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Re: Velobuild VB-R-177
It is the integrated bar of Airwolf in 36cm. I bought 4 of these, super pleased w them! Allegedly full T1000. March 26, 2024, 02:16:44 PM |
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Re: Cannondale SystemSix ‘inspired’ Frame
It's paltry, poultry is chicken  I can recommend LT268, because i ride one and it's awesome. in 54 it weighed 1163g in matte, 1191g in gloss. It feels very stiff with Airwolf 36cm cockpit (allegedly full t1100). Interestingly, they are releasing the 301 which is very similar in looks & geometry, but takes 38C (I have mixed feelings about that) and weighs <1kg. I assume it's just as stiff, but that's a question worth asking Alisa. Crit means tight corners / breaking / acceleration, right? Are you sure you want a 1250g frame? The systemsix is meant to go fast in a straight line, it's not a crit bike, afaik. If you want something more aero & more aggressive, i recently also built 2 winow FM368. I liked building them less, but my 2 friends riding them like them a lot. The store you're looking at is called Ruichuangda Bicycle Store & their ratings are below average. I wouldnt order from them. March 27, 2024, 07:56:01 AM |
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Re: Cannondale SystemSix ‘inspired’ Frame
Tcheu ste panthere https://youtu.be/CrRkv7e3exc? This video was peak internet. It's down the road from my place in the mountains, puts a smile on my face every time, and i've watched it well over 100x. It's just fancy car vinyl decals, the whole bike cost 10 euro in stickers, i found a friendly neighbor with a plotter machine. It's fully reversible (I half ghetto spray painted a bike last year, i regret it already). In the last 2 years i built 9 bikes and rebuilt 1. I have too many bikes as well as friends who are supporting my toxic habit It's a hobby that occupies way too much space in my head. Facteur & tractor is ofc me trolling Factor. This frame looks a lot like a factor Ostro something. March 27, 2024, 08:22:28 AM |
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Re: New frame: Longteng RD301-D
I'm very happy with my 268, so i'm looking at this 301, given how similar it looks. I also compared it to the VB GF 002 (I have one) and to a supersix road and a supersix gravel. Take-aways: 301 geo v similar to 268, 301 tad more aggressive in stack & reach, but wheelbase is a tad longer. Together, a tie? 301 definitely NOT a gravel bike. 301 very similar to a supersix, except the supersix has a much longer wheelbase (both supersix are gravel territory when it comes to wheelbase, which i find surprising). I'm wondering how the 301 would fare with 32C front, 34C rear, as a bomb proof bike for the mountains (not freaking out about potholes, post winter dirty roads, old chunkier asphalt, and the occasional dirt segment is appealing to me, even if i don't like the idea of the extra weight from bigger rims & tyres, and higher drag from a big ass fork. There are forest roads i avoid because of road surface, cracks, dirt sections, slope, on my 25mm supersix rim brake w carbon rims. The 301 would steamroll over all of that. March 27, 2024, 08:33:41 AM |
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Re: WheelTop EDS TX Full Wireless Groupset (Chinese SRAM)
This reminds me of the book factfulness by Hans Rosling. China used to make garbage using child labor. But that was decades ago. Most people (and I mean the vast majority of people) pretty much still assume it's true to this day. Except it isn't. China has long moved forward. In fact their industrial policy has been extremely successful. They also ran out of children, mostly, the population is now ageing AND in absolute decline, which is pushing costs up a lot. Just looking at bikes, they've been OEM manufacturers for pretty much everything for eons, and they started to innovate, with carbon spokes for example. If you want custom built super wide rims with carbon spokes, you can get them from at least 5 chinese factories, but not from Zipp, and Campagnolo has become a running joke more than anything. The software on LTWOO groupsets is better than Shimano Sram (ability to change the number of gears, gear protection). I've helped develop a new gravel frame, it took them weeks to produce a mold and a prototype for me to ride. And this year you can buy a frame from lightcarbon that weighs 910g, which is the same weight as a Look 795 blade RS 2024... In fact Look's fork is heavier by 35g... So if it took 15y for a Chinese brand to go from A to B doesnt mean it will take them another 15y to go from B to C. Things tend to accelerate. It's tragic in a way, because in the west we barely make stuff anymore, everybody's become a life coach or a therapist (there's also a nice book on "bullshit jobs"), everybody's become super expensive with zero real skills. Applied to Cycling, it's the farce of "paying for R&D" which really means inflated staff doing god knows what, and paying for pro cycling teams. March 28, 2024, 08:07:54 AM |
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Re: WheelTop EDS TX Full Wireless Groupset (Chinese SRAM)
I dont buy my bikes on aliexpress and i've had several warranty issues / goodwill instances when my counterparts did the right thing. I've had 2 or 3 warranty / crash claims with Farsports, i've had velobuild send me their updated C rings free of charge, i've received wheels that were centerlock after ordering 6 bolt and received adaptors free of charge. I've had a derailleur replaced free of charge & received a bunch of freebies. Long story short, there's more to dealing with chinese counterparts than aliexpress & assuming no warranty coverage. I'm the highest tier on aliexpress and usually (not always) they are helpful. I had a bad experience with Alibaba, they clearly gave no F about me, that was disappointing, but i'm not going to cry about it, after all they were sticking to their T&Cs. In fact 2 weeks ago i ordered via aliexpress a replacement crank arm for cheap. I shouldn't have paid for it, but this seller is a dick and i'll do my best not to work with them again. Either way it should save my ass for cheap enough. I guess my point is: build relationships with sellers you learn to trust. It's so much easier than it used to be to have clear discussions with them. Either they speak decent english now, or they use translation software that actually works. It used to be an uphill battle to make yourself understood. Now i feel i can ask very detailed questions and i usually get spot on answers. Last: the vast majority of people still assume that if it's unbranded and chinese, it's poor quality. I have friends who to this day will not use an unbranded chinese bike out of fear of death. Sadly (?), some of them are actually highly educated people with engineering degrees placing them in the 0.01% of the population. Others are just Luddites. Which ties back to Factfulness, in fact. Most of this forum exists to navigate issues around oval holes, unfaced brake mount surfaces, out of tolerance interfaces, and structural integrity of parts. Together, usually referred to as QC. Aka, quality... Aka, who to order from to minimize the chances of ordering a dud. March 28, 2024, 09:58:08 AM |
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Re: VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame
Yeah, it's often like that. Why the hell would I be interested in the unpainted weight? Because matte paint is lighter than gloss, that a single coat is lighter than several colours with decals? Factories either advertise unpainted weight, or matte black weight. March 29, 2024, 08:33:04 AM |
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Re: chinese carbon saddles
It's my first time dealing with velobuild and doesn't look promising. VB is a broker, they buy stuff from factories and resell it. It's a distribution channel, essentially. Their core business definitely isn't selling saddles. Before you order from Chris it's best to ask him what's in stock or not. The good thing is they can usually source anything you want. On my gravel builds i wanted non integrated flared bars with internal routing, and he was able to find that, even though it wasn't listed on the website. If he took your money, he will ship you your saddle. April 01, 2024, 03:20:04 AM |
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Re: Lightcarbon: New LCR017-D (or Yishun R1058-D)
Any news from users on this frame? I'm probably going to get one myself. April 02, 2024, 06:43:41 AM |
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Re: VeloBuild VB-R-268 frame
Thoughts? Will it be possible to jam mechanical hydraulic Sensah or Ltwoo in this frame.... just a pain in the rear to route but ok after that or not possible at all. i've built a VB168 with Sensah (4 hoses), the 268 is the same infrastructure, so yes you can run mechanical. It's a major, major pain though, and the FD shifting will probably suck. I've installed 5 er9 groups, they're wonderful. The app is awesome, adjustments are much easier than mechanical (especially FD, i hate mechanical FD adjustments). Together, we've only put 3-3.5k km on them though, so they might turn to shit, although i dont see why they would. I really liked the 168, the 268 should only be better. I would do er9 on 268 with nice wheels (not less than 500-650$ range before shipping), gp5000 tyres, and you will have a wonderful bike. On the lcr0x-d, it's a bit old now; i wouldnt buy a bike that maxes out at 28C, and T700 is on the ghetto side now. April 03, 2024, 03:34:33 PM |
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