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Messages - aliexpress_junkie

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1
Component Deals & Selection / Re: chinese carbon saddles
« on: May 09, 2024, 04:01:45 PM »
I've been testing this one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006659891238.html

(The normal padded one)

For a few weeks now and it's been super comfy in a very aggressive racing position. Actually surprising how comfy it is for how little padding there is compared to my old fizik saddle. The rails feel solid and everything. It's not the most lightweight at around 150g but it feels much better than those extremely lightweight ones at 100g-ish.

2
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!
« on: May 06, 2024, 10:15:31 AM »
Quote from: Serge_K on May 05, 2024, 02:19:49 AM
I installed the old design on 5 bikes, and i cracked one non drive side arm at 6 or 7nm. Racework is largely useless to deal with. They made so many mistakes in my order with them that i can't remember the exact count. Beyond the cranks, i bought 12s chains from them, they sent me 11s, the bar tape they sold me is the absolute worst i've ever used, and more. They refused to warranty anything, including the crank arm even though it was low torque (they dont tell you what torque to use, btw), but i managed to buy a replacement one for cheap enough - abnormal, but at least i still have 5 cranksets to use and not 4, for now anyway -.
We've put around 5k km on all these cranksets so far, i'd say. to avoid cracking more crank arms, i'm using 5nm and an obscene amount of threadlock. It's been working.
Either way they updated the non drive side design.
I wouldn't recommend them, goes without saying, but to be fair, i'm happy with the cranksets as long as it's not broken - kind of like i'm happy with my ltwoo er9 when it's not broken, the problem being that out of 5, 2 broke for no reason -, and their 3d printed saddles are nice too.

Wait so you had TWO failures with the er9 groupset and you still went ahead and got five? Or am I not reading this correctly.

"Happy as long as it's not broken" is not good enough, any failure during a 100+km ride is something that will ruin your day, and something that very rarely happens with groupsets from the big three.

3
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Magene l508 vs garmin radars
« on: April 18, 2024, 02:36:55 PM »
So from the replies so far it looks like both the Magene and Bryton (with latest updates) are looking quite usable at the moment.

It's a shame the Magene really went up in price since its release but I guess it makes sense if the product is a lot more refined now. I feel like some websites should update their reviews on that to reflect the newest firmwares. I remember the bolt first release had a lot of issues as well, and now it's a really good product, same thing with the karoo computer.

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Component Deals & Selection / Re: Magene l508 vs garmin radars
« on: April 16, 2024, 09:43:06 AM »
Yes I don't think expecting perfection from a radar is reasonable, you should always be on guard all the time and the radar is just something extra that helps.

Thanks for the recent information, this is a bit reassuring, as firmware issues that can be fixed via software is better than having say a bad sensor that just would never work no matter how much code you throw at it.

How's the magene in group rides? Does it go crazy?

5
Component Deals & Selection / Magene l508 vs garmin radars
« on: April 16, 2024, 08:44:28 AM »
Lots of reviews I've read on the magene are older (8+ months every time) and they always end up saying it's not quite as good as the garmin radars. A few false negatives, several false positives, clearing up the alert way too soon etc.

This is also valid for all the other "clones" as well, from Bryton etc.

Anybody still have that experience with the latest firmwares? I had a friend tell me the magene is amazing a year ago but he never actually had a garmin one, in a group ride we had both and it was clear the garmin one was a lot more accurate. I really love having a radar but I hate having to buy a micro-usb one like the garmin if that's the only one that's working decently, so was wondering if the firmwares made them better now or if it's really a hardware issue for most of them.

6
Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: WheelTop EDS TX Full Wireless Groupset (Chinese SRAM)
« on: April 13, 2024, 05:27:27 PM »
Oh they usually shift well enough, but with the increased tension of a clutch on a GRX derailleur I've had mixed results, whereas a cheap 105 cassette still shifts perfectly well on the same derailleur and with or without clutch. It can't be the derailleur when this variable is consistent between the two cassettes. Also I've noticed that in salty winter rides in Canada they tend to rust a lot quicker than Shimano cassettes. For dry weather they might be alright but anything wet/muddy they'll wear down very quickly.

7
Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: WheelTop EDS TX Full Wireless Groupset (Chinese SRAM)
« on: April 12, 2024, 04:56:46 PM »
My experience with ultralight chinese cassettes is that they're not durable, and the shifting is never as smooth as say a 105 cassette. If it's even more lightweight than say a dura-ace one, there's serious stuff being compromised IMO.

8
Component Deals & Selection / Any good CX style short pull cantilevers?
« on: April 12, 2024, 02:10:58 PM »
There's tons of road and disc brakes calipers on aliexpress, but finding cantilever style calipers is hard (not v-brakes). I'm building a budget retro bike with cheap parts but just finding good cantis (even used) is going to eat up most of my budget, any decent chinese options out there?

Thanks!

9
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Powermeter pedals (Cycplus?)
« on: October 23, 2023, 10:14:49 PM »
Yea I've had assioma duo for years now, and surprisingly the price for them has either stalled or went up on all websites. They're super accurate and the battery is still good even after 3+ years. I'm just curious about other option since I've been pleasantly surprised to hear about the magene crank based powermeter being so reliable and all. That and Favero doesn't make SPD powermeter pedals AFAIK. I know Cycplus demo didn't show a mtb pedal, but it would be interesting to see if any chinese company is currently prototyping pedal based powermeters. I think there's a market.

10
Component Deals & Selection / Powermeter pedals (Cycplus?)
« on: October 22, 2023, 06:12:34 PM »
I know Magene make some pretty nice spider crank based powermeters, but I'm wondering if any chinese brands currently offers pedal based powermeters?

Shane Miller does mention that the Cycplus at Eurobike 2023 booth seemed to have some sort of prototype here https://youtu.be/CxBxJ4zWe5s?t=288 but I couldn't find anything about them anywhere. If anybody knows more about it please share infos/news here :)

11
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!
« on: September 14, 2023, 09:51:04 AM »
Any aero socks recommandations? Big brands sell those for like 60$ which seems quite absurd to me...

12
Component Deals & Selection / Re: DT 240EXP hub clones Goldix, Venfort
« on: August 25, 2023, 11:16:48 PM »
Where do you guys get your bearings for the novatec wheels?

Particularly

Novatec D412SB-CL: 15267
Novatec D411SB-CL: 6803
Novatec A291SB-SL: 689
Novatec F482SB-SL: 6802 and 15267


13
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Groupset News
« on: February 17, 2023, 12:53:53 PM »
Quote from: TidyDinosaur on February 07, 2023, 01:06:12 PM
Yeah, I like the way it looks if it is a DIY, but would not like to be in a fast descend with a DIY lever  :o

It's obviously a prototype, you want to 3dprint stuff/parts and just wire electronics together in a hacky way to see if things work first. Final product look and feel will be completely different, with electronics hidden and whatnot. For debugging purposes it's much easier for companies to have the electronics bare so they can replace/fix stuff quickly than having to dismantle a shifter.

14
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Racework road crankset issues
« on: December 06, 2022, 07:58:27 PM »
Hi guys, sorry for the late reply,

I ended up measuring the cups again, and I noticed the ones that came with the BB are around 0.75mm thicker on each side, which is definitely something I missed!

I removed the Shimano cups and used the ones that came with the BB, and now the preload works perfectly fine without using any spacers. So I was right in thinking that the spacers are really for installing the BB on a mtb wide frame, but I was wrong in thinking the cups were always the same width. I usually disregarded those BBs that came with aliexpress cranksets as from my experience the bearings die very quickly, but maybe it's possible to just replace them with better bearings in the future...

Anyway thanks for the help guys!

15
Component Deals & Selection / Re: Racework road crankset issues
« on: December 02, 2022, 10:27:12 AM »
Hi guys, two very good questions!

Yes I always set the preload with the pinch bolts loose, I can even see the crank arm gets moved a bit and some of the play is removed, but it quickly bottoms out and there's still 1 or 2mm left of loose that I can move from left to right by hand.

I didn't measure the width of the BB, but good point, I might have to use the one provided with the crankset, I expected it to be the same as a Shimano one since the diameter was hollowtech compatible (24mm). I'll do that and come back right away.

You should see the hackish way I "preloaded" the whole thing with a wood clamp just enough so that's no play and it spins freely and tightening the pinch bolts. When I did that I could clearly see the axle protruding from the NDS crankarm and the preload thing pushing against nothing.

I'll try and take some pictures tonight.

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