I didn’t plan to buy a bike at Eurobike.
In fact, I was in Frankfurt for work and figured I’d swing by the show on Saturday. But as these stories tend to go—things escalated.
Wandering the halls, I came across the Carbonda booth (Carbonda Sports Equipment Co., Ltd.). Initially, I was drawn to their carbon road wheelset—the woven finish looked nice. While chatting with the team, they mentioned that everything at the booth was on sale. Apparently, they didn’t want to haul it back to China.
Their showpiece was a new
AF 01 Gravel frame. But coming off a Cannondale CAAD12 (54) and more recently a Cube Cross Race C:62 (53), I was leaning toward something more race-oriented. The Cube has served me well but with limited tire clearance and a notably high bottom bracket, I was thinking about something with more clearance but still universal.
That’s when I noticed a
Quick Pro GR:ONE frameset quietly sitting on a back shelf. I wasn’t too familiar with Carbonda at the time, but the Quick Pro branding rang a bell, and the frame’s finish caught my eye.
They also had a set of their Canwin GC50 carbon wheels on display (the GC60s had already been sold). The price of the wheelset? Surprisingly competitive. I took a walk and gave myself some time to think.
A few quick geometry checks later, it looked like the Medium GR:ONE would fit me almost perfectly.
So I went for it. I justified the leap by telling myself I’d be one of the first to ride and report on the GR:ONE—and honestly, the price was still very competitive compared to retail. One quick PayPal transfer later, the Carbonda team began wrapping up the frame and wheels.
Frame, handlebar, wheelset and they even threw in the mounted tires, which I only realized later were already set up tubeless, sealant and valves included.
It all came together so quickly that just two hours after vaguely entertaining the idea of “maybe a new gravel frame”, I was walking through the halls grinning, with a new Gravel frame somewhat wrapped in bubblerwap an a lot of tape.
Now comes the fun part:
the build.I’m planning to transfer the Ultegra / GRX Di2 mix from my Cube. The catch? The GR:ONE is 1x only, and I’ve always preferred a 2x setup.
The Shimano team at the booth strongly advised against retrofitting a front derailleur… which of course just made me want to try it even more. So we’ll see how that unfolds.
If anyone’s curious about the geometry, I’ve already uploaded the GR:ONE to GeometryGeeks and added a comparison to my other bikes for reference. Their website and overall presence is just not good enough for their premium prices, but maybe that's something they can improve upon.
https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/quick-pro-gr-one-2025-m,cube-cross-race-c62-slx-2025-53-cm,cannondale-caad12-2017-54/At the moment, the frame and wheels are still sitting in my car—no tools, no scale, no real way to check weight or inspect build quality in detail. That’ll have to wait until the weekend. First impressions are solid, but I’m curious to see how the carbon finish, tolerances, and internal routing hold up under closer scrutiny.
As for the Cube: I’m planning to rebuild it for a friend. Ideally, I’d like to go with a more budget-friendly groupset, possibly something non-Shimano.
So if anyone has recommendations, be it Sensah, Wheeltop, L-Twoo or something less mainstream, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Feel free to drop me a message or comment.
