Are AliEx/open mold carbon bikes common in your area?

[Schumo]

I think I haven't seen any other Chiner bike in wild, neither on- or offroad, besides my friend who owns a Carbonda and a Velobuild.

The "normie" is scared of Carbon, especially if it's off AliX / directly from China and gets some massive overtraveled EMTB through a company bike lease scheme.

[carbonazza]

Yeah, plenty ... that I've helped to build  obviously in the various clubs I ride with! By word of mouth.
And now they are making kids too.
Some see the bikes, talk to the owner, get convinced, and build one by themselves, especially if the builder has a good presence on Youtube, like Winspace, Trifox, Yoeleo,... These are overpriced stickers to me, but it gives them more confidence to jump.

[s3si1u]

Just saw my first open mold out in the wild today here in Southern California
I was driving to pick up a pizza and saw a guy on what looked like an SL7 inspired frame. VB 168, TFSA or something like that, definitely an open mold.

[jonathanf2]

Just saw my first open mold out in the wild today here in Southern California
I was driving to pick up a pizza and saw a guy on what looked like an SL7 inspired frame. VB 168, TFSA or something like that, definitely an open mold.

Sure it wasn't me? Lol

[s3si1u]

Sure it wasn't me? Lol

White frame with black fork?

[jonathanf2]

White frame with black fork?

Naw all my frames are black. I ride in the LA area. You'll most likely see me at Griffith Park or cruising the LA River trail when doing road.

[s3si1u]

Naw all my frames are black. I ride in the LA area. You'll most likely see me at Griffith Park or cruising the LA River trail when doing road.

ah yeah I'm in Southern California but the opposite end of the LA area. Never ridden the LA River but occasionally ride San Gabriel.

[Sebastian]

Pretty uncommon in my area of Germany. Though the more premium options like Winspace and Seka are picking up. I did a 400k event this summer and I was one of two guys on open mold frames. And I got a lot of questions about it.

Mind you I finished top 20 so the bike clearly didn’t slow me down.

[PLA]

Never seen one where I am

[MattL]

Not quite common but i've seen two "microbrands" selling gravel bikes with Carbonda/SpCycle frames, nothing wrong with this, the problem is they're labelling them as "Made in Italy" 

[Dark17]

In a way, it's famous here in the Philippines because I see a lot of branded open mold frames such as Elves, Winspace. We also have some local brands which is for sure are open mold frames such as Devel, RSID, Ecnal and many more. Tho I see some bikes that is like straight from AliEx (afaik I spotted 3 in the wild so far) because we have our own local version of AliExpress which is Lazada and some brands such as Lexon, BXT, Carbomania are selling frames there.

And then there's carbon brands like Sagmit, Mountainpeak, Java, Twitter and Kespor.

I also saw a Pardus bike in the wild.

[jonathanf2]

In a way, it's famous here in the Philippines because I see a lot of branded open mold frames such as Elves, Winspace. We also have some local brands which is for sure are open mold frames such as Devel, RSID, Ecnal and many more. Tho I see some bikes that is like straight from AliEx (afaik I spotted 3 in the wild so far) because we have our own local version of AliExpress which is Lazada and some brands such as Lexon, BXT, Carbomania are selling frames there.

And then there's carbon brands like Sagmit, Mountainpeak, Java, Twitter and Kespor.

I also saw a Pardus bike in the wild.

What's your opinion of the Ave Maldea steel frames from the Philippines?

[amacal1]

I do own a Poseidon X gravel frameset and that's the only domestic direct-to-consumer bike I've seen grown in popularity.

Big shoutout to Poseidon. I also own an X frameset so I'm familiar and I keep tabs on what they're up to. I've had to reach out to them a handful of times for replacement parts and dropouts. I'm glad they're still doing well and I have seem one other Poseidon out in the wild, even out in the boondocks where I'm from, so that's a good thing.

Their build specs and pricepoints and the fact that they offer a warranty is wild. Yeah, they're not selling super high-end stuff, but their pricepoints are great for their builds. And, there are nice little future-proof features built into their frames that show they care a little (like the internal porting that allowed me to do Di2/Ltwoo wiring for electronic shifting). They now sell the X as just a frameset. Yeah, it's a little bit more than you'd pay for an allow frameset from Ali, but it comes with a lifetime warranty and you can get replacement dropouts. 10/10

[jonathanf2]

Big shoutout to Poseidon. I also own an X frameset so I'm familiar and I keep tabs on what they're up to. I've had to reach out to them a handful of times for replacement parts and dropouts. I'm glad they're still doing well and I have seem one other Poseidon out in the wild, even out in the boondocks where I'm from, so that's a good thing.

Their build specs and pricepoints and the fact that they offer a warranty is wild. Yeah, they're not selling super high-end stuff, but their pricepoints are great for their builds. And, there are nice little future-proof features built into their frames that show they care a little (like the internal porting that allowed me to do Di2/Ltwoo wiring for electronic shifting). They now sell the X as just a frameset. Yeah, it's a little bit more than you'd pay for an allow frameset from Ali, but it comes with a lifetime warranty and you can get replacement dropouts. 10/10

Their headquarters are local to me. Though I've never visited. State Bicycles seems to be their main competitor to the direct-to-consumer market. Though State has a more comprehensive line-up of steel, alloy, carbon, titanium and both mechanical & electronic groupset offerings. Poseidon probably has an arrangement with Microshift since that's the only groupset brand they offer. I hope they stay relevant, they do hit a consumer friendly price-point with decent components.

I'd say amongst casual gravel rides I've been on; Poseidon, State, All-City and Surly tend to be the most common. Then you have a bunch of old school rigid MTB frames and either the titanium and/or custom steel guys. Carbon is still a bit bougie for the US gravel scene, unless you're a roadie adjacent gravel'ist!