACT!

Specialized, no?

Beasty

Raam wrote: »

I will just point out that no Cervelo in the world has ever broken, EVAR! FACT!

But at least you get a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects ...

(well the original owner does anyway)

Raam

Beasty wrote: »

But at least you get a lifetime warranty against manufacturing defects ...

(well the original owner does anyway)

No wonder they were sold.

Razleavy

I think I have only read and seen pictures of one Chinarello failing, and it seemed to be due to the user installing the fork arseways. I have purchased one myself (must get around to posting pictures of it!) and have had no problems while putting it together or cycling it. There does seems to be some testing done on them, but I have no idea if they test each frame. I'm sure most have seen this, but if not here you go http://www.bustedcarbon.com/search?updated-max=2010-07-12T10:59:00-07:00&max-results=15

Quigs Snr

Beasty wrote: »

If a Chinarello frame is lighter it either is weaker than the corresponding Pinarello, or uses a higher quality (and therefore more expensive:rolleyes:) carbon.

T1000 Carbon on the version I got (usually the Chinarello's are T700), I think thats the same as the original. Weight of a 51cm Chinarello was 1038g on the scales for me. About 420g for the fork uncut. This is about 200g lighter than the usual Dogma original, but with Pinarello a lot of the weight, up to 250 or even 300g depending on the paint scheme is the paint itself. The thing I got was just plain Black on Black, which I'd imagine is the lightest paint scheme.

I am not necessarily recommending a Chinarello, I think you go in with your eyes open and you get lucky or you don't and don't complain either way afterwards. For me, it served its purpose and probably surprised me a bit. They are what they are... if they break it will either not be dealt with, take too long to be dealt with or will cost you extortionate shipping costs to deal with, so probably best to consider them disposable frames (and hope they don't fall apart coming down an alp... although a frame crack is unlikely to be catastrophic, I'd be more worried about a fork steerer problem, so I was super careful with the torque wrench there)

fazer1

and hope they don't fall apart coming down an alp...

I hope they don't fall apart in front of me;)

Pawlie

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559717_640331932650638_1516822959_n.jpg

Here is my frame,I have been knocked clean of the bike twice at pace and have come off it while doing 40+kph around a corner racing and only damage done was to pedals and two small marks on rear mech,

AstraMonti

The serious chinese players (deng-fu, hong-fu, farsports and a couple more) do quality testing on their frames, and they honour the one year warranty they provide (some even have two).

kayaksurfbum

Iv got a Hong fu frame going three years now, iv done about 12,000 k's on it, still good, iv taken the fork out a good few times to check the steerer tube as its the only place i would be worried about a failure, but that would be the same on any bike.

Planning on getting another one soon(when i have the cash)

Chips Lovell

I wouldn't put Hong-fu or Deng-fu frames in the same bracket as Chinarellos to be honest. I always took the term Chinarello to mean a counterfeit frame.

Pawlie

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

I wouldn't put Hong-fu or Deng-fu frames in the same bracket as Chinarellos to be honest. I always took the term Chinarello to mean a counterfeit frame.

Deng-Fu are another company name for cycling yong,some of the suppliers actually trade under various names,this is how they get away it supplying copies,such as dogma,specilized,time & look frame sets.

letape

Pawlie wrote: »

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/559717_640331932650638_1516822959_n.jpg

Here is my frame,I have been knocked clean of the bike twice at pace and have come off it while doing 40+kph around a corner racing and only damage done was to pedals and two small marks on rear mech,

Why would you bother putting Pinarello stickers on a frame that isn't a Pinarello?

Pawlie

letape wrote: »

Why would you bother putting Pinarello stickers on a frame that isn't a Pinarello?

lol I didnt put them on,they came on the frame,thats the way the BOB color theme comes,

Pawlie

This is one site that sells many diff type frames and bob theme is here have a gander.....
http://www.dhgate.com/2013-pinarello-dogma-65-1-think2-bob-aero/p-ff8080813184c93c013190eba0594b1a.html#s1-18-1

letape

Pawlie wrote: »

lol I didnt put them on,they came on the frame,thats the way the BOB color theme comes,

I still don't get it - its not a Pinarello! if it were me I wouldn't choose the option that includes Pinarello stickers and would go with a plain, no branding choice.

Harrybelafonte

letape wrote: »

I still don't get it - its not a Pinarello! if it were me I wouldn't choose the option that includes Pinarello stickers and would go with a plain, no branding choice.

You're you, he's him. You care, he doesn't. Let's have a knife fight.

Junior

Quigs Snr wrote: »

T1000 Carbon on the version I got (usually the Chinarello's are T700), I think thats the same as the original. Weight of a 51cm Chinarello was 1038g on the scales for me. About 420g for the fork uncut. This is about 200g lighter than the usual Dogma original, but with Pinarello a lot of the weight, up to 250 or even 300g depending on the paint scheme is the paint itself. The thing I got was just plain Black on Black, which I'd imagine is the lightest paint scheme.

I am not necessarily recommending a Chinarello, I think you go in with your eyes open and you get lucky or you don't and don't complain either way afterwards. For me, it served its purpose and probably surprised me a bit. They are what they are... if they break it will either not be dealt with, take too long to be dealt with or will cost you extortionate shipping costs to deal with, so probably best to consider them disposable frames (and hope they don't fall apart coming down an alp... although a frame crack is unlikely to be catastrophic, I'd be more worried about a fork steerer problem, so I was super careful with the torque wrench there)

Did you pick up a Chinarello for the better half as well ? If you did where did you pick it up ?