Seraph Bikes Superlight 836g X68 - Alternative to SL8 Fakes?

[Sander2177]

You need 240 grit sand paper (you can start with 120grit as it’s coarser and move on to 240 grit)

1. Slid sandpaper between frame and spacer hold the sandpaper in one hand and move the the bars full turn left and right.
2. When this step is finished to make sure the space is big enough between the spacer and frame
I slid a piece of paper in underneath and the slid and paper on top and repeat the step of fully turning the bars left and right.

This method although slow will ensure and nice even gap between the frame and spacer.
The sandpaper may snag to start if the gap is tight even loosen the stem a little if necessary to start with and the put the stem back correctly and keep going

[Sander2177]

X68 Ride Review – 114km Group Ride + Ongoing Thoughts

Thought I’d finally share some proper feedback on the X68, which, as we all know, is effectively a Tarmac SL8 copy. Today was my longest ride on it so far – 114 km on a group ride – and I’ve probably done close to 400 km on it over 9 rides in total.

The Ride
Honestly? It rides pretty much like my real SL8. It sounds the same, it goes the same, it feels the same. If there are differences, they’re marginal – and maybe more in my head than anything else, because the “real one” is the one with the price tag.

The only real variance you might notice from bike to bike is going to come down to quality control and finishing – and that’s vendor-dependent, not necessarily design-dependent. Some factories apparently use slightly different carbon layups or put more effort into QC. But the ride characteristics? There’s really not a lot in it.

On Vendor Info
I’ve been speaking to someone in China who seems to know the industry quite well. We’ve been chatting for about a week. To be clear – he hasn’t tried to sell me anything. Just provided some insights into how these bikes are made and how close they really are to the originals. From what he says, most of these copies are made from direct scans or CADs of real SL8s, then molded from there. A lot of the layup is mirrored, which explains why the ride is so comparable.

If you’re interested in that side of things, I’ve also put up a separate thread in the Vendor Discussion part of the forum with more detail — feel free to have a read.

Cost vs Value
I haven’t actually ridden my real SL8 since getting this one. Part of that is probably psychological – this cost me around £600, so I’m not stressed about damaging it. My real SL8 was a custom build worth close to £20,000. The replica gives me 90–95% of the ride feel, without the anxiety. That in itself is pretty liberating.

Final Thoughts
I’m not here to recommend that people buy counterfeit frames – that’s a personal decision, and people have to weigh up the risks for themselves. But in terms of ride experience? The X68 holds up. I’ll continue to post updates as I ride it more.

As always, any thoughts or feedback are welcome.

https://strava.app.link/qW2ulEUncUb

https://chinertown.com/index.php/board,7.0.html

[patliean1]

Great write-up @Sander2177!

Recently I had a viewer offer some very fair critiques about my potential bias towards Chinese frames. He acknowledged the fact I've invested my own money towards reviewing western brands. A necessary evil to both grow and offer more context to my channel. However, he believes my bias is rooted in the fact I receive Chinese frames "for free" for review. Like some sort of agenda. Rather than coming to this conclusion on my own by putting all these bikes across the price spectrum through their long-term intended purposes.

I could probably easily do away with reviewing Chinese stuff altogether. And use my built-up influence to partner with local bike shops and online shops to exclusively review premium/western brands. But the reality is the difference in performance now from a $700 to $1500 to $4000 frameset is minimal. It's not a bias...it's the reality. Your feedback pretty much tracks what I expected. And other real-world (paying) customers agree with you.

My Tarmac SL8 has been sitting in a corner collecting dust for a month. I have not missed riding it thus far LoL. Currently I am in a weird spot with TanTan and the X68. TanTan doesn't wanna send me a frame for review because they don't wanna promote it. No harm no foul. I'm not complaining about this. It's a cheap frame, and in the past I've bought other frames from TanTan with my own money.

The problem is the optics. TanTan has probably figured that I'll probably cave in anyway to purchase one. I'll make click-bait content on the frame for views, offer good feedback, which ultimately funnels a host of new customers to Tantan. Something that precisely happened with my videos on Carbon Speed wheels. It would be loads of free marketing and promotion for TanTan.

I sound like a presumptionous and self obsorbed dick by saying that. But I know how the game works.

[Sander2177]

Great write-up @Sander2177!

Recently I had a viewer offer some very fair critiques about my potential bias towards Chinese frames. He acknowledged the fact I've invested my own money towards reviewing western brands. A necessary evil to both grow and offer more context to my channel. However, he believes my bias is rooted in the fact I receive Chinese frames "for free" for review. Like some sort of agenda. Rather than coming to this conclusion on my own by putting all these bikes across the price spectrum through their long-term intended purposes.

I could probably easily do away with reviewing Chinese stuff altogether. And use my built-up influence to partner with local bike shops and online shops to exclusively review premium/western brands. But the reality is the difference in performance now from a $700 to $1500 to $4000 frameset is minimal. It's not a bias...it's the reality. Your feedback pretty much tracks what I expected. And other real-world (paying) customers agree with you.

My Tarmac SL8 has been sitting in a corner collecting dust for a month. I have not missed riding it thus far LoL. Currently I am in a weird spot with the TanTan and the X68. TanTan doesn't wanna send me a frame for review because they don't wanna promote it. No harm no foul. I'm not complaining about this. It's a cheap frame, and in the past I've bought other frames from TanTan with my own money.

The problem is the optics. TanTan has probably figured that I'll probably cave in anyway to purchase one. I'll make click-bait content on the frame for views, offer good feedback, which ultimately funnels a host of new customers to Tantan. Something that precisely happened with my videos on Carbon Speed wheels. It would be loads of free marketing and promotion for TanTan.

I sould like a presumptionous and self obsorbed dick by saying that. But I know how the game works.

Thanks, Patrick — appreciate the reply, and totally get where you’re coming from.

To be honest, I think anyone who’s followed your channel for more than five minutes would know you’re not blindly waving a flag for Chinese brands. If anything, you’ve gone out of your way to give things a proper shake-down — whether they’re $700 frames or $4000 ones — and you call it how you see it. I don’t think it’s bias, I think it’s just honest reporting based on real-world use.

The whole “you only get Chinese frames for free” argument feels like it misses the mark. People forget the amount of time and effort that goes into testing, reviewing, editing, and fielding all the questions afterward. Free or not, you’re still putting in the work — and frankly, plenty of folks benefit from the insights whether they’re buying budget or boutique.

I get what you’re saying with the TanTan situation too. It’s a bit of a weird spot — on one hand, they don’t want to promote a certain frame, but on the other, they’d probably still benefit massively if you ended up reviewing it anyway. You’re right — it’s all optics. But at the end of the day, if you’re being transparent (which you are), and the audience knows you’ve got no agenda, then that’s what matters.

As for the SL8 sitting in the corner… yeah, I get that. Once you’ve dialled in a decent setup on a solid value frame like the X68, you kind of realise how much of the high-end stuff is marginal gains (if that). Like you said: the performance gap just isn’t what it used to be.

Keep doing what you’re doing — a lot of us appreciate the content, especially those of us navigating the whole “Chinatown vs Big Brand” maze.

[Pistonbroke]

Great write-up @Sander2177!

Recently I had a viewer offer some very fair critiques about my potential bias towards Chinese frames. He acknowledged the fact I've invested my own money towards reviewing western brands. A necessary evil to both grow and offer more context to my channel. However, he believes my bias is rooted in the fact I receive Chinese frames "for free" for review. Like some sort of agenda. Rather than coming to this conclusion on my own by putting all these bikes across the price spectrum through their long-term intended purposes.

I could probably easily do away with reviewing Chinese stuff altogether. And use my built-up influence to partner with local bike shops and online shops to exclusively review premium/western brands. But the reality is the difference in performance now from a $700 to $1500 to $4000 frameset is minimal. It's not a bias...it's the reality. Your feedback pretty much tracks what I expected. And other real-world (paying) customers agree with you.

My Tarmac SL8 has been sitting in a corner collecting dust for a month. I have not missed riding it thus far LoL. Currently I am in a weird spot with the TanTan and the X68. TanTan doesn't wanna send me a frame for review because they don't wanna promote it. No harm no foul. I'm not complaining about this. It's a cheap frame, and in the past I've bought other frames from TanTan with my own money.

The problem is the optics. TanTan has probably figured that I'll probably cave in anyway to purchase one. I'll make click-bait content on the frame for views, offer good feedback, which ultimately funnels a host of new customers to Tantan. Something that precisely happened with my videos on Carbon Speed wheels. It would be loads of free marketing and promotion for TanTan.

I sould like a presumptionous and self obsorbed dick by saying that. But I know how the game works.

Dude, I love watching your videos (God, that shows my age, lolz)
Keep up the good work. Plenty of people trust your opinion, and as long as you're telling us how you think it is that's enough. The truth will set you free and all that:-)

[Sander2177]

You sir are breaking the internet! Thank you for that.
I'll repeat myself, but i'd love to watch you shoot the $hit on the Nero show, for reasons i've already spelled out on this thread when you announced you were building this frame. I do wonder whether they'd want to associate themselves with the topic because of potential legal implications (much lower risk if you were to remove these decals - or go ass-works ); however, this kind of feedback is earth shattering in the carbon bike bubble. So much for Specialized's secret layup sauce...

One thing i hadnt anticipated is the anxiety of riding your 20k bike again. It makes a ton of sense and it's a key reason why i try to use cheap stuff, including phones: to go "meh" when they break or get stolen, as opposed to "oh *uuuuuuuuuuuck".

There was go pro, then China won with insta 360 and DJI. Go pro's CEO is one of the biggest douches of its generation, the case study is absolutely hilarious.
There was Wolkswagen in China, now China is dominating the car market.
There were Western train companies (Alstom & more) in China, now China develops, builds and even sells abroad its own trains.
There was American AI, now the likes of Deepseek caught the whole market off guard.
And so, there were Western bike brands outsourcing to China, now China makes frames that are, for all intended purposes, just as good. Taking a step back, unless we believe in the secret sauce and / or magic, i can't think of a reason why Western brands would somehow keep an edge when the rest of the industrial world hasn't.

And obviously, the devil is in the detail. When i write China, i'm not saying every factory makes good stuff, and so on. Nuance applies.

Very interesting development, thanks again for sharing.

Cheers, Serge_K.

I just wanted to dig a little deeper because 99% of what we discuss tends to be speculation. I’d love to be able to confirm what I’ve been told, but that would inevitably involve a trip to China.

The Nero boys clearly love what they do, but I’m always a bit sceptical about the aero claims brands make. Yes, there’s definitely something there, but with UCI regulations limiting what brands can do, a lot of it feels more like marketing than real innovation.

Plus, I’d probably get absolutely shredded by those two on the rollers!

These types of bike are not  really the focus of their content, but I’ll send them a message on Instagram with a photo of my X68 and what I’ve learned so far and see what happens

[glepore]

Great write-up @Sander2177!

Recently I had a viewer offer some very fair critiques about my potential bias towards Chinese frames. He acknowledged the fact I've invested my own money towards reviewing western brands. A necessary evil to both grow and offer more context to my channel. However, he believes my bias is rooted in the fact I receive Chinese frames "for free" for review. Like some sort of agenda. Rather than coming to this conclusion on my own by putting all these bikes across the price spectrum through their long-term intended purposes.

I could probably easily do away with reviewing Chinese stuff altogether. And use my built-up influence to partner with local bike shops and online shops to exclusively review premium/western brands. But the reality is the difference in performance now from a $700 to $1500 to $4000 frameset is minimal. It's not a bias...it's the reality. Your feedback pretty much tracks what I expected. And other real-world (paying) customers agree with you.

My Tarmac SL8 has been sitting in a corner collecting dust for a month. I have not missed riding it thus far LoL. Currently I am in a weird spot with TanTan and the X68. TanTan doesn't wanna send me a frame for review because they don't wanna promote it. No harm no foul. I'm not complaining about this. It's a cheap frame, and in the past I've bought other frames from TanTan with my own money.

The problem is the optics. TanTan has probably figured that I'll probably cave in anyway to purchase one. I'll make click-bait content on the frame for views, offer good feedback, which ultimately funnels a host of new customers to Tantan. Something that precisely happened with my videos on Carbon Speed wheels. It would be loads of free marketing and promotion for TanTan.

I sound like a presumptionous and self obsorbed dick by saying that. But I know how the game works.

Given that tantan is reading this thread, interesting messaging.

I'd be genuinely curious to see what foks that are "skeptical" of all things Chinese would say if confronted with two bikes identically painted and labeled and asked to pick which frame was which based on ride. Don't let them compare them to photos, don't let them do anything other than get on the bike and go. Identical groups etc. Its entirely possible to do, but the folks with the $$ won't. Likely because the industry would go ballistic.

While I'm sure there are tiny differences, confirmation bias is a real thing, and knowing which bike is which is bound to color things to a small extent.

[Sander2177]

⸻

Just a bit of additional feedback on the X68 following my earlier post about the longer ride I did on Saturday.

I’ve been out again since then and I’m still really happy with it. The bike feels like a rocket — fast, responsive, and solid on the road. It continues to ride really well.

As with all my bikes, especially with how rough the British roads can be, I check the frame over before every ride — just a quick visual inspection. So far, everything looks spot on. No issues or concerns at this stage.

I’ll keep posting updates as I get more miles in.

https://strava.app.link/uLBmhXuciUb

[Tpower59]

Does anyone knows how to buy a SL8 fork separetly ?

[Sander2177]

Does anyone knows how to buy a SL8 fork separetly ?
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Contact the supplier of your frame or any supplier they should sell you one?

[Avalius]

Does anyone knows how to buy a SL8 fork separetly ?

Did you brake one? Like the one in this thread?

[pandinoyoung]

I add myself to the list of frame owners, I put my feedbeck and the photos of the frame.
1 month has passed since the payment. 10 days to arrive home, everything tracked perfectly, jessi sent me a package tracking link. no hitches, normal communication, not pushy, but fast.
raw frame size 58. pleasantly surprised by the finish I would say almost perfect, a light sanding and it is ready for the painting cycle.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8vW4nxCijggKhaAY9

[dovh]

Have you noticed that in all of the photos from tantan and people posting pictures of the frame when they get it, the rear seat post bolt nut is installed incorrectly, and the part that is supposed to be on top from the sl8 manual is instead down? I wonder why they put it there like that.

[Sander2177]

Have you noticed that in all of the photos from tantan and people posting pictures of the frame when they get it, the rear seat post bolt nut is installed incorrectly, and the part that is supposed to be on top from the sl8 manual is instead down? I wonder why they put it there like that.

Had to look once you highlighted that Dovh! very eagle eyed of you
Likely because they are clueless  probably works that way round though

[glepore]

It does. Mine came that way and I rode it for a bit before pulling it apart to grease everything, and it was then I realized it was installed the wrong way according to the manual.

On another note, just ordered some molding silicone-going to try to make a topcap with some carbon and resin I have here. Really just to see what goes into it and why the carbon ones available are pricey.