I was curious if we could get any ride reports from the members who built up the frame?
I'm heavily considering getting this frame in the near future and was just wondering how it felt ok the road and if anyone could compare it to any other mainstream bikes they've ridden?
Also how offset is the seatpost that it comes with. I've been trying to figure out what size frame to buy. With the offset post I'm leaning towards 50/52. I am 170cm tall with a 79cm inseam?
I'll share some impressions. I'm only at around 500km logged on the bike and I'm comparing this to my previous bike, which is an older 2013 Scott CR1 Pro, so take this FWIW.
- Handling is neutral, as you'd expect from its geometry. It's not a twitchy race or crit bike, but it's responsive enough and confident through corners and on twisty descents. This is something I appreciate, coming from my jittery Scott.
- Ride quality is pretty compliant. I can feel the road but much less of the impact vs. my Scott, if that makes any sense. I have 32mm tires (on wheels with steel - not carbon - spokes) so I'm sure that contributes to the ride quality.
- It's pretty fast. Compared to my Scott, I average 1 - 1.5 km/h faster on my endurance rides. I haven't done too many high intensity efforts but I expect the aero qualities to shine through even more when I do. I don't know if this is just about the frame from an aero perspective: I put on narrower 38cm bars and 45mm wheels, so it's probably the overall package.
- I took the bike on a local climb that averages ~7.5%, where aerodynamics don't come into play, and set a PB (even though I've done mostly base miles recently). This bike is pretty close in weight to my Scott, so it wasn't about weight savings. On steeper climbs, it's more about power and rolling resistance. Frame stiffness (and that ginormous T47 BB) probably helps with more efficient power application, and my new-ish GP5000 with TPU tubes contribute on the rolling resistance front. So the whole bike probably contributes to added speed on climbs, not just the frame.
- Acceleration is pretty good. I mentioned before that on my first few rides through traffic, I had to soft pedal a few times when I found myself getting up to speed a bit quicker than what I was used to.
So, overall, I think the ride is pretty much the all-arounder that it's billed as. I've been pretty happy with it. I haven't ridden other Chinese frames or more modern big brand frames to make those comparisons, but I think what Peak Torque said in one of his videos is probably right: once you get these Chinese frames built up, it's hard to tell them apart.
The seat post offset is around 20mm but you can ask LT to confirm.
I'm 174cm with 78cm inseam and got the 52, which fits me pretty well. I almost got the 50 because I was also a bit worried about the seat post offset impact on reach, but the 52 worked out well for me with the narrower bars helping to reduce the reach a bit to fit me.
Hope this helps!
