XMCS - 2026 VRT

[jfcb]

You are correct. I suspect another error this fork makes is that the upper part of the fork blade didn't account for the shift in angle, so the profile that the wind sees is that of an upward angled wing, not a horizontal one. It's impossible to tell from the limited photos, but the angle of the transition doen't give me confidence. This is something I warned of in the XMCS suggestions thread.

This is what you mean?  It's about 8 degrees tilt. No idea what the effect on the airflow on the inside of the fork would be, especially if you take the rotating wheel into account which might redirect the flow. I would be surprised if XMCS did some CFD on it, let alone if other brands did such a study specifically with a rotating wheel. The effect could be negative, neglectable or positve. Who knows...

[Requiem84]

The aero frame turned out great! I'm seriously considering it in XL!
Is the frame compatible with mechanical shifting?
I know we're in 2026 but I love my mechanical Ultegra.

Yes - compatible with mechanical - same as the current GT frame.

[Requiem84]

What does the 1650 include? Pricing seems to be creeping up but then again it's across the board really, I remember my cs-r01 and 50mm wheels costing circa 1500 euro delivered a year ago.

Frame + hardware.

Good thing is Dollar is quite low…

[Ultramic]

Price is expected to be 1650 USD for the aero set and 1450 USD for the allrounder.

This prices me out then. With paint, shipping and PayPal fees, that will put it at US$2,000.

Given aero frames are all the rage now, I suspect we will see many other "lightweight" aero frames come out this year.

[Requiem84]

This prices me out then. With paint, shipping and PayPal fees, that will put it at US$2,000.

Given aero frames are all the rage now, I suspect we will see many other "lightweight" aero frames come out this year.

I’m expecting (standard) paint to be included in the price. USD price with shipping I’m expecting closer to 1800usd. All tbc of course.

There will be other options like you say, and depending on your use case they may be a better fit. The selling point for XMCS is a high standard of engineering quality, quality control and after sales service, as everything is designed, manufactured and tested in house (we regularly post some videos of the testing this frame was going through on our Instagram).

But I’m not under the illusion that the XMCS aero frame is always the best option for everyone :-).

[Requiem84]

This is what you mean?  It's about 8 degrees tilt. No idea what the effect on the airflow on the inside of the fork would be, especially if you take the rotating wheel into account which might redirect the flow. I would be surprised if XMCS did some CFD on it, let alone if other brands did such a study specifically with a rotating wheel. The effect could be negative, neglectable or positve. Who knows...

I’m obviously not the most objective person, but we will do some outdoor aero testing with the frame once we have build it up. With the Gibli aero sensor that is. We can compare with an Aeroad. Would love to borrow a QP ER:One to include in the test

[Icyseanfitz]

The problem with going close to the 2k usd mark is you are then competing with a different level of competition (winspace, Tavelo etc.) which will all have a higher level of resale value and high quality control. Not for one second saying that Xmcs isn't at the same quality level (I'm very very happy with my bike)

[Requiem84]

The problem with going close to the 2k usd mark is you are then competing with a different level of competition (winspace, Tavelo etc.) which will all have a higher level of resale value and high quality control. Not for one second saying that Xmcs isn't at the same quality level (I'm very very happy with my bike)

I hear you - but my expectation is that the entire market will move up a bit. Look at for example the Quick Pro UR:ONE, which is RMB 18,600 (approx 2660 USD).

[bsharp77]

If anything - it looks like we might be in for a year of some sense coming back into pricing - and finally manufacturers producing bikes with modern geometries.

First example of the year is coming from Rose with the Shave.
Endurance geo, but very aero (race geo also available with the FF model), full bike with 105 di2 and a power meter for €3600.

Starts to put a lot of pressure on frame sets like Peter's at the price point proposed.
I really like the look of the new frames Peter has designed, but we have no performance data CFD or anything to go by, whereas the Rose are producing figures that at least mean "something".

Im banking on Light Carbon to bring out a nice aero frame at a killer price point, similar to what they did with the LCR018-D.
If its coming in under $1000, then its easier to take a punt on it, whereas once you creep into the $1500 and above range, there are just too many tried and tested options.

[Rebel_Yell]

If anything - it looks like we might be in for a year of some sense coming back into pricing - and finally manufacturers producing bikes with modern geometries.

First example of the year is coming from Rose with the Shave.
Endurance geo, but very aero (race geo also available with the FF model), full bike with 105 di2 and a power meter for €3600.

Starts to put a lot of pressure on frame sets like Peter's at the price point proposed.
I really like the look of the new frames Peter has designed, but we have no performance data CFD or anything to go by, whereas the Rose are producing figures that at least mean "something".

Im banking on Light Carbon to bring out a nice aero frame at a killer price point, similar to what they did with the LCR018-D.
If its coming in under $1000, then its easier to take a punt on it, whereas once you creep into the $1500 and above range, there are just too many tried and tested options.

Aren’t the new XMCS frames going to be made as one piece mold which is the the cost is more?  I thought I remembered reading that here somewhere. 

[patliean1]

This is what you mean?  It's about 8 degrees tilt. No idea what the effect on the airflow on the inside of the fork would be, especially if you take the rotating wheel into account which might redirect the flow. I would be surprised if XMCS did some CFD on it, let alone if other brands did such a study specifically with a rotating wheel. The effect could be negative, neglectable or positve. Who knows...

I pretty much checked all of my aero bikes laying around here. All of them have that same positive degree tilt on the ridge of the fork.
Scott Foil, VB Aerotrace, Polygon Helios-A, and even the QuickPro ER One. The ridge line follows that of the front wheel/tire.

Not trying to justify for XMCS. And perhaps every brand has been getting it wrong for years. This is just the first time ever hearing about that ridge line needing to essentially be parallel to each respective thru-axle.

[Requiem84]

If anything - it looks like we might be in for a year of some sense coming back into pricing - and finally manufacturers producing bikes with modern geometries.

First example of the year is coming from Rose with the Shave.
Endurance geo, but very aero (race geo also available with the FF model), full bike with 105 di2 and a power meter for €3600.

Starts to put a lot of pressure on frame sets like Peter's at the price point proposed.
I really like the look of the new frames Peter has designed, but we have no performance data CFD or anything to go by, whereas the Rose are producing figures that at least mean "something".

Im banking on Light Carbon to bring out a nice aero frame at a killer price point, similar to what they did with the LCR018-D.
If its coming in under $1000, then its easier to take a punt on it, whereas once you creep into the $1500 and above range, there are just too many tried and tested options.

I think the Shave FF is the better comparison right? That is still quite a pricepoint higher. I also feel the EU (D2C) brands are in a different ecosystem. Contrary to Xiamen, they suffered rather hard since 2022, and will need to re-invent their proposition a bit.

Whereas the D2C Chinese brands are getting more traction, and inevitably will raise their prices a bit. You may be right that there will be some convergence between CN and Western Brands, but as a package it will still be a different proposition. No separate frameset, no customization etc.

Interesting times anyway, markets will ebb and flow.

[Takiyaki]

I wish there was an option for more aggressive geometry. In the "M" I will need to run the same 130mm stem as my current bike (R5 clone). Another ~35mm of TT/reach would be ideal. Esp for the price.

[mtm]

I think the Shave FF is the better comparison right? That is still quite a pricepoint higher. I also feel the EU (D2C) brands are in a different ecosystem. Contrary to Xiamen, they suffered rather hard since 2022, and will need to re-invent their proposition a bit.

Whereas the D2C Chinese brands are getting more traction, and inevitably will raise their prices a bit. You may be right that there will be some convergence between CN and Western Brands, but as a package it will still be a different proposition. No separate frameset, no customization etc.

Interesting times anyway, markets will ebb and flow.

The VB368 I have here definitely has a more horizontal ridge. The fork is not as wide-legged so it's not as pronounced as on e.g. the XMCS frame. If anything it is actually angled slightly opposite to XMCS frame.

Side note: The mobile version of this forum is taken directly out of 2009 and is super horrible 😅

[toxin]

This is what you mean?  It's about 8 degrees tilt. No idea what the effect on the airflow on the inside of the fork would be, especially if you take the rotating wheel into account which might redirect the flow. I would be surprised if XMCS did some CFD on it, let alone if other brands did such a study specifically with a rotating wheel. The effect could be negative, neglectable or positve. Who knows...

To me It's not just the ridge itself that's problematic, it's what it indicates about the shape of the blade above it. I won't rewrite what I already wrote. You can see Factor got this very wrong on the Hanzo and fixed it on the Hanzo Track and One. And yes, I do think that until relatively recently, a lot of designers were doing this wrong, but it's less negative on narrow forks

And it's way more than 8 degrees. It's tilted about as much as the head tube, almost like the fork was designed to stand perfectly vertical

The front on shot that requiem posted is also very suspicious to me, because it's looking at the bike from above and it looks like it's pretty much the perfect angle to line up with the angle of the upper part of the blade, considering how thin it looks in that picture. I'm confident that if you looked at it when the bike and the camera were perfectly horizontal, it would present a significantly larger frontal area, also indicating that, again, if you sliced it with a vertical plane, the cross section would look like a wing pointing upwards like it's trying to generate extra lift.