Replica Factor Ostro VAM

[Serge_K]

"spent a lot of time shitting on the whole industry", not sure if he's referring to the entire bike industry or the fake frame syndicate in china. but seems like the same dude i've dealt with, basically saying his stuffs albeit more expensive than other fakes, is much better.

Yeah and all his arguments are 100% empty, baseless statements and promises.
It's like a crack user doing tricks on skid row telling you he could be Elon Musk or some retarded $hit like this.
You willingly bought from a guy like this? Why? He literally answered none of my questions convincingly. Not one.

[BeR]

Fwiw, i had a really, really bad experience with First-Class Carbon Fiber Store, the store that made that pretty white factor.
Over the years, i've dealt with a lot of chinese sellers. This one is sketchy AF.
I was considering buying an unbranded frame (to then add my Tractor logo on top myself with vinyl) because I was curious to get a product with such a high finish, and to compare it to my LT268 that costs a fraction of the price, so i started asking questions.
I asked a lot of questions to which i already knew the answer to, and nothing made sense. The guy spent a lot of time shitting on the whole industry, with only him being reputable and knowing what he's doing. He pushed back on every technical question i asked with something along the lines of "trust me bro".
Basically all his answers were red flags.

My 5 cents: stay the F away. I wish i could block sellers / shops on AliX in order to never see their products again in my feed & search results. Would be a great feature to have.

You should make a list with good/bad sellers for us .

[Tsunami]

Yeah and all his arguments are 100% empty, baseless statements and promises.
It's like a crack user doing tricks on skid row telling you he could be Elon Musk or some retarded $hit like this.
You willingly bought from a guy like this? Why? He literally answered none of my questions convincingly. Not one.

I can relate.
Answers are unprecise, not to the point and the crappy google translate wont help either.
Even I asked him like a lot of times and explaining, he was not able to make clear if or if not his shipping includes taxes and how much shipping is to Europe. Hm.

[Serge_K]

You should make a list with good/bad sellers for us .

Well from 1st hand experience alone, and this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but I've never had problems with Far Sports, Peter (Xiamen Carbon Speed), and Long Teng. I think Chris from Velobuild is also doing a pretty good job given I suspect they track everything by hand with an excel if not a notebook (given their scale they could use an ERP). I wouldn't buy a frame from Airwolf but i'm very happy with their cockpits (allegedly T1000), which you can find on Aliexpres (on that, a friend just broke one, but he crashed at high speed because of a cat (i love that story, i dont like cats), so i dont think that means they're bad, just that well, if you crash, you can break stuff - earlier in the year he crashed in a descent and broke his front wheel).

If you can avoid it, dont buy stuff from Racework. I have mixed feelings about Winow. And definitely, definitely don't give your money to First-Class Carbon Fiber Store...

[OralMaster]

Yeah and all his arguments are 100% empty, baseless statements and promises.
It's like a crack user doing tricks on skid row telling you he could be Elon Musk or some retarded $hit like this.
You willingly bought from a guy like this? Why? He literally answered none of my questions convincingly. Not one.

i wasn't very bike savvy then (still not very savvy now), how he marketed on the chinese platforms has already satisfied my needs/wants (basically a knockoff factor frame for 1/5 of the price that looks at good and could not be differentiated by the naked eye. I apologize for the inconvenience caused here, i did feedback to him that my frameset was very well received and he should focus more on aliexpress, he didn't took it well though.


but i recently placed a deposit for another "one bike to rule them all" frameset with darimo nexum drag handlebars and darimo seatpost (fake obviously) . call me a sucker i guess.

[OralMaster]

In the end, I ordered the Elite Drive 65D wheels. so they will arrive within 20-30 days.
Also, I installed the Rear derailleur and bottom bracket, the Brake calipers, and brake hoses through the frame, and steering wheel. I added the Wheeltop shifters to the steering wheel and connected the cables. Cut in the end 20 gram from the tube from the front fork to fit. The Deda compression plug looks nice and sturdy on the steering handle as well.

The correct chainring with 52t arrived, but I don't have the correct chainring bolts yet for a 1x setup, ordered them. Same for the 8mm open-end wrench, I have it but I want to strengthen them with the right amount of force so I bought an adapter for my torque wrench, to have the brake hoses tighten with the oil pressure screws with a torque of 10-12 Nm.

I checked the pictures of Oralmaster's frame and compared it to mine, however, I can only see the thread of the bottom bracket from him and compared to mine not really the inner layers. That it doesn't look good, is of course not what I would like to hear but maybe you can explain and educate us a bit like BeR also said in the comment, I also would like to know at what are you looking to compare to make such an comment.
On your question, There are different sellers for this frame and I think he has the one with the more expensive frame, his parts look also different then mine (he has more quality I think, that why I replaced them for better stuff), seatpost wedge, compression plug, headset bearings.

did the frame came with the transition spacer and seat post cover shown in your photos? I had to look elsewhere for the original parts as mine didn't come with the seat post cover and the spacers set they gave was crap

[Serge_K]

i wasn't very bike savvy then (still not very savvy now), how he marketed on the chinese platforms has already satisfied my needs/wants (basically a knockoff factor frame for 1/5 of the price that looks at good and could not be differentiated by the naked eye. I apologize for the inconvenience caused here, i did feedback to him that my frameset was very well received and he should focus more on aliexpress, he didn't took it well though.


but i recently placed a deposit for another "one bike to rule them all" frameset with darimo nexum drag handlebars and darimo seatpost (fake obviously) . call me a sucker i guess.

You do you. We have different imperatives, and i can definitely understand that you took comfort from using the chinese platform, i could see how you'd feel "closer" to the action that way.
Did you get the chance to take pics of the inside of YOUR frame? The guy boasted so much that he doesn't leave a single spec of dust in the frames that HE makes, i'm curious to see inside yours, rather than the photos he posted on aliexpress.

Where are you getting your SL8 / SLfake from? And how was the communication with the seller?

Idk how much you weigh, but i'd be careful with ultralight fake parts (darimo cockpit). If you hit a pothole and break the cockpit, you'll never know if an OEM / branded cockpit would have survived the hit, but you will have a bad day.

[OralMaster]

You do you. We have different imperatives, and i can definitely understand that you took comfort from using the chinese platform, i could see how you'd feel "closer" to the action that way.
Did you get the chance to take pics of the inside of YOUR frame? The guy boasted so much that he doesn't leave a single spec of dust in the frames that HE makes, i'm curious to see inside yours, rather than the photos he posted on aliexpress.

Where are you getting your SL8 / SLfake from? And how was the communication with the seller?

Idk how much you weigh, but i'd be careful with ultralight fake parts (darimo cockpit). If you hit a pothole and break the cockpit, you'll never know if an OEM / branded cockpit would have survived the hit, but you will have a bad day.

i didn't took pictures of the internal prior to building up, i did post the photos of my frame internals that the seller took for me, you've used it for comparison, that was from my frame. Honestly I am also skeptical that the darimo clone will come up sub 300g as the real thing. But if he doesn't back out and give me a roval rapide cockpit instead, i will gladly share the photos with you. 50-60 working days, i reckon it will be longer.

on the topic of SLfake, I did help a friend build one from taiwan eisen bike store recently, a size 56 frame came up @ 900g exact. don't ask me about the internals, it's crap, i pricked my finger while fingering the bottom bracket.

[estingo]

did the frame came with the transition spacer and seat post cover shown in your photos? I had to look elsewhere for the original parts as mine didn't come with the seat post cover and the spacers set they gave was crap

I received a seatpost cover with it and two sets of clamps for the seatpost. Probably those are the ones you call transition spacers. I considered to buy them original but when I saw they were the same material (Alu) did I kept them, they feel good and snug. I also considered the same seat post wedge as you, but I read that the Alu one has more hold with carbon past than the "plastic" one (the red one), which is lighter.
The spacers for the head set did I replaced for carbon ones, which I could have bought from your notorious seller but I bought them for much more (unfortunately) original from carbon.

[estingo]

Alright, I have finished the build with some hick-ups but nothing major.
- A brake disc that is not truly straight, when these AliExpress things don't work I but better ones, like the Galfer ones.
- The screw for the seat post wedge was destroyed, so had to put a temporary other one, correct one is coming.
- The Elite Drive wheels are the D65 and I ordered the 6 bolts, but I didn't read the FAQ good enough so it came with an adapter and I thought it was designed for 6 bolts, now it's center lock with an adapter.
- The Lexon Crankset was too tight and didn't run smoothly and freely so I had to get the spacers and pre-load ring out and it worked, without any play on the spindle or crankarms. Posted this in the Lexon crankset thread.
- I had the el cheapo brake hoses from Wheeltop which I replaced with Magura Kevlar brake hoses, with no problem, and everything went smoothly through the frame and handlebar.

It's 7.3 kg in the picture, with a 1x setup so no front derailleur of 206 grams and an extra chain ring, including Speedplay paddles.
It is without the computer, sensors & computer holder, bottle cages, and bar tape, radar light and mount, then it will be around 7,5 kg.

[Serge_K]

It's 7.3 kg in the picture, with a 1x setup so no front derailleur of 206 grams and an extra chain ring, including Speedplay paddles.

Bling! nice! which seller did you buy from? Did you take pictures of the inside of the frame? How much did you spend and what spec did you get in terms of grade of carbon? Did you weigh the frame and other bits?
The wheel logos kind of imply you're riding a fake, but you do you!

[estingo]

Bling! nice! which seller did you buy from? Did you take pictures of the inside of the frame? How much did you spend and what spec did you get in terms of grade of carbon? Did you weigh the frame and other bits?
The wheel logos kind of imply you're riding a fake, but you do you!

Hi Serge_K,

It was a bit of copy and past through these last few pages (from page 2 to 5 in this thread), but here are some of the answers on the questions you asked a few weeks before as well:
Which seller: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4449.msg63172.html#msg63172

I took in the beginning no pictures inside the frame afterward I did, and you compared my pictures (https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4449.msg64383.html#msg64383) with the ones from Oralmaster his frame. You mentioned if you could choose one or the other you wouldn't prefer mine but the one from Oral master, you can read it here: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4449.msg64725.html#msg64725

Yes I did weight the bits from the frame, which ones you want to know, I weighted everything, from the innertube foam, to the seatpost wedge, from the speed sensor to the bolts of the bottle cage. let me know which specific part you are looking for. However my calculated weight was 7.205 kg an my scale wasn't that precise because I first measured my self and then the bike and it came at 7.3kg

How much did you spend and weight: see added picture

Grade of Carbon T1000 UD, did I answered here on page 2 to you: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4449.msg63172.html#msg63172

The wheel logos indicate that these are Drive wheels from Elite Wheels, yes it's fake. I explained it here: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4449.msg63865.html#msg63865
In the end you have people that like it and you have people that hate it. Ar26 said even:

No sympathy for the people who make fakes and who fuel this industry. As an artistic creator, I would not like someone to copy my works and make the same signature as mine and also sell them under my name. Let these people get inspired and develop their own designs, why not. Not to mention that I find it corny. What would you say if someone took your appearance and moved into your bed?

And I responded with this:

What an analogy, but I get where you are coming from. For your information I'm not selling this bike as a real one, nor do I try to sleep with someone else to take that identity. See it as a cheap kit car on a Pontiac Fiero base. If you copy a Lamborghini with a kit on the base of a Pontiac Fiero, it won't drive like a Lambo, it won't sound like a Lambo, it just looks like it.

I believe that this fake Factor also won't drive like a real Factor, I'll get Elite Drive wheels, probably the Black Inc wheels are much better, the stiffness in the frame and handlebars will be much less than the original. The original has every where Ceramicspeed bearings, I don't. At a kit car it's quite obvious for the trained eye, I think it will also be obvious for the factor that it's a replica (for the trained eye).
And at this point I can't get rid of the stickers anymore, sorry.

Anyway I don't want to start the debate of good or bad with the fake replica's.

I hope I answered the your questions, it was a bit of a search to be honest, but there you go.

[Serge_K]

Hahaha I have the memory of a fish.
Very helpful excel with costs and weights.
Thank you!

[estingo]

No problem, I had fun composing it

And yeah, the spreadsheet was to keep track of the costs and the weight, good to hear that it was helpful.

[patliean1]

Local buddy of mine. Cat 1 racer. I've him seen race against some of the best pro teams in the country during our locally held events. He's strong as heck.

So I've been admiring his Factor Ostro all summer, as I'm considering buying one to test against my SL8, only for him to confess this morning at the coffee shop that his frame is....fake.

Not a failed QC Ostro but an unauthorized copy. Here's what he told me:

1. Can't remember the full name, but he bought it from a place called Taiwan Carbon...something. $1000 USD
2. His frame is about 300g heavier than the real version.
3. The supplied hardware isn't an exact fit. It required some facing and sanding.
4. He swapped the fake Black Inc cockpit for a real version. He said the fake was too flexy.
5. The carbon layup isn't as tidy as the real version.
6. Legit groupset, wheels, and cockpit. All the vital contact points if you ask me...

I would get roasted if I reviewed a fake Ostro, but call me very intrigued. To me the extra frame weight is simply an insurance policy to withstand the daily abuse of riding. Makes sense to me. Buying an 800g fake anything sounds like trouble...

When I picked up the bike to inspect it indeed felt pretty heavy. But I've also held up a real Ostro (the 2024 version) and that's also heavy even with a full Sram Red groupset. However, the fake felt very solid and study. He said it has served him very well this race season.