Dear Hambini viewers, Since the video that Madpec published a few weeks back was brought to my attention, I have been in contact with Graham and Paul. I have issued Graham with a full refund for the work Madpac/Hambini have carried out in order to have the bike usable again, I have also offered a replacement Tuono frame for Graham FOC so that we can dispose of the original frame supplied. Originally one of our customer service team had offered a 50% crash replacement off a New Tuono due to the original frame being outside our 2 year warranty period. As mentioned after seeing the video I made contact with Paul and Graham to try and resolved the issue. I just wanted to give you an explanation of the situation from our point of view, we are not out here to try and rip people off and try our best to look after our customer base. Have a good weekend everyone,
What are you going to do about all of the other Dolan's that are on the road with the poor resin flow that has been highlighted in this video? Are you going to issue a recall or a stop ride until they are checked or are you happy to have your existing customers ride on weakened frames.
Great response, difficult to know how to act with customer complaints unless seeing the actual product. This response makes you sound human too, rare from a company in 2022!
@@theillegalimmigrant9314 Hi, If any Dolan customers have any issues regarding their bottom bracket shell or anything else related to their bike it’s best for us to get the bike back and for it then to be inspected.
I sent a note to a customer who owed me money and was resisting paying the invoice. The note had a liberal dosing of f-bombs in it. He may have taken a bit of offense to my wording as he passed the note on to a lawyer. The lawyer rang me the day after the note had been sent which kind of floored me. A quick conversation and I was paid the following day.
@@Alan_Hans__ Imagine being so weak that swears cause you to run to a lawyer when you’re going to pay anyway… 😂🤣🤦♂️ Must have been one heckuva conversation!
@@beaneater He's not complaining. Complaints are from customers. He's informing the lay-person/general public of bad business practice from particular shoddy manufacturers. And doing an excellent job at it 😉
@@anthonydenn4345 Dolan are buying their frames from Asia, this is clearly a rubbish frame that they probably bought on price only. Perhaps they have already had many returns and they have changed factories. That is the issue with importers who pretend to be manufacturers. At least an importer can say we bought from a poor quality factory by mistake but have now changed to a much higher quality factory but a company that pretends to be a manufacturer has to bluff these situations out. Dolan are competitive on price and this is looking like it is achieved by using cheap low end factories rather than efficiencies elsewhere in the business. I saw a titanium Dolan bike sometime ago and it looked brilliant, really beautiful bike and looked to me very well made for the frame. I think the weight of this frame here would be of interest, as perhaps its is overbuilt to allow for inferior construction and is quite a heavy frame. I don't ride carbon fibre anyway but if in the future I'm lighter and richer this video has pretty much removed Dolan from my options.
I had a DR1 and unfortunately noticed the non-drive side chainstay had cracked though about 60%. When I discovered it after a ride and cleaning my bike I was pretty shocked but also thankful that it had not failed completely while being ridden as there could have been quite serious consequences if that has happened. Dolan's customer service was excellent and I was supplied with a Tuono frame with component swaps after sending photos and sending the bike back to them. I've had an AresSL for 6 years which has performed flawlessly. I think the DR1s as a batch must have had QC issues which is a shame as it was a great endurance bike that got me through Fred Whitton. To Dolan's credit they put the situation right with minimal fuss.
Thanks! First road race I did, Chris Boardman, who was still a junior at the time, was riding a Dolan. Pretty much every bike was steel in those days though and I think quite a few of the 'UK made' frames were actually made in Italy. 'Rebranding scams' will always be an issue, but this one is horrendous and fully deserved the full Hambini roast!
I straight away think of Chris when I see Dolan as he has recorded a video with Terry. It's a shame to view this because already owning a Dolan I would now question buying another. I guess like many others the top-notch bikes are out of my price league whether it's a complete bike or frameset so prior to this Dolan or Ribble would be my first choice but given this I would now go for one of the reputable Chinese brands such as Yoeleo , Winspace etc as their quality control going by what I know must be a lot better. And Hambini has illustrated this in several of his superb video's. Terry in the video came across as a nice fella so I don't think he is directly to blame for this but rather those that has contracted out the work to.
As always, a great watch. Dolan did the right thing eventually, but only after Hambin stepped in. We can hope that they have realised that the QC needs improvement and that future Dolan frames won't be sub-standard. One thing that Hambini failed to mention was that the Princess blanket needs a clean!
This is the best commentary of any Hambini youtube clip yet. Thanks to Hambini for not only calling out the crappy engineering in the bike industry but also for making engineering visible to the world in a way that makes sense. I'm a mechanical engineer and I salute Hambini.
Just watched after my Saturday morning bike ride. I giggle with every watch of these. I also get to learn English slang terms, which help with my vocabulary when describing manufacturing issues that I see in my job (manufacturing engineering for a defense contractor). It’s a miracle that anything ever works as designed once your crack things open and see how they are put together. I’m always amazed! Keep up with the hairdressers, and always have lube handy!
I watched this one with interest, I’ve had two Dolan frames now and both have been on the whole positive experiences. My first “L’etape” had no issues at all, my second “Tuono” had a small issue with the Fork dropout which turned out to be cosmetic, when I took it back Terry Dolan offered to replace it, took me round the paint shop to see some of the factory and they even gave me £20 to cover my fuel costs to drive there and back. I’m now in the market for a new bike and decided that I would get a Giant Defy which at £5k was good value, it came to me with scratches, paint defects (pin holes and sink marks in the paint) and the rear caliper mount hadn’t been faced which meant the brake couldn’t be aligned, their dealer couldn’t sort these issues and I ended up returning it for an refund. Mapdecs latest video shows a £7k Canyon which is riddled with problems too, also totally unacceptable. Until watching this I was going to order another Dolan, their system of allowing you to select bar width, crank length etc gets you a bike that fits when compared to any off the shelf type system such as Giant etc, but in all honesty I don’t know what to do, all brands seem to have issues with quality control, I can’t ride a Winspace as it’s too low, maybe a Time frame would be a safe bet but they are quite expensive. Buying a bike seems like a lottery at best, and Russian roulette at worst.
Damn Hambini, what an outstanding explanation! You sir should be a professor at an accredited university teaching advanced course in carbon bike frames. Thank you for all the information! Love your content! ❤🚴🏻♂️
I’m willing to accept that anything made by humans can have errors (though this frame has a LOT of errors, so it’s stretching my limits somewhat). What I’m not willing to accept is that Dolan didn’t immediately warranty this frame and make absolutely certain that the customer got total satisfaction.
There's always a right to reply here.. It always amazes me (it shouldn't) that the company don't save face and publicly address the matter/subject. Great video as always tho 😁👍 and no doubt you made the chap happy
I would love to see Hambini do a review of the top 5 Pro Tour frames to see if they are what they say they are or if they are just like any other Chinese frame, but with pretty paint jobs and cost $10,000-$15,000.
Given that nearly all carbon manufacture is in China, it's highly likely they're just regular off the shelf frames. They only get ridden for a season and then get sold on anyway.
He supplies or has supplied BBs to pro tour teams. That's pretty sad if you think Pros are riding bespoke or the best of the best coming out the factory. What are the rest like?
I would refuse work on such bikes. If they're bad and dangerous then let it cause real world problems and destroy the rep of those brands. Otherwise they continue and don't change.
great job on making the best compromise and engineering solution out of a crap situation, unbelievable that dolan didn't replace the frame, I guess their passion is about money not engineering
I believe Dolan don't make the DR1(in this video) anymore, its certainly not on their website. I've owned a Dolan Tuono SL (rim brake version) for the past 7 years and I can honestly say its been faultless, its comfortable to ride and a doddle to service. Many may see Dolans comment and think damage limitation, at least they had the bollocks to come on here and explain things how many other companies have done this. My experience of their customer service and interactions with Steve have always been extremely positive. It does seem obvious there was a QC issue somewhere along the line, and this happens to all brands at some stage or another, just look at how many reaming's Hambini does across the board . I do wonder why the original owner didn't pick up on this sooner and act within the warranty period, especially being such a local legend club rider and experienced cyclist who should know his kit inside and out. I wonder if he ever did pre/post ride checks, or inspect his bike at regular intervals, otherwise this would have been picked up sooner, or has he just ridden it into the ground, then discovered the issue and whined to dolan and not been happy with their offer of 50% off a new Tuono frame.......and then sent the DR1 to Hambini to get them to ream the brand so he gets his way after a tantrum.
I've never seen, or even knew that Dolan made a road , or gravel bike at all until this video. I always thought that they were a TRACK frame company exclusively, as that's all I've ever seen here in the states, on the (somewhat) local track.
Great job. The only 5yr old capable of fixing it come to think of it. As the owner I still would have taken your/cycle shop advice and saved you all the bother and scrapped it. Landfill aside. I've always fancied Dolan track bikes. Now this is obviously an egregious practice of theirs however.
The wrong is in the law, and/or lack of oversight. This is as close to an outright scam as can be, but you get to take them to court, potentially on your dime, to get anything out of it.
I find this so funny that the bike market is more or less just based on brand names, and not bothered about quality of products. Thank you Hambini for doing these types of videos that really highlights this problem, keep up the amazing work!!! 💪💪💪
I want to try a carbon frame. But because of the seemingly pervasiveness of engineering incompetence, I'll just be sticking to steel or Alu. While they have their own issues, they're issues that I can fix, or get fixed. Can't say the same for CF in my middle of nowhere town.
@@cjohnson3836 honestly, carbon is not worth the hype. Unless you're chasing every last bit of performance, a steel frame with a modern groupset will do just fine
@@cjohnson3836 modern alloy frames, especially in mtb are worse. Many are out of alignment. Every single alloy transition through our shop has been misaligned, lots of trek alloy bikes. We have much more qc success with carbon now... depending on manufacturer. Instead of arguing of alloy or carbon, pick based on warranty and support
Hambini is a straight up liar and a conman, he clearly has a heart of gold and is an angel in disguise, this facade about hairdressers don't fool me. I see you through you Hambini! Gonna smash that like!
The pen is working, but Dolan is not. It's my hope that this video will make Dolan lose enough sales to make them forever regret not replacing this awful frame. Another solid video, Hambini. Thank you. 👏👏👏‼️
Holy Fuck Hambini you’re hilarious. Love the way you do it. Hambini is the ONLY 100% TRUSTED RESOURCE for everything from ball bearings, to carbon, from manufacturing, to banging hairdressers. Thanks again for sharing and making these videos. Throughly enjoy everyone of them
Another good one Hambini ! The pen is mightier than the sword and it is working. So many "brands" and distributors to avoid , your videos are functioning as the pen to tell us punters what/who to avoid. Can you do an assessment of Elves frames? They look very good value and have many good reviews.
Well done Hambini. If it gets Bike assemblers (can't call them a manufacturer) to up their game and ensure bikes are fit and safe to ride it a job well done.
Good job. In spite of its imperfections WELL WORTH fitting an excellent BB and putting the bike back on the road...probably not advised for use in the pro peloton ,but for a club rider-should last for many years.
Hello Hambini. Have to fess up that I know little about most of what you're doing or talking about. ..BUT.... that hasn't stopped me really enjoying your Channel.. Plus I'm learning stuff that's v interesting while I'm laughing along with the way you're reaming out crap manufacturing. Someone needs to do it cos it helps drive standards up. Makers of dodgy gear must increasingly be shitting themselves when they hear your name so don't stop ffs.🤣 Def worth a Sub. Cheers, Leno. ✅✅✅✅✅✅
That frame is a death trap. But clearly a loved one. Kudos for the real cycling enthusiasts to fix it for the guy, I’d rather donate some £ to get the chap a new one. As Hambini said, how much do you do to it before you’re wasting your time.
The worst part of this isn’t the shite manufacturing tolerances, it’s the fact whoever assembled the bike knew the bottom bracket opening was too large YET, YET…they still assembled the bike!!
Mmm ... For a bit of perspective, I've got a Dolan GCX and its been faultless over the two years of ownership. Odd how the owner of the above problem frame took two years to notice the fault with his BB. Doesn't add up in my book. I wouldn't hesitate to get another Dolan bike.
I have a Dolan Rebus rim brake bike, I've had it for 3 years and I've had no problems with no sign of any defects, the paint job is amazing, love this bike. Hambini I've seen you tear into other frames whereas I believe this may happen to many carbon manufactured frames, it's a hand process if you have ever seen videos how they are made, I'm sure you have. This could be a rare case, maybe it's happening too much now that so many people are wanting carbon bikes. But yeah why was the bike released when it was being assembled? As I said I love my Rebus but if I was to buy another Dolan or any other frame I would definitely look into these issues.
can we do the oooooh so classic dolan pre-cursa trackbike one day? its loved by just about everyone in the community(as you know). does it stand the test of hamb? is it hamb-proof? we need to know! iv owned a dolan precursa and an fxe, they have served me well
Hi. Thanks for the great video as always! I have a dolan df4 track bike and it is just fine. I planned to buy another df4 track frame to make a dedicated pursuit tt bike. Now after watching this I'm not so sure that I should! Any advice would be greatly greatly appreciated! Keep on the good work and banging the hairdresser 😂
i'm interested in building up a carbon road bike, but after watching a lot of your videos trashing the manufacturing quality of the big brand names i think i try my luck and go for an unbranded carbon frame directly from a chinese factory. since most frames i looked at are bb30 or bsa, and me wanting to follow your advice in going for a bb86, my choices shrinked down a lot. any experiences with velobuild? edit: oh and btw, is the waitlist for your BBs on a first come first serve basis, once new stock is available or is it an actual que?
Carbonda / DengFu / HongFu are brands that are often recommended when it comes to open mould Chinese frames. From memory, Hambini has mentioned them before in passing and believes them to be good
I got a Yoeleo r11 disk , cost 1300 euro over all not a bad frame but had to ream out the bb shel as it was to small ,the back mount for the disk calliper needed levelling and the fromt meck mount needed a shim to level it out but when i had it built up it was a fast stiff bike , after a year i changed it for a ridley finex frame from merlin cycles , 1950 euro and it was a perfect frame , in hindsight i should have just got the finex first hope this helps
I put together a pre cursa and the wheel looks off center from the back under the seat but everything is straight and centered as far as i can tell. Guess the frame is just welded like that. Disapointing but the wheel is centered down by the bottom bracket and inline with the seat post and top tube. Kind of frustrating but like i said, everything is inline. Just the gap at the top of the rear wheel is not even. Guess thats why there more expensive frames out there.
Out of curiosity, are you aware of anything else where the the intersection of cost, quality, and safety is so poor as bikes? It seems insane how much of this stuff is out there.
Hi Hambini, I just watch your video and a have a question, your insert is made of aluminum? If yes, didn't you have problems with galvanic corrosion? In the past, I had some issues with aluminum+carbon. Thank you for your video, from Japan.
Very interesting video analysis that. A question for you, could you have dealt with an issue like that using, something like a praxis (or similar) bottom bracket conversion kit? Thanks
I had shortlisted 3 manufacturers for a gravel bike: Bob Dolan, Sonder & Planet X. But after seeing this, Dolan has been struck off! I'm leaning towards a titanium framed steed.
That top bike manufacturers ask for up to $8-12 thousand/ea is why folks take close looks at much lower cost carbon bikes such as Dolan, Twitter, Velobuild, Yoleo, Devel, Dengfu, Trifox and such.
hi Hambini, I have bought a carbon fibre directly from a chinese bike OEM factor for £167 ( at today's currency rate). plus £40 shipping. according to the OEM factor, it was make by t800 carbon fibre. when it arrive in the UK. would you be interested to make a video of it ? I can send it to you. So I can have some faith building the bike after your QC check. hahaha
In retail, places like ASDA buy things like TVs, at a discount. Because they deal with warranty claims themselves, and don't claim back on the manufacture. I'm wondering if this is the case with these frames. Would explain the desperation to not honour warranties.
I think previously these incidents would never make it past a forum post. The damage to their brand would have been small if any. Now they end up on this channel which is associated with reamings. A few thousand people tune in to watch and then they get lynched in the comments. They lose way more than the $100 it would have cost them to sort the guy out. I do agree, it's unlikely they would have chased this up with whomever the CN OEM is. It would cost them more than the value of the frame.
@@Hambini "it's unlikely they would have chased this up with whomever the CN OEM is. It would cost them more than the value of the frame" If "big brands" can't be arsed because they know they'll lose how come youtubers recommend buying directly from CN OEMs as a solution to poor quality big brand bikes?
@@channul4887 The big brands are probably paying $100 per frame. If they go and pursue a warranty with their OEM for a defect, it will probably cost them mroe than that in administration costs. So it's more cost effective for them to simply send a new frame out and take the "hit". Take into account they probably sell the frame for $3k. If you are an individual buying a frame. That frame might be of the order of $1000, but the frame cost to the manufacturer is still the same $100. If you go and pursue them for a claim, then it's the individual (who probably isn't a business and wants the bike to ride) doesn't care about the cost to go and pursue a claim. Irrespective of that, the brands from the far east are building up their brands now and would be probably fairly foolish to trash their name in the process.
@@Hambini are you saying that these "up and coming" far east brands cherrypick best frames off the production lines (same productions lines which churn out shit sold by "big brands" that is featured in your videos)? Don't be naive. It's a lottery in all cases.
On an average carbon frame how many layers of carbon would there be? With a void, how many layers would be enough to cause a serious structural problem? Has anyone done any tests to see what sort of percentage of strength is lost to these voids? There must be a lot of shady frames out there. In a worst case scenario, on a frame like this, how much weight would need to go through the frame to cause a faulty. I wish there was a way to test a badly made frame and push force through the bars and saddle to the point of breaking so we can get an idea of how bad “bad” is. Are we taking 200kg or 2000kg? Do these voids effect the ride quality? I had a failed warranty Scott Addict team issue that had a BB like this. I used filler to hold the BB in. It was the best carbon bike I’d ever ridden even though it was bodged.
The “diabolical” line really made me laugh. Amazing stuff. My BB was undersized, blew out a bearing, and I machined a bit out with a brake honing tool. Will it fail and kill me? I hope not.
Been trying to figure out which Chinese carbon frame to buy but was still a niggling doubt there. After watching this and Hambini's review of the Triaero frame I can't understand how the brand's can charge so much
Dear Hambini viewers,
Since the video that Madpec published a few weeks back was brought to my attention, I have been in contact with Graham and Paul. I have issued Graham with a full refund for the work Madpac/Hambini have carried out in order to have the bike usable again, I have also offered a replacement Tuono frame for Graham FOC so that we can dispose of the original frame supplied.
Originally one of our customer service team had offered a 50% crash replacement off a New Tuono due to the original frame being outside our 2 year warranty period. As mentioned after seeing the video I made contact with Paul and Graham to try and resolved the issue.
I just wanted to give you an explanation of the situation from our point of view, we are not out here to try and rip people off and try our best to look after our customer base.
Have a good weekend everyone,
Awwwwwww that's nice of them :)
What are you going to do about all of the other Dolan's that are on the road with the poor resin flow that has been highlighted in this video? Are you going to issue a recall or a stop ride until they are checked or are you happy to have your existing customers ride on weakened frames.
Great response, difficult to know how to act with customer complaints unless seeing the actual product. This response makes you sound human too, rare from a company in 2022!
Where's the explanation about the shitty quality?
@@theillegalimmigrant9314 Hi, If any Dolan customers have any issues regarding their bottom bracket shell or anything else related to their bike it’s best for us to get the bike back and for it then to be inspected.
Thanks for helping us out. I totally forgot how much I swore on the note 😂. Graham is very happy, riding again, at reasonable cost. 🙏
I thought hambini was exagerating the swearing.
@@arifazhari7598 same
I sent a note to a customer who owed me money and was resisting paying the invoice. The note had a liberal dosing of f-bombs in it. He may have taken a bit of offense to my wording as he passed the note on to a lawyer. The lawyer rang me the day after the note had been sent which kind of floored me. A quick conversation and I was paid the following day.
@@Alan_Hans__ Imagine being so weak that swears cause you to run to a lawyer when you’re going to pay anyway… 😂🤣🤦♂️ Must have been one heckuva conversation!
@@matthewtaylor3308 "£350? is that all? My bill for him is going to be twice that"
We made something not fit for purpose, but we'll happily sell you another one and still make a bit of profit!
I think Dolan misunderstood the term upselling 😂
😂🤣😂🤣
@@beaneater He's not complaining. Complaints are from customers. He's informing the lay-person/general public of bad business practice from particular shoddy manufacturers. And doing an excellent job at it 😉
@@anthonydenn4345 Dolan are buying their frames from Asia, this is clearly a rubbish frame that they probably bought on price only. Perhaps they have already had many returns and they have changed factories. That is the issue with importers who pretend to be manufacturers. At least an importer can say we bought from a poor quality factory by mistake but have now changed to a much higher quality factory but a company that pretends to be a manufacturer has to bluff these situations out. Dolan are competitive on price and this is looking like it is achieved by using cheap low end factories rather than efficiencies elsewhere in the business.
I saw a titanium Dolan bike sometime ago and it looked brilliant, really beautiful bike and looked to me very well made for the frame.
I think the weight of this frame here would be of interest, as perhaps its is overbuilt to allow for inferior construction and is quite a heavy frame.
I don't ride carbon fibre anyway but if in the future I'm lighter and richer this video has pretty much removed Dolan from my options.
The part about drawing with your left hand while having a tug with your right killed me. 😂
I had a DR1 and unfortunately noticed the non-drive side chainstay had cracked though about 60%. When I discovered it after a ride and cleaning my bike I was pretty shocked but also thankful that it had not failed completely while being ridden as there could have been quite serious consequences if that has happened. Dolan's customer service was excellent and I was supplied with a Tuono frame with component swaps after sending photos and sending the bike back to them. I've had an AresSL for 6 years which has performed flawlessly. I think the DR1s as a batch must have had QC issues which is a shame as it was a great endurance bike that got me through Fred Whitton. To Dolan's credit they put the situation right with minimal fuss.
Thanks! First road race I did, Chris Boardman, who was still a junior at the time, was riding a Dolan. Pretty much every bike was steel in those days though and I think quite a few of the 'UK made' frames were actually made in Italy. 'Rebranding scams' will always be an issue, but this one is horrendous and fully deserved the full Hambini roast!
Thankyou for the super thanks!
I straight away think of Chris when I see Dolan as he has recorded a video with Terry. It's a shame to view this because already owning a Dolan I would now question buying another. I guess like many others the top-notch bikes are out of my price league whether it's a complete bike or frameset so prior to this Dolan or Ribble would be my first choice but given this I would now go for one of the reputable Chinese brands such as Yoeleo , Winspace etc as their quality control going by what I know must be a lot better. And Hambini has illustrated this in several of his superb video's. Terry in the video came across as a nice fella so I don't think he is directly to blame for this but rather those that has contracted out the work to.
As always, a great watch. Dolan did the right thing eventually, but only after Hambin stepped in. We can hope that they have realised that the QC needs improvement and that future Dolan frames won't be sub-standard. One thing that Hambini failed to mention was that the Princess blanket needs a clean!
This is the best commentary of any Hambini youtube clip yet. Thanks to Hambini for not only calling out the crappy engineering in the bike industry but also for making engineering visible to the world in a way that makes sense. I'm a mechanical engineer and I salute Hambini.
Terry dolan was an apprentice of one of the Kings of frame building as far as i know, that being Harry Quinn
Terry used to drink at the pub I worked at with his mates on a Tuesday night.
Just watched after my Saturday morning bike ride. I giggle with every watch of these. I also get to learn English slang terms, which help with my vocabulary when describing manufacturing issues that I see in my job (manufacturing engineering for a defense contractor).
It’s a miracle that anything ever works as designed once your crack things open and see how they are put together. I’m always amazed!
Keep up with the hairdressers, and always have lube handy!
I watched this one with interest, I’ve had two Dolan frames now and both have been on the whole positive experiences. My first “L’etape” had no issues at all, my second “Tuono” had a small issue with the Fork dropout which turned out to be cosmetic, when I took it back Terry Dolan offered to replace it, took me round the paint shop to see some of the factory and they even gave me £20 to cover my fuel costs to drive there and back.
I’m now in the market for a new bike and decided that I would get a Giant Defy which at £5k was good value, it came to me with scratches, paint defects (pin holes and sink marks in the paint) and the rear caliper mount hadn’t been faced which meant the brake couldn’t be aligned, their dealer couldn’t sort these issues and I ended up returning it for an refund.
Mapdecs latest video shows a £7k Canyon which is riddled with problems too, also totally unacceptable.
Until watching this I was going to order another Dolan, their system of allowing you to select bar width, crank length etc gets you a bike that fits when compared to any off the shelf type system such as Giant etc, but in all honesty I don’t know what to do, all brands seem to have issues with quality control, I can’t ride a Winspace as it’s too low, maybe a Time frame would be a safe bet but they are quite expensive.
Buying a bike seems like a lottery at best, and Russian roulette at worst.
Why not consider a top quality British built steel frame instead?
Have a look at Enigma, Shand, Mason, Cotic. All U.K based and manufactured. If you're spending £5k then you could get a really nice Titanium Enigma.
Damn Hambini, what an outstanding explanation!
You sir should be a professor at an accredited university teaching advanced course in carbon bike frames. Thank you for all the information!
Love your content! ❤🚴🏻♂️
I am not sure how I found your videos but I am glad, as an engineer who rides this channel speaks my language.
Thanks!
Thank you!
That was a cracking repair job Hambini and another interesting insight into carbon layups and the issues you found upon closer inspection.
I’m willing to accept that anything made by humans can have errors (though this frame has a LOT of errors, so it’s stretching my limits somewhat). What I’m not willing to accept is that Dolan didn’t immediately warranty this frame and make absolutely certain that the customer got total satisfaction.
You've misused "error". The word you're after is "defect"
This shouldn’t have passed quality control and be thrown into the bin at the factory
There are no errors boy this is "I don't give a f***"
Unacceptable.
I've been waiting for the Hambini hot take on this since seeing the Mapdec video. Always happy to see that the pen is working.
Oooooh new fluorescent lights! Very fancy. Straight out of an 80’s classroom
There's always a right to reply here.. It always amazes me (it shouldn't) that the company don't save face and publicly address the matter/subject. Great video as always tho 😁👍 and no doubt you made the chap happy
Nobody does it like you, Hambini!! Mad respect! Intelligence always trumps manufacturing!
I would love to see Hambini do a review of the top 5 Pro Tour frames to see if they are what they say they are or if they are just like any other Chinese frame, but with pretty paint jobs and cost $10,000-$15,000.
Given that nearly all carbon manufacture is in China, it's highly likely they're just regular off the shelf frames. They only get ridden for a season and then get sold on anyway.
He supplies or has supplied BBs to pro tour teams. That's pretty sad if you think Pros are riding bespoke or the best of the best coming out the factory. What are the rest like?
Me too Brian me too given how they are so expensive.
I would refuse work on such bikes. If they're bad and dangerous then let it cause real world problems and destroy the rep of those brands. Otherwise they continue and don't change.
Hambini would spend the next year in litigation from that. Companies like Specialized are well known for their troves of lawyers.
great job on making the best compromise and engineering solution out of a crap situation, unbelievable that dolan didn't replace the frame, I guess their passion is about money not engineering
That is one brave guy, to continue riding that frame knowing all that is wrong with it.
I believe Dolan don't make the DR1(in this video) anymore, its certainly not on their website. I've owned a Dolan Tuono SL (rim brake version) for the past 7 years and I can honestly say its been faultless, its comfortable to ride and a doddle to service.
Many may see Dolans comment and think damage limitation, at least they had the bollocks to come on here and explain things how many other companies have done this. My experience of their customer service and interactions with Steve have always been extremely positive. It does seem obvious there was a QC issue somewhere along the line, and this happens to all brands at some stage or another, just look at how many reaming's Hambini does across the board . I do wonder why the original owner didn't pick up on this sooner and act within the warranty period, especially being such a local legend club rider and experienced cyclist who should know his kit inside and out. I wonder if he ever did pre/post ride checks, or inspect his bike at regular intervals, otherwise this would have been picked up sooner, or has he just ridden it into the ground, then discovered the issue and whined to dolan and not been happy with their offer of 50% off a new Tuono frame.......and then sent the DR1 to Hambini to get them to ream the brand so he gets his way after a tantrum.
I love this channel. Please never change.
I've never seen, or even knew that Dolan made a road , or gravel bike at all until this video.
I always thought that they were a TRACK frame company exclusively, as that's all I've ever seen here in the states, on the (somewhat) local track.
Great job. The only 5yr old capable of fixing it come to think of it.
As the owner I still would have taken your/cycle shop advice and saved you all the bother and scrapped it. Landfill aside.
I've always fancied Dolan track bikes. Now this is obviously an egregious practice of theirs however.
Dolan supply a frame that is well beyond the quoted specification and expect the customer to pay to replace it. What is wrong with these people.
The wrong is in the law, and/or lack of oversight. This is as close to an outright scam as can be, but you get to take them to court, potentially on your dime, to get anything out of it.
Yes the law is there to favour and protect the wrongdoers in corporations all over the world 🌎
I think this video might just slow down that supply.
Yes let's hope so to supply inferior products like this the Dolan bicycle corporation need to be made bankrupt forever
It's called capitalism.
AH blood hell. I turned of the volume to avoid the BIG HELLO only to get deafened when you sneaked it in later.
LOL! That’s hilarious!!! I love Hambini & would like a selfie with him one day.
I find this so funny that the bike market is more or less just based on brand names, and not bothered about quality of products.
Thank you Hambini for doing these types of videos that really highlights this problem, keep up the amazing work!!! 💪💪💪
I want to try a carbon frame. But because of the seemingly pervasiveness of engineering incompetence, I'll just be sticking to steel or Alu. While they have their own issues, they're issues that I can fix, or get fixed. Can't say the same for CF in my middle of nowhere town.
@@cjohnson3836 honestly, carbon is not worth the hype. Unless you're chasing every last bit of performance, a steel frame with a modern groupset will do just fine
@@KekusMagnus I love my steel frame.
@@cjohnson3836 modern alloy frames, especially in mtb are worse. Many are out of alignment. Every single alloy transition through our shop has been misaligned, lots of trek alloy bikes.
We have much more qc success with carbon now... depending on manufacturer.
Instead of arguing of alloy or carbon, pick based on warranty and support
Enjoyed this especially reading the comments after and seeing Dolan cough up top stuff
That’s a ton work to save a bad frame. Good on you for helping out.
Were you able to improve the BB spindle angle?
Angle is now in line
Hambini, You tell it the way it is. I like your style. Engineers use science and most bicycle manufacturers use lies to pedal their wares. Cheers
Hambini is a straight up liar and a conman, he clearly has a heart of gold and is an angel in disguise, this facade about hairdressers don't fool me. I see you through you Hambini! Gonna smash that like!
Fair play Dolan have feck up 😮 A new frame would have been peanuts to them 😢
Another great show Hambini 🎉
Fuck, you almost woke up my son at 0:49 when I already put up the volume to understand the MapDec guy
The pen is working, but Dolan is not. It's my hope that this video will make Dolan lose enough sales to make them forever regret not replacing this awful frame. Another solid video, Hambini. Thank you. 👏👏👏‼️
Holy Fuck Hambini you’re hilarious. Love the way you do it.
Hambini is the ONLY 100% TRUSTED RESOURCE for everything from ball bearings, to carbon, from manufacturing, to banging hairdressers. Thanks again for sharing and making these videos. Throughly enjoy everyone of them
“Ormscracks red light zone” he is throwing pearls this lad.
Another good one Hambini ! The pen is mightier than the sword and it is working. So many "brands" and distributors to avoid , your videos are functioning as the pen to tell us punters what/who to avoid. Can you do an assessment of Elves frames? They look very good value and have many good reviews.
He already did 😁 th-cam.com/video/IXJT-4Zv4HM/w-d-xo.html
Well done Hambini.
If it gets Bike assemblers (can't call them a manufacturer) to up their game and ensure bikes are fit and safe to ride it a job well done.
Thanks for exposing this garbage. I really hope this gets more views and attention!
Always glad to see the pen is working.
When are you going to do a ribble frame?
Very informative Powerpoint session. Btw, I wouldn't buy a frame with so wide slots under the BB. Less material in a big stress area? I don't get it.
You know what, I'm rapidly losing enthusiasm for internal cable routing full stop.
You need a drainage hole there, at least 1. Water flicks onto the seat post and drops to the BB
Thanks again Hambini. Great watch.
There are two things I like in this bike world: a good reaming and Fuji rim brake bikes 😎🤣
you are such a shill!
Haven't watched you for a while, but the 'drawing'line cracked me up. Once we got to Foofies I was no more good.
Good job. In spite of its imperfections WELL WORTH fitting an excellent BB and putting the bike back on the road...probably not advised for use in the pro peloton ,but for a club rider-should last for many years.
is it? lmao
Hello Hambini.
Have to fess up that I know little about most of what you're doing or talking about.
..BUT....
that hasn't stopped me really enjoying your Channel.. Plus I'm learning stuff that's v interesting while I'm laughing along with the way you're reaming out crap manufacturing. Someone needs to do it cos it helps drive standards up.
Makers of dodgy gear must increasingly be shitting themselves when they hear your name so don't stop ffs.🤣
Def worth a Sub.
Cheers, Leno.
✅✅✅✅✅✅
That frame is a death trap. But clearly a loved one. Kudos for the real cycling enthusiasts to fix it for the guy, I’d rather donate some £ to get the chap a new one.
As Hambini said, how much do you do to it before you’re wasting your time.
The worst part of this isn’t the shite manufacturing tolerances, it’s the fact whoever assembled the bike knew the bottom bracket opening was too large YET, YET…they still assembled the bike!!
Mmm ... For a bit of perspective, I've got a Dolan GCX and its been faultless over the two years of ownership. Odd how the owner of the above problem frame took two years to notice the fault with his BB.
Doesn't add up in my book.
I wouldn't hesitate to get another Dolan bike.
Good case for small claims court? Proper wool bike frame
I think if it had gone that way, Dolan would have to settle or lose.
I love the Hambini intro, HELLOOOOO.
Love these videos.
Hambini... changing the world, one frame at a time.
+ Multi-Million Dollar Bicycle Manufacturers, please take note : a very verbal, yet humble man, is having to fix your crap...
Wow what a small world. I used to ride with Kendal cc back in the 80' with Bruce Everet
I would love to hear your thoughts on the carbon disaster that was the Titan submersible.
A diaspointed godfather really hits you in the feels...
Thanks for the education on carbon layout and glue.
U got me with heidi‘s foofee 😂😂
18:21 now that is great advice, clean, poke, protection and lube lol
Always a pleasure young man
I have a Dolan Rebus rim brake bike, I've had it for 3 years and I've had no problems with no sign of any defects, the paint job is amazing, love this bike. Hambini I've seen you tear into other frames whereas I believe this may happen to many carbon manufactured frames, it's a hand process if you have ever seen videos how they are made, I'm sure you have. This could be a rare case, maybe it's happening too much now that so many people are wanting carbon bikes. But yeah why was the bike released when it was being assembled? As I said I love my Rebus but if I was to buy another Dolan or any other frame I would definitely look into these issues.
Hambini out here doing the lords work…
One ream at a time.
can we do the oooooh so classic dolan pre-cursa trackbike one day? its loved by just about everyone in the community(as you know). does it stand the test of hamb? is it hamb-proof? we need to know! iv owned a dolan precursa and an fxe, they have served me well
Hi. Thanks for the great video as always! I have a dolan df4 track bike and it is just fine. I planned to buy another df4 track frame to make a dedicated pursuit tt bike. Now after watching this I'm not so sure that I should! Any advice would be greatly greatly appreciated! Keep on the good work and banging the hairdresser 😂
Holy S! 41.53mm, has to be the new world record!
Steel is Real! Enough said!!
i'm interested in building up a carbon road bike, but after watching a lot of your videos trashing the manufacturing quality of the big brand names i think i try my luck and go for an unbranded carbon frame directly from a chinese factory.
since most frames i looked at are bb30 or bsa, and me wanting to follow your advice in going for a bb86, my choices shrinked down a lot.
any experiences with velobuild?
edit: oh and btw, is the waitlist for your BBs on a first come first serve basis, once new stock is available or is it an actual que?
Carbonda / DengFu / HongFu are brands that are often recommended when it comes to open mould Chinese frames. From memory, Hambini has mentioned them before in passing and believes them to be good
I believe Elves is also a decent frame brand. (See Cam Nichols RCA video), also Yeoleo and Winspace.
I got a Yoeleo r11 disk , cost 1300 euro over all not a bad frame but had to ream out the bb shel as it was to small ,the back mount for the disk calliper needed levelling and the fromt meck mount needed a shim to level it out but when i had it built up it was a fast stiff bike , after a year i changed it for a ridley finex frame from merlin cycles , 1950 euro and it was a perfect frame , in hindsight i should have just got the finex first hope this helps
Bought one from Velobuild for my wife, mech says it's perfectly fine and the build went without a hitch.
What a pile of crap. They have the hide to want him to pay for a replacement. Everything wrong with the bike industry right there.
The Dolan PR department must have gotten a heart attack after watching this video 😂
I don't think they care too much. That frame reflects a total lack of care for customer safety or satisfaction.
I put together a pre cursa and the wheel looks off center from the back under the seat but everything is straight and centered as far as i can tell. Guess the frame is just welded like that. Disapointing but the wheel is centered down by the bottom bracket and inline with the seat post and top tube. Kind of frustrating but like i said, everything is inline. Just the gap at the top of the rear wheel is not even. Guess thats why there more expensive frames out there.
Hambini doing gods work.
Out of curiosity, are you aware of anything else where the the intersection of cost, quality, and safety is so poor as bikes? It seems insane how much of this stuff is out there.
Superb solution, great work.
Can we see a dub bb reaming?
Hi Hambini, I just watch your video and a have a question, your insert is made of aluminum? If yes, didn't you have problems with galvanic corrosion? In the past, I had some issues with aluminum+carbon. Thank you for your video, from Japan.
Very interesting video analysis that. A question for you, could you have dealt with an issue like that using, something like a praxis (or similar) bottom bracket conversion kit? Thanks
it would be too loose
Possibly your finest hour, Sir. Glad someone had finally taken Dolan to pieces as they've been ripping people off for decades.
Dolan frames are designed by Stevie Charles Inc, Motown Detroit.
I had shortlisted 3 manufacturers for a gravel bike: Bob Dolan, Sonder & Planet X. But after seeing this, Dolan has been struck off! I'm leaning towards a titanium framed steed.
These videos are not AMSR!
Where do I register a complaint?
That top bike manufacturers ask for up to $8-12 thousand/ea is why folks take close looks at much lower cost carbon bikes such as Dolan, Twitter, Velobuild, Yoleo, Devel, Dengfu, Trifox and such.
"Rougher than Ormscrap's red light zone" :)
hi Hambini, I have bought a carbon fibre directly from a chinese bike OEM factor for £167 ( at today's currency rate). plus £40 shipping.
according to the OEM factor, it was make by t800 carbon fibre.
when it arrive in the UK. would you be interested to make a video of it ? I can send it to you. So I can have some faith building the bike after your QC check. hahaha
Yes no problems
Just a thought, couldn't the bracket be machined to fit the hole?
So I ll buy or not titanium Dolan frame?
In retail, places like ASDA buy things like TVs, at a discount. Because they deal with warranty claims themselves, and don't claim back on the manufacture.
I'm wondering if this is the case with these frames.
Would explain the desperation to not honour warranties.
I think previously these incidents would never make it past a forum post. The damage to their brand would have been small if any. Now they end up on this channel which is associated with reamings. A few thousand people tune in to watch and then they get lynched in the comments. They lose way more than the $100 it would have cost them to sort the guy out.
I do agree, it's unlikely they would have chased this up with whomever the CN OEM is. It would cost them more than the value of the frame.
@@Hambini "it's unlikely they would have chased this up with whomever the CN OEM is. It would cost them more than the value of the frame"
If "big brands" can't be arsed because they know they'll lose how come youtubers recommend buying directly from CN OEMs as a solution to poor quality big brand bikes?
@@channul4887 The big brands are probably paying $100 per frame. If they go and pursue a warranty with their OEM for a defect, it will probably cost them mroe than that in administration costs. So it's more cost effective for them to simply send a new frame out and take the "hit". Take into account they probably sell the frame for $3k.
If you are an individual buying a frame. That frame might be of the order of $1000, but the frame cost to the manufacturer is still the same $100. If you go and pursue them for a claim, then it's the individual (who probably isn't a business and wants the bike to ride) doesn't care about the cost to go and pursue a claim. Irrespective of that, the brands from the far east are building up their brands now and would be probably fairly foolish to trash their name in the process.
@@Hambini are you saying that these "up and coming" far east brands cherrypick best frames off the production lines (same productions lines which churn out shit sold by "big brands" that is featured in your videos)? Don't be naive. It's a lottery in all cases.
QC sticker lol.does it just mean the green circle sticker passed a QC.. as being the only perfectly Round thing on that frame...😅
On an average carbon frame how many layers of carbon would there be? With a void, how many layers would be enough to cause a serious structural problem?
Has anyone done any tests to see what sort of percentage of strength is lost to these voids?
There must be a lot of shady frames out there.
In a worst case scenario, on a frame like this, how much weight would need to go through the frame to cause a faulty. I wish there was a way to test a badly made frame and push force through the bars and saddle to the point of breaking so we can get an idea of how bad “bad” is.
Are we taking 200kg or 2000kg?
Do these voids effect the ride quality?
I had a failed warranty Scott Addict team issue that had a BB like this. I used filler to hold the BB in. It was the best carbon bike I’d ever ridden even though it was bodged.
Bonding a BB shell in is fine, that's how they put alloy threaded bbs in carbon.
The Dolan Ares frame looks strikingly similar to a Ciöcc Blade frame.
I feel like the fact there are direct mount fixings is absolutely astonishing. Like that is bottom of the barrel
I love these REAMING videos
Bruv, you’re a true engineering legend ✊🏾👊🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Apart from "posh" brands , any normal brand of good bikes out there?
Lol, that's still better than almost any carbon frame I've owned...
The “diabolical” line really made me laugh. Amazing stuff. My BB was undersized, blew out a bearing, and I machined a bit out with a brake honing tool. Will it fail and kill me? I hope not.
Looks like canyon has a competitor
Been trying to figure out which Chinese carbon frame to buy but was still a niggling doubt there.
After watching this and Hambini's review of the Triaero frame I can't understand how the brand's can charge so much