Chinese Mamba 70 clone

A couple of weeks ago as I was checking up on an Aliexpress order, I came across what appeared to be a clone of the RR Mamba. It was stainless steel CNC machined and it came with a scalloped cap similar to the Timeless. It was not cheap by Chinese razor status, but it was just slightly more than the cost of a real RR base plate. Although they did not say, I could tell that they were copying the Mamba and with a .70mm blade gap, they were cloning the Mamba 70. I know I shouldn't be even entertaining getting a clone of what I consider to be one of my best shavers, but I just had to find out for myself if the Chamba 70 was as good as the Mamba 70.

First of all, in comparison, the Chamba is etched on the bottom of the base plate similar to the latest RR razors. It also seem to be individually numbered, but the only reason I assume this is that the serial number of my razor head is different from the one in the picture at Aliexpress.




Finish is not quite as good as the RR as can be seen in the top picture where there is some flashing in the indentation around the screw post, some unevenness along the top edge of the cap, and roughness on the inside of the safety bar in the bottom pic. In addition, when fitting a blade in the mount points on the base plate, the Chamba was a little loose, where the Mamba actually clicked the blade in place. This could be either a good thing or a bad thing, the good being that the blade does come out easily for the Chamba (where sometimes it did take an effort to remove the blade from the Mamba), and the bad in that maybe this might be an area of misalignment.

The profiles are as follow:




The Chamba is on the left and the Mamba on the right. The Mamba has a thicker base plate and a more rounded guard.

First shave will be tonight. I decided to shave half my face with the Chamba and the other half with the Mamba. I will report on the results later.

First shave tonight with the Chamba 70 and immediately I put it up against the real Mamba 70. Both blades had about three uses to them and so I figured they should be equivalent. The Chamba had the left side of my face and the real Mamba had the right side. WTG pass was very smooth and efficient for the Chamba. The Mamba had just a little more blade feel on the right side of my face. I am believing that the scalloped cap of the Chamba actually mellowed out the shave just noticeably more. ATG pass was about even for both razors, however the Mamba left just slightly more stubble. To be fair, I did an XTG pass to my jawline and under my chin and both sides of my face ended up with a BBS.

Clean up is something I never talked about, but had to mention it tonight. When I took apart the Chamba and lifted the cap, the blade was left in the cap held by screw threads, which made things exceptionally easy to take the blade out and wash off. The Mamba had the blade still on the guide posts and I had to use my fingernail to pop it out.

To be totally honest, I really wanted to say that the fit and quality of the Chamba was so inferior that the shave did not come close to the Mamba. Let's face it, I consider the Mamba 70 to be one of my best shavers. However the imperfections in the machining of the head as I pointed out earlier had no effect on the shave. The blade guide post allowed only enough play to make removing the blade easier and did not affect alignment. The scalloped cap actually worked to give a smoother shave without losing efficiency. I really hate to say this, but this razor is an equal to the Mamba when considering shaving alone. Possibly in another six months, the build quality will improve.

This is bad news for me because now I have to closely watch the stainless steel CNC R41 clone and possibly pick that up when the second batch comes out.

I appreciate the detailed photos and shave comparison for science. I'll never get one of these, but I am curious whether the Chamba (props on the nickname, by the way) is such a direct replica that you can mix and match the parts.

I appreciate the detailed photos and shave comparison for science. I'll never get one of these, but I am curious whether the Chamba (props on the nickname, by the way) is such a direct replica that you can mix and match the parts.

That was one of the first things I checked out. The Chamba parts are totally interchangeable with the Mamba. In fact, the cap being slightly less precision fitted than the Mamba actually allows for a good fit with the Game Changer base plate. I am planning to test that combination tomorrow night.

Other than curiosity, what’s the attraction of a Chinese made clone if it’s got inferior finish and costs more than the real thing? I’ll grant you that availability might be better. Joe will do a run and sell them out and not restock for a while. Or ever. I suppose chamba can make as many as they want. To be clear, I have no concerns with cloning as long as they’re not counterfeiting (passing off clone as the real thing) and I’m sure Joe understands. Lupo ?

Other than curiosity, what’s the attraction of a Chinese made clone if it’s got inferior finish and costs more than the real thing? I’ll grant you that availability might be better. Joe will do a run and sell them out and not restock for a while. Or ever. I suppose chamba can make as many as they want. To be clear, I have no concerns with cloning as long as they’re not counterfeiting (passing off clone as the real thing) and I’m sure Joe understands. Lupo ?

Actually it cost less. I mentioned that the entire head cost slightly more than what Joe sells the base plate for. Add in another $25 for the cap and we are looking at $55 for genuine RR parts (if Joe ends up selling the parts alone for the Mamba 70). The complete head for the Chamba 70 was $32. Granted you have to wait for RR to get it in stock again, but I also had to wait for a couple of weeks for my stuff to come in from China and so that is a wash. For me, it was testing the waters on how far the Chinese have come with CNC machining for razor heads as well as seeing of a scalloped cap does anything for the shave (which it did slightly). At this point, I seriously don't think these will ever be passed off as genuine RR stuff. In fact, they engraved their information on the base plate with their own serial numbers to make sure that RR don't try to pass off their stuff as genuine RR. ;-)

Other than curiosity, what’s the attraction of a Chinese made clone if it’s got inferior finish and costs more than the real thing? I’ll grant you that availability might be better. Joe will do a run and sell them out and not restock for a while. Or ever. I suppose chamba can make as many as they want. To be clear, I have no concerns with cloning as long as they’re not counterfeiting (passing off clone as the real thing) and I’m sure Joe understands. Lupo ?

Actually it cost less. I mentioned that the entire head cost slightly more than what Joe sells the base plate for. Add in another $25 for the cap and we are looking at $55 for genuine RR parts (if Joe ends up selling the parts alone for the Mamba 70). The complete head for the Chamba 70 was $32. Granted you have to wait for RR to get it in stock again, but I also had to wait for a couple of weeks for my stuff to come in from China and so that is a wash. For me, it was testing the waters on how far the Chinese have come with CNC machining for razor heads as well as seeing of a scalloped cap does anything for the shave (which it did slightly). At this point, I seriously don't think these will ever be passed off as genuine RR stuff. In fact, they engraved their information on the base plate with their own serial numbers to make sure that RR don't try to pass off their stuff as genuine RR. ;-)

Sorry, I misread the price related part.  Chinese CNC machining isn't necessarily inferior - they can do high end stuff if that is what the customer specifies and pays for.  When we get stuff over here and its of inferior quality its usually because the purchaser (from the Chinese shop) was more interested in a low price than high quality.  The holy grail for all of us end users is the elusive combination of high quality and low price 

... In addition, when fitting a blade in the mount points on the base plate, the Chamba was a little loose, where the Mamba actually clicked the blade in place. This could be either a good thing or a bad thing, the good being that the blade does come out easily for the Chamba (where sometimes it did take an effort to remove the blade from the Mamba), and the bad in that maybe this might be an area of misalignment. ...

Yeah. As you say, a wee bit of looseness could be a feature, not a bug.

My Fendrihan "Full Stainless" Mk I head (OC & solid guard bar combo) has a fillet where the M5 screw attaches to the cap. When the head is assembled with a blade onto the handle and torqued down, the fillet forces the middle hole of the blade to spread a bit. You wouldn't normally see any effect but since I'm in the habit of flipping the blade between shaves it flexes the blade until it cracks or breaks off entirely. When you take the head apart the blade is not stuck, so it flattens out as expected.



I had it happen to this Feather and (identically) to two Astra SP blades before I figured it out. You don't notice the tight fit unless you press the middle of the blade into the cap.

Italian barber has developed some nice razors on their own. But they have also just copied several other razors and sold them as their own. Not much different than the Chinese clones.

Italian barber has developed some nice razors on their own. But they have also just copied several other razors and sold them as their own. Not much different than the Chinese clones.

Is this true? I keep seeing people refer to the Lupo as a copy of the Wolfman WR1, but I don't see the resemblance at all. I think this is very different from Chinese design copy. The only difference in the case of the Chamba (seriously, I love his nickname) is the top cap, which to me is just lazy.