Nearly half price carbon wheels from carbonzone.

Nearly half price carbon wheels from carbonzone.

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Discussion

Raven Flyer

1,645 posts

230 months

Wednesday 4th June 2014
quotequote all
There are no duties to pay on warranty exchange parts.

Other reports of Chinese warranty claims stack up ok, but yes, it does take a while to ship out and get a replacement.

The alternative is spending £1k more and buying a wheel warranted in the UK.

Justin S

3,657 posts

267 months

Wednesday 4th June 2014
quotequote all
Not wheels, but have Carbonzone bars on my road bike. Er, that's it, there on there and don't creak, pretty light. May change them soon as the curves are a bit tight for my Clydesdale hand, no other reason. Easy to deal with, here in 2 weeks including customs. Parcelfarce stung me £30 for it too. For wheels, it would be a better bet. I would buy some if I needed them.

Mr Gear

9,416 posts

196 months

Thursday 5th June 2014
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I was tempted by carbon wheels from China recently, but I was unprepared to take a gamble.

Luckily, I spotted some shimano rs81 carbon laminate wheels on planet x for £350 which I think were the safe bet. I'm sure you can beat that if you go to China, but the pace of mind was important, and I find shimano very reassuring.

HowMuchLonger

3,012 posts

199 months

Thursday 5th June 2014
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duff said:
I would guess they'll want the damaged one back first so you've got the hassle and cost (£40+) of posting it back - of course this would be the same as a UK based order but you've got much longer transit times and less chance of getting your shipping charges refunded. Even if they do send you a replacement, the delivery is likely to be 14+ days with customs clearance and possible import charges on top. So that's probably 6-8 weeks to get it sorted.
Lots of guesses nd assumptions. I would rather hear the OPs actual experience.

duff

996 posts

205 months

Friday 6th June 2014
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HowMuchLonger said:
Lots of guesses nd assumptions. I would rather hear the OPs actual experience.
Why are you only interested in the OPs experience? Ive bought (and had issues with) both a frame and wheel set from Carbonzone. My "assumptions" are based on:

I was asked to send my fork back for inspection, perhaps if the fault is very obvious they wouldn't ask for it back (unlikely)

I haven't got an exact shipping quote for a wheel but my forks were around £40 iirc.

You shouldn't have to pay import duties for temporary exports/warranty replacements etc, however this is dependant on them filling out the paperwork properly and including the original export paperwork from the uk - I'm not entirely convinced this would happen and could therefore lead to delays in customs clearance or additional payment.

Either way, problems are not unheard of and much more hassle/time consuming to sort out when you're dealing with people on the other side of the world. Pay your money, take your choice - I'd buy from Wheelsmith if I wanted carbon wheels again.

HowMuchLonger

3,012 posts

199 months

Friday 6th June 2014
quotequote all
duff said:
Why are you only interested in the OPs experience? Ive bought (and had issues with) both a frame and wheel set from Carbonzone.
Because your experience is based on one shop, the other poster from another.
I wanted to know what his experience was regarding the warranty claim with the shop he bought from.
I did not want to assume that all Chinese wheel sellers are the same when it is feasible to get actual feedback.

So thank you for the information regarding carbonzone.

(The bit where you started your post with "I guess" is what made me want to find out what actually happened.

Woody

2,189 posts

290 months

Saturday 7th June 2014
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Anyone had an MTB frame from them?

nammynake

2,607 posts

179 months

Wednesday 11th June 2014
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Far Sports seem to get good reviews. These look pretty good - 30mm deep, 23mm wide, U-shape (like Zipp) and just over 1300g a pair:

http://www.farsports.com/product/detail.php/id-192...



okgo

39,209 posts

204 months

Wednesday 11th June 2014
quotequote all
He is quite the character on BR. He is a nice perfectly normal chap in real life, though. I've used him a few times for bits. In fact he's written damning reports about many wheels, that zipp 404 on his blog was mine, he wasn't impressed.

TKF

6,232 posts

241 months

Wednesday 11th June 2014
quotequote all
His character on BR means I'd never want to buy anything from him.

option click

1,173 posts

232 months

Thursday 12th June 2014
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Really? I quite like FF's posts, especially in the '2014 kit' and photo threads.

anyway FWIW, I have a Carbonzone road frame (FM015). They were fine to deal with and I'd use them again. Can't comment the quality of their wheels though.
The frame has been commuted on, raced and smashed all over the cobbles of Paris Roubaix and Flanders.
It's a good frame.


Edited by option click on Thursday 12th June 09:04

okgo

39,209 posts

204 months

Thursday 12th June 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
He does it from home, I think some things perhaps get lost in written word, he is Italian and in person he isn't like that at all. Agree re Frenchfighter, almost single handedly he makes me unable to like Contador. None of the photo's are his, all he does it trawl the web, apply some wk filter and pass it off as his own work. I hope froome batter bertie just to see what he has to say if nothing else.

Rouleur

7,131 posts

195 months

Thursday 12th June 2014
quotequote all
frenchfighter is an absolute tt, he's either hopelessly in love with Contador or a serial troll. Or both.

TKF

6,232 posts

241 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
He knows about some onions, the ones he sells, but he mercilessly slags off every other onion and tells everyone they have got the wrong onions.

He's one of life's "experts" with an opinion on everything. He's right, everyone else is wrong.

counterofbeans

1,066 posts

145 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
TKF said:
He knows about some onions, the ones he sells, but he mercilessly slags off every other onion and tells everyone they have got the wrong onions.

He's one of life's "experts" with an opinion on everything. He's right, everyone else is wrong.
^ This

Whoever made him a mod on BR wants shooting


anonymous-user

60 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I think he's a tt. But not as big a tt as that useless gobste Velonutter.

Ah. That's better.

IroningMan

10,285 posts

252 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
Raven Flyer said:
There are no duties to pay on warranty exchange parts.

Other reports of Chinese warranty claims stack up ok, but yes, it does take a while to ship out and get a replacement.

The alternative is spending £1k more and buying a wheel warranted in the UK.
No, the alternative is spending £100 more and buying a wheel warranted in the UK.

Raven Flyer

1,645 posts

230 months

Friday 13th June 2014
quotequote all
Really?

Where can I buy a pair of 50mm U shaped 23mm wide wheels, with ceramic bearings, Sapin CX ray spokes, skewers and Swissstop pads for £600 in the UK?

Oh, and ones that weigh 1450g, rather than 1800g+.

My Far Sports wheels arrived this week. They are the nuts and were under £500 delivered.

PGM

2,168 posts

255 months

Sunday 13th July 2014
quotequote all
Raven Flyer said:
Really?

Where can I buy a pair of 50mm U shaped 23mm wide wheels, with ceramic bearings, Sapin CX ray spokes, skewers and Swissstop pads for £600 in the UK?

Oh, and ones that weigh 1450g, rather than 1800g+.

My Far Sports wheels arrived this week. They are the nuts and were under £500 delivered.
They look good, how are you getting on with them? At the risk of sounding dim, are the 23mm the standard width for normal tyres 23mm I use?

Barchettaman

6,504 posts

138 months

Monday 14th July 2014
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23mm is the new wider standard for road rims, give or take a mm or two.

It commonly makes your 23mm tyre run a little wider, supposedly improving roadholding and comfort.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Implications_of_Rim...


http://inrng.com/2013/04/reinventing-the-wheel-25m...