I mean this is not a bike for the "budget conscious rider" but for the world tour pros. Can't walk into a Mercedes dealership ask for a Mercedes-AMG GT Coupé and expect an A-Class price tag.

For what it is, it is still priced below what other brands ask. The aforementioned S-Works comes out at 14.500€ whereas this is 9.500€ - that's a whopping 50% added on top. The Trek starts at 13.500€. The only one that is in the same price region is Canyon. And I am not sure you can actually compare the Aeroad to the RCR-F. Even the other two from Trek and Specialized framesets look less "beefy" as in less aero - which is supposed to be the main spiel of this thing.

So, would I buy this? No, most definitely not. But then again I am far from a world tour pro. Do I find this thing interesting and would love to ride it for a test? Well, heck yeah!

But we are digressing: the actual question was, is there anything like it on the Chinese frameset market. I haven't seen anything, and I would be surprised to see something comparable within a year. I like to be surprised though!

If the question is in aero only then there are plenty of ridiculously shaped frames from China which are usually stupidly stiff, thus unridable beyond very good roads.

The powermeters in the pedal are usually the spindles so you can just purchase new pedal bodies if they wear out.

While it is true, I think spider-based powermeter will work better unless you have more than two bikes and want PM on all of them as it will last forever and requires zero maintenance. I know several people that have Assiomas of different fitness levels, all of them managed to destroy pedal body or brick them during an accident within 3 years. Considering how cheap some options are, one can get some common mounting option (let's say Sram 8 bolt interface) and change cranks if necessary.

I've been using MRX batteries for AXS for a while. Although the capacity is smaller, they are significantly lighter and cheaper so you can carry spare battery without issues and simply get more batteries to not worry about weekly charging.

Hey, thanks for the reply. Great advice! I looked into the crank length topic, and it definitely makes sense now. I’ll try to find a setup with a shorter length (155-165mm) and sell my power meter.

Unfortunately, getting a setup with a spider power meter or power meter pedals will be more expensive...
I guess the cheapest option would be to go with 165mm crank arms. Will I regret not going shorter, like 155mm?

You can buy spider-based option that will fit your current crankset interface and buy some cheaper crankset at shorter lenghts to experiment with it. Or you can go to bike fitter with the proper tools and see how much you can reduce hip to torso angle and how short should you go. I think today 165 mm cranks on TT bike is generally accepted (not by manufacturers) standard.

Which setup/chainrings would you pick for the bike course of the Ironman in Thun (180km/2200m elevation)? Would you be able to do it with a 1x Setup? Or go with 2x chainrings?
Worried I'm grinding up the hills and burn out with the wrong setup. But I will be able to figure it out when I have the bike and do some similar courses.

As I said before, it really depends on your absolute power (which is important on flats) and your w/kg (as it'll affect your speed on climbs). From the gxp file it seems the course rarely has gradients above 6% but has two steady long climbs. Considering it's Ironman and a person has been prepairing for it for a while, one has to approach it as a steady tempo ride (75-86% FTP), I'd change my chainring to 56T and call it a day.
If you have ftp around 3.5-4 w/kg 52-36T front and 11-28/11-30 back will cover your needs. If it's lower or you did not train for such types of effort, than it's better to have a cassette with wider range and lower %FTP.

Hey, thanks for the reply/advice! The selection of cranks and chainrings is unfortunately a bit limited for me because I already have a one-sided power meter with a 172.5mm left crank, and I’m trying to go with a budget-friendly option.

I was planning on using a 52/36 chainring and a 10-36 cassette. I live in Switzerland, and yeah, it's quite hilly here. The event I want to participate in has a bike course with 2,200m of elevation.

Do you reckon my choice of gearing is fine, or should I reconsider? I could spend more money to customize the gearing further if necessary. My current setup is the budget option.

You have to figure out what would be your expected power output for the key sections of the course and select chainring size accordingly.
It really depends on your power output, cadence and actual course (rolling, long climbs, consistent shallow gradient etc.). For example, I have FTP around 350-365, mid season weight 72-75 kg and my TT bike has 1x12 setup with 58T (oval) front and 11-34 rear and during tempo rides (260-290 Watts@90 rpm) I slip into smaller half of the cassette. If I model the actual race scenario, I will push closer to my threshold and I will be even further down the smaller cogs which will cost quite some watts, you have to be closer to the middle of the cassette during your main effort. In this case, I need a bigger chainring, 60T or 62T.

IMHO, unless you have long very shallow gradient or very long stretches of flat terrain between steep climbs, 1.5-2.5 kg lighter road bike would be more beneficial for such event.

My frame will be shipped tomorrow. Planning to assemble the bike in mid April. Will keep you posted.

thanks for this
could you link the battery and charger option for above?
please and thanks
this is why CT is a great forum.
might even buy the new ICAN TT frame in future as it ticks all the boxes for me.
https://www.icanbikes.com/Products-list/carbon-tt-bike-frame/

non uci though!
unless it looks like another UCI approved frame etc

https://mrxsolutions.net/products/2-replacement-batteries-charger-for-sram-axs-etap-xx1-x0-gx-reverb

The capacity is lower, but the battery is also substantially smaller and lighter. I see no disadvantages here - it's still sufficient for ~15h of riding on rolling terrain, or even more as I don't ride my bike every day. Sram tends to charge leak due to occasional wake-ups of the derailleur.