Well, the frame arrived Tuesday, exactly a week after I paid for it, really quick considering it was shipped from Tianjin, China to Texas, USA. It was very well packaged with lots of bubble wrap on the frame and fork. Finally got it put together today and took it for a short test ride. The frame and fork are solidly made with tons of good and complete welding on the frame. Alignment is excellent; the wheels are perfectly aligned and no-hands riding is easy. The bottom bracket threads were good and installation was easy. The chain line between the crank chanring and rear cog is excellent. Ditto the headset, which is a low-line Cane Creek sealed unit. The seat tube was a little large, and had to be squeezed quite hard to hold the seatpost in place. The finish is basic industrial grade, no smoothing of welds, no blending of the dropouts into the stays, no facing on the bottom bracket or head tubes, just ok paint and lots of tacky decals. The frame and fork are heavy and built like a brick crapper, very stiff and strong. There is nothing flimsy about it and it could definitely be raced on the track, but I think its main intent is a road single speed. The steering tube angle and fork offset are well matched and steering is very stable and neutral. It has over an inch of toe to front tire clearance, so it's easy to do track stands at traffic lights or tight U-turns. It also has a rear brake bridge, so it can be used safely with a single freewheel. The frame is very tight in the rear, and only about a half of the dropouts can be used before the rear tire hits the seat tube. The dropouts have very nice heavy duty stainless steel inserts to prevent damage to the aluminum when tightening the wheel. The complete bike weighs 19 lbs in contrast to my Bianchi Pista Concept track racer that weighs 15.6 lbs. Some of this is due to the heavier frame and some to the heavier street wheels. I ended up using a dropped bar that I found laying around and an ancient brake lever and borrowing a seat and post from another bike, so my total cost including some small parts was $156.64. I definitely feel the frame was worth what I paid for it, and probably would give $50 more.
