Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!

[raisinberry777]

A short review of these 'The One' style handlebars from Kocevlo:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004973884034.html

Bought in 380*100mm to fit a 2023 Merida Scultura (FSA ACR). One-piece bar and stem was a good opportunity to replace the heavy separate FSA stem and Merida branded handlebar that came with the bike. I bought this particular bar as it seemed to be compatible with the FSA ACR system.

Pros:
- Weight: 330g for 380x100mm - up there with some of the seriously lightweight options.
- Stiffness: I'm a lightweight climber-type build (67kg, 900w peak power) so I'm not really stretching these things to the limit, but there's no incredibly obvious deflection when I sprint out the saddle.
- Shape: Excellent modern compact style handlebar shape.
- Price: 100USD including integrated Garmin mount kit (which seems nicely made)
- Minimalist looks: only one sticker, and easy to remove by fingers

Cons:
- Routing: I didn't do this myself but my mechanic said that the bars had quite sharp edges inside that made routing the hoses particularly difficult. This was brake hoses only as it was a 12sp Shimano Di2 build.
- Shifter clamp: Shifter clamp area was undersized and clamp needed to be shimmed.
- Headset compression: my mechanic said he had to modify the bottom transition spacer as the Scultura top headset bearing sits fairly deep inside the tube - without modification it wasn't making sufficient contact to set the preload properly.

For the price, seems good, but be aware of the potential issues.

[joegal]

A short review of these 'The One' style handlebars from Kocevlo:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004973884034.html

Bought in 380*100mm to fit a 2023 Merida Scultura (FSA ACR). One-piece bar and stem was a good opportunity to replace the heavy separate FSA stem and Merida branded handlebar that came with the bike. I bought this particular bar as it seemed to be compatible with the FSA ACR system.

Pros:
- Weight: 330g for 380x100mm - up there with some of the seriously lightweight options.
- Stiffness: I'm a lightweight climber-type build (67kg, 900w peak power) so I'm not really stretching these things to the limit, but there's no incredibly obvious deflection when I sprint out the saddle.
- Shape: Excellent modern compact style handlebar shape.
- Price: 100USD including integrated Garmin mount kit (which seems nicely made)
- Minimalist looks: only one sticker, and easy to remove by fingers

Cons:
- Routing: I didn't do this myself but my mechanic said that the bars had quite sharp edges inside that made routing the hoses particularly difficult. This was brake hoses only as it was a 12sp Shimano Di2 build.
- Shifter clamp: Shifter clamp area was undersized and clamp needed to be shimmed.
- Headset compression: my mechanic said he had to modify the bottom transition spacer as the Scultura top headset bearing sits fairly deep inside the tube - without modification it wasn't making sufficient contact to set the preload properly.

For the price, seems good, but be aware of the potential issues.

Sounds great, i am also thinking about getting those bars!
You mentioned that a sticker is easily removed. Are you talking about that white "Kocevlo" branding? that was actually holding me off from placing an order since I always read "Cock-Velo"
So great news, if that can be removed without residues.

And are the measurements true to size in your opinion? E.g. Hood/Drops width, reach, stem length, angle? I read a lot of contradicting statements regarding that barstem (from different manufacturers)

Thanks!

[TidyDinosaur]

A short review of these 'The One' style handlebars from Kocevlo:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004973884034.html

Bought in 380*100mm to fit a 2023 Merida Scultura (FSA ACR). One-piece bar and stem was a good opportunity to replace the heavy separate FSA stem and Merida branded handlebar that came with the bike. I bought this particular bar as it seemed to be compatible with the FSA ACR system.

Pros:
- Weight: 330g for 380x100mm - up there with some of the seriously lightweight options.
- Stiffness: I'm a lightweight climber-type build (67kg, 900w peak power) so I'm not really stretching these things to the limit, but there's no incredibly obvious deflection when I sprint out the saddle.
- Shape: Excellent modern compact style handlebar shape.
- Price: 100USD including integrated Garmin mount kit (which seems nicely made)
- Minimalist looks: only one sticker, and easy to remove by fingers

Cons:
- Routing: I didn't do this myself but my mechanic said that the bars had quite sharp edges inside that made routing the hoses particularly difficult. This was brake hoses only as it was a 12sp Shimano Di2 build.
- Shifter clamp: Shifter clamp area was undersized and clamp needed to be shimmed.
- Headset compression: my mechanic said he had to modify the bottom transition spacer as the Scultura top headset bearing sits fairly deep inside the tube - without modification it wasn't making sufficient contact to set the preload properly.

For the price, seems good, but be aware of the potential issues.

I have the same bars on my Hygge bike. I had no problems routing the 4 cables (brakes and shifting) trough the handlebar.

[paldo]

Since the Jun Juins cable/hydraulic calipers were being used on my gravel bike and my Hardtail 29er set-up as a Bikepacker with gravel bars, I needed braking that would work with standard STI levers on road bar diameters of 23.8mm.   Then I discovered 'H" bars, that are 22.2 OD (Flat mtn. bike bar diameter)

For my needs, I found that carbon "H" bars work well for me on my 29er hardtail, so I was able to fit/install regular mtn. bike hydraulic brakes.  Then I installed the Wheel Top EDS electric derailleur with its 22.2mm ID shift pod and have a nice system on my 29er Hardtail that works really well as a gravel bike. 

I have been gathering parts for converting my gravel bike to "H" bars, get rid of the Jun Juin hybrid brakes and go use mtb. components and another EDS rear derailleur

So the weight of the integrated dropbar is not far from the stem+dropbar then. The Uno stem is 100gram+200 gram for the dropbar is pretty close in weight..

[raisinberry777]

Did 140km on the Kocevlo bars today and they felt great - shape of the bars is good, flats on the top feel very comfortable and basically no noticeable flex when I'm putting an effort in.

Sounds great, i am also thinking about getting those bars!
You mentioned that a sticker is easily removed. Are you talking about that white "Kocevlo" branding? that was actually holding me off from placing an order since I always read "Cock-Velo"
So great news, if that can be removed without residues.

And are the measurements true to size in your opinion? E.g. Hood/Drops width, reach, stem length, angle? I read a lot of contradicting statements regarding that barstem (from different manufacturers)

Thanks!

Yes, I'm talking about the white 'Kocevlo' sticker. I could mostly peel it off with my fingers and the residue came off easily with some acetone.

As for measurements, I have taken some very rough measurements just with a measuring tape by eye:

Code: [Select]

                      | Specs               | Actual                                                      | Difference
----------------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-----------
Stem Length           | 100mm               | 110mm (+10mm longer)                                         | +10mm
Tops centre-to-centre | 380mm               | 380mm (right on)                                             | 0mm
Drops centre-to-centre| 400mm               | 405mm (+5mm wider)                                           | +5mm
Reach                 | 77mm                | 70mm (-7mm) - measuring accuracy uncertain                   | -7mm
Drop                  | 127mm               | 130mm (+3mm) - close enough, could be measuring error        | +3mm
Weight                | 520g±20g (full pkg?)| 330g (bar/stem) + 30g (Garmin mount) + ~25g (spacers, est.)  | -135g

I don't have a way of measuring the angle but it looks about right, I guess.

I have the same bars on my Hygge bike. I had no problems routing the 4 cables (brakes and shifting) trough the handlebar.

Excellent! Maybe it's a matter of slight differences between bars, slightly different dimensions and I expect my fairly upright shifter position probably means there's a little less room for cables after they exit the bars (see pictures).

[joegal]

Looks great, thanks a lot for the helpful info and the measurements, raisinberry777! 

[kubackje]

Did 140km on the Kocevlo bars today and they felt great - shape of the bars is good, flats on the top feel very comfortable and basically no noticeable flex when I'm putting an effort in.

Yes, I'm talking about the white 'Kocevlo' sticker. I could mostly peel it off with my fingers and the residue came off easily with some acetone.

As for measurements, I have taken some very rough measurements just with a measuring tape by eye:

Code: [Select]

                      | Specs               | Actual                                                      | Difference
----------------------|---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-----------
Stem Length           | 100mm               | 110mm (+10mm longer)                                         | +10mm
Tops centre-to-centre | 380mm               | 380mm (right on)                                             | 0mm
Drops centre-to-centre| 400mm               | 405mm (+5mm wider)                                           | +5mm
Reach                 | 77mm                | 70mm (-7mm) - measuring accuracy uncertain                   | -7mm
Drop                  | 127mm               | 130mm (+3mm) - close enough, could be measuring error        | +3mm
Weight                | 520g±20g (full pkg?)| 330g (bar/stem) + 30g (Garmin mount) + ~25g (spacers, est.)  | -135g

I don't have a way of measuring the angle but it looks about right, I guess.

Excellent! Maybe it's a matter of slight differences between bars, slightly different dimensions and I expect my fairly upright shifter position probably means there's a little less room for cables after they exit the bars (see pictures).

I have sp cycle integrated gravel handlebars and also noticed that 100mm stem looks more like 110mm.
I remember Patrick Lino having same observation on Chinese integrated cockpits in one of his movies.
So decided to make some measurements and imo the stem is 105 mm from center bar to center top cap. Maybe all those companies have some different measuring method for those flat aero bars.
I've only found one which actually got the measurements right and it's speeder with 95,105,115 etc. stem lengths. https://www.speedercycling.com/Carbon-Integrated-Road-Handlebars-SC-RH02-_p401.html

[TidyDinosaur]

I don't think you should measure to the center with aero bars. You place your hands more towards the back if you compare to a normal round bar. So maybe that's where the difference comes from.

[kubackje]

I don't think you should measure to the center with aero bars. You place your hands more towards the back if you compare to a normal round bar. So maybe that's where the difference comes from.

Maybe yes, but on another hand the centerbof the bar is where they measure the reach from. At least this is how it matches on my bars

[Wet Noodle]

Maybe yes, but on another hand the centerbof the bar is where they measure the reach from. At least this is how it matches on my bars

Stem length is measured neither parallel to the ground (which would be useful, but can't be done) nor orthogonal to the fork shaft (which would be easy-peasy and also give a usable dimension). In actuality, stem length is a slightly arbitrary number, measured along a supposed center line of the stem tube which usually doesn't go through the middle of the shaft camp (and also: where every manufacturer does what they want). Fcukign standardise the world already, damnit.

[jonathanf2]

Has anyone tried this ZTTO MTB/gravel cassette? It seems to follow the same one piece construction of the other ULT ZTTO/SRoad/Spedao cassettes. This one is also all-steel except for the last big cog which is alloy.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805425025976.html

[kubackje]

Has anyone tried this ZTTO MTB/gravel cassette? It seems to follow the same one piece construction of the other ULT ZTTO/SRoad/Spedao cassettes. This one is also all-steel except for the last big cog which is alloy.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805425025976.html

Haven't used it myself. But my friend has 3600km on a 11-50 with a mullet gravel bike and all is good.

[kbernstein]

Received the massive cheap haul that made me question whether I had become a consumerist degenerate, consisting of 3 TPU tubes, 2 computer mounts, a pair of brake pads, 2 bottle cages and the pair of glasses (18€ total) that were discussed above, that I want to address in particular:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005772853506.html?spm=a2g0o.order_detail.order_detail_item.16.2f41f19c23LxP4

They are not worth it. They look great but they are very cheaply made, the glass is a little loose, the branch hinges rattle, the lens is very dark and there is still a gap where wind and bugs can fly under.

[jonathanf2]

I haven't seen these before. Lexon carbon crankset with carbon+alloy 52-36t chainring:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805958130082.html

[raisinberry777]

Looks like they're using a proprietary chainring spider? Any high-end crank is immediately a no-go for me if it can't be used with a power meter.

Interestingly, it seems to use a similar spider locking mechanism to the Magene PES crank. However, the P505 Base power meter from the Magene PES crank isn't sold separately.