Chinertown
Chinese Carbon Road Bikes => Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components => Topic started by: patliean1 on October 08, 2026, 09:11:43 AM
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I can't remember if this has already been discussed before ;D
We have enough passionate and experienced individuals in here to in theory design a frame that would suit the majority of us.
Of course it would be impossible to please everyone. Not to mention the cost, tooling, QC, and coordination involved. But it seems the vast majority of new frames released within the past year have had at least one or two key aspects of contention. You can pretty much find these pain points in every single frameset thread on this forum:
-Seat tube angle still too slack
-Bottom bracket height too high/low
-Stack height too low
-Problematic front center length
-Proprietary headset/cockpit systems
-Perception of being too expensive
-Taking too much inspiration from other establish brands
Group orders aren't anything new. Super common within the wristwatch and fashion community forums. And we have the various factory connections. But I actually do wonder if having a frame designed by the people could be a huge value add for both the frame manufacture and consumers.
Or would this project end up being another Homer Simpson trying to design a car.
I wanna hear your thoughts on what you would love to see in a frame design. And also why these types of projects are extremely difficult to pull off.
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Where's toxin?
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If you substitute the word "road" with "Gravel", I'd be interested.
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If you substitute the word "road" with "Gravel", I'd be interested.
Ahem ALLROAD then
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Where's toxin?
LoL I was gonna call out Toxin. Hopefully he doesn't have frame design fatigue.
I'm not even saying this frame needs to be some ultra modern design like the Ridley Noah or Factor One.
And it doesn't need to be UCI-approved which should open the door to some cool designs.
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There are really smart guys here like Toxin and others that could for sure make pretty well engineered bikes and i 100% have same problems as @patliean1 has said. The main problem to develop new bike from zero wouldnt be the design because there are really smart guys here but getting some reliable factory in Asia for manufacturing. Maybe china.bikes could help finding one or someone in contact with asian brands
In my view it could be possible but need guys willing to put time into it (by the way i also agree that not going 100 % UCI would open up for some really interesting designs). I would like road and go all out for performance of the bike + rider unlike most brand do with bike only.
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If it would not be UCI legal I'd have an idea.
Overall bike look similar to the Lotus Type 136 E-bike, but with a horizontal TT and probably a regular cockpit.
(https://www.bikeitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Lotus-ebike-da-corsa-05.jpg)
(https://www.bikeitalia.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Lotus-ebike-da-corsa-06.jpg)
The non-UCI legal part would be going full crazy with wide seatstays and a super wide fork, like the Hope HB.T
(https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/39/2019/10/JC-7322-be919f1.jpg?w=1200)
If you go that route you don't even need a super chunky downtube (see the Stromm Raktt that also doesn't have one).
Otherwise I'd go for most of the things that Paty mentioned, I think with the larger tires and shorter cranks trend you can go to an 80mm BB drop for the larger sizes no problem (the Simplon Pride 2 has a 75mm BB drop in those sizes while being built around 172.5 or even longer cranks and 25mm tires, so 80mm might actually be a conservative estimate, but reasonable for anyone on 28mm tires and 170mm cranks).
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Lol. So far the result would be a Lotus Gravel Allroad TT bike
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Not be forced to think about crit racers in the geometry would be nice. I would like about 80 bb drop for road and 90 for gravel. Seat tube angles also shouldn't get more slack on larger sizes.
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And the most I can pay is USD$400 shipped to my door!
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Great idea! If someone else is happy to cover the six-figure mould, testing and development costs, I’ll happily buy the finished 700g frame for $500—including the handlebar, custom paintwork at no additional cost, tax-free shipping, a lifetime warranty, full after-sales support and free crash replacement. Easy I’m in! 🤣
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Stromm Rakkt but without the bayonet forks
35mm clearance minimum.
Ability to run mechanical gears.
Standard acr headset interface
SL8/9 Seatpost
UDH
Ability to run bento box
Sub 1000g frame and 450g forks.
Thanks :-)
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You had me at the Homer Car
I just bought a new frame so Im out. I do feel like the niche is just basically getting like 60-80% to TT bike geometry, but with road tube sections and 2023 gravel tire clearances. Non-proprietary front end, threaded and low BB, yadda yadda. Step one has to be consensus on parameters.
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That's a terrible idea and the main thing I care about is future proofing with big tyres which you didn't mention.
Cute idea though!
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LoL I was gonna call out Toxin. Hopefully he doesn't have frame design fatigue.
No worries there, its what I've spent most of my free time on this year and my interest has not diminished. But I set myself the challenge of creating a near production ready CAD model, which has required A LOT of learning to get my skills to the required level and the final V4 iteration is in the works now (pics).
For the topic of this discussion though, getting a carbon frame made from scratch is EXPENSIVE. I'm sure Sakizashi can tell you just what the challenges of getting your own carbon fiber product mass produced overseas are. Never mind the logistics of actually getting it out into people's hands.
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And the most I can pay is USD$400 shipped to my door!
That would include a custom paintjob I assume?
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That would include a custom paintjob I assume?
Of course! Why ask ;D
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No worries there, its what I've spent most of my free time on this year and my interest has not diminished. But I set myself the challenge of creating a near production ready CAD model, which has required A LOT of learning to get my skills to the required level and the final V4 iteration is in the works now (pics).
For the topic of this discussion though, getting a carbon frame made from scratch is EXPENSIVE. I'm sure Sakizashi can tell you just what the challenges of getting your own carbon fiber product mass produced overseas are. Never mind the logistics of actually getting it out into people's hands.
The economics are hard. The investment is not insignificant, as it requires both testing and alterations. Reliably getting product is hard too. Recouping the investment is hard if you can't get enough product, on time, to sell. There are many ways to fail.
Then there is the relationship with the factory. I recently went through the design process with a manufacturer for an expensive component. We talked for a while under the very clear assumption of the 20-unit MOQ. They did the sample; it was freaking awesome. When it came time to arrange production, the MOQ was 50 units. After I pointed this out, they were like We can do 20 the first time. 100% red flag to not go forward; it's a five-figure USD investment, and the supplier feels like I'll be cool with terms that might change again. No thanks.
I understand why these things happen, but at the end of the day, is it worth it at the scale of a frame? Probably not unless you have a plan to make a viable business out of it, at which point its probably a $2500+ frameset.
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I can only speak for myself cause I don't think it's a general problem, but my long ass torso need plenty reach!
At least make the XL/XXL sizes actually big/long bikes for ones.
My 200 cm would be thankful..
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What about an all road Ti-frame with up to 40mm tire clearance or something like that and threads for a bento box?
No moulds needed!
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With tooling be expensive like Sakizashi said, we'd probably have a better chance of just waiting for a brand like Adapt or its parent company to eventually produce a product similar to our design. And then simply share in licensing the design.
Something like what the Tavelo Arow and Oak Oak Twilight did. But again those frames are relatively pricey. Which brings us back to square one.
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No worries there, its what I've spent most of my free time on this year and my interest has not diminished. But I set myself the challenge of creating a near production ready CAD model, which has required A LOT of learning to get my skills to the required level and the final V4 iteration is in the works now (pics).
For the topic of this discussion though, getting a carbon frame made from scratch is EXPENSIVE. I'm sure Sakizashi can tell you just what the challenges of getting your own carbon fiber product mass produced overseas are. Never mind the logistics of actually getting it out into people's hands.
I would definitely buy this bike specially with the right geo
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What about an all road Ti-frame with up to 40mm tire clearance or something like that and threads for a bento box?
No moulds needed!
It looks like Laget is doing US distribution now. I wonder if they'd build a custom titanium frame? It might be easier going this route instead of carbon.
https://lagetusa.com/ (https://lagetusa.com/)