Replica Factor Ostro VAM

[acino]

Hey Team,

Regarding the Ostro replica, has anyone here successfully acquired a frameset from First-Class Carbon Store on Aliexpress?  If so, how long did the process take from order to delivery?

I ordered from this seller and the frame arrived today. Here are my impressions. Ordered on Nov 17, shipped on Dec 8th, arrived on Dec 20th. Dark blue chameleon. I can post pictures of the frame, though I did not take any of the inside since it looked good (read below).

The finish both inside and outside is fantastic. Inside of my frame looks exactly the same as oralmaster's. Outside is flawless except for one small scratch (1x1mm) on the underside of the toptube. I am not sure if this is paint problem or it happened during shipping because the box was massacred to the point I had a heart attack when I picked it up. On the other hand, the frame inside was meticulously wrapped so it's hard to image it got scratched through all that padding. Anyway, it's practically invisible and nothing a bit of nail polish would not fix. No oversprays, caliper mounts nicely faced.

I nearly built the bike already and encountered no major issues. Both seatpost and handlebars were kind hard to slip into their place - not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I was especially fighting with the seatpost. Perhaps it was because of the di2 battery rubber mount is marginally bigger than the seatpost itself. The handlebars are stiff af, I have some muscles and I tried flexing them as much as I could and they did not move a bit. I encountered only one problem while building - the top of the D-shaped plug would not fit inside the fork because the walls were a bit thicker - a bit of sanding fixed this. Unfortunately I could not finish the build because I am a moron and bought T47 instead of T47A BB.

The weight of my frame (size 52) - fork uncut 446 g, frame+hanger 822 g, seatpost+clamp 220 g, handlebars 279 g, d-plug 35 g, headset+all spacers 108 g. The weights are without thruaxles (60?).

[jerozilla]

I ordered from this seller and the frame arrived today. Here are my impressions. Ordered on Nov 17, shipped on Dec 8th, arrived on Dec 20th. Dark blue chameleon. I can post pictures of the frame, though I did not take any of the inside since it looked good (read below).

The finish both inside and outside is fantastic. Inside of my frame looks exactly the same as oralmaster's. Outside is flawless except for one small scratch (1x1mm) on the underside of the toptube. I am not sure if this is paint problem or it happened during shipping because the box was massacred to the point I had a heart attack when I picked it up. On the other hand, the frame inside was meticulously wrapped so it's hard to image it got scratched through all that padding. Anyway, it's practically invisible and nothing a bit of nail polish would not fix. No oversprays, caliper mounts nicely faced.

I nearly built the bike already and encountered no major issues. Both seatpost and handlebars were kind hard to slip into their place - not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I was especially fighting with the seatpost. Perhaps it was because of the di2 battery rubber mount is marginally bigger than the seatpost itself. The handlebars are stiff af, I have some muscles and I tried flexing them as much as I could and they did not move a bit. I encountered only one problem while building - the top of the D-shaped plug would not fit inside the fork because the walls were a bit thicker - a bit of sanding fixed this. Unfortunately I could not finish the build because I am a moron and bought T47 instead of T47A BB.

The weight of my frame (size 52) - fork uncut 446 g, frame+hanger 822 g, seatpost+clamp 220 g, handlebars 279 g, d-plug 35 g, headset+spacer 108 g. The weights are without thruaxles (60?).

Sounds like the quality is consistent, glad to hear the handlebars aren't too noodley someone was saying they were. Did you go for the highest tier option as well? How was the BB facing/threading overall? Should definitely toss some photos up!

[acino]

Sounds like the quality is consistent, glad to hear the handlebars aren't too noodley someone was saying they were. Did you go for the highest tier option as well? How was the BB facing/threading overall? Should definitely toss some photos up!

Yes, highest tier. BB evaluation is pending, as I said I have the wrong BB. Though I can say that I managed to screw the T47 in nearly completely by hand, and only after that I realized there is not enough space for the chainrings and that I need the T47A 

[jerozilla]

Yes, highest tier. BB evaluation is pending, as I said I have the wrong BB. Though I can say that I managed to screw the T47 in nearly completely by hand, and only after that I realized there is not enough space for the chainrings and that I need the T47A 

I ended up going white with black lettering, I wanted to change it to Chrome/black but he said that add 30 days so I said nevermind lol. Which brand BB did you go with? I've been looking at the BBInfinite one's. Thanks for reminding me to get T47A not T47 lol.

[A.V.G]

acino & jerozilla - Thanks for chiming in. 

I bought a frame from First-class on Nov 18, which shipped on Dec 7, but the last tracking update happened on Dec 10, so it seems my frame is trapped in Aliexpress-shipping-purgatory.  IMHO this is BS since First-class charges ~ $133USD for shipping, which I naively assumed that meant it would ship via FedEx or UPS Exp).  All this has me a bit worried, especially since acino got his frame so quickly.  (I'm in the US, btw) 

acino, where in the world are you located and which shipper was used?  jerozilla, you're in Canada?

For anyone else considering buying from F-C on AliX:  I'm 99.9% sure First Class and "RK Ultra Extreme Carbon" are the same seller and probably "Mirror Carbon Fiber" Shop too.  So don't whiz in F-C cheerios and think you'll get better treatment from RK or Mirror. 

[acino]

acino & jerozilla - Thanks for chiming in. 

I bought a frame from First-class on Nov 18, which shipped on Dec 7, but the last tracking update happened on Dec 10, so it seems my frame is trapped in Aliexpress-shipping-purgatory.  IMHO this is BS since First-class charges ~ $133USD for shipping, which I naively assumed that meant it would ship via FedEx or UPS Exp).  All this has me a bit worried, especially since acino got his frame so quickly.  (I'm in the US, btw) 

acino, where in the world are you located and which shipper was used?  jerozilla, you're in Canada?

For anyone else considering buying from F-C on AliX:  I'm 99.9% sure First Class and "RK Ultra Extreme Carbon" are the same seller and probably "Mirror Carbon Fiber" Shop too.  So don't whiz in F-C cheerios and think you'll get better treatment from RK or Mirror.

I would not panic yet. Everytime I ordered something like this from China, there was no update for 7-12 days after leaving China and then it appeared in the destination country. Plus it's Christmas now, so likely these companies/postal services are swamped. I am in Switzerland and the shipping company was, as far as I understand from 1000 labels on the box, EMS. Today I bled the brakes and aligned the calipers, no major issues (no different than few big brand bikes I had in the past). Tiny bit of rubbing in front in one particular location of the rotation, which I always assume is a bit bent rotor. Now I need to find my tool for straightening rotors...

What makes you think they are the same seller?

[A.V.G]

Thanks for the reply, acino.  I'm glad you're build is coming together so well.  It speaks to solid quality. 

My frame is the "ordinary" version, so I'm curious to see how mine differs from yours & others 'top' versions. 

To be 100% clear: F-C has been perfectly responsive to every one of my messages, including my 'where is my frame?!?!?' questions. 
I do not mean to say he's(?) done me dirty, I'd just say he's not totally upfront about the ordering and shipping process. 

As to why I believe RK and F-C are the same: Here is a new listing, with pics of my frame, but on RK's store...
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807990587185.html

[acino]

Thanks for the reply, acino.  I'm glad you're build is coming together so well.  It speaks to solid quality. 

My frame is the "ordinary" version, so I'm curious to see how mine differs from yours & others 'top' versions. 

To be 100% clear: F-C has been perfectly responsive to every one of my messages, including my 'where is my frame?!?!?' questions. 
I do not mean to say he's(?) done me dirty, I'd just say he's not totally upfront about the ordering and shipping process. 

As to why I believe RK and F-C are the same: Here is a new listing, with pics of my frame, but on RK's store...
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807990587185.html

My guess is that he might be just a reseller, which would be congruent with your experience and also why could not answer Serge's questions to his satisfaction (he mentions it somewhere in this thread). I was actually wondering if it could be that these frames are a rogue operation of the Factor factory using now obsolete moulds of the discontinued v1 OSTRO VAM. The dimensions are exactly the same, the weights are extremely close to the original. Even silly details like threaded inserts in the frame, thruaxles have the factor branding. For example, when I unpacked the handlebars, I was confused because it had 1 metal screw and 1 black screw. Googling revealed that the original black inc handlebars (the older version) has the same combination, which is weird. But they are likely just a very good 1:1 copy by someone with a good attention to detail.