Chinertown
Chinese Carbon MTB => Metal Frames => Topic started by: svanimpe on May 02, 2022, 03:06:18 PM
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Does anyone have any experiences with Tsunami bikes? I'm interested in the GR02 gravel frame in particular.
There's a few YouTube videos that showcase this frame. It looks good on the surface, but as always, the website isn't very confidence-inspiring. The text is stolen from another brand (Niner), and there's two conflicting geometry charts.
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I'm curious about metal gravel frames as well. Not much cheaper than the carbon options once you figure shipping costs. These two have my eye, but I can't find any deep reviews on them.
Seaboard GR02 (aluminum)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003761594011.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.49912e0eC6M20v (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003761594011.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.49912e0eC6M20v)
Koozer GX5300 (chromoly steel)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001214782744.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.49912e0eC6M20v (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001214782744.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.49912e0eC6M20v)
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I don't own any of these brands (Tsunami, Koozer or Seaboard) but I've seen the actual frames. They are pretty decent quality. From what I saw, they are pretty much the same product or came from the same factory and rebranded. And some small details to to make them different. I don't know if these companies are related or not but that's my observation.
I have seen dozens of builts using these 3 brands including the models you guys mentioned in the local FB bike groups. Handsome builts even. These groups are fixed gear, gravel bike and bike packing/touring groups. So it's pretty wide spread as well. Most of these builts were during the height of the pandemic up to now. But I've seen Tsunamis in the fixed gear group way before the pandemic. Before the pandemic, I got into getting one for a single speed setup but had to cancel it because I couldn't find a supplier who had my size. It was more of the timing, 'coz several months later, my size did crop up... but I already have an SS.
I haven't seen any in depth reviews among these builts but so far I've yet to hear/read any complaints and/or catastrophic failures. So that's a good sign.
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Anyone have experience with the Tsunami or Blackrock steel touring frames? I am actually very seriously consideri g pulling the trigger on an LKLM 318 frameset, but those other steel frames look really interesting for a fun parts bin build. I'd love to know if anyone's had one of the cheaper ones; the LKLM frames have a pretty good reputation, so I'm not that fussed about them.