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Re: SEKA Bikes? Out of contact?
Just preordered a large standard frameset in blue from Cycling100, despite the clear risk that this will take forever. With COVID lockdowns ending I imagine lead times are going back to normal. Was quoted "10-12 weeks"...we'll see about that. Fingers crossed I guess. It's still early in the season, so if all goes well I hopefully will be able to have this bike in time for May. I'm in my 15th season of amateur racing so I definitely have the mechanical chops to build it up, but I'm poor graduate student so I really am seeking to cut costs. My current bike, a Tarmac SL5, is nearly 10 years old; it's high time I got something new, and the proliferation of LTWOO disc groupsets has really brought the cost of the build down. I have been painstakingly speccing out possible builds. For a while I considered the Elves Falath but that frame would have been about 250gr more than the Seka, but in the end only ~$300 less. Similarly I could have gotten a Yoeleo R11 or R12 for slightly less, but the yoeleo bikes aren't as beautiful, are essentially the same price. The R11 isn't quite as aero, and I believe the R12 slightly heavier. I might end up regretting not getting an R12 instead--we'll see. Geometry wise, I currently run a size 56 on my Tarmac with a 110mm stem, 80mm bar reach, and ~0.5cm of spacer--which has always felt a little short for me. I have abnormally long arms relative to my height and run a very-forward saddle, so in general I need a lot of reach, something that is at odds with the Seka's geometry, and with Chinese frames and bar-stems in general. The combined frame+bar reaches of the "size 56" equivalent Seka, R12 and the Falath are all about 1cm shorter than my Tarmac, therefore the only way to get the geometry I really want is to get a 130mm stem, and Seka is the only company besides Farsports offering of a 130mm stem with 380mm bars. Some might retort that this isn't an issue when you run a separate bar-stem, but I really believe in the aerodynamics of a combined bar-stem, making the availability of a 130mmx380mm handlebar a key selling point for me with the Seka. Current build plan is: -standard Seka frameset+bar+Token BB (1054gr frame, 370gr fork, 325gr bar, 165gr post, 105gr BB) -LTWOO R9 Disc carbon (11-speed) groupset (1167gr brifters+derraileurs+calipers, 200gr cables+housing) -Magene P325CS powermeter crank (730gr) -YBN SLA-110 chain (249gr) -SROAD one-piece CNC cassette (230gr) -|||PRO brand rotors (308gr) -ICAN Aero 35 disc wheels (1355gr) -GP5000s tires (280gr x2) -Specialized power S-works carbon saddle (160gr) -No-name Supacaz imitation handlebar tape (50gr) According to my calculations given quoted weights for everything is estimated at 7100 grams. We'll see about that! I'm guessing going from a M to a L will add ~200g+, and the accumulated error on quoted weights will add up to over ~300gr, so I would be very happy if it was anywhere close to 7.5kg dry. MSRP for this build is right around $3700 including cost of shipping to the US (excluding saddle since that's taken from my old bike). A comparable bike like the soloist with ultegra is $4300--and that's without shipping, racing wheels or power meter--so add about $2000 to that to reach a similar spec. Anyways, wish me the best of luck! January 14, 2023, 11:07:47 AM |
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Re: Elves Falath EVO 2023
After watching the Cam Nicholls video, am I the only one who doesn't think this bike looks fast? It looks like it was designed to have the appearance of being aero from the side profile, but clearly fails in several areas. The frontal profile on the head tube and fork is super chunky compared to the Falath Pro. Everyone knows frontal area=drag. There's also a lot of weird tube profiles, the seat tube and gusset have a really square frontal profile, and the top-down cross-section of the head-tube right behind the steerer doesn't really taper, instead terminating in a chunky square flat back like on a Trek Madone. This area of the head-tube is probably the most important part to make as narrow as possible since it gets the cleanest air. But then the downtube narrows and never widens again to shield the water bottle. It's backwards of what you want, which is narrow up top and a wider, flatter back down low to shield the bottle. I just don't get it. I'm not an aerodynamics expert but this bike seems to just violate a bunch of aero principles I know of. I wouldn't be surprised if the outgoing model is faster with bottles on. That and it's heavy. I initially saw online rumors that the frame would be ~900gr. Now 400 grams over that? Even heavier than the outgoing model? I can't see this being popular. February 01, 2023, 09:17:49 PM |
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Re: Lexon road frame
I love the frame design but after hearing how they were shipping those Scott spark knock offs with linkages that collided with the frame, I basically refuse to entertain ordering from them.
February 04, 2023, 03:20:34 PM |
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Re: Elves vs Winspace ?
Everything about this confuses me, the Trek Madone 4 series was never offered in a 61cm size. They are always even numbered sizes. I don't think there exists a Madone with listed size in the 60s but an effective top tube length of ~57cm. Anyways, I suggest you compare your geometry on bikeinsights.com. The closest madone in their database that I could find compared to what you describe is the 2010 Madone 5 Series in a size 58, which has an effective top tube length off 572mm. The numbers you want to compare are reach and stack, not top-tube length. If you aren't familiar, here's an article that explains: https://www.bikeradar.com/features/your-top-tube-length-is-irrelevant/ The new Falath Evo is going to be disc only. Likewise with anything Winspace makes in the future. I personally like the design of the Falath Pro better than the Winspace, but it's going to be heavy (like 1400gr). If you get the "59" Falath, it's going to have a reach that's only 3mm short of the Madone in a 58, which you can easily compensate with stem length. Keep in mind you will also want to compensate for bar reach--your bars probably have a 85-90mm reach, which will be 8-13mm shorter than the 77mm that is standard on carbon integrated bars from china, so maybe a 120mm stem is sufficient, or maybe you will want a 130mm stem. Personally I am stepping up to 130mm from 110 to overcome a similar reach shortfall. February 05, 2023, 10:26:56 AM |
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Re: 2022 - Rotor recommendations?
Just ordered a pair of the new centerlock ONIRII rotors: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804989446940.html I imagine these are the replacement design that was released after the fiasco with the previous version (now sold by KACTUS and ROCKBROS) breaking apart under high load/heat. They seem to have more conventional and stronger 6-pin floating rotor design like SRAM and Shimano do. A bit thicker than the previous version too at 1.8mm. I did have a little snag with ordering the correct version, they were listed as "centerlock" but the photo featured the 6-bolt design. I went ahead and ordered the centerlock option anyways. A couple weeks later I notice I had an unread message from the ONIRII store, they had messaged a photo of my order with the receipt...and in it was a pair of 6-bolt rotors instead of the centerlocks that I had ordered. I messaged them back and let them know that those were not the centerlocks I ordered. They replied right away with a link to a product page for a $1 shipping change, which I obliged to. Seems I will get to keep the 6-bolt set as far a I can tell for the moment. February 19, 2023, 10:36:10 AM |
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Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets
I'm going to type this up quickly before I go to work, so I apologize in advance for not attaching photos for proof. I'll add them in later Just took delivery of the carbon-edition R9 2x11S Hydro groupset. Purchased on AE from what seems to the the LTwoo official store. Chose the "no box" option since it was much cheaper. Didn't ship with brake oil as expected. Bought it since I already have some 11-speed kit and I wanted to save some money. Seems to be nearly identical to the RX except the shift paddles seem to be injection-molded plastic rather than carbon reinforced like they are on the RX. RD indeed shipped with full-carbon cage. Not that it really matters because that RD is a pig no matter what. Weights: -RD : 229g -FD: 101g -F Brake Caliper + hose: 162g -R Caliper + hose: 180g -L Shifter + cable: 287g -R Shifter + cable: 289g -Total (inc. cables+hose): 1248 There was some listing where the groupset was quoted as 1167grams, so a < 100gr & < 7% difference to actual-with-cables+hoses weight is not too shabby. It is 27 grams heavier than the RX set weighed in Jourdan Coulmain's YT video, although he measured shifters without the cables on the scale, so that might account for 10 grams or so. Edit #1: Still haven't had time to upload photos, but I've been inspecting them. Like others have said, the derailleurs are trash. RD has some kind of weird wiggling and play that can be felt through the parallelogram and tensioner. Probably less than 0.5mm across the assembly. No way to tighten it up since all the joints are riveted. I guess I can pray it will be nicer under tension but SRAM derailleurs sure as hell don't have this play. The other thing that worries me about the RD is that the cable angle looks like it will wildly bend around as it runs through the gears. On a SRAM derailleur you get a nice arm that keeps a fairly straight cable line to the barrel adjuster. Nothing like that here. I'm honestly at a loss as to how this thing is supposed to shift effectively. Most of the excess weight is coming from the hanger knuckle IMO. It's about 50% wider than a SRAM force knuckle, and seems to have little milling for light-weighting. Sad The FD body feels like cheap stamped steel. The built-in cable-housing stop and tensioner are nice nods to a "hidden cable" future though. Basically, you get what you pay for. In my case, I paid significantly less than I would have for mechanical 105, so I guess I am pretty happy still. February 21, 2023, 09:51:16 AM |
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Re: 2022 - Rotor recommendations?
Update on the new-design ONIRII 6-rivet floating rotors, which I ordered in 160mm & centerlock: Last time I posted here I mentioned that when ONIRII sent me a message with a photo of my order, I spotted they had sent 6-screw rotors instead of centerlocks. I had messaged them back and they apologized for the mistake and directed me to purchase a 1-cent "shipping change" through them, which I went ahead and purchased. A few days after ONIRII sent me a photo of my centerlock rotor shipment, and I've been waiting on those. From the photo, it looks like these are a bona-fide centerlock design and not a 6-bolt rotor with an adapter. They also demanded that I give them a good review for the good service, which I suppose I will give considering that their response to this mistake has been solid and it seems I am keeping the 6-screw rotors for free. In general I quite like that ONIRII sends photos of the shipment and the shipment receipt (with your name and address on the receipt), which is helpful for ensuring that A) you are receiving the correct product and B) it's shipping to the correct address. It's a nice CS touch that I haven't seen from other vendors. In the meantime, my notes on the 6-screw rotors, which I received last week: The good: -weight: 94g, basically on the money for quoted weight -thickness is indeed just shy of 2mm. Can't get an exact measurement bc the battery on my caliper died, but I can see it's definitely thicker than 1.5mm. -Nice clean machining and anodization on the spider. area of the 6-bolt interface is machined down to match the thickness of the rotor so the rotor aligns on the mounts correctly. The bad: -Rotor has a couple of burrs left over from cutting (laser cutting?) -plenty of sharp edges. You probably want to file/grind the outer edge down for peloton use. -and the big kicker...ONE OF THE ROTORS IS MISSING A RIVET. Huge mistake from them. Basically sent me a useless rotor. The fault was visible in the photo they sent me earlier, which is good. Thankfully the replacement rotors they are sending have all the rivets. Anyways given how they've served me as a customer, I have no doubt they'd make it right if you were sent a rotor with a missing rivet, and you'd have the opportunity to catch it before they even ship. But it's something to keep in mind if you're ordering floating rotors from any of these AE vendors. February 26, 2023, 12:43:27 PM |
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Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets
I did some more inspection of the R9 11S carbon-pulley RD to figure out why it's so freaking heavy. My notes: -R9 (and I'm guessing RX) aluminum material is cast aluminum. You can see circular marks on the parts where the aluminum was poured into the cast. Dura-Ace, Ultegra, Force and Red RDs are machined from billet. Casting of course is much cheaper, but the reasons why it makes the derailleur heavy are threefold: 1) billet is almost always a stronger material per unit of weight than cast, so therefore the theoretical limit of how light the part can be is lower. 2) complex and thin features that save on material and weight are harder to cast, so the part is bulky in the first place to make casting possible. 3) It's not really possible to machine cast aluminum to make it lighter in a manufacturing setting. I do think I'm going to attempt doing some derailleur tuning with my dremel though anyways  -Hanger screw appears to be chromed steel on the R9, while on the RX it looks like aluminum. This probably accounts for a lot of the weight savings on the RX -Cable screw is not tapped into the material, but rather backed by a thick steel nut! I think there is a chance to save a gram or so there alone. -Lastly, I've identified the play in parallelogram comes from the width of the parallelogram links being slightly smaller than the body, which accounts for the play in the parallelogram. In general, this rear derailleur is designed to be dirt cheap. You are not getting anything that approaches Force or Ultegra quality with these. February 27, 2023, 09:42:56 AM |
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Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets
How much does it weigh? 105 R7000 is like 220g. Does it weigh more than that? If that's the case, I'd probably just use Shimano components. My R9 weighed in at 229. I think the RX quoted at 219, which I believe given that it's kitted with lighter parts like the B-hanger screw. I did the math on the system weight of the LTWOO RX vs Shimano 105 11s and the RX is supposedly ~50g lighter for brifters, derailleurs, and calipers. Given what 11 speed 105 groupsets are going for, I would not pay more than $400 inc. shipping for the RX system. It also depends on availability, 105 group-sets typically force you to buy the crank, cassette, rotors, and chain in the bundle. By going with LTWOO, I was able to spec fancy rotors, power-meter crank, and cassette It's a shame they don't sell the shifters separately. They are substantially lighter than Shimano 105. And I get the feeling that they are compatible with Shimano derailleurs since previous, identical-looking generations of the R9 were marketed as such. In an ideal future, I would love to try: LTWOO shifters, |||PRO/ONIRII "XG" hope-knockoff calipers (96g), Shimano 105 front mech, Shimano ultegra/DA rear mech. February 27, 2023, 03:22:23 PM |
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Re: Groupset News
Bikeradar had a review of the new Superstrata 3d printed road bike which has the L-TWOO GR9 mechanical group. They weren't very impressed with the ergonomics or the shifting. $2800 for that thing??? Absolute bottom tier garbage kit on it. I'm pretty sure trace velo has put together nicer builds for less than $1500
February 27, 2023, 09:08:16 PM |
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