China Carbon Fatty on da cheap

I need to take the numbers off the fork on my son's shitty B+ bike. He has a boat anchor up there. Probably lose 5 pounds right there.
 
i would love to use all my parts from my muk to a carbon frame but no luck on the 170 rear

that bike build is sweet
 
Mike do you have a web site for the fork? would like to check it out
 
Mike do you have a web site for the fork? would like to check it out

This is the fork that I ordered @mike_243 . I chose the matte finish. It should look pretty good with the charcoal paint on Boris.
The fork has a tapered steerer so you need to get an adapter lower headset like this to put the tapered steerer in the straight head tube.
FYI, this will rake the head tube angle about 1 degree. I don't see that as a problem though.
 
Last edited:
It didn't break yet...
The scary part is that it's lighter than the bag it came in. 😀
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    122.4 KB · Views: 308
Sweet, I am interested. There are some sweet builds out there.
Well, here's the skinny on the $130 Chinese carbon fork.

I've taken it out for a few hard rides now and it's still in one piece.
(Haven't ridden in in the rocks though)
A few things to note:
Out of the bag, expect to put some work in to get it to work. If you are not a tinkerer, it's probably not for you.
(1) I had to lightly sand/deburr the steerer to be able to install the the lower headset race. No way it would go on without breaking something otherwise.
(2) the drop out did not fit my axle. Once again I had to file fit it carefully.
I believe it measured ~.360" and my axle size was .390ish. The options were to either put flats on the axle which would be a PITA to line up every time or fit the dropouts. I chose the dropouts (you may not have this problem as it depends on your axle size)
(3) The caliper mounts were nowhere near square to the axle (no, I don't think it was my dropout filing job)
I had to reface them to get better alignment to the rotor. Again, pretty easy just have to take your time.

The feel of the bike has improved dramatically with taking a few pounds off of the front. It's noticeably more responsive.
 
Well, here's the skinny on the $130 Chinese carbon fork.

I've taken it out for a few hard rides now and it's still in one piece.
(Haven't ridden in in the rocks though)
A few things to note:
Out of the bag, expect to put some work in to get it to work. If you are not a tinkerer, it's probably not for you.
(1) I had to lightly sand/deburr the steerer to be able to install the the lower headset race. No way it would go on without breaking something otherwise.
(2) the drop out did not fit my axle. Once again I had to file fit it carefully.
I believe it measured ~.360" and my axle size was .390ish. The options were to either put flats on the axle which would be a PITA to line up every time or fit the dropouts. I chose the dropouts (you may not have this problem as it depends on your axle size)
(3) The caliper mounts were nowhere near square to the axle (no, I don't think it was my dropout filing job)
I had to reface them to get better alignment to the rotor. Again, pretty easy just have to take your time.

The feel of the bike has improved dramatically with taking a few pounds off of the front. It's noticeably more responsive.
how did one re-face? do you have a milling machine?
 
how did one re-face? do you have a milling machine?
That's a good question Mr. Flaubert. I was wondering if anyone was going to ask.
Well, I do have a daily love/hate relationship with a milling machine but this type of job would be a nightmare to setup so fogetaboutit! 😀
For anyone with alignment issues, there is a fixture for facing the bosses. I believe @jdog has one so he could get you all set.
As for me, I don't have one so I went about it in a sophisticated yet simple way.
First, I checked squareness of the bosses in relation to the rotor on the mounted wheel with a machinist square. (It was obvious where I was at)
Then I inked the face of the bosses.
Next, I used a custom ground square block with a nice wide base and a strip of sandpaper.
With the block flat on the rotor, not pushing hard to avoid warping it, I sanded the bosses with the strip of sandpaper firmly between the bosses/block with a nice even controlled stroke 😛
I faced them until the ink cleaned up on the entire boss.
How could it be more funner than that?
Bikes!
 
That's a good question Mr. Flaubert. I was wondering if anyone was going to ask.
Well, I do have a daily love/hate relationship with a milling machine but this type of job would be a nightmare to setup so fogetaboutit! 😀
For anyone with alignment issues, there is a fixture for facing the bosses. I believe @jdog has one so he could get you all set.
As for me, I don't have one so I went about it in a sophisticated yet simple way.
First, I checked squareness of the bosses in relation to the rotor on the mounted wheel with a machinist square. (It was obvious where I was at)
Then I inked the face of the bosses.
Next, I used a custom ground square block with a nice wide base and a strip of sandpaper.
With the block flat on the rotor, not pushing hard to avoid warping it, I sanded the bosses with the strip of sandpaper firmly between the bosses/block with a nice even controlled stroke 😛
I faced them until the ink cleaned up on the entire boss.
How could it be more funner than that?
Bikes!
i couldn't imagine setting up a fork under a milling machine.
why sand paper? doesn't ever good machinist have a stone?
you could of just said yes it was a milling machine.... MIND.... BLOWN
 
i couldn't imagine setting up a fork under a milling machine.
why sand paper? doesn't ever good machinist have a stone?
you could of just said yes it was a milling machine.... MIND.... BLOWN
Eh, a stone would take too long unless you have a huge variety to try. It has to remove carbon and alum so it would be tough to find the right grit/material. Sandpaper is cheap, I have a huge variety and I have a ton at my disposal. Also, you would have to have the right size and would need it dead square. Easier to use the block and sand paper. It's also better because you only want the rough side against the bosses. The smooth side of the ground block slides nicely on the rotor surface without scoring.
 
Eh, a stone would take too long unless you have a huge variety to try. It has to remove carbon and alum so it would be tough to find the right grit/material. Sandpaper is cheap, I have a huge variety and I have a ton at my disposal. Also, you would have to have the right size and would need it dead square. Easier to use the block and sand paper. It's also better because you only want the rough side against the bosses. The smooth side of the ground block slides nicely on the rotor surface without scoring.
you win
 
Back
Top Bottom