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Re: Flared (aero) handlebar: What width in comparison to regular handlebar? I think it depends on what you are going for. If this is going on a bike where you ride mostly in the hoods but want more ability to keep the front wheel where you want when descending, i would match the hood width and go wider down below. If you want a more aero postilion on the flats without changing your descending, go with the width the same half way between the end of the drop and the hoods; right where you put your hands when covering the brakes.

I personally run a moderate flare Vision road bar on the gravel bike (41cm C-C at the drops and 39cm C-C at the hoods, labeled as a 40cm) as I didnt want a big difference between the drops and the hoods.

On the road I run an Enve SES Aero which is 35cm C-C at the hoods and 40cm C-C in the drops. They were the narrowest aero bars I could find 2 years ago and are the best bars I have ever used in the aero hoods position. They are comfortable and with a little work they definitely helped me get a much faster aero position. They do not negatively affect my ability to climb or sprint.

Today, Speeder has a bar with similar dimensions to the Enve bar, but I would love to go even narrower with a 33cm hoods / 38cm drops bar.
October 10, 2023, 10:57:44 PM 		1
Re: Current Wheelset Offerings for Climbing This the the Alibaba shop for Yuan An: https://xmcarbon.en.alibaba.com/index.html. It has some prices listed which could be useful as a reference.

Direct Link to the GRO2 wheels, I mentioned earlier: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/GRO-2-NEW-Forged-Pattern-Gravel_1600449606803.html. I would also go for the the Wing 20 spoke option.

Unless you already have a trading account on Alibaba, I would go through kubackjeees contact, sounds like you can get a better discount and probably better service.
October 11, 2023, 01:32:38 PM 		1
Niu Ju Computer Mounts Hey all, I wanted to share a product I recently purchased. I have heard of these mounts and that they had potentially been whitelabeled under a different brand. It took a lot of searching to find these, and I ended up at the TorqueNiuJu Bike store on Taobao, a place i had heard mentioned on other forum. I dont know if thats true that others resell these mounts.

I cant yet vouch for the durability of the mount, but i don’t foresee any issues. What I can say is that these mounts are very, very impressive in terms of the machining. Not quite K Edge quality, as looking really carefully I found a spot where the CNC was either stopped to cool down of was repositioned before the pass was complete, but its a minor thing.

They are not cheap (~$25 or 188 RMB + International shipping if you arent in China) and can only be found on Taobao. However, for the quality of the machining these are a very good value.

I went through the trouble of purchasing it directly and using Taobao’s international shipping service, but using a forwarder like Superbuy is probably the way to go for most people, though I have never used that specific service.

Keep in mind these are stem specific. The one I bought is 24mm spacing to fit the Kalloy Uno. Its the Giant Type A option.

Gallery is here: https://imgur.com/a/5CcmhiS

Taobao link: https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z09.2.0.0.317b2e8dWThZ1S&id=610261725473&_u=d20gcba5cefa0e

Hope this is useful for someone!
October 12, 2023, 10:30:25 PM 		4
Re: Best and worst overall quality/value components/tools/gear from AliExpress? These are my two best:

Kalloy Uno Ultralight 7050AL Stems: $17.50 https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255799842115476.html
These are very light and generally a quality component. Barely heavier than the Darimo AL stems and less than 1/10th the price.

Ridenow TPU Tubes: $6-$8 each for the 24g versions: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805247862356.html
Light and good quality TPU tube. They make a lighter version, but I have yet to try them.

Worst:
Any pulley wheels or ospw stuff. Total junk bearings. Most use the 689 size. If you want to play with fancy bearings in your RD, look for people reselling Kogel ones that they picked up for free during their sales.
October 13, 2023, 03:43:49 PM 		4
Re: Yishun R086-D Aero Road
Quote from: Sebastian on October 13, 2023, 11:25:57 PM
I can recommend the 70mm long version from Deda Elementi. Not available in the US though, IIRC.

Also, it’s not only about having support against the clamping force of the stem. Most shorter expanders provide this as well as the stem obviously sits on top of the steerer and has a stack height of max 40mm. It’s also about providing stability against the bending forces that occur when going over bumps or pulling on the bars. Ideally, if your frame is the correct size and you’re not using a humongous tower of spacers underneath the stem, the expander will protrude all the way or almost until the upper headset bearing. This provides maximum stability.

This for instance is also why Specialized provided super long expanders in their Tarmac SL7 recall. The steerer movement under load meant that the compression ring of the upper headset ate into the carbon steerer until it snapped. The new expander limits this. In my opinion this issue is not isolated to the Tarmac SL7. It’s a problem of internal cable routing designs per se.

The end result is correct, a longer plug is helpful. The reason why isn't correct. It's sort of off topic, but it's worth thinking about in the name of safety of internal routing systems. I've been working on trying to make <2mm over bearing options possible (largely for my own use) and it's really hard because of what's involved and the potential risks of not getting it right.

The majority of the bending forces are borne by the carbon tube. Carbon is exceptionally good at managing loads like that and the expander is fit via a very small amount of friction. It's not going to do a whole lot in terms of keeping that tube rigid and preventing bending. What it does do is that it prevents the carbon tube from shearing locally as it preloads the carbon tube.

Historically a long expander wasn't as critical because the steerer made contact with the compression ring nearly 360 degrees and was held relatively tight against the upper bearing. Even if you lost preload and the bending got worse, the typical symptom was your steerer developing the "ring of death." This meant eventual failure but more often than not seems to be spotted before it led to an accident when riders checked on chronically loose headsets.

The SL7 failures also start with the loss of headset preload. This causes three things to happen. First the bending moment increases exponentially, second the steerer is now facing local impacts against the compression spacer which in the SL7s case was a relatively small surface area part, third the steerer can get worn via movement against the metal spacer and because of the design of that spacer would rapidly develop the "ring of death." These three meant that fork failures happened much faster than on other bikes. The SL7 fix therefore needed to address all three: improved plug, extension hanging off the bottom to limit the effect of those impacts, and a metal ring to be a new wear surface and further distribute forces around the steerer

This is less of a problem for other systems like the FSA ACR because their compression plugs use a different design that's heavier but less likely to lead to preload loss and their C ring has more contact area. Its even less of a problem for the current gen Deda DCR because it uses a nylon spacer that will wear the carbon less and it's designed to fit tightly to the steerer. It's also 15mm deep which has even more contact area.

With all of these systems you should check them every few thousand miles or so even if you have never had any issues with preload to look for wear. If your headset can't hold preload, I would chuck it and replace it with either the FSA or Deda system that fits.

TLDR: Headset preload is more important than ever. Don't ride with a loose headset. Using a high quality insert / expander will certainly help!
October 14, 2023, 01:25:26 AM 		6
35mm tire clearance road bike? I am looking for road bike frames with 35mm tire clearance. Price should be under $1k for a fork+frame, but flexible up to $2k. Ideally under 1kg weight.

I am specifically looking for a frame with
  • 420mm long chainstays or less
  • HTA of 72 degrees or steeper
  • ETT of 520 to 540mm with a reach under 390mm
  • Stack less than 540mm
  • 1-1/2 headset bearings top and bottom

So far I have found the Tantan TT-X37.

Goal is to do a very light 1x build that can handle riding around town, a little cx, and be a test bed for some 3d printed products I am working on.

Any other options?

-----------------------------

Here is the current list of options that meets my requirements
  • Tantan TT-X37
  • Long Teng LTK266-D: might be same frame as Tan Tan version but listed at 980g vs. 1050g
October 14, 2023, 11:15:42 PM 		1
Re: Onirii One I can start another thread about the Bigrock road frame, but curious to know if you had run across thoughts out there comparing the two.
October 28, 2023, 01:41:49 AM 		1
Re: Nich Cycling (Thailand) - Legend4 Frameset - UCI Approved I think this is the Adapt AT-B01.

I inquired about this a bit ago and they redirected me to Montecci for US sales. I am really confused as they (Montecci) don't advertise this frame anymore; but in any case they have a similar markup to Nich.
November 04, 2023, 09:30:31 PM 		1
New lightweight frames: Bigrock, Ican, and Onrii Hi all! There are a few “new” frames that have recently entered the market that take inspiration from the Aethos with a traditional round shapes focusing on lightweight. These also have the bonus of taking a regular round seatpost.

1. BigRock Road frame. More details here https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a21n57.1.0.0.57a8523cZcTH0G&id=722965987747&ns=1&abbucket=5#detail and on the 4th tab here: http://bigrock.cc/ also looks like it will be for sale on Panda Podium in the near future. Pretty nice image of their carbon clear finish here: http://bigrock.rjkf.top/2023-08-27-15-21-04.jpg?imageMogr2/thumbnail/1500x. I am very seriously considering this instead of the 35mm frame options I have found.

Might also be this "Outshone" frame on Alibaba: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2023-Lightest-Weight-650g-same-to_1600860750115.html, though the tire clearance specs are different. Seems to be ~700g depending on size and paint. Visually these look nice from the outside, and I would love to know if this really is the same frame.

Pros:
  • Offers 2 different fork rakes across the size range (47mm and 44mm)
  • T47 BB
  • BigRock version is 32mm tire clearance, unclear if there is any difference in mold or just the specs being communicated differently
  • Weight: 730g for a 54?
  • At the least the Bigrock version is claimed to use a nice mix of m40j and t1000 carbon

Cons:
  • BigRock version isn't cheap, the downtube branding is massive would love it without, though the bare carbon version looks lovely
  • Other vendors aren't known and the brand (Outshone) is hard to find information on

2. Ican FL1. This one seems to only exist in renders for now. (11/10/23) added more information. Link: https://www.icanbikes.com/products/super-light-full-internal-road-disc-brake-frame

Pros:
  • 32mm tire clearance
  • Ican is a known seller who has invested in a global footprint
  • 790g for a size 54
  • Details in the render suggest well thought out FD routing for electronic groups and deeper head tube could be a nice visual design feature as well
  • Video is up on their website and the frame looks good
  • BB86 AND T47 options
  • Listing EN, UCI and Zelder testing as certs. This is different, especially if the latter refers to third party testing being done in Europe

Cons:
  • Would it be greedy to have wanted UDH?
  • Only offers 44mm forks, so geometry of the size 52 and 49 are less than ideal; but larger sizes are great. fork length is 371mm

2. Onrii One. Covered in this thread: https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3832.0.html and including it here for completeness. Also known as the Pinaworks CFR 051 / GR051. Alibaba seller is here: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/New-Arrival-CRF51-NEW-49cm-52cm_1600949186802.html. Also sold on AliExpress.

Pros:
  • Internal and External Routing available
  • BSA BB

Cons:
  • “Only” 28mm of tire clearance / Updated version seems to have 30mm
  • Single rake at 47mm may make larger sizes ride a bit twitchy. Not a problem for little guys like me but worth a call out
  • Not sure how the weight limit on the Onrii applies to other sellers
  • Seems likely to be above 800g, unless you get the featherweight version
November 04, 2023, 10:59:34 PM 		3
Re: Nich Cycling (Thailand) - Legend4 Frameset - UCI Approved Honestly, I don't think the 2x markup is crazy assuming there is some level of QC done by outside the factory and you get retail support from PP which is hopefully decent. Those are of course big IFs given the both the brand and PP are relatively new; but they probably are making modest margins on these.

That said a lot of us are probably willing to forgo those things which is why we are here.
November 07, 2023, 02:57:12 PM 		1