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CWind GT30 Gravel Bike Build
The aim was to get something similar in style to a Canyon Grizl. I wanted lots of tyre clearance, and with significant difference to a road bike. For style I wanted something striking, and I like to be able to refer to my bikes by the colour (I already have predominately green (commuter), white (race), blue (winter) and red (old race) bikes. This one will most definitely be known as "Yellow"). It will be used for hitting local gravel and offroad paths, and potentially bike-packing at a future date. I'm not the most experienced at ordered from China, so kept to AliExpress, and generally brands/shops that had a good number of orders, or where online recommendations exist. I've got previous experience with L-Twoo groupsets (Blue is on eR9). I try to build with some level of ease-of-maintainence in mind, so I tend to avoid fully-integrated headsets, and will always go for screw-in bottom brackets. Parts List
Some parts were either from stock in the garage, or sourced locally/UK;
Issues during build; 1) The drive-side stay on the frame is very narrow, and internal routing of cables/wires is very hard. Getting the power wire to the rear mech ultimately required me to grease the head of it up (the L-Twoo cables have a very slightly larger head than comparable Di2) and drag it through attached to a brake cable. 2) The L-Twoo brake calipers refused to bleed. I suspect the bleed port nipples were not sealing (there is no o-ring that I can see, it's just a metal grub screw, and I definitely caught one leaking at least twice). I ultimately swapped to the ZRACE XG, which were far nicer to work with, and bled first time. Also slightly lighter! 3) Most stuff arrived (to the UK) within a couple of weeks of order. The Elite Wheels took 6 weeks from order to arrival. Still well within delivery expectations, but slightly frustrating as the final build was waiting on them. I have ridden this multiple times on a diferent wheelset, but today I finished the final build as shown. I've spent this afternoon setting them up on tubeless (along with a fair amount of swearing, obviously) 4) Not an issue, but a note in L-Twoo installation. Most issues I've heard of seem to be around water ingress on the mech power cables. I pre-emptively add extra protection here with liquid electrical tape ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Liquid-Electrical-Tape-Insulating-Black-125ml/dp/B0CX58Y6VF ). This has served well on the eR9-equipped Blue bike (which has done several hundred miles in Yorkshire rain), and I have confidence that the same process will work here. Really happy with how it looks, and handles. The final fit is based on my road bikes, with a bit more height at the front. Final weight (with pedals, bottle cages, Garmin mount and sealant) is 9.2kg, and a lot of that is the tyres (705g each as listed weight). Clearances on the frame are fine with these tyres, though I doubt I could size up to 2.1/2.2 on the rear, the limit being the clearances on the rear stays near the bottom bracket. It's done about 250km of mixed terrain on the other wheelset, with no issues. I much prefer the feel of the eGr shifters compared to the eR9...they have a far more tactile feel to the shift buttons, and the hoods are slightly chunkier (I find eR9 hoods a little too narrow). I went with a 46T max on the rear as that is the max stated capacity of the eGr. I _think_ it could take something bigger, but I don't really feel a need for it...42-46 is a far more generous gear than I'm used to. Final cost is about £1500 + import tax. The import tax is a little tricky to determine, as some stuff came with other items not directly related to the build, and the entire package was taxed. If they had come separately, I probably would not have been charged! I didn't do amazingly well at the AliExpress price game (for example, if I was ordered now there are some better deals on that I got). On top of this I also ordered some spare parts (mech hangers, bar tape, some inner tubes for get-home emergencies) and some accessories (like a bar bag). July 16, 2024, 03:15:01 PM |
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Re: Spcycle G058 New Mold Carbon Gravel Frameset
I just finished building mine ! I'm still waiting on building a new wheelset for this bike, so for now it's more setup for road rather than gravel but comes under 8kg. I also haven't installed the integrated handlebar, I'm waiting on a bikefit before installing them. Will send an update once I have both. November 25, 2024, 12:37:39 AM |
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Re: Tideace NEW Gravel Frame: GR201
Frame arrived yesterday, ordered it 6 november arrived yesterday with dpd to the Netherlands Can’t wait to start with the build, but painting first Everything was well packed, also tool bag was included I ordered it in raw carbon to speed up the ordering process. Plan is to paint it so i can start the build. last parts arrived today. Overall finish of the frame looks good, time to put together 
November 30, 2024, 12:04:51 PM |
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Re: Spcycle New Mold G068 Carbon Gravel Frame
Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences. Made it much easier to plan my build. Got mine ready now. Its my daily driver / utility bike. Had no issues at all with the frame. Seems of good quality, and plenty robust enough for my rather demanding use case (carrying a lot of gear in wintery conditions). As others have said, the frame is rather heavy, i.e. a lot of fibre has been used. This should make it heavy duty. The ride quality is excellent with DT Swiss GR 1600 wheels and 42mm Conti top contact winter II tires. Hard to say how much of it is due to the frame but all the small chatter on our northern European icy roads is pretty much eliminated. Exactly what I wished for. Frame seems stiff enough too. Will only know this for sure with summer tires fitted. Some details / experiences: - In the front I have Shimano road drivetrain (Ultegra) and in the rear Shimano mountain drivetrain (Deore 11 speed). - The chainring bolts of the Ultegra 46-36 crankset (R8000) touched the frame so had to use a small spacer on the drive side (the one that came with the FSA T47 bottom bracket) - In the rear I have the ‘Wheels Manufacturing Dropout 653 Derailleur Hanger #653 DM Mountain UDH’ - David from Spcycle told me the frame bosses are rated for a rack with a maximum load of 5kg. Since I need to haul groceries for the family with this bike I put on my old Old Man Mountain rack, rated for over 30kg load when using it with a Robert Axle Project thru axle as the rack’s mounting point. Their specific thru axle I am using is ‘Axle for BOB Trailers 175/183mm - M12 x 1.0mm’. It comes with the necessary spacers needed for attaching it to the frame. Attachment through the derailleur hanger is not ideal but good enough. UPDATE 20 Dec: Using the Tailfin SRAM UDH Adaptor you can achieve a proper attachement of the rack to the thru axle - this is strongly recommended. - I have the SKS Bluemels 55 basic mudguards. There are functional mounting points for these on the seatstays and on the fork legs but none in the bottom bracket area (I used a zip tie to attach it to one of the screws under the down tube) and none in the rear of the fork, above the tire (I drilled a hole into the mudguard to use the mounting point directly under the fork crown) - With the mudguards the 44mm wide and 44mm high tire (measured) is the largest one that can be fitted in the rear. A wider one would be ok but not a higher one. The limiting factor is the distance between the tire and the seat tube. In the front a 50mm wide and high tire would fit easily even with the mudguard. - I have Shimano BR-UR300 brake calipers front and rear. My 160mm rotors were too small for both (in the 55mm offset position in the front) so had upgrade to 180mm ones Very happy with the frame and build overall. December 07, 2024, 09:30:47 AM |
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Re: Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame
I just received my Ceccotti RF25 (same frame as the G056 & TanTan GR047). I bought mine from the Surprised Store on AliEx and they happened to have the best price for this frameset during the 11.11 sale. I ordered it on 11/11 and it arrived 12/18. So slightly over a month. I quickly weighed it and the frame with FD/RD hanger and cage screws weighed about 1160g. I preemptively applied protection tape all over the frame, a chain slap guard and down tube skid guard. After debating, I opted for a different fork that accommodates a 180mm front rotor while using standard flat mount brake calipers. No adapters necessary. I'll save the original white painted fork as a backup. Hence the panda color scheme of my frame. I'm actually quite impressed with the Surprised Store's paint work and attention to detail of my frameset. The white paint looks clean and comes with a slight pearl-like sparkle. No overspray and looks very professional. They supplied all the necessary components, offered a seat post (I don't think the other sellers include it) and the head tube and T47 appear to be round. Also from what I could see inside the BB and head tube, the carbon layup looks clean with no voids or webbing. In retrospect, I should have bought a road frame from them as well, if I knew their quality was this good. I now have to figure out my fit on this frameset. It's the most slack frame I own now. I opted for a separate bar, stem and exposed cables. I just don't want to deal with a loose headset and I can dial headset compression perfectly with stem spacers. It's going to be fitted with LTwoo eGR electronic shiftting, 38t chainring, a 9-46t cassette, and two wheelsets, one with 38c slicks and another with 38c gravel tires. Also I need to test if my Riro carbon crankset will fit. It most likely won't since it's a T47 86.5 BB width. If it doesn't I have different cranksets I can use. First build photos attached.
December 20, 2024, 01:59:06 PM |
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Re: Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame
Bike is done! My wife was wondering WTF I've been doing all day!  It's funny how after working on so many bikes, you just go through the motion! Most the parts were salvaged from my other gravel frame and/or were in my parts bin. I also took a chance and bought the LTwoo eGR for less than $300 USD during the Black Friday sales. Anyways, here are the stats: - Ceccotti RF025 Gravel Frameset Small aka "The Kung-Fu Panda" - LTwoo eGR Groupset - 45mm Depth Carbon Wheelset - 38c Panaracer Gravelking slicks - ZTTO 9-46t 11 Speed Cassette - 38T Pass Quest Aero Chainring - Deda Zero carbon gravel fork to accommodate 180mm rotors - Goldix hollow alloy crankset - AliEx cheap SPD pedals in red - 34cm flared drop bars - Lightweight UNO stem - RYET 3D printed saddle - Magnetic water bottles - Carbon front computer mount - A shit load of rainbow titanium cage screws - Lots of clear protection decals - Chain and down tube decal guards Pros: Looks kinda cool. Lots of of mounts if that's your thing. Wide tire clearance, but I prefer 38-40c tires. Fairly cheap from the Surprised Store bought during the 11.11 sale. Total cost with custom paint, shipping and tax was $404 USD. Cons: Heavier than my old 2017 CX frame I was using for gravel. Bike clocks in close to 8kg and that's not even mounting my other wheelset with knobby gravel tires. Also the geometry is kinda funky, so I'm running a few extra stem spacers until I get used to it. I still need to test ride it. Tuning the eGR was a breeze since I'm already using the ER9 for road. Finished photos attached! December 21, 2024, 06:49:50 PM |
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Re: Tideace NEW Gravel Frame: GR201
Finally...we are live on the channel. After a month in transit. I am freakin' PUMPED. Size 54 came in at 1338g with both hangers and all 14 mounting bolts. 3g each 110mm cockpit. I'm 6 feet tall / 183cm and ride a 56 Tarmac SL8 with a 140mm cockpit. Yikes. YouTube Title Search: TanTan GR201 Gravel - Big Brands Should Be VERY Afraid https://youtu.be/HFqopxYkIPA?si=BHr-YXTRdPDReLcV December 24, 2024, 04:46:22 PM |
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Re: Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame
I finally got a chance to hit some single track dirt trails with the RF025/G056 frameset and this bike is definitely designed to be a trail climber. As I mentioned earlier track standing on this bike is really easy. While on the trails, the frame allows for really nimble control over technical terrain. Also when grinding up steep elevation, you can really dig in by lowering your body for efficient climbing output. I finally got my seat post and saddle position adjusted just right, though I'm thinking of switching to a -17° degree stem without cutting the steerer. It'll allow me to stretch out just slightly on the flats, but I can still stay upright on the climbs and trails. Anyways, I'm completely sold on this frameset in terms of value and geometry especially if you intend to ride in steep terrain. This is definitely a dirt climbing bike. The only downsides is that I wish the frame weighed a bit less (mine was about 1160g in size small) and T47 adds weight over other BB setups. December 24, 2024, 06:00:47 PM |
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Re: Tideace NEW Gravel Frame: GR201
I asked a custom paint from Tantan but they messed up so badly it's almost funny I gotta say... This is exactly what I asked, down to the specific Pantone colour ID (with the only difference being I requested no Seraph branding):  This is the preview pic they sent me for my frame:  I already wrote to back to ask to get it fixed (wrong colors/too light, fading mid-frame that I didn't even ask for, and "ripple effect" not really well applied). Let's see if they can make up for it... December 28, 2024, 04:38:12 PM |
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Re: Spcycle New Mold G056 Carbon Gravel Frame
Second ride today and man was it great. That bike is a real fun machine. And I love how it feels. The handling is great and I felt very secure even going fast on bumby gravel. December 29, 2024, 03:32:02 PM |
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