Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

Chinese build

2K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  mack_turtle 
#1 ·
Hi guys,

I will be doing a write up of a small project. No idea if it's any good ;) But it might come in usefully for some people.

First of all…. I ride a 2012 Kona Unit which I bought in 2013 as a late model.

Over the years I changed quite a lot:

Thomson handlebar, stem & seatpost + clamp

Stans crest SS wheelset

XT cranks with 33T e.thirteen chainring

Chris King 18T stainless steel for

Tubeless mounted Maxxis Icon 2.2 tires

DT Swiss 470 carbon rigid fork

Actually, only the frame and the Avid BB7 brakes are still the same.

The bike comes weight is 9.5kg (21lbs).

I absolutely adore this bike. Done so many miles on it and I just don't want to get rid of it. But the paint is coming off in a couple of places and since it's a steel bike, I should be doing something about that.

So I decided I want the frame powder coated.

In the meantime I won't have a single speed and that's kind of disturbing. The solution: I bought a BXT Chinese carbon frame with fork that I'm going to build up with the parts from my Kona.

The initial idea is to use it as a temporary bike… but who knows, maybe the chinese frame will surprise me.

So why the BXT frame:

Cheap as hell. €285 for frame, fork and seatpost (+€70 on import tax)

Frame can be convert to 135mm quick release since that's what my current rear wheel is

Carbon fork can be bought as quick release since that's what my current front wheel is

Bottom bracket BB76 since that's what my current t bottom bracket is.

And did I mention that is cheap as hell?



Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
It actually looks suprisingly well. Feels a bit too plastic when used to steel. But I'll manage to live with that

The carbon weave looks quite nice.

As for the weight it's seriously light, but again I'm used to steel.
1625 grams for frame, seatpost, seatpost clamp and headset
590 grams for the fork


Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
 
#9 ·
How were the tolerances on the frame? I have worked on a couple of these (maybe not from the same place as yours) that were brought into the shop and they seemed to have little to no QC for tolerance. Wheels not lining up properly in the dropouts, disc mounts not being in the optimal place... things like that.
 
#14 ·
The bike looks great except... - and that's just my personal opinion here - I can't get over the tensioner. I've been wanting to get on a raceable carbon xc SS frame for years now, when Specialized still had single speed Stumpjumper frame in their line up. Last model year was 2014, I believe. It looked like a beautifully executed sliding drop out system. Unfortunately, that frame was unobtanium in Canada, where I am.
There doesn't seem to be much interest from manufacturers to offer anything similar nowadays, plus trends have definitely shifted in geo and standards department. The only current carbon offerings with tension achieved by some kind of sliding or swinging drop out set up that I know of are Pivot Les and Giant Advanced XTC, neither of which tick all or even most of my boxes as far as cost, geometry with a rigid (read: shorter) fork, and compatibility with at least some of my current components, that I'd like to be able to re-use.
These "Chiners" seem to be a bit more old school that I think would suit me, but I'd love for at least one of them to have a sliding drop out system, I'd be all over it...
 
#15 ·
I think that peoples trepidation's about tensioners are odd to say the least. reading in this forum about the lengths that people are going to find that perfect chain length and the concessions they are willing to make in terms of serviceability, gearing choices, bike frame options and chain stay length makes me laugh. I never would have guessed that single speeders are that hung up on looks to sacrifice all of the above. for instance, people will write off a frame because the chain stay is 5mm too long. yet they ride a sliding drop out frame with 20mm of adjustment. WTF. or they have a gearing combo that perfectly fits the bike so the drop out is all the way forward (until it stretches) but then they are stuck with that gear ratio. what if you go to a hilly track or a really flat track?

A chain tensioner solves all these problems. you can run an frame, any gear and change gears in few seconds. i can go from a 34/22 to a 34/13 and do nothing besides change my cog. for those looking to race i would thing that tailoring your gearing to the track would be very important.

I guess you just want to look "cool" as you spin out on flat courses or struggle up the hilly ones.

sorry rant over. carry on.
 
#21 ·
I think that peoples trepidation's about tensioners are odd to say the least. reading in this forum about the lengths that people are going to find that perfect chain length and the concessions they are willing to make in terms of serviceability, gearing choices, bike frame options and chain stay length makes me laugh. I never would have guessed that single speeders are that hung up on looks to sacrifice all of the above. for instance, people will write off a frame because the chain stay is 5mm too long. yet they ride a sliding drop out frame with 20mm of adjustment. WTF. or they have a gearing combo that perfectly fits the bike so the drop out is all the way forward (until it stretches) but then they are stuck with that gear ratio. what if you go to a hilly track or a really flat track?

A chain tensioner solves all these problems. you can run an frame, any gear and change gears in few seconds. i can go from a 34/22 to a 34/13 and do nothing besides change my cog. for those looking to race i would thing that tailoring your gearing to the track would be very important.

I guess you just want to look "cool" as you spin out on flat courses or struggle up the hilly ones.

sorry rant over. carry on.
You sound like someone who has a strong opinion on tensioners, but has never used one. The ones I've tried have been noisy, don't stay tensioned that well, and you can feel the chain dragging because of them.

People don't go out of their way to avoid them because of aesthetics, they go out of their way because if you're building a dedicated single speed there are hundreds of frames to choose from that are actually made to be run single speed.
 
#17 ·
the trepidation over chain tensioners is not just about looks. so far, all of them suck balls from a function standpoint. having a bouncy chain sucks when you compare it to the smooth, silent feeling of a bike with something like sliders, EBB, swinging dropouts, etc. I would ride a frame that is not SS-specific if I could find a tensioner that does not suck and works with a 142x12 thru axle, which probably rules out the DMR tensioner.
 
#18 ·
I am running the Shimano alfine tensioner and it works with any bike with a hanger. right now it is on a fat bike with 197mm TA. the worse part about the single jockey wheel ones i have used is the jockey wheel is not a bearing or the shittiest bearing possibly made. the Alfine uses std shimano jockeys or you can change them out to what ever you want. hell run some ceramic speeds.
 
#20 ·
Hi, sorry haven't had a lot of time to respond.
Final weight of the bike is 8.5kg.

It is seriously stiff and incredibly fast. First ride I dropped 4 seconds off a Strava segment I've been doing for 3 years.

Still don't like the hanger. Have the idea it isn't working very well, it's making noise and most of all..... It's ugly as hell.

Doubting to convert to 5-6speed (10speed cassette on SS hub) and rebuilding my Kona Unit a bit faster then planned

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top