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I would like to share my experience of a recent bike build. I went completely outside of my comfort zone by buying a far east ebay special: something I would never have contemplated pre lock down. However, having sold my previous bike pre lockdown and pre bike supply crisis I was forced to find an alternative route to a raceable/affordable mtb.
So, here it goes:
Having completed a bit of internet research I settled on a Fung Wu F199SL. There seemed to be some history of the brand and few, if any horror stories. The biggest gamble was all research was based on what I could find through google. Possibly not the best source of reference, but needs must.
The frame and rims arrived: the frame arrived in 2 weeks, well packaged. No marks. No loose weave/glue/wax inside the headtube/BB/seat tube that I could see. Calliper measurements indicated vital measurements were good.
Parts: Supply crisis plus funding of a home office meant this was a budget build. I was raiding the spares bin/ebay/amazon and my LBS as required. Build spec was:
Stem/bars - integrated carbon (ebay blind purchase) - never buy directly after a night shift. This was an unplanned purchase but I fitted it anyway.
Seatpost - Ultimate seconds - USE
Saddle - Selle Italia carbon - ebay
Forks - Rockshox SIDs - STW classifieds
Hubs - Newmen FADE - Bikester sale item
Cranks - Middleburn RS7 - spares box
BB - Superstar
drivetrain - SRAM x9 (I think) - R2 bike shop (Germany)
Wheel build - Pedal on (great shop and build)
Headset - Pedal on
Brakes - Magura MT4 (ebay)
The build on to the frame went really well. The areas of concern for me being the BB push fit, seat post, calliper mount all proved unfounded. The only annoying item was sorting the headset but that was more down to securing the right model (the frame supplier listed the correct specification and recommended Make/model).
Annoying items: Brakes. I brought from ebay as unused. Clearly the seller had tried to bleed them and f##ked up, damaging the reservoir cover in the process. This was successfully repaired avoiding a £50 bill for new lever assembly. RR hub: brought a 142mm spacing instead of 148 and only realised my error when I put the wheel in. Boost spacer kit sorted this with no wheel truing required.
Cost: my estimate ~£1400
Conclusion: The bike has been good value. I've ridden it as hard as any bike I've owned. Raced it at Gritfest, Battle on the Beach, two Gorricks and there have been no failures of any kind. Would I do it again; not sure. Why the reticence if the current build has been successful to date? Possibly because the next bike I buy would be a FS bike where I would like the comfort of a manufacturers warranty and LBS to fall back on.
Interesting. Got a side-on shot?
Is the frame a copy of a major brand? Like all those fake Epics on Ali Express?
I read a thread elsewhere where people were discussing their experience of buying FS bikes from this sort of company. They all seemed to be saying "this bit snapped, this didn't fit, all the bolts fell out, and i'm on my second replacement, but otherwise it's been great".
Did it take a while for you to trust it?
Hi @gingerflash
To be honest I'm not sure if it is a copy, j guess it will be heavily influenced by something. I'll try and sort out a side shot.
Having spent some time on it I now treat as any other bike I've owned. That includes a couple of Gorrick races, battle on the beach and all thr mtb trails at cwncarn. The only issue I've had has been the cranks coming loose. Everything else has been great.
It is still early days and only time will tell.
I recently built up a Carbonda FM936, i like it, I exchanged a load of emails before parting with my cash, arrived in 12 days. Cheap frame bolts needed thread locking. FS frame without shock = 1900g.
This is a good source of info: http://chinertown.com/