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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Source for cheap frames from China/Taiwan?

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Old 11-06-18 | 09:15 AM
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Source for cheap frames from China/Taiwan?

And by cheap I don't mean a carbon frame for $500, I'm actually looking for an aluminum road frame, welds don't have to be ground, cro-mo fork is fine. It will never leave the trainer. Found some on ebay for $115, but the rear dropout spacing is 135, and I'm building around 10 speed so need 130mm spacing. Anyone know of a source?
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Old 11-06-18 | 09:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Plainsman
And by cheap I don't mean a carbon frame for $500, I'm actually looking for an aluminum road frame, welds don't have to be ground, cro-mo fork is fine. It will never leave the trainer. Found some on ebay for $115, but the rear dropout spacing is 135, and I'm building around 10 speed so need 130mm spacing. Anyone know of a source?
If you looking for just a frame to build up a trainer specific bike, I would suggest craigslist. Lots of older aluminum bikes there. Just strip old and install newer 10 speed stuff.
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Old 11-06-18 | 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by Plainsman
And by cheap I don't mean a carbon frame for $500, I'm actually looking for an aluminum road frame, welds don't have to be ground, cro-mo fork is fine. It will never leave the trainer. Found some on ebay for $115, but the rear dropout spacing is 135, and I'm building around 10 speed so need 130mm spacing. Anyone know of a source?
AFAIK, the QR spacing is the same between 10 speed and 11 speed hubs. Or at least I've had no issues when I upgraded my 10 speed bike from 2011 to 11 speed in 2016.
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Old 11-06-18 | 01:03 PM
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Bikes: 2015 Workswell 066, 2017 Workswell 093, 2014 Dawes Sheila, 1983 Cannondale 500, 1984 Raleigh Olympian, 2007 Cannondale Rize 4, 2017 Fuji Sportif 1 LE

135 mm is disc-specific or MTB .... road runs 130 for 8-11 speed---has for over 25 years.

And I am sure if you are willing to take the risk, you will eventually find a $100 or $150 frame on Ali-Express. You might even receive it.

I wouldn't ride it, but you might be fine.
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Old 11-06-18 | 01:09 PM
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https://www.probikekit.com/brands/kinesis.list
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Old 11-06-18 | 01:31 PM
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l went to a place that sells used bike equipment and they sold me a frame with bottom bracket, fork and headset for $90.00.
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Old 11-07-18 | 09:37 AM
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Originally Posted by Maelochs
135 mm is disc-specific or MTB .... road runs 130 for 8-11 speed---has for over 25 years.

And I am sure if you are willing to take the risk, you will eventually find a $100 or $150 frame on Ali-Express. You might even receive it.

I wouldn't ride it, but you might be fine.
I had not thought about Ali-Express, thanks. I'm familiar with Alibaba, but for some reason thought they only sold in large quantities. When I say I won't put it on the road I'm serious, so I would even use a cracked CF frame if I could find one. True on the spacing. I found a cheap frame fork combo that was also available as a full bike (7 speed), but realized right before pulling the trigger that the rear spacing was 135. Guess anything designed for 8 speed and up with rim brakes should be fine though.
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Old 11-07-18 | 10:06 AM
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Originally Posted by Plainsman
I had not thought about Ali-Express, thanks. I'm familiar with Alibaba, but for some reason thought they only sold in large quantities. When I say I won't put it on the road I'm serious, so I would even use a cracked CF frame if I could find one. True on the spacing. I found a cheap frame fork combo that was also available as a full bike (7 speed), but realized right before pulling the trigger that the rear spacing was 135. Guess anything designed for 8 speed and up with rim brakes should be fine though.
What is your actual budget? You should be able to find a decent aluminum frame and fork used on eBay for around $200 with some patience. You can probably find something for $100 off Craigslist depending on your local market. There were some $300 Chinese carbon frames on ebae recently
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Old 11-07-18 | 05:15 PM
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Originally Posted by rms13
What is your actual budget? You should be able to find a decent aluminum frame and fork used on eBay for around $200 with some patience. You can probably find something for $100 off Craigslist depending on your local market. There were some $300 Chinese carbon frames on ebae recently
I would love to stay under $150, unless I find a good deal on a full bike that I could easily part out.
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