New member here - I also have the same dilemma, and will share my thoughts.
[Edited to add LT266]

Of the Chinese open mold manufacturers, I only saw LightCarbon and Longteng.  Velobuild didn’t attend.  (And I didn’t see a presence from other Chinertown favorites like Elitewheels, Ltwoo, Winspace, Magene, etc.)  But I did get to see the LC017 and the LT266 in person, and got some intel on a new LT301 that will be released in a few months:

You're a hero. Well done and thank you. Alisa is my sales rep at LT. That LT301 looks a LOT like the LT268 that I have, to the point that beyond the frame box, i'm not sure what's different. Weight i guess? Maybe manufacturing process?

The whole "squares are stronger than tubes" sounds wrong. And those boxy tubes look like buses, and buses aren't aerodynamic. Weird. Aero frames always were about tear drop shapes with the tail cut out. Not a box exposed to the wind...

Velobuild is a broker. Light Carbon & Long Teng are factories.

Awesome to learn that LT makes Argon frames, that just upped my bragging rights.

New forum member here, and starting a new thread after posting about this in a thread on the LightCarbon LCR017-D (https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,4309.255.html).

Long story short: I snuck in to the Taipei Bike Show today to check out some Longteng and LightCarbon frames, and at the Longteng booth, I found out that they have an unreleased frame which is undergoing testing: the RD301-D.  Here is a short video that I took, and a few pages from their brochure with its geometry: https://imgur.com/a/XvH327j.

Appearance wise, the 301 doesn't break any new ground, but a few things stand out:
- It has an aero profile but is under 1000g weight
- The geometry (especially stack) sort of sits between an upright endurance bike and bikes like the Velobuild 177 and 268, Winspace SLC 2.0 and 1500, Yoeleo R11 - this geometry is a sweet spot for me [edit: the geometry seems comparable to the touted all-arounder Trigon AR01]
- Whoa, max tire clearance of 38!
- Cool little storage space on the downtube
- Threaded T47 BB
- Per their rep Alisa, it's made with a mix of T800 and T1000 carbon

This frame hasn't been posted on their website, and Alisa said it will be released "in a few months" once testing is complete.  The 54cm has passed their tests and is available if anyone is interested - you can email Alisa at longtengalisa@163.com.

Peace out!

[Edited to add reference to the Trigon AR01]

You are right - I posted the wrong video (it was the 268 frame instead of the 301).  I've removed the video and added 2 photos from Longteng of the real 301 frame which match up what they have in the brochure: https://imgur.com/a/XvH327j.  Sorry about the mix up.

Here are some updates from my communication with them:

- Quoted price of US$450 for frame, fork, seat post

- They can offer for additional charge: integrated handlebar $80, headset $12, through axle $30/pair, spare rear hanger $6/pcs

- 980g +/-40 for size 52 frame

- Zero offset seat post is not available

- Available 45 days from payment

I've had some discussions with them around custom frame painting:

- US$85 for 3 colors

- They can do custom decals (which will sit underneath the final coat of paint), but for simple stuff, they will make it part of the frame painting instead of doing decal stickers - they prefer to get vector files instead of helping with design

- They can do (or, at least they are wiling to try...) fairly complex paint jobs, unlike other sellers I've talked to - for example, I asked if they can do something like the Bahrain team bike kit from 2023 (https://www.ridemedia.com.au/racing/pro-bikes-2023-bahrain-victorious-and-merida-a-mechanics-perspective/), and they said it should be ok as long as they are provided with detailed sketches/instructions; I'm just relaying what they said and have no idea about the actual end product, although the paint jobs I saw at the Taipei Bike Show looked pretty nice

Again, sorry about posting the wrong video