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Component Deals & Selection / Re: Chinese carbon crank with wider spindle?
« on: August 30, 2026, 05:35:28 PM »
Frame has T47 bb, so spacers should be easy to install.
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In theory, they could work. The problem area could be with the spindle's splines that mate with the crank arms. Are the machined splines, aka. (Wave taper interface) machined exactly to the SRAM standard? It is possible that visually they look similar, but due to SRAM patents, they have made slight changes, and might not properly fit in a true DUB or GRX based crank am. Crank arms could come lose, or get stuck on.
Specifically ask the seller if their spindle is 100% interchangeable with SRAM DUB or GRX
Also confirm if the axle lengths of 121, 125, and 129 are measured end-to-end, or outside-to-outside of the bearing surfaces.
I have been looking for 30mm diameter spindles that fit Race Face Cinch cranks since their prices doubled this year for OEM Race Face Spindles.

I did another test, 1h open ride on MyWhoosh, recording ThinkRider pp5 (I have the set with 165mm Carbon crank), Speedplay Pedals and ZwiftTrainer with 3 different devices. At the beginning I saw that the fine adjustment from last time installation (110%) needed to be tuned (to 105%, u can do this with the ThinkRider app on the fly). SelfAdjustment for pp5 was ON. Overall avg power during the ride was 195W (Trainer) vs 194W (pp5) vs 197 (Speedplay). Of course, I'm not riding 400+Watts, and I've tried to stop pedalling at decent (as I do usually outside as well)...
Make your own reading at https://compare-the-watts.com with the 3 fit files attached.
The 60m power curve shows an offset of 0.4%, and a max diff of 2.4%...
At this price point and with my age grouper ambitions, it's acceptable.
Any different readings?
I seem to be in the same boat as you, I have these 2 now for testing - will report back when I did some km.
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005008741976302.html
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005007468205835.html
The build is done and I took it out for its first shakedown ride. Somehow I nailed the fit just by vaguely replicating the dimensions I measured from my G068, so I didn't even have to stop and adjust anything, and 7 Nm on the seatpost clamp is plenty. I don't really have much to say about the build process. Everything was completely fine (except dealing with the hassle of a dropper with internal routing, seriously, don't do it), all the surfaces were faced and all the threads were clean, hoses popped out where they should, it was great.
I do have a few notes about the frame, though:
- The only flaw I could find on the frame, or rather in the frame, is that the ends of the channels that divert cables/hoses around the downtube storage hatch opening have some excess resin from when they were bonded in, and this resin has cured to form mildly sharp bumps. They aren't big, probably only ~1 mm high (I can only feel them, there's no angle to view them), but it's necessary to use foam housing all the way up to the channel entrance to avoid potential hose damage. The channels aren't big enough to accommodate foam housing though (at least not easily) so some careful measuring is necessary to get the foam housing length right.
- Part of my decision to buy this frame was that it listed 160/180 mm rotors - but this is only true for the frame! The fork is 140/160 mm!! I'm not too happy about that, but I can live with it for now. I bought one of the cheap 180 mm adapters off Aliexpress to see how that works, maybe I'll keep it, maybe I'll spring for the Peak Torque BBC ($75 though...). I also emailed them about this and they've corrected the frame specs on the AF website to be more clear, so kudos for a quick response there.
- The internal frame storage is somewhat limited - the included bag is good and is a snug fit, but no object longer than about ~3 inches can be put in the bag lengthwise, because the bag needs to be able to articulate to be crammed up into the downtube. It can't go down towards the bottom bracket because of the below-downtube water bottle cage rivnuts. The bag wasn't large enough to fully contain my (slightly overkill) tool kit, so I split the lesser-used tools into a separate ziploc that I wrapped in two shop towels and wedged beneath the hatch. This worked well and there were no noises even on some very washboarded dirt, and the bags haven't moved a millimeter. Unfortunately I can't put my jacket in the downtube, it won't fit unless I take it out of its protective sack and I don't want it to rip.
- There's no clean way to plug the hole the the bottom bracket for front derailleur cable routing. Ideally a little rubber plug would be included to patch this up, as I'm sure many, if not most, of the buyers of this frame will be running a 1x setup. I used some Sugru to seal the hole but a first-party method would be preferred.
Overall, it seems like I got what I wanted: nearly the exact same geometry and handling of my G068 but with superior manufacturing quality and a few additional features. And the fork doesn't creak!!! I only wish the seattube was a bit longer so I could've kept my OneUp dropper, PNW is not the same quality. Oh well, can't have everything...