New frame: Longteng RD301-D

[Crucial97]

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!

Thanks,
That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. It seems like I'll probably be okay with the 52 then. What length of stem did you go with?

This frame seems to fit the bill for what I'm looking for. Also Alisa said that the thru axle issue has been completely solved as soon as someone brought it up.

[Ahodesu05]

Thanks,
That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. It seems like I'll probably be okay with the 52 then. What length of stem did you go with?

This frame seems to fit the bill for what I'm looking for. Also Alisa said that the thru axle issue has been completely solved as soon as someone brought it up.

I don’t have a slammed cockpit (just thinking about that makes my back and shoulders ache…), with about 4mm drop from my saddle to stem. I have a 100mm stem, 110mm would have been fine too. I think with my size, the 52 is just right. With a 50, I suspect I might be a bit too far forward in terms of weight distribution.

I should ask Alisa to send me the right through axle!

[Crucial97]

You should ask her for the right one.
Thanks for the information!

[Crucial97]

Something to note. I had asked for a picture of the fork and confirmed that you should be able to use a FSA NO.69 or a Ritchie E logic IS headset with the RD301 frame that way you don't have to be stuck with an integrated stem/bar combo.

[Ahodesu05]

You got charged for it, so yes! did you get / pay for the sock that goes into the down tube? Having ridden quite a bit my 268, i'd say, consider ordering an extra set of headset bearings, for eg (these fully integrated bikes have much worse weather proofing of the top bearing than old school full external stuff with a big nice tight lip over the bearing). that way they still sell you something as they fix their mistake, it's less of a net loss to them.

But, but, I need a reason to upgrade my TA!  Lol i think the reason all of us are on this forum and talking about Chinese bike and bits is that we are for better or worse endlessly tinkering. So give me my excuse to tinker with something that might give me like .005g of weight saving!

I got the storage sock for free, they gave it to me when they were late in delivering the frame.

[julienb]

Hello
I have just received my Tantan FM301 size 58. Ordered in December and received end of Jan.

Overall pretty satisfied with what i have seen so far and attention to details but i am still building the bike.

However i am very surprised and concerned by the lack of clearance between the frame and the small chainring. The original plan was to fit a Rotor Adlhu crank that i had but i will have to buy a new axle with bigger Q factor (Gravel 24mm axle with 152mm Q). I don't think this bike should be built with a regular road axle (147mm Q for Rotor Aldhu). The issue is coming from the downtube being almost as wide as the BB.

What do you think ?

[kwantani]

Yes I raised this concern on lack of clearance between downtube and small chainring, when I first got my RD301d. I applied some protective tapes on the downtube/BB area where I think it has a high risk of being scratched should the chain dropped.

Hello
I have just received my Tantan FM301 size 58. Ordered in December and received end of Jan.

Overall pretty satisfied with what i have seen so far and attention to details but i am still building the bike.

However i am very surprised and concerned by the lack of clearance between the frame and the small chainring. The original plan was to fit a Rotor Adlhu crank that i had but i will have to buy a new axle with bigger Q factor (Gravel 24mm axle with 152mm Q). I don't think this bike should be built with a regular road axle (147mm Q for Rotor Aldhu). The issue is coming from the downtube being almost as wide as the BB.

What do you think ?

[kwantani]

Existing RD301d users, does your headset rubbing with the upper headtube when turning? Mine does. Plan to grind off the plastic cover spacer that's rubbing with the headtube. If it happened on yours how do you address it?

[Chiyou]

Existing RD301d users, does your headset rubbing with the upper headtube when turning? Mine does. Plan to grind off the plastic cover spacer that's rubbing with the headtube. If it happened on yours how do you address it?

Maybe use a headset shim, something like this? https://shop.fullspeedahead.com/en/spacers/road-mtb/micro-spacer

[julienb]

It either fits, or it doesnt. The chain is always far away from the area where the ring almost meets the frame. As long as this "almost" is more than zero by a sufficient margin to maybe allow for some flex and grit, then no problem. And sometimes you have to use a shim. I had the problem with a non shimano crankset on a velobuild gravel frame, i had to shim it a tiny bit. It just needs to clear the frame, you dont need ample space.

Well, i disagree. There needs to be a minimum gap, at least as wide as a chain width to cope with chain fall off, debris...

And in my case, my power meter does not fit. Hopefully it will with the gravel axle and 3mm worth of spacers.

[kwantani]

Thanks you for the pointer! Q: how much works to install a headset shim like this? Need to re-do all the internal cabling routing over the HS?

Maybe use a headset shim, something like this? https://shop.fullspeedahead.com/en/spacers/road-mtb/micro-spacer

[Chiyou]

I should have been more careful in my advice: chances are that you'll want a C-shaped shim rather than an O-shaped one. See part 04 on this Deda parts diagram as an example (part code HDDCRMS - DCR microspacer).

https://dedaelementi.com/media/catalog/product/attachment//d/c/dcr_headsets.pdf

Hopefully, a C-shim won't require much disassembly; make sure though that the dimensions of the shim match those of your headset.

[maza]

I should have been more careful in my advice: chances are that you'll want a C-shaped shim rather than an O-shaped one. See part 04 on this Deda parts diagram as an example (part code HDDCRMS - DCR microspacer).

https://dedaelementi.com/media/catalog/product/attachment//d/c/dcr_headsets.pdf

Hopefully, a C-shim won't require much disassembly; make sure though that the dimensions of the shim match those of your headset.

Side cutters are great for converting O-shaped things to C-shapes.

[kwantani]

Thanks for clarifying. Yeah C shim seems more straight forward, can just insert it without disassemble the whole HS stack.

[Ahodesu05]

Dumb question incoming: does anyone know what the heck this is?

I was cleaning my drive train, specifically the cassette, when this plastic thing fell off. (At first I thought it was a huge piece of gunk lol.) Is it part of the rear derailleur or something?