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Re: Zrace Dual Pivot Reach? Don’t get the ZRACE BR-001/Onirii BC-01. These older brake designs are unusable to point of being dangerous.

The ZRACE R700/Onirii BC-02/C.PRO BA-R700 are a BR-R7000 copy and the performance is on par with BR-4700 according to Chinese forums.

May 02, 2022, 04:53:20 AM
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VB-R-066 D Build I'm a bit surprised there isn't a build thread on this frame on here, or a recent one at least.  I purchased this XS frame from Velobuild for my wife as she needed an upgrade to her 2013 Aluminum Giant Avail with 8 speed Sora.  I ordered on May 11 2022 and received the frame on May 25 2022, so pretty fast turn around which surprised me actually.  This frame almost looks identical in geometry to my Canyon Endurace CF SL 7. 

Along with the frame I purchased 2 custom paint colors (pink & chameleon blue) which actually turned ok.  The fade job between colors could be better and maybe we would have picked a lighter chameleon color as the blue tends to look almost black if it isn't light out.  However in the sunlight it does sparkle a bit which is nice. 

I also picked up:
$5 carbon spacer pack
$39 carbon VB-HB-009 handlebars (which i asked for 400mm and I believe they sent 420mm, which is OK and it still works but wasn't told ahead of time)
$35 ST-002 80mm carbon fiber stem (right before shipping Chris did send me an email stating he's substituting this stem for the stem that comes along with their 2021 separate handlebar/stem combo.  I didn't get this email till the next morning after shipping occurred and thought it might be ok.  Turns out it was not.  This stem is big, bulky and has a negative angle it seems.  My wife didn't like it too much.  I just ended up buying an aluminum stem from Amazon for $15 and used that.  Chris is being awesome though and said he'd refund me the cost of the stem so I'm happy)

I got a used 105 fully hydraulic groupset off craigslist for $525 which was an awesome find.  The crank is a 52/36 with 172.5mm cranks which might be a bit big for her but time will tell.  It came with a 11-34t cassette, chain, F&R D's, shifters & calipers.  I did have to buy little things like a bottom bracket, a spacer for one of the calipers, 160mm rotors, bottle cages, bar tape etc.

The wheels are from Elite Wheels that I had custom ordered in 50mm depth & 12k twill pattern & 1420 spokes.  I asked them for a quiet hub but it's still pretty loud.  The tires are GP5000's with pink latex tubes.   

I didn't build it as there is a guy up my street that sorta runs a bike shop out of his garage.  He charged me $150 to put it all together and that included all gear cables, hydro fluid (I had the hydro cables), installing the groupset, BB  etc.  I thought that was a pretty good price but I do wish I had the patience to learn myself. Maybe, if I end up doing another one...

The weight was a bit disappointing though.  I know the 105 r7020 groupset isn't the lightest but the builder said it weighed 17.9lbs/8.1kgs.  Maybe it was wishful thinking but I thought it would have weighed maybe 7.7kg or even less.  The seat is temporary as we still haven't decided on one to get so maybe that will lower the weight but not sure what else I could have done. 

The wife & I have our first real "test ride" tomorrow.  Planning on going 30-40 miles and see how it does but so far seems to be great.  If you have any questions let me know!

June 02, 2022, 10:26:29 AM
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The Un-Official Guide To Fixing Headset Play - Please Add Your Advice Here Hey Everyone,

I wanted to create a guide to help troubleshoot headset play regardless of bike brand. By no means am I an expert, and I hope others can add to this thread. Please understand this guide/thread isn't intended for airing our bike brand grievances or calling out user errors. Ultimately we all just want our bikes to work as intended.

Common Reasons For Headset Play

1. Steerer/Fork isn't cut low enough, or an extra spacer is required above the stem to properly compress the top cap. When initially cutting the steer tube, an extra 2-4mm below the cut line needs to be accounted for in order for the top cap to recess properly.

2. The headset bearing (upper or lower) doesn't sit inside the head tube cup snug enough (laterally, front to back). Velobuild, for example, provides 52mm diameter headset bearings. Other headsets sold online or for other bike brands may only be 51.8mm diameter. That 0.2mm is the difference between a snug fit or loose headset. If your bearings are loose this will always cause play. You can add a couple layers of tape inside the bearing cup to prevent the bearing from moving around. Or just buy a new 52mm headset.

3. The top headset bearing is recessed too far into the head tube cup, causing the headset cover to rub on the frame, preventing the complete headset stack to properly compress. If this is the case you will need a thicker headset bearing (7mm, 7.5mm or 8mm thick) or a thicker c-ring so that it sits flush with the top of the headset opening on the frame, thus preventing the headset cover from rubbing the frame. EDIT: Another resolution is adding some micro spacers between the c-ring and top cap.

4. The upper and lower headset bearings are installed in reverse. Some bikes (like Yoeleo's recent G21 gravel bike) provide a set of headset bearings, with one of the two bearings being slightly thicker than the other. The thicker of the two bearings needs to be installed on top of the head tube, and the thinner bearing on the bottom. If these two bearings are installed in reverse order then...see Common Issue #3

It is critical to do a dry run of installing the crown race, headset bearings, c-ring, headset cap, stem/cockpit, and any additional spacers before actually proceeding to building up the bike. Also be sure to compare and inspect the two headset bearings to confirm they are in fact the same size and thickness.

August 02, 2022, 02:23:09 PM
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Re: Where is everyone from? Sydney, Australia
September 16, 2022, 05:07:40 AM
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Re: Tsunami Seaboard GR02 Budget Gravel Build
Thanks for sharing! I'm planning a build using the same frame. It'll be my first bike build, and reading about your experience helps.

Did the frame come with an expander plug and top cap?

Yes, it did but I substituted my own because I prefer using an extra long expander.

September 20, 2022, 09:06:00 AM
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Re: Velobuild GF-002 My build is finally complete.
Might be of interest to some as it's a full Aliexpress/China build: GF-002, Elite wheels, Sensah SRX groupset, Juin Tech F1 brakes.

I’ve been interested in building up an open mould frame for a while, so with the price of new bikes and the second hand market getting a bit crazy (at least when I started ordering) this seemed like a good time to try.

Positives:

  • Production & shipping was way faster than I expected, I think just over 2 weeks from payment including custom paint job. I could have built the bike much sooner had my separate BB not got lost in customs.
  • The frame feels great, seems to ride like any premium carbon gravel frame, and the custom paint looks rad.
  • The overall finishing seems good, with no paint in threads, bearing races pretty clean etc.
  • I couldn’t see any obvious voids or terrible wrinkles in the carbon - but will report back if it snaps in half jumping off a curb.
  • I’m quite impressed but he SRX groupset, shifting is crisp and levers feel decent.
  • Elite wheels seem fantastic on the short rides I’ve done so far. Tubeless ready tyres popped right on with a track pump.
  • The Juin Tech brakes, now set up and bedded in are solid. Not quite hydro feeling, but much much better than BB7s I've previously used. They could probably be made better if my cabling wasn't such a mess too, or just external routing.


Negatives
  • Threading compressionless housing through the bars+ stem + frame is ridiculously difficult. Compressionless housing is too stiff to get round the corners and it gets wedged in hidden corners of the bars. I’d estimate I’ve spent over 8 hours trying to get it set up right here, although that’s largely because I screwed up the first run. I’m also running 1x here, doing a mechanical 2x setup + compressionless housing would be extremely difficult.
  • Seat clamp: the front bolt can’t be accessed with an Allen key unless you have a cut-out saddle, so fine-tuning the angle is a bit of a pain
  • The bottom bracket pressed in worryingly easy. I could tighten the press-fit tool by hand, without a wrench. It’s not creaking yet, but I’m expecting that I might have to add Loctite retainer in the future. This is a Rotor BB not a VB one.
  • Minor gripes: Wasn’t supplied enough bolts for all the bosses, the seat post doesn't slide that far down so I had to cut a lot off it to get it to the right height, where the cables exit the frame and attach to the brakes/derailleur causes quite sharp angles.

The headset
  • I got the separate bar and stem as I wanted the option to swap out the bars to attach aerobars for really long distance rides. I also wasn’t 100% on the geometry, I just matched it to my road bike. In retrospect with the integrated cables swapping the bars out is something I’m going to try and avoid.
  • I got the updated headset that Chris has mentioned in previous threads, this seems to resolve the issues others were having of not being able to preload the bearing. However, it definitely has not been perfect. I’ve battled it slipping and coming loose, not being able to preload sufficiently for several days now.
  • Possibly the issue lies in the way is presses the C clip/dustcover into the bearing, it looks uneven and I’m assuming this then causes it to slip slightly under hard braking. If I’m careful with aligning the C pointed exactly straight ahead, arrange the cables to sit evenly spaced, and add a little carbon paste on the stem it seems to work.
  • I’ve also got a 1-2mm gap like coffeebreak mentioned above. I think I’ll just cover it with silicon as removing the dust cover is an ordeal.
    I think long-term the solution is probably still to go with the FSA headset.

Overall, very happy with it so far - but haven't put enough miles on it to give it a proper review.
Total cost about $2.7k AUD/$1.8kUSD.

December 22, 2022, 09:54:11 PM
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BXT-Gravel-135 I ordered this frame as a build for my wife. It will also be used as the main bike on the direct drive trainer in the basement. We ride the same size so this works out well.
Ordered during the 11-11 sale for about 310 USD and just received today. They actually shipped it FedEx, this might be because I complained how long it was taking to ship.
Ordered in the basic white. Assumed they would have had that in stock and ready to go. Took weeks to actually shipped but arrived in 5 days after shipping.
This is actually my 5th Chinese frame bike and the second BXT. The first BXT is a fat bike and has held up well riding it the last couple of winters. I also have a carbonda 696 gravel and 936 mtb. Also have a SPCycle hardtail that gets minimal use :)
Initial impressions are so-so. There are a few spots where the body line doesn't look perfect under the paint, the paint is ok, nothing to write home about, the fork front is really rather oddly shaped and a few bolts in the back are to long to properly insert.
Now I know this is a cheap frame so some of this is to be expected. The actual carbon work looks good so I have faith.

This bike will be getting built up with the 1x11 hydro sram setup from by 696 as that is getting an axs setup. I have most parts but am waiting on a few things so I expect to have it fully done in a month or so.

BXT-Gravel-135 (Ali)
Kocevlo Gravel Carbon Integrated Handlebars (Ali)
SRAM Rival 1x11 Shifters and brakes (Takeoffs)
SRAM 10-42T Cassette (Take off)
Prime Baroudeur Road Disc Wheelset (Wiggle.com)
Panaracer GravelKing SK 38c
Zeroing Road Crank w/ 40T (Ali)
TOSEEK Carbon Seatpost (Ali)
zRace Centerlock 160mm Rotors
Brown Carbon Seat (Ali)
Brown SuperCaz Bar Tape

Will be applying some decals and paint protection film before starting the build as well.
This will be the first fully integrated cabling build I have done so I look forward to the swearing and frustration!




December 29, 2022, 12:19:56 PM
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Re: BXT-Gravel-135 Got the decals and half the 3m wrap on.
Rest of the parts will be in next week.

December 29, 2022, 06:49:43 PM
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Re: Toopre mechanical disc brake calipers (post mount) Sorry I have only experience with flat mount cable actuated calipers. From this experience I would recommend following two options:

Juintech R1 (I am using F1 flat mount with great results):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003585000105.html

Or as a budget go with hydromechanical flat mount breaks from Onirii / Zrace / Ztto the B005 type (Using on my gravel bike with upgraded break pads with good results):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003887664706.html

To work on your frame you need to use Post to flat mount adapters like:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004894305003.html

There are a good number of threads regarding cable actuated hydromechanical breaks in the forum. The recommendations above are what people seem to use with success.

BR Chris

December 30, 2022, 02:41:26 AM
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Re: Toopre mechanical disc brake calipers (post mount) +1 to what Chris said. Using Onirii set on my build and they are great.

The Toopre ones seem to use different pad design (with heat sink) than Spyres though so they may not be exact clones.

I noticed Spyres and Tektro Aries can be found at great prices on eBay if you don't want to risk Toopre.

December 30, 2022, 10:21:14 AM
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