New frame: Longteng RD301-D

[Joey]

Frame s cheap and I trust long teng. If you want 40C, sounds like a solid choice. If you want something fancier, but with 35C clearance only, the Gran Turismo frame by Peter should be a good choice, but it costs more, and for shit roads, the 301 would probably be just fine.
Aren't too many road bikes with these clearances and fairly high stacks yet.
When I upgrade, I'll probably go 35C. I'm yet to see a road bike that looks fast with a wider clearance than that. That Gran Turismo frame looks mint, I plan to build one for a friend in the fall.

The Grand Turismo frame definitely looks good, but its a bit out of my price range and I dont think I need the slacker geometry. Just looking for a slightly more compliant ride on broken pavement - Comming from a race-ish geometry alloy bike. 

Im honestly really in between so many bikes like the VB or LT 268, tantan or LT 301, or even some of the newer Tantan models like the TT-X65. Aesthetically I like the tantan x65 the most, but I havent seen anyone experiment with it yet. Maybe ill see if they'll discount me a bit if I pick up both the tantan x65 and 301 then resell the one that rides worse .

@Serge_K would you be willing to share some photos of your 268 tire clearance with your 32c and 34c in the 268 thread? Any chance you could fit 35c?

[kwantani]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Looks like we've few common setup compared to my RD301d...
-same 3d saddle (ryet)
-same crankset (Riro)
-same 105 groupsets, 12s.
-for tires, I used GoodYear F1 32mm.
-similar weight.

Do you've any issues on your downtube storage cover? e.g. not secured enough, easily falling off with slight bumps?

or

Need to add spacer/shim on the headset to avoid the headset plastic spacer rubbing the top part of the headtube? End up having the LBS fixed my headset by adding the shim to fixed the stiff steering/rubbing problem.

So far been riding on paved road. You've inspired me to take it to the gravels. I might throw in a pair of 700x35 cyclo-cross tires to see how it rides on gravel side. Might even fly it to Italy for Strada Bianche!!!

Just finished building my FM301 — and I'm loving it so far!

I finally completed the build of my FM301 frame, which I ordered from Tantan. The delivery took a bit longer than expected, mostly due to Chinese New Year and a delay getting the fork in the correct matte black finish. But it all worked out in the end.

Build details:

    Frame: Tantan FM301

    Wheels: 50mm carbon wheels with carbon spokes and ceramic bearings from Xiamen Carbon Speed (via Peter on the forum)

    Groupset: Shimano 105 shifters and brakes

    Crankset: Riro carbon, 165mm

    Weight is 8.05kg with th 40mm tires, bottle cages, Garmin mount and pedals. So ride configuration.

I started with 30mm Continental GP4000s, which measured about 33mm on the 26mm internal width rims. For my first gravel race, I borrowed a set of 40mm tires from a friend (actual width at the knobs was 40mm). I've now ordered a pair of Hutchinson Caracal Race 40mm semi-slicks for all-around use. I mostly ride endurance routes and have a lot of easy gravel around here, so they should be a good fit.

A few build notes:

    There’s a small gap at the headset, but nothing that bothers me.

    I went with a SRAM bottom bracket based on a forum tip, but it was very tight fitting the Riro crankset — I ended up using a rubber mallet.

    Internal cable routing was easier than expected for a first-time build. I found a great YouTube guide that used a brake cable to route through the bars — worked like a charm.

    I opted for a different cockpit setup than the standard one from Tantan to get flared bars. Switching it out was no problem when I asked during the order.

I raced it for the first time in a gravel event — came 4th and was absolutely stoked!

[Serge_K]

The Grand Turismo frame definitely looks good, but its a bit out of my price range and I dont think I need the slacker geometry. Just looking for a slightly more compliant ride on broken pavement - Comming from a race-ish geometry alloy bike. 

Im honestly really in between so many bikes like the VB or LT 268, tantan or LT 301, or even some of the newer Tantan models like the TT-X65. Aesthetically I like the tantan x65 the most, but I havent seen anyone experiment with it yet. Maybe ill see if they'll discount me a bit if I pick up both the tantan x65 and 301 then resell the one that rides worse .

@Serge_K would you be willing to share some photos of your 268 tire clearance with your 32c and 34c in the 268 thread? Any chance you could fit 35c?

Man, that X65 does look gangster
Tantan is extremely shady though, that'd be my concern. It's a key reason why i never ordered from them, because their name keeps popping up as a less than trustworthy seller, and the SL8 thread is only making things worse.
But that frame does look gangster... Given tube shapes, it might ride like a dog.
And "Material: Full Toray T1000": that's 100%, guaranteed, a lie. So that adds to my uneasiness around tantan.

The 301 and 268 are very different. The 268 is quite old, now, and the 301 clears 38C, which very few bikes clear, and frankly, still scares me. 35C, yes. But 38C still sounds scary, & that downtube looks ginormous. Meanwhile, my 268 feels like a weapon on flat roads, and my downtube is very much tear dropped.
You can ask Alisa for the CAD screenshots of clearance on the frame and fork on the 268, i remember she sent them to me right away. That way you could precisely measure how much clearance there is. I cant find my vernier calipers. There's about 8mm clearance around my rear tyre (measures 33-34mm, from memory), and about 10mm around the front one (measures c.30mm, from memory). A 35mm tyre would quite clearly fit, but wheels do flex, so... I wonder how much clearance is enough clearance due to that.
If someone wants to send me good 35mm tyres, i'll happily ride them and report

I think my advice would be, if you re mainly solving for bad roads, get a 301 and 38C or 40mm tyres, as someone confirmed 40mm clears, don't stop at 35C.

[Alexander]

Short update.

I received the Hutchinson Caracal Race tyres (40mm) and did a 125k endurance ride with a couple of friends.
Those tires are super fast! I had no issue keeping up with my friends on 28mm GP 5000s.
Clearance is getting tight with maybe 3mm on each side. The small ”whiskers” that sits on new tires actually hit the frame.

Conclusion is that I think I found my allroad bike and tire set up.

@kwantani

No issues with the down tube storage. I run tiny 12g bottle holders and use metal insulated bottles for the long ride now. The filled bottle is like 1kg and no issues whatsoever.


For the headset I have the opposite issue. There is a gap between the frame and plastic cover. I think something is mounted incorrectly since I have some play in the top of the headset. Most likely me doing something incorrectly. I need to check that.