Replica Factor Ostro VAM

[Phaxe]

This is part of a larger issue I have too. One of my close buddies here just recently open his own bike shop, and is now an auth dealer for Factor. He's hinted to me about working out a deal on pricing to help promote the shop. So I can't imagine the strain it would put our business relationship if:

- I bought a real Ostro from a competing dealer.
- Me parading around with a fake Ostro.

This all sounds like a threesome gone terribly wrong!

There's potentially a way around it, and that's to do what Serge_K did, and get a custom paint job which says 'Tractor'. Then you can do an apples and oranges comparison between the two and not piss off your friend.

[Serge_K]

There's potentially a way around it, and that's to do what Serge_K did, and get a custom paint job which says 'Tractor'. Then you can do an apples and oranges comparison between the two and not piss off your friend.

I got an open mould frame with black gloss paint, and I designed the logo myself, got it cut in fancy car vinyl by a chap I found locally, and applied the logo myself, making it fully reversible if and when I want to sell, or want to start trolling another brand.
But I agree that a solution would be to order a frame without a logo (ideally without a paint job that screams factor for plausible deniability), and then you'd be fine. Although from a video standpoint, you'd still be promoting a business making fakes and the fakes industry overall, so... Still a no no. I'm yet to find a single counterpart selling fakes that doesn't sound like a complete crook when you interact with him. The running argument is "don't worry just place your order", which is what any drug dealer would say.

[bmrk]

6. Legit groupset, wheels, and cockpit. All the vital contact points if you ask me...

Yeah, because the frame is just an accessory part of the bike.

[rhenders]

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.

What questions did you ask that he refused to answer?

[Serge_K]

What questions did you ask that he refused to answer?

I wrote a recap here
http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,5263.0.html

[estingo]

Quick update on the frame after +/- 500km in, even though it's blacklisted in another forum thread, I really enjoy riding it. It's quick, stable and also responsive and with the Elite Drive D65 wheels, I would say it's even comfortable. I'm combining riding outside with riding indoors on Zwift with the bike. Putting down the power is possible and I'm getting the hang of it.

I ride most of the time solo and I do not overtake or see a lot of other people on the course that I ride, in my garage are also no people judging me on the bike (that it's fake) so still I'm quite pleased and happy with it.

Maybe I need to go to Weight Weenies but I'm looking into shave down the weight of the bike a little. I know I could have chosen different wheels instead of the 65mm and could have gone for 40 or 45mm to save weight (maybe I will at some point), but I am interested in investigating the price per gram if it's worth it, with also considering the aero aspect of it. I still want to be in the sweet spot and not and not "pissing money into the wind" as how he called it on youtube Road.cc timestamp 4:20: In the Diminishing Gains graph, where he plots performance against price
And see in Spring next year if I can get at least 500 grams off by replacing parts some parts e.g.: other discs, tires, Axles, Saddle, Bar tape, Paddle Axles, some bolts, and maybe the radar light and tools that I bring with me every ride.

With the wheels alone will I save +/- 400 gr. if I would buy No. 6: 30mm or farsports Evo S 35mm these are around 1100 grams.

[BeR]

Thanks for the review.

Have you ever ridden a "true" high brand frame in order to compare with it ?

What was the seller ?

[estingo]

Update all. I have ridden my ostro vam for a few thousand miles now. It ride extremely well and it's stiff enough. The bottom bracket doesn't creak. I have it around 7.5-6kg with not really any weight weenie stuff.  Tubes do not flex when pressed. Considering changing to a Factor authentic handlebar, but that also costs a lot more than my frame. I have nothing but good to say. I had to get them to replace the fork since there excess paint for the front caliper and was preventing it from being mounted right but I ended up just using some washers and its okay. They sent my cousin a replacement fork and it got there within 4 days of us complaining. I'm 5,11/6' and 170 pounds. I put in some 12-1300 watts when I sprint and I feel super confident on it. Insane for a sub 2500 bike. I'm using a bunch of Ali parts including 11$ disc brakes, Wuzei 211g cassette, fake CeramicSpeed OSPW, bottlecages, bartape, might try some lightweight ali crankset since the one I have is pretty heavy.

It's great to hear that you are satisfied after a few thousand miles and that you are putting some serious power down. Nice! You could keep the price under 2500, which is also impressive, especially with the weight you achieved. Do you have a picture of the finished bike?
I'm also considering exchanging the handlebar for another one; I'm just not sure which one, curious if you would go for the original one. I'll probably do a proper bike fit before I buy any other handlebar to make sure I have the right size.

[jadenchinertown192]

I'll post a pic soon

[jadenchinertown192]

I've decided I'm going to weight weenie it, I want to get it under 7kg cuz why not. Currently 7.8kg with everything on it

What I'm currently thinking

Avian Canary- 240 grams. 100g savings, costs 190 and 40 for the adapter to Factor.

Overfast or similiar thru axles, should save me 60-80 grams. 200

Farsports 2025 evo S all rounder- should save close to 300-350, costs 1500. I think I can sell my current rovals for around 1000 bucks

Crankset- Riro crankset from Ali should save me another 100 grams

With that should be 7.1kg

Maybe lighter disc brakes, darimo post, ti bolts and a few other things if i'm feeling ambitious

[patto3]

Nice dude, I am keen to see some pics and hear more about the ride feel, quality and any issues you have had!

The lighter parts sound great. I haven't heard too much about the Riro crankset, although it is very light. It reminds me of the Cannondale SL crankset and chainrings.

[estingo]

I've decided I'm going to weight weenie it, I want to get it under 7kg cuz why not. Currently 7.8kg with everything on it

What I'm currently thinking
Avian Canary- 240 grams. 100g savings, costs 190 and 40 for the adapter to Factor.
Overfast or similiar thru axles, should save me 60-80 grams. 200
Farsports 2025 evo S all rounder- should save close to 300-350, costs 1500. I think I can sell my current rovals for around 1000 bucks
Crankset- Riro crankset from Ali should save me another 100 grams
With that should be 7.1kg

Maybe lighter disc brakes, darimo post, ti bolts and a few other things if i'm feeling ambitious

Cool, same as me, most of the things you planned to do I also have on my list.
The Overfast Thru Axles however I couldn't get my head around to spend 200 bucks for a weight saving of 34 gram, not sure how you get to shave off 60 to 80 grams there. My axles that came with the frame are together 64 grams and the overfast axles are together 30 grams. The titanium axles are also around the 240 dollar price point but a little heavier (40grams). What I did was checking for myself, what I think, what is still affordable grams to price ratio. So, in the end I bought the alu axles with dropout, which reduces it with 16 gram (from 64 grams to 48 grams) but costs (50 dollars) 1/4 of the carbon or titanium axles. But it's of course much cooler, lighter and nicer to have carbon or titanium ones.

Not sure what Crankset you have now but the Riro is light indeed (388 grams), I had on my list the Cybrei carbon Crank, which weights 320 grams instead of my Lexon carbon crank which is 387 grams (weighed myself including spider and bolts). but for the price of a Cybrei to save 55 grams, for 500 dollars.. I don't know you need to be really ambitious as you said, if will will be that kind of weight weenie.

Wheelset will definitely help, I also had those farsports in mind together with the No. 5's also worth looking at, and I think to logo of No. 5 looks cool with the Factor Logo IMO, it would be awesome if you could sell your Rovals than you don't lose a lot on the costs to replace those wheels.

For the disc brakes, I have now the Carbon Raceworks, but they were with 6 bolts because I read that was lighter than a center lock, however I bought the elite drive wheels and selected the 6 bolts option but instead of getting six bolt version I got an adapter for the 6 bolts that fit the center lock. So the "light" carbon raceworks are together with the adapter not so light anymore, and if I get some Galfer road wave discs of 160 mm that weigh the same as the raceworks I can replace the adapter just for the centerlock, which saves me 45 grams.

The last thing that I want to mention as you pointed out the Darima seatpost, I bought a replacement seatpost on AliExpress (https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006226516164.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.6dc379d2tMfyz5&gatewayAdapt=glo2nld which is 89 grams lighter (claimed weight 131 grams incl bolts) than the original (weighted at 220 including bolts) and costs less than a Darima (duh because it's from AliE). Maybe worth looking at.

Saddle is every rider's preference so I won't say anything about that. I got a Ryet carbon saddle width of 135mm, but that's so personal mine weighs in at 115 grams. The previous one was 163 grams.

Most bolts that I could chance with titanium didn't save me a lot, around 17 grams.

I hope it's helpful and let us know how much weight you saved in the end. With the mentioned changes above I saved +/- 400 grams (went from 7460 grams to 7050 grams) but with other tires and wheels that's around another 400 to 500 grams.

[rhenders]

Cool, same as me, most of the things you planned to do I also have on my list.
The Overfast Thru Axles however I couldn't get my head around to spend 200 bucks for a weight saving of 34 gram, not sure how you get to shave off 60 to 80 grams there. My axles that came with the frame are together 64 grams and the overfast axles are together 30 grams. The titanium axles are also around the 240 dollar price point but a little heavier (40grams). What I did was checking for myself, what I think, what is still affordable grams to price ratio. So, in the end I bought the alu axles with dropout, which reduces it with 16 gram (from 64 grams to 48 grams) but costs (50 dollars) 1/4 of the carbon or titanium axles. But it's of course much cooler, lighter and nicer to have carbon or titanium ones.

Not sure what Crankset you have now but the Riro is light indeed (388 grams), I had on my list the Cybrei carbon Crank, which weights 320 grams instead of my Lexon carbon crank which is 387 grams (weighed myself including spider and bolts). but for the price of a Cybrei to save 55 grams, for 500 dollars.. I don't know you need to be really ambitious as you said, if will will be that kind of weight weenie.

Wheelset will definitely help, I also had those farsports in mind together with the No. 5's also worth looking at, and I think to logo of No. 5 looks cool with the Factor Logo IMO, it would be awesome if you could sell your Rovals than you don't lose a lot on the costs to replace those wheels.

For the disc brakes, I have now the Carbon Raceworks, but they were with 6 bolts because I read that was lighter than a center lock, however I bought the elite drive wheels and selected the 6 bolts option but instead of getting six bolt version I got an adapter for the 6 bolts that fit the center lock. So the "light" carbon raceworks are together with the adapter not so light anymore, and if I get some Galfer road wave discs of 160 mm that weigh the same as the raceworks I can replace the adapter just for the centerlock, which saves me 45 grams.

The last thing that I want to mention as you pointed out the Darima seatpost, I bought a replacement seatpost on AliExpress (https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005006226516164.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.4.6dc379d2tMfyz5&gatewayAdapt=glo2nld which is 89 grams lighter (claimed weight 131 grams incl bolts) than the original (weighted at 220 including bolts) and costs less than a Darima (duh because it's from AliE). Maybe worth looking at.

Saddle is every rider's preference so I won't say anything about that. I got a Ryet carbon saddle width of 135mm, but that's so personal mine weighs in at 115 grams. The previous one was 163 grams.

Most bolts that I could chance with titanium didn't save me a lot, around 17 grams.

I hope it's helpful and let us know how much weight you saved in the end. With the mentioned changes above I saved +/- 400 grams (went from 7460 grams to 7050 grams) but with other tires and wheels that's around another 400 to 500 grams.

I certainly can't speak to the quality of that seatpost, but lighter and a two-bolt design instead of the heavier single-bolt original looks like a win-win.

[estingo]

Alright, that's a pitty, but at least you could lose some grams at the axles department   

Just a small question do you use the expansion plug that came with the frame or did you also bought an aftermarket? I have the d-plug expander elementi from Deda, but I destroyed the top cap screw, almost so I'm looking if I need to buy another one or if Deda has a bolt for me for sale.

[A.V.G]

To the Ostro owners, what size tire and wheel (IW/EW) are you using?  How is the tire clearance with this frame?  I assume it will take up to a 32mm tire, but I haven't seen this in the specs.

Thanks