Why?

Ok so one thing for the record. I am not trying to build a bike and pass it off as a legit Pinarello. I wish I had realised that to get chinarello on the side was a free option. I can't afford a Pina frame and went to china to find something affordable and having looked through all the options I have chosen this one. Maybe in retrospect I should have gone for no Pina decals but it's free advertising for the company and I hope that's a good thing.

Options, I already have bought an older bike, a Look 481 which is one of the early carbon frames from 2005. It's great but is getting a bit old and having just one bike is now being ridden with Crud Road racers through the winter and will become my winter bike. I could look at buying another second hand frame, or as some have suggested a top end second hand frame that I would have had to have some professional repairs done to it, OR, I could buy a brand new carbon frame from china. I decided after reading all the previously mentioned information that the latter was actually worth a punt.

Costs for my frame came to £510 for frame, forks, headset, seat post and clamp with a spare hanger all painted in the BOB scheme as well as FSA K force monocoque carbon aero bars and a 3T carbon stem . They claim a 2 year warranty and I have heard of frames being warrantied with out too much hassle.

A friend bought a Dog 2 from Greatkeen and seeing the finished build I thought it looked great, we have ridden a 40 mile ride together with a short Cat 3 climb and long descent, apart from his headset not being tightened properly and coming loose, he thought it was great. That sealed the deal for me.

So I emailed GK, after a few pricing options agreed a price on the above and PayPal send my money including the extra to cover the PP fees. I waited a few days and heard nothing so emailed and after another couple of days got a reply that they have the money. They had quoted 20 days to ship and they asked for my  phone number for the shipping agent.

Then you wait.....

In the meantime I follow a blog about another GK customer with another RFM301 the same frame as mine and started buying in the components I needed. Full Chorus 2013 groupset, Selle Italia SLR carbonio saddle, Couple of oem carbon bottle holders, KMC quick link, Garmin 705 bracket, Second hand Look Keo Classics, some Lizzard Skins DSP bar tape all to go with the Mavic Cosmic SL's clad in Conti GP 4000s's.

I read that 20 days later people have received their frames and at 23 days I email to ask, no reply but the next day I get a shipping update via PayPal with a tracking number. Hongkong post which also provides links to the UK post service which was Parcelforce, same reference number works on both sites.

It was shipped on 19th December and arrived on 23rd December and went through customs same day. Due to Christmas it didn't leave the national hub until 27th and arrived the same day. That's pretty damn good even with the chrimbo delay!

Pics speak for themselves as do weights. They claimed the frame to weigh 950g for a 53cm which mine is and it actually weighs 1025g, Can't say I'm bothered by 75g.

Finish looks excellent and looking inside the layup looks equally good as far as you can see. One disapointing thing is there are no internal cable runs/sheathing. There is one tube from underside of bottom bracket to the top exiting to the rear of the seat tube for the front derailleur  I am yet to confirm if there is an internal tube in the rear stay for the rear derailleur, removing the plastic grommet/cover will reveal all.

I'm thinking that the upper brake run through the top tube is fine as the cable will run straight and avoid contact with the frame internally, this may also be true for the shifter cable run from steerer to bottom bracket but may not run true for the run though the rear stay to the derailleur. When I build I'll check and run an internal sheath if needed.

The grommets do not appear to accommodate an internal tube/sheath so I'll just need to be accurate with length. The other thing of note is most frames come with a plastic cable already inserted to guide the cables through, this is not the case for my frame and where I've seen them loose in the package for the other Think 2 blogger, it's not in my package.

There's a paint blob on top of the foks near where the lower bearing race will go, it doesn't appear to snag but it's getting sanded off regardless. There's a bit of carbon projecting past the lower race on the head, I've semi installed and it does not rub but will double check and grind back if I have any suspicions.

I've quickly installed my wheels, everything is central, will know if wheels align once the build starts in earnest.

That's all for now, going to my LBS tomorrow, we rent space for our Power kite business www.extremekites.co.uk and so he's letting me loose in his workshop. We've allowed 5-6 hours for the build with me pestering "where you keep x tool" etc and me taking lots of pics.

Wish me luck.