A few folks have reached out to me to see if I could pass on a lower price on this frame. Just order directly from Carbonda please.

I settled on a price with Adam at Carbonda for one-off sales. It's just $30-$50 lower than what they are quoting other people, and just $20-$30 higher than their bulk price. It's surprising to me there is so little room for negotiation in their prices, which are fairly high to begin with. Hopefully that means this is quality stuff.

The frame is in stock and ready to ship, so it should be fairly quick.

Anyone pulling the trigger will want to do so soon, before the Chinese holiday season arrives (that includes shipping time, as shipping is delayed over holidays too).

Quote from: C_frame on March 20, 2019, 10:55:45 PM

Tantan have a new aero disc model TT-X16, anyone have experience with this frames?

http://www.tantancycling.com/index.php?_m=mod_product&_a=view&p_id=670

my advice, as a tantan customer: it's better to look for other dealers. Their quality control is poor, and the customer service is not able to help you in solving frame issues.

That's interesting to hear. What were your specific issues?  If you had problems, I might be able to make it right as I have some leverage over there.

I've worked with them for upwards of 2 years, sold a load of frames/wheelsets, and only had a handful of warranty issues, all of which were resolved promptly. There is the occasional delay or holiday frustration, but that's the exception not the rule. Of the many factories I've worked with, they have the best record.

Thanks Medico and numberzero for your insights!

Here's what I just heard from Adam at Carbonda:
-----
Thanks for  your email.
Re. the NS bike rear triangle,we can not offer it for you as it's NS bike's mold.
If you wanna create a similar rear triangle mold,the cost details as bellow:
4000USD for rear triangle
3000USD for the link
 
And batch order price details as bellow:
Super light version:720USD
normal weight version:580USD
-----

I'm definitely not opening a rear triangle at these prices, I know of several places that will do it for under USD2500 total. Neither am I going to buy a super light version, that's just too little weight savings for too much money. T800 carbon isn't that much more expensive than T700 carbon, and the layup complexity is the same (albeit different). For example, other vendors charge +$75 for their T800 vs. T700 models.

I would like to believe NS bikes story, and it defintely sounds the best in terms of their brands' status and capabilities, but I have several doubts:
- Carbonda has full-time engineers that oversee all mold tooling design
- Carbonda subcontracts engineers to corporations to design new frames
- Smaller brands commonly open new rear triangles and linkages to throw on open mold frames, as a elatively cheap way of getting proprietary models

If I could speculate, I would consider it much more likely that NS Bikes pledged X number of sales to Carbonda on terms they opened a mold with Y geometry numbers according to a general aesthetic layout. In the eyes of NS marketing folks, that contribution may consitute "design". Then, because Carbonda was the company actually paying for the mold, they agreed to keep the front triangle proprietary and Carbonda went off on their own to publish it as an in-house option. I'm not just pulling this hypothesis out of the blue, this is the way a lot of agents try to cajole you into opening a new mold with them--you promise X sales, I'll promise mold tooling, and you get some proprietary parts and I get license to some parts.

Well so far my bike has evaded the crack issues, I had some issues with the hardware bending so I got Grade 5 bolts from the hardware store and ever since those went in the setup has been creak-free and strong as ever. I still have to keep an eye on one of the trunnion mount bolts as it can work it's way loose after a few long, really demanding rides. As long as these bolts are tight all seems to be ok. I rode this bike very hard, certainly as hard as anyone else on this thread, and again, no issues with cracks.

And, a plug, my build is up for sale. $3000 for the complete build or $1,000 for the frameset with the Fox Factory Trunnion shock. See MTBR for more details or my full review. Making way for the next project.

Hey super stoked to see your build!  Not a lot of folks have put this one together yet and nobody's done a ride analysis, so thanks for posting up!

Just checked my Strava and calculated that my GUB saddle has about 2200 miles on it. It's days are numbered though.  I wore through the cover a few rides ago and it's starting to unravel. No structural issues though, and I've had some hard butt bonks and crashes with the saddle.

I have an AliExpress saddle similar to the Specialized Power saddle on the way. I've had some issues with rubbing on my GUB saddle, so I hope this shape will fit me better.

The Pro-Mance Orbea Oiz frame is a no-go.  Just got this in my inbox overnight:

"Moreover, sorry to inform you that our PRO-M003 frame developing will be paused as our client change mind to stop this developing, so we won't promote and market this frame anymore."

Bummer. Was looking forward to getting this one.

I just asked about the Ransom.