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Re: Patty's Long Rant and Guide To Affordable Frames
Several years ago,  I had numerous conversations with manufacturers via Alibaba regarding Carbon rims.   From my perspective, carbon rim manufacturing in China is now a commodity product.  China has several holding companies that are dedicated to engineering,  designing and manufacturing the tooling and molds necessary to lay up and build carbon rims.  For a new company wanting to fabricate carbon rims, the barrier of entry is relatively low.  A new company can also contract with rim foundries that make rims and have their specified rims made for them.

YISHUNBIKE is one example of a company that specifically manufactures carbon rims for wholesalers. 
I believe that the majority of carbon rims sold in "Stores" in Aliexpress are selling rims fabricated in the rim foundries.

Regarding bicycle frames,  Manufacturing technology for carbon frames is still advancing.  Carbon frame manufacturing is a lot more complex than carbon rims.  Over time, there has been a convergence of manufacturing practices that is making it more efficient and easier to make carbon frame.   (Think open mold frames.)   
Optimizing frames for minimal weight, durability and cost is still very time consuming and expensive.  Most Chinese carbon frame manufacturers, higher end frames are in the 80% range for weight,durability and cost.   China tends to lag behind a couple years in the latest fabrication processes that the high end frame manufacturers utilize.
 

I would absolutely agree as many of the sellers on Ali are offering basically the same rim with slightly different build options.  Summer are definitely better than others though. Both in quality and service.

Does YISHUNBIKE do one offs to consumers at all?  The R1088 is a nice looking frame. 

https://www.yishunbike.com/product/r1088-daero-road/


January 26, 2024, 09:20:19 PM
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Re: Patty's Long Rant and Guide To Affordable Frames Takiyaki I agree with you on those points. In particular the average cyclist hasn't a clue to look at these options.  95% of people who buy a bike are looking to the big brands for a variety of reasons the biggest of which they just don't know enough and want a carry away product.

Personally I appreciate people who are early adopters and willing to share their experiences on here or YT so I'm not sure why the knock.

Lightbicycle, nextie, etc kind of opened the doors to these less expensive direct options. They make great products, but if I'm being frank, their prices are slowly rivaling some of the more mainstream brands and the value isn't what it used to be.  That's not bad or wrong. It's just what it is and I think likely what their business goal was in the first place. Can't fault them for wanting to make an actual profit on what they're doing. I still consider them every time I'm looking, but end up just buying a similar product for less on Ali. 

To each their own I guess. I have no issues with either side as it's just opinion.   

January 31, 2024, 10:21:00 AM
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Re: Ace Sprint carbon wheels on Aliexpress Just got another update on the 60/75 combo. All done. Shipping today.

Was hoping for slightly darker grey logos since I'm not huge on big bling, but these will look spinning! 

January 31, 2024, 10:03:51 PM
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Re: Ace Sprint carbon wheels on Aliexpress Wheels came in today!  First impression is WOW!  Finish and build is fantastic. I really wasn't expecting the logos to be of high quality but they are maybe some of the best I've seen on wheels. They are not busy stick on decals.   

Weight for 60/75 came in at 1320 gr.  That's in line with climbing wheels from a decade ago! 

Disc is 963gr with valve stem.

Shipping was about 8 days.  Shipped via FedEx to the USA.

Pictures below.   

I won't be able to report on ride for a while. It's winter here and roads are a mixed bag.

My only complaint would be that I was expecting the rear hub to be a star ratchet with ceramic bearings.  It's a 3 pawl hub with what look like standard steel bearings. This isn't the end of the world but different than what was communicated.   

February 07, 2024, 04:32:31 PM
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Re: Ace Sprint carbon wheels on Aliexpress Quick update on these. Had a chance to go for a short spin on these.  They're quick!  Definitely can feel the roughly 1 lb less weight than my prior set on getting them up to speed. There were some very small spoke adjustments I made to get the trueness perfect. These, and I'm sure most carbon spoke wheels, require a 5.5mm hex socket wrench from the rim side to adjust spoke nipples. Took me a bit to figure that out.  I like the design, but it does require retaping to adjust spokes.

I'll have to report back after some longer term use but initial rides were positive.

February 21, 2024, 07:31:36 PM
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Re: Triathlon Frame help? Honestly, if you live in the UK check Facebook marketplace triathlon buy sell groups. There are some really good builds on there for great prices. I'm not sure a open mold will be nearly as good.
February 21, 2024, 07:34:10 PM
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