We have a few threads on Chinese carbon wheels, but thought it might be useful for people to share their experiences and thoughts on the frame side of things given how expensive some of the big/traditional brands are becoming.
State Bicycles:
Mostly known for their fixed gear bikes, they now have a road and gravel offering. Likely open mold framesets, the company is based in the US which could make warranty, etc stuff easier. They are sponsoring Phil Gaimon this year.
Carbon Road - clearance for 32mm tires, $1400 for the standard (1100 g frame) and $1700 if you wanna save some weight (820 g frame)
Carbon All-road/Gravel - UDH, clearance for 2.2 inch tires, integrated downtube storage. $1400 or $1500 depending on the paint scheme
Winspace:
Gained a lot of recognition for their wheel sets which were popular among YouTube influencers. They have a 8 different frame offerings. I believe they started with the T1500 (since replaced by the T1550). One of the guys on my team has put something like 10k miles on it. Framset prices from $1200 to $2800 depending on the model, if you get their one-piece cockpits, etc. They have some really nice paint jobs IMO. Their G3 gravel frames has clearance for 50C and UDH.
Many of these Asian âbudgetâ frames are made in the same factories as more expensive western brands. In the gravel space Sea Otter was all about well prices frames/bikes from Quick Pro, X-Lab, Seka, Tavelo and Panda Podium with lots of goodies. In my opinion: itâs a welcome disruption.
Carbonda are worth a look. I have the 696 gravel frame, and itâs an open mold frame used by a few dozen smaller brands (and one or two bigger brands used it for a few years). No issues, but I would point out that itâs not as cheap as youâd like once you add in shipping and paint etc. the OPEN UP was on clearance for about the same recently as I paid for the 696 in 2022.
SP-Cycle M01 is an Epic Hardtail copy. Such a copy that it uses the specialized headset âstandardâ rather than the regular IS one. My one cracked in the seat tube after 4 or 5 hundred miles, and outside the warranty.
I would point out that itâs really not as cheap as youâd like, even if you have parts. I was looking at a Chinese equivalent to an Epic, and once you add a shock and build kit, youâre really not that far away from an Epic 8 Comp on sale. You save $1k, maybe $2k if you have parts to reuse, but have a bike that has little resale value and no great warranty etc. of course if you have a pile parts, you can put together a nice bike for $1-2k too.
What I think is more interesting, is the X-Lab compete bikes. They had a carbon disc road bike just over $2k and a gravel one for about $3k. There even looks to be an XC full sus bike racing at World Cup level. If x-lab hurry up and launch the XC bike, Iâll be taking a long hard look at that vs the Epic 9.
As you noted , the wheel business has changed. Quality wheels from Hunt (USA) and the Chinese brands are at a great price. Options for hubs and spokes of your choice. Frames now have followed that trend.
I built a Velo Voice gravel bike. The frame and forks are great. 2 years and no issues. Came with options for thru the head set routing or not. Plus head set bearings and plenty of mounting options.
Iâm now building an ICAN P-9 full suspension mtn bike. The frame arrived well packaged and on close inspection has no issues. Bottom bracket threads are very clean. All the piviots are also on par.
Im seeing more and more Chinese bikes at events.
I think peoples opinion of Chinese carbon bars is prob out dated. I have 2 bars and have not had issues with either. Now if the price is $25.00 I might be a bit cautious.
Iâll offer up this point of view. The âmade in the same factory as the western brandsâ does not necessarily mean anything other than having an idea as to its place of manufacture. Layup schedules will very likely never be the same for a western brand like Trek or Cannondale as they are fir the house brand, especially considering they knockoffs really are not a thing anymore now that the Chinese and Taiwanese have established themselves globally and stand on their own merits. There are definitely very affordable options allowing one to build a nice bike at a reasonably lesser cost than one off a bike shop floor. A couple of the Chinese brands like Seka and Incolor are now treading right into Western price territory proving they have the confidence to compete on a like level. For sure warranty coverage can be more challenging but there are a few brands setting up distribution and sales here in America making the value proposition harder to ignore. I have not made the mo e into a feame yet but have been on Chinese carbon wheels for 20 years and seen rapid progresion of tech, quality and performance at prices so far below Zipp or Enve that id never own those again since they really dont bring much to the tanle other than the brand recognition. The Chinese have them beat in basically every metric. I see frames similarly now and other major components like groupsets are not far behind.
There is also the fashion/prestige factor to consider. I know plenty of folks who buy high end bikes because they just like having the best and cycling is their hobby. They donât race and they arenât fast, but still enjoy having the latest and greatest high end stuff. And there is nothing wrong with that, just like there is nothing wrong with someone who wants to buy a $1k handbag or dress because of the image/prestige from the label. I see my bikes more as tools rather than fashion statements, but I can appreciate othersâ perspectives. The people who see their bikes as fashion/art/prestige statements arenât likely to be jumping on brands from China in the foreseeable future.
I would definitely buy from a Chinese brand, but they will need establish a track record for long term quality and support before Iâd consider them. Lets see how some of these new brands are looking in ~3 years, I bet at least one is going to make a splash. I think the push from the Chinese brands is good, bike pricing is totally out of hand and the industry needs some disruption to force an overhaul.
Iâve got two very cheap carbon frames (hardtail and gravel) from Chinese companies, both have been absolutely fine. The Chinese companies also have brand names and reputations to loose, if you look to buy from one thatâs established and going for a while, I think youâll be fine.
I do think you need to know a bit about the frame you want - geometry, parts compatability, and plan to build it up yourself preferably. I wouldnât just buy any frame you like the look of, and drop it at a bike shop and expect them to figure out how to put the groupset of your choice on it.
I donât know about warrenty, itâs not a factor I think about much when buying things Iâm likely to use and break, but the companies I bought from were easy to deal with and reliable during the buying process.
Is that cheap for the US?! Itâs easily twice of what I would pay for a budget frame.
Unfortunately yes. The (non-sale) price of a drop-bar frameset from most of the big players (Trek, Giant, Cervelo, etc) starts at $2500 USD. But it many cases itâs quite a bit more for example with Specialized below. Which is why I have bought used or previous gen on sale the last couple of times I have gotten a new bike.
Iâve had good luck with chinese frames and wheels.
I have had good luck with Lightcarbon. I have a 917 (same as 919 but doesnât have headset routing) with just under 10k miles. The only issue I had was one of the inserts for the rear brake bosses cracked at the bottom. It would have been fine if I had noticed and put loctite further up the threads. I got a new rear triangle to fix it and the benefit was it was UDH. I take it off some pretty big drops and donât baby it and itâs been fine. I also laced up 2 different fatbike rimsets from them. First one has probably 5k miles. Other one is only at 500 miles.
I also have a carbonda 505 with 5k miles on it I use as mostly a road bike. i still hop curbs and bang it around. No issues with that on either.
And I have 3k miles on some BTLOS rims with DT350 hubs. I have zero complaints with those either.
Iâve saved thousands by going open mold and I canât say Iâve missed out on anything performance wise
I reckon the question is what you would consider âbudgetâ and how much a local warranty is worth to you for a frame. If you are in the US, youâd have better luck dealing with Niner I reckon.
X-Lab aiming for US distribution - not sure how that impacts warranty claims but certainly a contact point.
They say that LBS will be their primary distribution channel (with direct to consumer as an option also). So, if x-lab follows through, you should be able to go to any x-lab dealer for warranty. There are a lot of âif, and, butsâ that need to happen, we shall see. Even some of the long-time established smaller brands are pretty terrible at warranty claims.
Agree on the brand prescense vs pure-generic Temu frame.
Have been very happy so far with my State Carbon AllRoad gravel bike, like they have a cheaper âState groupsetâ of non-SRAM/Shimano groupset option if youâd likeâŚ
or in my case offer upgrade at a fairly cost effective price, to go SRAM Axs/EagleTransmission plus DTSwiss basic wheels for a good gravel setup for a good price! Plus you can easily use TruMED for FSA 
gotta stay healthy lol
I think this is a myth people tell themselves. The Giant, Merida, or Keentech factories are not pumping out $500 open mold frames. No way. They are making top tier frames like Giant and Specialized.
Iâm not saying open mold frames are bad. The barrier to entry to open a factory is not that high. Gluing together carbon and resin in a mold is not rocket science. There are plenty of 2nd and 3rd tier factories pumping out frames to spec.
FWIW, I tracked down the oem of the State carbon road frame. You can get one from Adapt (might be b2c only) or Speeder. Itâs sold as the 55d.
Pardon the self promotion, but this seems relevant. I made a video with my build specs including the order process, timing and pricing:
XDS who make X-Lab had frames made in their factory win 6 stages at Le Tour last year. Seems a decent result.
Tavelo and Seka are also from this group - past Winspace employees.