My Chinese frame and motor build. The CHEEB, V1.0 - Build Thread

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Bit of deconstruction today.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Sanding

 

[Mr-EPIC-3]

Bit of deconstruction today.

View attachment 47429

The linkage looks beefy!

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Ready for paint. Rattle cans ready. Wish me luck ??

 

[Doomanic]

Please tell me you were wearing a respirator when you did that! And if you used a vacuum cleaner, change the bag!

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Please tell me you were wearing a respirator when you did that! And if you used a vacuum cleaner, change the bag!

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Front triangle weight: 2.06KG

Rear Triangle: 870g

Total Frame Weight: 2930g (with bearings, no linkage)

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Why are you painting it, it looks good as it is.

Looks a little bit boring to me. Very matt / flat finish. The real reason though is I want to find out how difficult it is to DIY paint a frame.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Do you need a primer, or can you put the base coat straight on?

I've painted a few cars, and it's all about the prep work. Every time I've thought 'that'll be OK, you wont notice' I've ended up having to re-do it later!

Primer first, base coat, colour, clear coat ?

 

[Nasty Nick]

This 100%. Check your sanding job with a solvent wipe before you put any paint down. Here in the states there's a product called Bulldog that really helps with adhesion if you're not using primer. I've done a lot of these color shift paints and I think the black carbon will do a great job of popping the color shift. Bulldog, the color shift and clear are nearly completely see through, so you should see a lot of the weave underneath.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

First primer coat done.

 

[Nasty Nick]

Just buy the " Glossy" version from the factory, looks stunning in the flesh and shows just how good the layup of the carbon is. The Gloss also acts as a filler and protective barrier to the softer carbon and if you want to tart it up, then get it wrapped, cheaper and when you tire with the scheme, change it.

We ordered ours back in the summer and it arrived hassle free in about 5 weeks from order ( I was expecting months ). Bit scary though sending funds off to some private Paypal account. You can save considerable funds if you ask for it to be sent via train and pre tax's paid, saved nearly £ 150.00 for the loss of about 2 weeks.

That's all very cool. I've seen some amazing vinyl wraps. But I have never been able to do a satisfactory job on a bike myself. On the other hand, a cheap hvlp gun and waterborne paints are very satisfying and easy to do at home.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

I did search for Dengfu frame testing. For what it’s worth, they do have some published ISO tests for some frames.

Dengfu say “They must pass the EN and ISO test standard in our test department to satisfy the need in your market.”

road frame

http://www.dengfubikes.com/uploads/soft/180608/3_1651325521.pdf

Mtb frame

http://www.dengfubikes.com/uploads/soft/190724/3_1651567411.pdf

whilst I cannot see test for the E10 frame, everything I see / read about Dengfu points to them being one of the better Chinese manufacturers.

Although all of this info is of course not validated by myself, just what I’ve found online.

ps - I have also seen catastrophic failure on high end commercial ebikes from big brands.

 

[R120]

Lets face it most top end frames are made in Taiwan or China, and that has nothing to do with how good or bad they are. If you buy form a decent operation, you will be ok, if you buy from some backstreet alibaba outfit, well dont be surprised if you end up in A & E.

You can buy OEM frames from most of the big manufacturers out there.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

So this got me a bit interested in who Dengfu produce / source frames for.

I did a little bit more research on Dengfu and came across a post from Michael Wang who claims to be a sales manager for Dengfu.

Here’s what he said in a sales pitch

(Dengfu are) the ODM & OEM of stevens, eddy merckx, devinci, olympia, scapin, fondriest, dynatek, olmo, bottecchia, soul, louisgarneau, quick, vivelo, stradalli, fsm, head, lios, planetx, nsr, optimum, vicar, voss, adris, sarma，frog... Just join us.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Anyway, that gives me a bit more confidence that this frame will end up being decent. Still, proof will be in the pudding.

Tomorrow I’ll sand / paint and hopefully clear coat it ready for fitting parts early next week ??

 

[HGmtb]

I just saw that vid earlier.
Glad Robs rear triangle looks more substantial

Also Rob's rear linkage is a far better design (similar to the Levo, etc.) - the positions of the pivots on the "failed" Chinese fake Enduro are very poorly located, and the rear triangle is almost bound to break under load.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Base coat

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

First coat

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Getting there

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Just the clear coat to go now.

 

[Mteam]

Getting there

View attachment 47629

Are you planning to rub down the surface between coats to get a nice smooth finish, it looks a bit textured right now?

Or will the clear coat on its own give that super smooth finish.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Are you planning to rub down the surface between coats to get a nice smooth finish, it looks a bit textured right now?

Or will the clear coat on its own give that super smooth finish.

Yes. One final rub ?

 

[markus datgloi]

This is a great topic. Maybe I missed a link but a "ready to ride" E10 bike is at E10 . A complete bike for $3999...
I found a website named dengfubike and dengfubikes ???

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

One shot of clear coat. 24 hours to cure, sand then final blast with the clear coat tomorrow.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Pretty much done

might give it a final polish and clear coat will see how it dries

Cyan / Purple colour shift. AKA Chav Vauxhall Nova ?

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

Pretty much done

might give it a final polish and clear coat will see how it dries

Cyan / Purple colour shift. AKA Chav Vauxhall Nova ?

View attachment 47670

View attachment 47672

you probably know this already but when you are doing your final wet sanding, put a little bit of fairy liquid (other detergents are available) in the water, it will make a significant difference to the feel and general slipperyness. also, when im finish sanding something like this, I have some pieces of hard neoprene style packaging that i cut into relevant sizes. try to use these as pads and then you will have a flatter finish, if you persist with wet n dry with fingers, you can easily wear grooves into the finish that will be seen in the light, the process is much easier if you have a striplight that you can use for reflection to see where you need to sand next etc.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

you probably know this already but when you are doing your final wet sanding, put a little bit of fairy liquid (other detergents are available) in the water, it will make a significant difference to the feel and general slipperyness. also, when im finish sanding something like this, I have some pieces of hard neoprene style packaging that i cut into relevant sizes. try to use these as pads and then you will have a flatter finish, if you persist with wet n dry with fingers, you can easily wear grooves into the finish that will be seen in the light, the process is much easier if you have a striplight that you can use for reflection to see where you need to sand next etc.

Great tip thanks. I’ll definitely do this.

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

Great tip thanks. I’ll definitely do this.

looking good mate, I'm looking forward to the finished product.

 

[Rob Rides EMTB]

looking good mate, I'm looking forward to the finished product.

Do you usually do a final polish then one more clear coat? Or polish to finish after final coat?