New pardus bike?

[Dareios]

The spec on the UAE bike is much better, and it comes with high-quality Scom wheels. Plus, it’s cheaper—unlike the €5,090 price tag for the basic Ultegra build with no-name wheels. I don't think the pricing is justified for a Chinese import, and nobody in Europe has even heard of Pardus. Even in China, Pardus doesn't have the best reputation; there are jokes that their frames are just glued together from the leftover scraps of other brands 🤷🏻‍♂️

I mean, their only claim to fame is that they are the OEM behind those Storck frames. For what it's, they do have a decent amount of CT teams that they sponsor and last year Solution Tech Vini Fantini (an Italian PCT team) rode their frames, so they even showed up in some world tour races. Yeah, the price tag is too steep, but pretty typical for certain Italian importers around here, who want to make a big profit and are often a bit sly and/or shady.

They used to have way more bikes on the UAE site and if you ask them they'll also sell you the fully built bike with Elitewheels Drive II wheelsets + I know for a fact that the UAE shop ships stuff to Europe.

[Sakizashi]

The spec on the UAE bike is much better, and it comes with high-quality Scom wheels. Plus, it’s cheaper—unlike the €5,090 price tag for the basic Ultegra build with no-name wheels. I don't think the pricing is justified for a Chinese import, and nobody in Europe has even heard of Pardus. Even in China, Pardus doesn't have the best reputation; there are jokes that their frames are just glued together from the leftover scraps of other brands 🤷🏻‍♂️

Pretty sure the joke is that they are made from offcuts of the J20 fighter jet, not other frames. It's a nod to the parent company's ties to the PLA and overall position in the aerospace industry.

I mean, their only claim to fame is that they are the OEM behind those Storck frames. For what it's, they do have a decent amount of CT teams that they sponsor and last year Solution Tech Vini Fantini (an Italian PCT team) rode their frames, so they even showed up in some world tour races. Yeah, the price tag is too steep, but pretty typical for certain Italian importers around here, who want to make a big profit and are often a bit sly and/or shady.

They used to have way more bikes on the UAE site and if you ask them they'll also sell you the fully built bike with Elitewheels Drive II wheelsets + I know for a fact that the UAE shop ships stuff to Europe.

I think Taishan, the parent company (https://en.taishansports.com/industry/products4_1.html) has been the producer for brands whose products have WON the Tour. Even more the XDS, my understanding is they are considered to be a top manufacturer of professional-level products, they are at the level of Topkey, XDS, or Xiamen Light Weight Composite.

[Dan S.]

... and nobody in Europe has even heard of Pardus.

Not true at all. In my country, Czech Republic, they are quite known, and they sponsor a local Conti team.