I built what I consider to be my all-road bike using this frame, with the first proper ride yesterday.
tl;dr Overall, I'm satisfied. I like the look, although I realise it's polarizing. Buy it if you're looking for a
really cheap frame for a budget build, but expect some hassles during the build process. You can probably find better frames for just a bit more money. And a matte black frame would likely have fewer issues caused by paint overspray.
I don't ride gravel - there isn't much of it where I live. But there are plenty of national parks that are great for riding, in nature and with minimal traffic. The challenge is the terrible paved road surfaces - coarse chip seal with cracks, ridges, potholes, erosion at the edges, etc. Add on steep and windy descents, and it's enough to dent my confidence. So I was looking to build a bike that would help me handle those conditions better, with space for wide tyres, a longer wheelbase, slacker head tube angle, more trail, and with a lower BB to compensate for chunkier tyres. In other words, a gravel frame. Maybe even throw in a flared handlebar for good measure.
On my ride yesterday I set PBs on the technical descents along my course, so it seems to be doing what I hoped it would. The overall time for the whole ride was a little slower than previous rides on my endurance bike though. Whether that's more down to the wider tyres with lower pressure, or me having spent more time building a bike rather than training lately is hard to tell.
I ordered the frame in size S, painted Pearl White, without handlebars. The seller was Surprised Store on AliExpress, they sold the frame as "Ceccotti RF25". Frame cost was US$ 410 all up, including shipping, Australian sales tax (10%), and with AliExpress+store coupons.
Weight of the built bike including pedals, Garmin Edge out-front mount, Varia seatpost mount, and bottle cages: 8.2 kg (or 18.1 lbs for those of you who prefer nonsensical units
). The painted frame size S with all bolts, axles, hangers, and grommets removed was 1075g. The uncut fork was 404g, seatpost 204g, the included thru axles 68g.
On the frame, the good:
- Packaging was very good - actually I'd say exceptional.
- The fork steerer was flawless - even wall thickness, no pitting, and my vernier calipers suggest that it is round.
- The inside of the seat tube was very smooth - no unevenness, tenting, or loose fibers.
- The included seatpost has a rough texture at the clamping area, and it hasn't slipped, with the bolt in the wedge torqued to 4 Nm.
- Routing the hydraulic hose and the mechanical shift cables with foam tubing through the frame was straightforward, so that suggests reasonably clean internal surfaces, even though this is not an EPS frame AFAIK.
- It works great with 2x mechanical shifting.
- No brake rub after adjustment, even with all the paint overspray (see "the bad" below). Perhaps this is due to the forgiving L-Twoo calipers?
- Two mounting positions for the front derailleur hanger enables using 2x chainrings ranging from subcompact to standard.
- Came with a T47-24i bottom bracket and two spare rear derailleur hangers.
- Grommets for both mechanical and electronic shift cables included.
- The headset dust cover with cable entry port for using a regular bar and stem actually fit the frame, unlike the one that VeloBuild supplied with their 066 frame.
- The rubber cover for the seatpost clamp stays in place.
The bad:
- Paint overspray! So much paint overspray!. On the brake caliper mounts, the brake hose exit port on the fork, and the thru axle "dropouts". And all of the mounting points for bottles and mudguards/fenders on the frame are rough to thread in.
- The threads of the bottom bracket shell were very rough on the NDS, not because of paint overspray, just shoddy workmanship. I tried to clean the threads up with a file, but in the end I took it to my LBS to have them chase the threads. Drive side threads were fine.
- The seat for the top headset bearing was very rough at the front of the seat. The bearing didn't sit flat (it rocked), and there was a loose and sharp piece of carbon fibre sticking out. I saw traces of paint in there, so I suspect there had been paint overspray, and then someone had used a reamer without much care. I fixed it by smoothing it out and building it up using multiple coats of nail polish. The seat for the lower headset bearing was fine.
- I'm using the included headset for a regular bar and stem, and it fits well. However, the headset uses a C-shaped aluminium compression ring that I'm wary of using longer term. All of its edges are chamfered and smooth, which is somewhat reassuring, but I'd still prefer another solution longer term. The Ritchey upper headset that I used on my previous VeloBuild doesn't fit, as the dust cover sits way too high (or the top bearing doesn't sit deep enough in the frame). Same for the headset that came with the Mosso stem from AliExpress. If someone has suggestions for an alternative headset with a compression ring that wraps around the whole steerer, I'd love to hear!
The minor annoyances:
- The saddle rail clamp uses a 5mm bolt at the rear and a 6mm bolt at the front
. - The seatpost doesn't have height adjustment markers.
- The angle of the front derailleur shift cable cable stop/exit port near the bottom bracket makes the mechanical shift housing interfere with installation of the bottom bracket. The bottom bracket I used had a soft plastic shell that was easily deformed by the shift housing, but I managed to line up the sleeve with the cups eventually. A bottom bracket with a stiffer sleeve would likely be much easier to install.
- I asked for a fork without mounting points, as I don't plan to take this bike packing. The seller just painted over the mounting points - I can just about see them through the paint when I look up close.
- The crank arms run so close to the chainstays that a cadence sensor won't fit on the inside of the NDS crank arm when using a Shimano road crankset. I suspect that single-sided NDS crank arm-based power meters (4iiii, Stages) on Shimano road cranksets also wouldn't fit with their protruding pods. Might be fine with GRX cranksets? Fortunately my power meter pedals measure cadence.
- Not the frame, but my L-Twoo R9 set came with two subtly different brake calipers. One was branded just "L-Twoo", the other "L-Twoo R9". The one branded "L-Twoo" used an Allen/Hex key for the bleed port bolt, while the one branded "L-Twoo R9" used a Torx key! #ltwoolife
And finally, the hilarious:
- The whole side of the shipping box was covered with stamps! (see attached photo)
Components:
- Shifters and brakes: L-Twoo R9 hydraulic disc with 2x11-speed mechanical shifting. A lot has been written and said about these shifters, and I don't have a long term review. But I will say that I really love the ergonomics, especially using the thumb shifters, from both the hoods and the drops. And they look much better than the bulbous Shimano 105 ST-R7020 mechanical/hydraulic shifters IMNSHO.
- Rear derailleur: Shimano GRX RD-RX810 11 speed
- Front derailleur: Shimano 105 FD-R7000-F
- Crankset: Shimano 105 FC-R7100 with 50/34T chainrings, 170mm crank arms
- Cassette: Goldix one-piece monobloc CNC, 11-34T. Rear shifts are very smooth with the derailleur clutch off, but a little less smooth with the clutch on. Maybe I should try to adjust the derailleur clutch tension to be less tight?
- Chain: Shimano CN-HG701, immersion hot waxed
- Brake rotors: Meroca RT-RX 160mm x2
- Stem: UNO aluminium 7050 110mm 7 degrees drop
- Handlebars: Specialized Short Reach Flare aluminium 38cm, with 12 degree flare, so 42cm in the drops. 70mm reach, 119mm drop.
- Tyres: Vittoria Corsa N.EXT 34mm tube-type, measure 34mm on the wheels I use.
- Inner tubes: RideNow 39g all-road TPU tubes
- Wheels: EliteWheels Edge Gravel 45mm deep, 31mm external width, 24mm internal width, steel bearings.
- Pedals: Garmin Rally RK100 (transferred from another bike)
- Shift housing: Shimano OptiSlick - purchased an MTB kit for sufficient full-length housing.
- Saddle: Mixed 5D. Not bad, but I'll probably swap it for the 7D.
