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EC90, Who makes these parts? Anyone got thoughts on them?
Hi All,
I'm building a frame as a home project for the end of the year.
I'm on a bit of a budget as I have just bought and moved into my first house so component choice is a little tight. In essence, I'm going to build a single speed track bike as an N+1 when its finished.
I would like to put a cheap carbon fork on the build and stumbled across a fork for £45 on Amazon from a brand called EC90 (not to be confused with the range from Easton). They do several cheap carbon components and just wanted to know if anyone has had any experience with them or seen them before?
Sounds almost too good to be true but I know that a lot of the cheaper cycling gear can be just as good (eg. open mould components, Aldi cycle wear). Worth a try or is it a good way to keep my dentist's pockets full?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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28 comments
Last year I bought a pair of carbon forks for £45 from a retailer called The cycle basket (https://www.cyclebasket.com/m15b0s546p0/Forks_-_Road_and_Track_/Carbon_F...) which seem fine. Quick delivery too. I bought a cheap frame from Chainreaction which had mudguard fittings on the frame but not on the forks so I bought these new forks to go with the frame. Result is that I have a pair of unused (£20?) carbon forks for sale, have a look at the chain reaction Brand X Rd-01 and if the forks that come with that are suitable and you want them cheap let me know
Took me two reads to figure out you didn't actually buy 2 forks and have another 2 forks for sale, never seen a fork described as a "pair" before!
It must be an old timers term, we always refered to forks as a "pair of forks", must be showing my age!
do you eat your dinner with a pair of pairs of forks? and do the villagers gather with pairs of pitchforks to express discontent?
But trousers have two legs and most people refer to them as a pair of trousers 😀. I am trying to get with the times, I can just bring myself to say cleats rather than shoe plates but I don't have enough time left on this planet to start referring to shifters using the B word.
Ah, but that's because they feature a pair of trouser legs to cover your two appendages 😉 a fork is a singular item to my mind, and if the B word is brifter please don't ever say that it's just awful
there is no excuse for using the b word
just saying you would never use pair for any of the following
dinner fork
pitchfork
tuning fork
But for bikes we often hear of pairs of forks, I blame cannondale and their lefty fork, which obviously isn't even a fork, as the definition of fork is something which splits into two or more prongs
Pedants' corner: they're "Tines".
That's a new one.
In decades of cycling I have never heard a bike fork referred to as a pair of forks. Brifter? Who uses that? And rear mech, is that because people cannot spell derailleur?
Annoys me enough when people refer to a helmet as a "lid" or "crash hat", grrr...
Sheldon brown on derailers
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer.html
I may take you up on that offer once I have confirmation of the frame parts being dispatched.
Ok, drop me an email to stephen.bulpitt [at] yahoo.com if you want them (or should that be "it"?)
If you have to ask the question, then you don't have enough confidence in the brand. The main problem with cheap carbon is poor quality control, so you'd have to be confident that you could judge the quality yourself before trusting it with your dental work.
I don't always trust the quality of some of the bigger brands either so thought I would just see if anyone had first hand experience with this obscure brand. But yes, I know that not all carbon is equal and I doubt they would go through the same checks and standards as others, some corners must have been cut to reach a mere £45.
An expensive fork is certainly cheaper than dental work.
Why not fit an inexpensive steel fork for now, then replace it with a name brand carbon one when you can afford it? Even a no-brand steel fork should be trustworthy, if a bit heavy.
Probably going to, either a steel or aluminium one for the time being. I'm not a racer so I dont tend to lose sleep over weight but I do prefer the look and feel of carbon forks.
Surely the cheap carbon fork is going to be an alloy fork with carbon wrapping like they used to do with bars and seat posts? Or have things moved on?
Shouldn't have to worry about the dental work if he wears a decent lid or crash hat.
I got one of their carbon handlebars from Ebay a few months ago for about £30 and I'm very happy with it. Not sure if that helps, since a fork is a rather more critical component.
I think handlebar failure is pretty critical, and highly likely to result in a bad crash.
I've snapped a (alu) handlebar, resulting in a heavy crash with shoulder buggered for a week and also wrecked the front wheel and my helmet.
I'd say they're both equally critical, especially as the bars also hold your brake levers - try slowing down with just one of them!
"from a brand called EC90 (not to be confused with the range from Easton)"
But I'd guess very much intended to be confused with the range from Easton!
£45 seems too cheap, even for a no brand. I'd not risk a cheap fork, (and...Amazon! you heathen!) you'll forever be questioning it when out riding and you'll never know if or when it might fail.
Cheap yes, Chinese, fine, but do some research online for reputable Chinese frames and contact one of those for a fork.
Wiggle have been selling some unbranded forks off on e bay. They trade under Trisport resort.
Useful, I may look into those, thank you
I know, I'm awful, unfortunately my LBS has been closed most of the year and opens now and then without much notice. Only have a Halfrauds local otherwise.
I originally only stumbled across them as Amazon has the levers that I will be using for cheaper than other stores (genuine ones thankfully, I hope)
But I get your point and I would have my conscious constantly reminding me that they are dodgy. I have had more premium gear fail badly though so I thought I would still ask.