Seraph Bikes Superlight 836g X68 - Alternative to SL8 Fakes?

[Serge_K]

"Road the TT-X68 today for the first time. Added a ride and ended up with a Century Day. It definitely is better than my Tarmac SL7 in every way."

Some real world feedback from a friend of mine. I'll be seeing this in person in a few weeks.

That's crazy. Very exciting. Looking fwd to hearing more. Spesh epitomizes the concept of secret sauce layup and the whole "ride a tarmac and you'll never want to ride anything else" vibe. And then this
Sander2177's ride review will also be super interesting.

[planet_sammy]

"new bike days" often seem like a century day at first, but direct comparisons in wattage give the precise information 

[rwtbne]

Would be interesting to see a comparison between X68 and X70

[Sander2177]

A

That's crazy. Very exciting. Looking fwd to hearing more. Spesh epitomizes the concept of secret sauce layup and the whole "ride a tarmac and you'll never want to ride anything else" vibe. And then this
Sander2177's ride review will also be super interesting.

If i ever get the time to build the bloody thing! .
I will try and get it built this week hopefully!

Like I have said before the Venge was a harsh ride probably great for a crits but not for the long rides I am used to doing and the great British roads don't help!
The SL8 only just beats the SL7, and that for me was only on comfort nothing more.
Hopefully I can do a decent review like Patrick!
But ceratinly intrested in what Patrick has to say

[EddytheEagle]

Update-Post:

Payed: 25th of April vía Alibaba
QC-pictures: 19th of May
Delivery: 19th of may DPD to Germany

16 working days!!!

Let’s see how fast DPD will be!

Quite happy with the paint job, can’t wait to put my fingers on it!!!
I do not regret the decision of changing from Taiwan Peter to TanTan.
Moreover I’m considering to avoid putting decals on it if I need to be honest.

[planet_sammy]

Update-Post:

Payed: 25th of April vía Alibaba
QC-pictures: 19th of May
Delivery: 19th of may DPD to Germany

16 working days!!!

Let’s see how fast DPD will be!

Quite happy with the paint job, can’t wait to put my fingers on it!!!
I do not regret the decision of changing from Taiwan Peter to TanTan.
Moreover I’m considering to avoid putting decals on it if I need to be honest.

Is that the pearl white matte color?

That looks even better than glossy !!!

[EddytheEagle]

Is that the pearl white matte color?

That looks even better than glossy !!!

It’s the color code below:

YS-775-1 MATT

Unfortunately TanTan has no experience in painting the Satin Fog Tint with red ghost pearl so I looked into their colour catalog and that was the most similar in my opinion. Moreover I even prefer that colour than the original one. This was the reference that convinced me (find attached)

[MTB-Addicted]

It would interesting to know the weight of the fork, if you could.
I bought mine from Taiwan Eisen and the fork weight just 321gr, uncut...
I tested frame and fork on light/medium gravel roads and it is all OK but I weight just 65kg.
I am considering to buy a new fork from Tan Tan if it is effectively a "reinforced" version.
Thank you.

[Sander2177]

It would interesting to know the weight of the fork, if you could.
I bought mine from Taiwan Eisen and the fork weight just 321gr, uncut...
I tested frame and fork on light/medium gravel roads and it is all OK but I weight just 65kg.
I am considering to buy a new fork from Tan Tan if it is effectively a "reinforced" version.
Thank you.

Well if it helps for my frame last week 54cm
Pictured is my
Genuine SL8 fork 375grams uncut.
Tan Tan uncut was 399grams and cut was 370grams

[Jouke]

Well if it helps for my frame last week 54cm
Pictured is my
Genuine SL8 fork 375grams uncut.
Tan Tan uncut was 399grams and cut was 370grams

so it seems like they reinforced the front forks after the breakage? Would be interesting to know. Did you mention the breaking Fork to them?

[Tines]

Do you really think they change manufacturing that quickly?

Especially since people are discussing the possibility the frames aren’t even made in house.

[Sander2177]

so it seems like they reinforced the front forks after the breakage? Would be interesting to know. Did you mention the breaking Fork to them?

My bike was completed before the post on this forum about the fork issue, so I’m wondering — have there been any other reports? Is my fork a newer version? The truth is, we’ll probably never know, although it is significantly  heavier than everyone else's so makes you wonder!

I did ask mention the fork failure and was told:

'The front fork failure is an exception. The fork is broken so badly, it must be man-made, and definitely not a product quality problem.'

So who do you believe — Core or Tan Tan?
Most people would probably side with Core, since they have nothing to gain by lying.
On the other hand, Tan Tan is unlikely to admit liability, as it could hurt their sales — and as far as we know, this is the only incident of its kind."

Always lots of speculation unless Core gets the fork inspected and publish the results.

Like some of the more knowledge forum members have said it looks like a lack of resin

[glepore]

The spec is 321 plus or minus 40g. That's a pretty wide spec. So 321 is on the lower edge, and 388 above. I doubt very much there has been any running change, and I doubt that the weight of the fork has much to do with the failure shown here. The failure shown here certainly appears to be a lack of bonding in the fracture area, but that doesn't mean they skimped on something, it more likely is that the prepreg wasn't correct or was contaminated.
I doubt there's any actual dry fiber and liquid resin used in any part of these frames, its prepreg and heat. Prepreg needs to be kept clean and cold and cured at precise times and temps, but its unlikely that it was "missing" enough resin to change the weight.

[pandinoyoung]

I doubt there's any actual dry fiber and liquid resin used in any part of these frames, its prepreg and heat. Prepreg needs to be kept clean and cold and cured at precise times and temps, but its unlikely that it was "missing" enough resin to change the weight.

Exactly

[dovh]

I did a race this Saturday, and there were many fast descents over 70km/h, with heavy braking at the bottom to a sharp left.
There was also a gravel section with rough terrain and a descent there where I was going over 50km/h. The frame and fork survived, and everything is ok. I'm 191cm and I weigh 101-2kg with all the gels on me, it was closer to 102kg i'd say 

I hope that this was a good stress test for my frame. I was like, if it goes, at least it is at the place where the ambulance is relatively close by (joke not joke ). Also, to put the hat on my stupidity, I rode that with my cracked seat post, which held up fine too

This is how the bike looked after