Just thought I give my personal thoughts on Trifox X16 . I was wavering between the X16 and X18 , but went with X16 because of the issues with the SL7 recall (since X18 was supposely based on SL7).
I ordered via Aliexpress. I originally bought a size 49 and a size 52 about a 2 months later, (disc brakes) and I'm 1.68m (average Asian) , 52 yrs old and restarted cycling 2 years ago after a break of 36+ years. The overall frame was great, paintjob was well done, smooth. Came with seatpost and fork. There are a number of reviews on Youtube , so I won't go through the details or photos but maybe give a couple of the things I like, dislike about the frame, as well as issues and potential issues.
1. Carbon - it's T800 and it's light but it does flex.
1a. Fork flex - When I pressed the fork slightly off center with wheels and disc brakes, rotor in place, the rotor would touch the disc brakes, so that suggest to me that if I'm a sprinter (I'm not), it might touch during hard sprinting. I have not actually encounter issues during my actual rides but I'm not heavy (72kg) and I'm not a hard sprinter (below 400w)
2. Frame - Overall frame was nice BUT ..
2a. There was no plastic plug for the brake cable (only for the shifter cables) and after a few hundred KMs, the carbon frame sharp edges cut into my internally routed brake cables. It totally cut the rubber housing although the steel outer housing was fine. I've feedback to Trifox Sales person, hopefully it went up the food chain.
2b. Rubber dust seal for seatpost. I bought two frames, another size 52 subsequently and they came with different type of dust seal, First one does absolutely nothing to protect the seatpost area from water and dust/sands, the 2nd one was basically ugly and also torn (and couldn't be use) when it arrived.
2c. Seatpost clamp. One seat post clamp was hard plastic and the other metal. Metal one squeaks when I peddle...**sigh**.... I spend days (and changing lots of parts, pedal, BBs, ) trying to figure out where that squeak was coming from.
2d. Chinese companies need to be told not to do "BIG Fxxking TEXT LOGO" , I really don't mind riding bikes with chinese brands, or logos, but they need to stop making their logo fit on the entire frame . Just like the China chinese needs to learn to speak softly in public places, speaking loudly makes senses if you are a farmer and needs to talk to someone across the next field..... Big Logo only makes senses if you are world famous or only selling within China. Rest of the world - we (mostly or maybe it's just me) hate big F logos.
2e. Paintwork. First one (size 49) paintwork was perfect but 2nd one, if you runs the fingers or hand across, you can feel rough patches, although visually it wasn't that obvious. I'm not sure if they outsource the painting or what. In addition, it really sucks that they are not willing to customized the paintwork, wants me to pay US$100 NOT to have the logo. :-P .. didn't take up the offer. Custom painting was not an option, and I probably wouldn't be willing to pay anyway, considering the price they want just to NOT have the logo. In addition, the wheel logo sucks... I mean, white and huge "TRIFOX" on a MATT black carbon wheel. Black Gloss on Black Matt would be better, show your logo but not be brash about it. Asked for it NOT to be painted and as expected, they wanted me to pay extra for that. Said it was their Designer design, so if I want no logo, it's considered as another custom paintwork. WTF Logic. Using Novatec D712SB Hub. Didn't spin well initially but was "OK" after a few hundred km.
Customer service - CS on Aliexpress was ok, responsive with information requests, stock avialability, but not that responsive to negotiation attempts on painting, Logos, etc.
Value - Matched with Shimano Ultegra groupset with Sensah Shifters, ZRACE BR005, OG-EVKIN dropbar and Magene P325CS , Vittoria Latex tube on front (horrible-blew 2 tubes in as many months) + Decathlon tube on rear (because Vittoria blew or sucks), Vittoria corsa tires (nice), it weights in approx 8.2KG. Not too bad for a sub $2K configuration. I was able to average above 30 km/hr (straight and slight upslope incline) and max at 60km/hr (for a few slide down incline sub-seconds). I'm guessing it's my (lack of) fitness more than anything else..
