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Re: Getting kicked around by LightCarbon, should I dispute with paypal?
Best shipping and delivery I had was ordering from SPCycle. They were blunt and straight to the point when messaging, but they didn't beat around the bush. It took exactly 10 days to prep the raw frame, on the 11th day it shipped and by the 14th day it arrived on my doorstep. From that experience, I'd consider buying from them again.
September 02, 2023, 10:10:28 AM |
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Re: Getting kicked around by LightCarbon, should I dispute with paypal?
Definitely normal. We all know how tough it can be to be patient with this stuff but LightCarbon is a reputable company and aren’t screwing you. For better or worse, this is how the game is played.
September 03, 2023, 01:20:23 PM |
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Re: Groupset News
L-TWOO eGR incoming...
September 04, 2023, 05:23:39 PM |
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Re: Groupset News
Regarding Sensah hydraulic grouupset: you can buy just the shifters with brake calipers https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLZTy1u, which opens interesting options when paired with either roador gravel/mtb derailleurs. Yes, there's gravel ready Ltwoo groupset, but I am not aure about their mechanical shifters ergonomics - I have rim brake Ltwoo groupset and the thumb shifter is pain in the anus to reach Ltwoo mechanical and hyrdro thumb levers are vastly different fyi. I can easily reach thumb shifter from hoods or drops. September 13, 2023, 09:05:25 AM |
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Re: Elves Vanyar Pro Disc 2023 - UCI Approved
According to the website, the main updates are a lighter and stiffer frame correct? Can you speak on the improved aerodynamics? Their 'aero' frame hasn't been aero tested, nor designed with any sort of cfd modelling. Their recent aero claims are probably just words, also, then. Better sticking with a high quality OEM like Yishunbike or LightCarbon. September 15, 2023, 10:52:11 AM |
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Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets
I've recently built a V-BR099 with LTWOO RX12. I was most impressed by the shifters and brakes. The quality is really impressive for the money. The brakes work fine. Everything is super straightforward. Bleeding was easy (once you realize that you need to back off the little reach adjust grub screw in the lever completely in order for the master cylinder to go into the zero position and not block the oil flow). I like that the FD has its own cable stop and cable tension adjustment mechanism. That makes a lot of sense particularly for fully internally routed frames. You can just run the housing all the way to the FD and adjust the cable tension there. No need for stupid cable stop designs in the frame. I was least impressed by the RD. The whole thing looks just a bit cheap. The derailleur cage is made of carbon on the outside (which honestly seems to be more for looks than for stiffness) while the inside is made of some sort of polymer (which arrived slightly bent and I had to bend it back into shape - the seller promised to send a spare derailleur cage). The cable routing is just borderline stupid. Like other people have said already, the cable has to make a super tight turn from the barrel adjuster to where it is clamped down on the RD parallelogram. Therefore, it severely rubs agains the RD housing. I used some liner between barrel adjuster and the clamping screw to alleviate the problem. But still, it's just a very bad design. It shifts fine. Not stellar but fine. I wasn't able to get it noise free in the stand. Paired with a ZTTO 11-34 12sp cassette, there was always a clicky gear on either end of the cassette. Curiously though, on the road when shifting under load it is not an issue. So that's fine, I guess. Lastly, the brifters are obviously Campagnolo copies internally. I'm running the original 12sp Campagnolo Record on my rim brake Velobuild VB-R218 which uses the same kind of mechanism (Campagnolo Ultra Shift). I can say that the LTWOO thumb paddle requires significantly more force and is harder to shift accurately and not overshift compared to Campag. Time will tell if with further use the action gets easier. Campag are more or less producing this tech ever since their first ergopower 8sp shifters came out so I guess they had 30+ years to perfect it. For the money, I think it's a great groupset but IMO especially the RD can be improved. If the cable pull ratio is identical, I'd probably put a 12sp 105 derailleur on there and be done with it. September 19, 2023, 01:19:52 AM |
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Workswell disaster
Posting this to hopefully prevent others to making the same mistake as I did.. Long story, but a lot has happened between me and Workswell... Okt 2021 I purchased an WCB-M-299 frame from Workswell for about $1300. Which I thought was quite a lot of money when comparing to other vendors. The geometry was good for my purpose and I really liked that it had 2 bottles. Weight was heavy though with 2100 gram. Somehow (naive as I was) I thought the "premium" price stood for better quality so I decided to go for it. My first Chinese bike project. When the frame arrived after about a month I noticed that they provided a linkage system with this frame that didn't match the industry standard size of 12.7mm for mounting the shock. The special bolt and linkage that they provided was over 13mm. After my initial frustration and wondering how they can screw up such an essential measurement I gave them that feedback and requested to send me the correct linkage. They first suggested that I should just try to jam the bolt and that the shock slide bearing would take this difference! I couldn't believe they suggested this.  Anyway, after way to many emails back and forth with me indicating exactly which size was wrong and advising them what size it should have been they send me another linkage. I had a bike weekend coming up with friends and I really wanted to bring the new bike with me. I was able to source a slide bearing that I could temporarily use. It wasn't exactly the right dimension but as an emergency it did the job. During the weekend the bike performed well and I had a blast on my new fully. There was just one strange problem. Two bolts of the linkage system came loose during every ride. I couldn't figure out what was causing this. In the meantime, a few weeks later, after paying for import tax en customs clearing the new linkage arrived. I noticed that send me a linkage with exactly the same problem and they didn't take notice of my feedback (12.7mm bolt requirement)! Imagine the frustration... I did notice though that they equiped this linkage with extra bearings. By then I figured out that with these extra bearings the problem of aforementioned two bolts that were coming loose was solved! So they are learning and improving. Just too bad that I'm (and probably others as well) are their field test bunnies. I like product development, but I didn't sign up for this! After again way to many emails they send me another linkage promising me that this really was the right one. Again paying for customs clearing... It was the right one. In May 2021 I was finally riding the bike trouble free. For less than a year.... When powering up a hill I heard a loud snap! The main pivot bolt had snapped. No warranty. It was 1,5 year after I purchased the bike. They were not taking into consideration that I couldn't actually ride the bike the first 4/5 months because all the time they sent the wrong parts. I couldn't believe my ears. I had a bolt made locally so I could at least ride again. But I didn't accept the no warranty comment. After a lot of wining and complaining they decided to send me a new bolt. I was trying to convince them to throw in an extra mech hanger for free as some kind of compromise for all the bullshit. They didn't accept that. When the bolt arrived I had to pay for customs clearing... For over a year I was riding the bike with a lot of joy. I did some races with it. Took it with me on holidays to the Belgium Ardennes and France. I'm a good rider and push the bike's capabilities, but nothing out of the ordinary. I ride it the same way as my friends do with their premium Orbea Oiz, Sworks Epic, etc bikes. After a while I started to realize that my shifting was getting off. When preparing to change the shifting cable I noticed a crack in my rear triangle. At the right hand side chainstay, towards the bb. Not a place where there's a lot of tension I imagined. No warranty said Workswell. Why? I crashed my bike. Yes I did some times and it had some scratches. But I didn't buy the bike to put it in a display cabinet. Their reaction didn't surprise me after all that has gone before, but it was still disappointing to hear. I took the bike to a local carbon repair shop and together we noticed 4 more cracks. 3 in the rear triangle and a big one around the bb. This bike is beyond repairing and Workswell doesn't take any responsibility. When it works it's a great bike, but as you have read. More than once it didn't work. Don't make the same mistake as I did. Stay very far away from Workswell. IMHO they don't deserve to be in business with this shameless attitude. Now i'm riding an Orbea Oiz OMX frame. 1700gram frame + shock. much lighter than the Workswell, much stiffer. And with all the cost I had on the Workswell bike, the price difference isn't even that much. Resale value of the Orbea is also much higher. It will be hard to justify it for myself doing another project like this. September 28, 2023, 04:14:44 AM |
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Re: Airwolf YFR068 - 2023 Gravel Frame
Update on the fork rubbing. I took the fork apart to inspect. Mostly rubbing on the bottom as you can see. I used some sandpaper to remove the matte paint and the thick primer (pink color) below it on the fork. Made a big difference (no rubbing / less) and now it is like the photo in earlier posts. Removing the paint / primer did not get to the carbon fiber of the fork at all. Must be very tight tolerances between the fork and frame and paint and primer is very thick. Will test and report back. October 02, 2023, 07:16:59 AM |
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Re: Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!
Why is the AliExpress search absolutely useless? It never brings up the items I'm looking for instead showcasing which I believe are sponsored items. I find it easier to type whatever I'm looking for in Google while adding the word AliExpress to the search field.
October 05, 2023, 07:19:25 PM |
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Lexon Road frames
Morning guys . Looking for info on lexon Road frames , has anyone Got any info on them ? If so any good ? I can find some info on their mtb frames but not Road? Also airwolf r066 frame ? Cheers cooky October 11, 2023, 05:11:10 AM |
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