Framebuilders - In China

There is a strong possibility that i'll be moving to china (HK to be more specific) and i figure as everything is so cheap out there I would get a bike built there, obviously i'd take 1 of my current stock as well.

Any suggestions on frame builders or near HK?

I don't know of any builders in Honkers. I know you can get parts cheap up there, but not sure about bikes.

Obviously more frames come out of China and Taiwan than anywhere else, and they're both on your doorstep, so there's probably some possibilities there.

Failing that......we're in Australia? :lol: 9 hrs by plane is pretty close, right? ;)

Oh wait, we're not cheap.

I think Japan is probably your most proximous bet for quality custom steel.

- Joel

I think Japan is probably your most proximous bet for quality custom steel.

- Joel
yeah, I was over there recently and I would say that HK would not be the place to look for frame builders. things might be cheaper in china, but not in HK. there are tons of bikes coming out of asia, but they come off an assembly line. and most of the bikes that are used in china look like they've been in operation for 30 years.

see photo of typical bikes on street in china.

There was some guy maybe on the Touring page who had been getting frames from HK or china mailed to the US, so I assume one can do the same if actually there. These were custom frames, maybe Ti. One tiny caviat is that what makes something a custom frame is often a very specific understanding of our trends. There are many must have aspects of bikes that are total BS. So without starting a flame, the whole 29er thing probably makes some sense if you live here and have lived through the whole development cycle of various MTB bikes. But at a greater distance is someone going to understand the nuances. They certainly could, but a lot of cool stuff is pretty localized. On the other hand I do get my suits from HK...

interesting views, i had thought about a trip to Japan if there wasn't much going on in the custom build area, as a full keirin frame would be pretty sweet.

There is nothing here better than anywhere else. Parts are expensive in Japan, its the bikes that are cheap.

There was a thread on Cycling Plus about a place in China that would make a Ti frame to your spec very cheaply. By all accounts they were well worth the money.

Note that Japan is a long way from Hong Kong - about 1800 miles to Tokyo. Also, note that although products made in China can be had in Hong Kong very reasonably, most anything else in HK is imported by air and is expensive.