Do-it-all gravel, ~$2860 / 8.1 kg — beat my build?

[Grailstore]

TL;DR — building a fast do-it-all gravel (races + bikepacking + winter, Riva del Garda, Italy 🇮🇹) on a Chinese carbon frame. The idea: assemble a SRAM AXS 1×13 group piece by piece (used / on-sale / third-party) to match a stock Rival price — or less — but lighter. Curious if you'd spec it better for the money.

Big thanks to this forum btw — a lot of this came together from the Zen and LightCarbon threads here. 🙏

⚡ One wheelset, two setups: 32–35 mm slicks for a super-aero all-road ride (37 mm external rim = within the Rule of 105), then swap to 45–47 mm gravel tyres for races.

🖤 On the frame: I love the LightCarbon LCG072-D — quality, finish and comms all excellent. Only niggle: at my size (170 cm, 711 mm saddle height) size S has a longish seat tube, so only ~230 mm of exposed post (aesthetic only). For the price I doubt I'll find better.

THE BUILD (weights & prices estimated, USD):

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FRAMESET  LightCarbon LCG072-D S, raw ............. ~2280 g / $900
           (frame+fork ~1530 g + cockpit/seatpost)
WHEELS    Zen 50/29/37, hidden nipples, ALL-SILVER
           + H-Works SR318 hub + Sapim CX-Ray (DDP) . ~1420 g / $749
GROUPSET  SRAM AXS 1x13, piece by piece:
           - Levers: Force XPLR AXS (used, Bonus Button)
           - RD: Rival XPLR AXS
           - Cassette: Red XG-1291 (used/sale)
           - Chain: Force/Red Flattop
           - Crank: Force D1 165mm (used, no PM) + AXS ring
           - BB: DUB T47
           - Rotors: Ashima/KCNC centerlock 160
           => ~2600 g / ~$1000  (target $900-1100)
TYRES     Slick 32-35 (aero) / gravel 45-47 (race) .. ~1080 g / $120
SADDLE    S-Works Power 143 (transferred) .......... ~150 g / $0
PEDALS    Favero Assioma (transferred) ............. ~300 g / $0
FINISH    tape, cages, sealant .................... ~260 g / $90
--------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL (with gravel tyres): ~8.1 kg / ~$2860

The question: for this money, could you do better on quality and weight? What would you change?

I made a fill-in template — grab it, drop your build, screenshot it, and post it below 👇
Config template (Google Sheets)  (File → Make a copy → fill in → screenshot)

Cheers 🚵

[tmhbrl]

To save more money, only get the Force cranks and Rival E1 XPLR for the rest. RD is virtually same same and levers only miss the bonus buttons (and bleeding edge brake bleeding).
Go for some csc wheels, ordered a set off Ali last week for under 300€ (32 internal, 50 high).
Swapping the frame for Velobuild Aero Grav will save you another 3-400€. But I understand the LCR020 looks nice.

[Leon1234]

I am planning on doing something similar with the new mondice FM376 frame. Actually also looking for rival Real derailler and force break leavers I am still debating powermeter choices and have little to no clue.

[Grailstore]

To save more money, only get the Force cranks and Rival E1 XPLR for the rest. RD is virtually same same and levers only miss the bonus buttons (and bleeding edge brake bleeding).
Go for some csc wheels, ordered a set off Ali last week for under 300€ (32 internal, 50 high).
Swapping the frame for Velobuild Aero Grav will save you another 3-400€. But I understand the LCR020 looks nice.

I actually found a CSC wheelset very similar to this Zen one, and it's cheaper — around $500 shipped with taxes prepaid. But I think wheels are the most important part of a build, and I've read quite a few bad reviews about CSC, so I don't want to take the risk. Zen's customer service is fast and responsive, and I believe if anything goes wrong they'd help me out much better than CSC would.

I also looked into Serenade — their wheels are cheap too and the product itself seems really good, but the replies I got from them by email were a bit rushed and not very accurate. Communication with Zen has been great so far, so I'll stick with them.

[trcycling]

Regarding the new firmware update on GeX, it's a big step up. I wrote up my findings here https://trbike.blogspot.com/2026/08/wheeltop-gex-firmware-and-app-update.html

[jes2k13]

I actually found a CSC wheelset very similar to this Zen one, and it's cheaper — around $500 shipped with taxes prepaid. But I think wheels are the most important part of a build, and I've read quite a few bad reviews about CSC, so I don't want to take the risk. Zen's customer service is fast and responsive, and I believe if anything goes wrong they'd help me out much better than CSC would.

I also looked into Serenade — their wheels are cheap too and the product itself seems really good, but the replies I got from them by email were a bit rushed and not very accurate. Communication with Zen has been great so far, so I'll stick with them.

No you are mistaken bro about CSC wheelset especially the gravel ones, I have used mine for almost a year now and it has been maintenance free and gave me no headaches at all i am at 6000km now!