Gravel frameset recommendations, anything I've missed?

[Daviddavieboy]

Everyone has a different taste but imo most people chose ugly paintjobs and spec it with not the best fitting parts. Is a very sporty looking frame with long slammed -17 stem. Also can't agree it's a dog uphill. Mine climbs like a dream. Weight 8.5kg is good for a gravel bike.

 Each to their own opinions I guess. To be fair I ride 80% road so I am comparing climbing with it to my SuperSix, Opera or even a Master I have that was designed in the 80's. Also it's not quite as good climbing as my CrossCheck on or off road but WAY more stable. It's also heavier than yours at about 21lbs with no accessories, 2x SRAM Force AXS and 50mm Elite wheels w/35mm Gravelkings set up tubeless - size large.

  I do love the bike and is my daily rider now and I also like the unique look.

[coffeebreak]

Mine climbs like a dream. Weight 8.5kg is good for a gravel bike.

Personally I will not do such aggressive setup on a gravel bike but gotta agree - that bike does look good. Nice colors too.

I know you try to shill Peter hard everywhere but lets not make a comedy out of it with false claims like that

Finally someone said it.
With the amount of shilling going on here for Peter I am kinda apprehensive now and turned off about this whole personified business.

[jonathanf2]

I'm curious why most these builds with the G056 frameset are coming 8kg plus? My goal is to keep my next gravel build 7.5kg or less. I would love to hit 7kg or less, but I'd have to invest in a new wheelset or go source a Crux frameset. Does the T47 thread inserts plus BB add unnecessary weight?

Finally someone said it.
With the amount of shilling going on here for Peter I am kinda apprehensive now and turned off about this whole personified business.

I did message him regarding one of his frames, but I didn't find his pricing was competitive for what I was looking for. Plus I was quoted additional costs for added components that come included with other sellers. Also I'm starting to find really solid vendors on AliExpress. For example 80 Design Store and Easedon Wheels have been great to work with. AliEx has direct messaging, I don't see how there's no direct customer interaction?

[Tijoe]

Regarding 29er hardails for gravel bikes,  attached is a pic of frame geometries for my gravel frame versus my 29er hardtail that I often use as a gravel bike.   
One can quickly see the frame differences.   I am still on a quest to source a Chiner carbon gravel frame that has a boost rear triangle that fits at least 50mm to 2.2 tires, with a wider BB shell, so I can build a 1X12 gravel bike that has gravel bike frame geometry, but with the comfort and shock absorbing features of big tires using MTB 29er low rolling resistance tires.

[kubackje]

Personally I will not do such aggressive setup on a gravel bike but gotta agree - that bike does look good. Nice colors too.

Finally someone said it.
With the amount of shilling going on here for Peter I am kinda apprehensive now and turned off about this whole personified business.

The saddle to bar drop is around 6/7cm so not that aggressive like on a road bike, but to achieve that I needed -17 stem as I run my saddle lower then people my height 187cm ( around 76/77cm). But I am rather team long torso I prefer longer reach also therefore 110 stem. This setup allows me to be really comfortable and connected on this bike.

As for Peter I think he has great products and great customer service. So I understand all the recommendation. But I don't see any reason to downplay other manufacturers with false claims. I have only good things to say about sp cycle as a product and customer service and that's albo been an experience of my colleagues.

[kubackje]

I'm curious why most these builds with the G056 frameset are coming 8kg plus? My goal is to keep my next gravel build 7.5kg or less. I would love to hit 7kg or less, but I'd have to invest in a new wheelset or go source a Crux frameset. Does the T47 thread inserts plus BB add unnecessary weight?

It's a gravel bike, not that easy to get it to 7.5kg which is a weight of most TdF bikes. My road bike Scott addict rc with dura ace and many light components including carbon spoked wheels, light tires, TPU tubes, light cassette etc is 7kg without pedals, cages etc. so 7.35kg ready to ride. And that's really good weight. I can only go down more with lightweight carbon crankset (around 200g saving), superlight thru axles and maybe some crazy 100g bare carbon saddle (no way I'm doing that).

My gravel has all the light components also. Light carbon wheels 1420g, sram xx1 cassette and Rd, sram force crankset+ power meter. Only way I could save weight here is go to some crazy light wheels, red crankset, smaller lighter tires and light integrated cockpit. But I still don't think that would get me to 7.5kg from 8.5kg now (without pedals).

Don't get me wrong I'm a weight weenie myself but we all overestimate how much it matters (especially on gravel). I treat weight weeniesm more like a hobby then performance gains nowadays. Even Dylan Johnson who is a marginal gains freak said that out of 4 most important marginal gains weight is at last place. People put so much "weight on weight" because it's the easiest to measure and see for yourself. While things like aero and rolling resistance are a little harder to see and understand for most people.

All that said I still love a feeling of a light snappy road bike

[jonathanf2]

Regarding 29er hardails for gravel bikes,  attached is a pic of frame geometries for my gravel frame versus my 29er hardtail that I often use as a gravel bike.   
One can quickly see the frame differences.   I am still on a quest to source a Chiner carbon gravel frame that has a boost rear triangle that fits at least 50mm to 2.2 tires, with a wider BB shell, so I can build a 1X12 gravel bike that has gravel bike frame geometry, but with the comfort and shock absorbing features of big tires using MTB 29er low rolling resistance tires.

At this point if you can't find it in carbon, why not get a custom titanium frame built to your specs? I've seen carbon forks accommodate 60c tires,  you'd just need a titanium frame to match your rear triangle and BB shell requirements. It might take awhile for a Chinese carbon equivalent to be released.

[jonathanf2]

It's a gravel bike, not that easy to get it to 7.5kg which is a weight of most TdF bikes. My road bike Scott addict rc with dura ace and many light components including carbon spoked wheels, light tires, TPU tubes, light cassette etc is 7kg without pedals, cages etc. so 7.35kg ready to ride. And that's really good weight. I can only go down more with lightweight carbon crankset (around 200g saving), superlight thru axles and maybe some crazy 100g bare carbon saddle (no way I'm doing that).

My gravel has all the light components also. Light carbon wheels 1420g, sram xx1 cassette and Rd, sram force crankset+ power meter. Only way I could save weight here is go to some crazy light wheels, red crankset, smaller lighter tires and light integrated cockpit. But I still don't think that would get me to 7.5kg from 8.5kg now (without pedals).

Don't get me wrong I'm a weight weenie myself but we all overestimate how much it matters (especially on gravel). I treat weight weeniesm more like a hobby then performance gains nowadays. Even Dylan Johnson who is a marginal gains freak said that out of 4 most important marginal gains weight is at last place. People put so much "weight on weight" because it's the easiest to measure and see for yourself. While things like aero and rolling resistance are a little harder to see and understand for most people.

All that said I still love a feeling of a light snappy road bike

I do ride anywhere between a 49-to-52cm size frameset which might account for reduced weight. For gravel, I'm not running anything out of ordinary. Elita One seat post, RYET saddle, Spedao cassette, Wellgo SPD pedals, integrated carbon drop bars, 1x GRX RD/calipers paired to Ultegra shifters, Riro crankset, Passquest chainring, Ultegra PF BB, $6 USD disc rotors and a 29er 30x30 carbon disc wheelset on tubeless 38c GK knobbys. Almost everything is off-the-shelf AliEx parts.

Also I know weight isn't everything, I've been dropped on hillclimbs by cyclists who can either output high sustained watts or are lightweight feathers themselves!

[coffeebreak]

I did message him regarding one of his frames, but I didn't find his pricing was competitive for what I was looking for. Plus I was quoted additional costs for added components that come included with other sellers. Also I'm starting to find really solid vendors on AliExpress. For example 80 Design Store and Easedon Wheels have been great to work with. AliEx has direct messaging, I don't see how there's no direct customer interaction?

Same. You can talk to Elitewheels too. In fact some of the Elitewheels guys seem to be sitting in the USA as they reply in US times. When I bought their wheels, they shipped it from USA thru UPS 3 day. Completely fuss free transaction. I bought Easedon too and there is indeed direct communication with the seller. Vendors like that were always on Aliexpress IMO. I got custom finish, spokes, hubs etc. Spec to spec, the wheels from Peter were straight $150 extra over what I paid on Aliexpress for Easedon because he wanted $100 for shipping v/s $10 for Easedon. And I don't care who made them. It could be Peter, it could be Tommy it could be Jackie Chan even. I understand rim brake wheels are going fast out of fashion but that is some hefty penalty for "personal" service. What do I, as a customer looking to buy one wheelset in a year stand to gain by getting into good books of a seller on Whatsapp? The shilling has reached bonkers level on this forum in last few months.

[PeterXu]

Same. You can talk to Elitewheels too. In fact some of the Elitewheels guys seem to be sitting in the USA as they reply in US times. When I bought their wheels, they shipped it from USA thru UPS 3 day. Completely fuss free transaction. I bought Easedon too and there is indeed direct communication with the seller. Vendors like that were always on Aliexpress IMO. I got custom finish, spokes, hubs etc. Spec to spec, the wheels from Peter were straight $150 extra over what I paid on Aliexpress for Easedon because he wanted $100 for shipping v/s $10 for Easedon. And I don't care who made them. It could be Peter, it could be Tommy it could be Jackie Chan even. I understand rim brake wheels are going fast out of fashion but that is some hefty penalty for "personal" service. What do I, as a customer looking to buy one wheelset in a year stand to gain by getting into good books of a seller on Whatsapp? The shilling has reached bonkers level on this forum in last few months.

It is really rediculous, I don't know where the shilling comes from, guys, please check my registered date on this forum, and check the early threads in the vendor discussion & reviews section, and you also can see "More reviews on our products chinertown.com " buttom at the top right of our website, maybe you don't know how this chinertown forum came, you can see earliest posts here, even more posts in "Chinese carbon 29er" and "Chinese Carbon fatty"on MTBR, Peter always just cares about the products quality and service. You guys sent inquiries or asked questions to me, if I didn't reply, I'm so sorry, to you several guys, but no matter PM or email, even just post a question asking me, I replied all of them, right ? Or did I compel you guys to buy stuff from me?  No offence.
Different buyers are looking for different target pricing items, at the same time, different vendors have their own company orientation, like Farsports, Light Bicycle, TanTan, Yishun and us. If you don't like our products or service, you can look for proper pricing items somewhere else. If you have bought our products and feel bad on them and think our after-sale serivce horrible, you can say any bad words here or anywhere else, I take that.
I have been doing this business for 14 years, I know what people care, but I can't please everyone and for some reason I have mentioned in my promotion thread we don't sell on aliexpress. As a manufacturer, we attend to many bicycle fair like Interbike and Eorubike, so we have numbers of OEM clients brands to cooperate and service, like Yuanan does. Why I posting here and the only thing I say to my clients especially DIY guys who have bought our products on the forum, if they feel good on our products and our service,  leave some pertinent words and do some reviews if possible, to let more guys know and talk about our products, this can help us to make sure we are on the right way to make right stuff.
Thank you for your critical comments, this would help us too. Let products and top service say words.

[rasch]

It is really rediculous, I don't know where the shilling comes from, guys, please check my registered date on this forum, and check the early threads in the vendor discussion & reviews section, and you also can see "More reviews on our products chinertown.com " buttom at the top right of our website, maybe you don't know how this chinertown forum came, you can see earliest posts here, even more posts in "Chinese carbon 29er" and "Chinese Carbon fatty"on MTBR, Peter always just cares about the products quality and service. You guys sent inquiries or asked questions to me, if I didn't reply, I'm so sorry, to you several guys, but no matter PM or email, even just post a question asking me, I replied all of them, right ? Or did I compel you guys to buy stuff from me?  No offence.
Different buyers are looking for different target pricing items, at the same time, different vendors have their own company orientation, like Farsports, Light Bicycle, TanTan, Yishun and us. If you don't like our products or service, you can look for proper pricing items somewhere else. If you have bought our products and feel bad on them and think our after-sale serivce horrible, you can say any bad words here or anywhere else, I take that.
I have been doing this business for 14 years, I know what people care, but I can't please everyone and for some reason I have mentioned in my promotion thread we don't sell on aliexpress. As a manufacturer, we attend to many bicycle fair like Interbike and Eorubike, so we have numbers of OEM clients brands to cooperate and service, like Yuanan does. Why I posting here and the only thing I say to my clients especially DIY guys who have bought our products on the forum, if they feel good on our products and our service,  leave some pertinent words and do some reviews if possible, to let more guys know and talk about our products, this can help us to make sure we are on the right way to make right stuff.
Thank you for your critical comments, this would help us too. Let products and top service say words.

I don't think it's anything against you here, Peter

You have a good reputation that you have built throughout these years. All clients of you say good things even if they don't end up buying from you. So in summary, we "know how good your product is".

The pricing is always a no question here though users were putting it. There are cases where it's more expensive, others cheaper. It's a no question as some people prefer to pay less, others are comfortable to pay more and have better support/answers. In my case, as I told you back then, I ended up going for Yuanan because they had a cheaper shipping (50% less) but could go to yours on my next build (though as I say usually I'm sourcing everything from the same factory, currently Tantan).


I think here most users are actually pointing the finger to Serge... All the posts we see about him lately mention you which makes it sound "too pushy" in the sense of almost feel like advertising. It may or may not be, I could not care less about it, but I agree it feels "false" seeing all his posts mentioning you.

But again, this is my feeling.

Would I be ok in buying from you? of course I would. Will I? When some of your products fit my interest/my clients interest. Most people here in the forum feel the same I think. 

[PeterXu]

I don't think it's anything against you here, Peter

You have a good reputation that you have built throughout these years. All clients of you say good things even if they don't end up buying from you. So in summary, we "know how good your product is".

The pricing is always a no question here though users were putting it. There are cases where it's more expensive, others cheaper. It's a no question as some people prefer to pay less, others are comfortable to pay more and have better support/answers. In my case, as I told you back then, I ended up going for Yuanan because they had a cheaper shipping (50% less) but could go to yours on my next build (though as I say usually I'm sourcing everything from the same factory, currently Tantan).


I think here most users are actually pointing the finger to Serge... All the posts we see about him lately mention you which makes it sound "too pushy" in the sense of almost feel like advertising. It may or may not be, I could not care less about it, but I agree it feels "false" seeing all his posts mentioning you.

But again, this is my feeling.

Would I be ok in buying from you? of course I would. Will I? When some of your products fit my interest/my clients interest. Most people here in the forum feel the same I think.

Sure. Buying from us or some company else or Aliexpress is all OK to me. I don't say any bad words pointing to any competitor publicly or behind his back. All suppliers should put most effort into better quality and best service, this would move carbon bike business forward. Again, we don't do any shilling stuff, people have their own different choices and voices. We have sponsored several giveaways on this forum since 2015, like frame, rims, wheels, our original intention is to have more guys using Chinese carbon stuff and giving some reviews to make products better and better.

[Tijoe]

At this point if you can't find it in carbon, why not get a custom titanium frame built to your specs? I've seen carbon forks accommodate 60c tires,  you'd just need a titanium frame to match your rear triangle and BB shell requirements. It might take awhile for a Chinese carbon equivalent to be released.

Been there, done that.  I have 2 Waltly TI frames I had manufactured to custom geometry.   For these frames, I went the multipurpose route where I went Superboost and have sliders on back.  I can fit up to 4.4" wide tires in back and swap the front fork to a rigid fat tire wheel.   I use this as my primary Bike camping bike during the summer.  It also has a long wheelbase and has a slack HT angle.   The only negative is that the frame weighs over a pound more than my carbon HT Carbon frame that I sometimes configure for use as a Bikepacking.

For the gravel frame I am looking for, I want around a 1 KG or less frame.  Hard to do in Titanium.   

I have a progression of bike types to match my riding needs/styles.    Full suspension MTBs, to 29er Hardtails with Suspension fork, to 29er hardtail with rigid fork, to 29er hardtail Bike-camping to 29er fully rigid long distance Bikepacking to (Missing-one I want referenced in this thread), an all gravel road/trail gravel-bike-geometry based Racing bikepacking/day trip, to gravel bike to road bikes.  (7 rideable bikes, 2 more bikes in different stages of assembly, due to mixing and matching parts.)

[jonathanf2]

Been there, done that.  I have 2 Waltly TI frames I had manufactured to custom geometry.   For these frames, I went the multipurpose route where I went Superboost and have sliders on back.  I can fit up to 4.4" wide tires in back and swap the front fork to a rigid fat tire wheel.   I use this as my primary Bike camping bike during the summer.  It also has a long wheelbase and has a slack HT angle.   The only negative is that the frame weighs over a pound more than my carbon HT Carbon frame that I sometimes configure for use as a Bikepacking.

For the gravel frame I am looking for, I want around a 1 KG or less frame.  Hard to do in Titanium.   

I have a progression of bike types to match my riding needs/styles.    Full suspension MTBs, to 29er Hardtails with Suspension fork, to 29er hardtail with rigid fork, to 29er hardtail Bike-camping to 29er fully rigid long distance Bikepacking to (Missing-one I want referenced in this thread), an all gravel road/trail gravel-bike-geometry based Racing bikepacking/day trip, to gravel bike to road bikes.  (7 rideable bikes, 2 more bikes in different stages of assembly, due to mixing and matching parts.)

I know of a shop stateside that exclusively works in carbon, but I'm guessing it's going to cost you $$$ to have your bike built.

https://www.montenegromfg.com/

[jonathanf2]

Sure. Buying from us or some company else or Aliexpress is all OK to me. I don't say any bad words pointing to any competitor publicly or behind his back. All suppliers should put most effort into better quality and best service, this would move carbon bike business forward. Again, we don't do any shilling stuff, people have their own different choices and voices. We have sponsored several giveaways on this forum since 2015, like frame, rims, wheels, our original intention is to have more guys using Chinese carbon stuff and giving some reviews to make products better and better.

I'm certainly glad you're here and I think it's great we can interact with a seller directly. I think some customers (especially those who are new to the scene) are better served buying from you versus an unknown AliExpress seller. I'm glad that option exist. I do believe other sellers are stepping up their customer service/communication and that's a good thing.