on the face of it, it looks like what's been promised for the eTX. it seems to be a bit of a drip feed, but the price is decent enough.

I've only bought one frame from SPCycle, the M028 frame, pre UDH.
service was actually OK, frame was nice and well finished. one issue I did have though is the dropout. The mech hanger dropout was in two parts, the inner plate and the outer plate. the inner had a threaded stub that went into the frame, and the outer was a teardrop shape that fixed the two parts with a m2.5 bolt.

Problem was, the thru axle was then only fixed to the inner plate and the frame was only attached to that by the 2.5mm thick bolt. cornering meant that the dropout would flex and the wheel would shift.

normally the threaded part is attached to the outer plate, so that tightening the thru axle tightens the frame down on the hub and everything stays pretty tight. I explained this to SPCycle, who responded by saying they'd never had any problems before.

that was the end of the conversation.

I ended up sourcing a dropout for another frame that worked ok, but I was not happy with the 'this is just the way it is' attitude from them. Not very helpful at all.

Not the eTX, but the shifter paired with a new integrated battery eR9 for a decent price.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005012523399494.html

so a couple of hitches, smaller cassettes and no clutch...

if like me you use 40/42t cassettes it'll probably work OK (limit says 40T) and if the weight claims are right at 311g for the mech it's very light for a (mtb/gravel) derailleur, never mind an electronic one.

clutch may be an issue, or may not if you don't mind a bit of chain slap as I think chain ring retention is pretty much sorted now.

me too, sortof, I think my first 29er was in 2005, they'd been out for a few years, but I was still the first in my riding group to have one.

I see Tideace have a 32" frameset listed on aliex.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005011547348520.html

I did wonder how long it would take.

anyone thinking about it? fortunately I'm not really in a position to at the moment...at the moment ;-)

GMBN built an aliexpress bike with an ActoFive crank. very similar construction to the garburuk, machined half shell arms keyed and bonded in. obviously for proper key and bond you need machining to decent tolerances, and the actofives split halfway up a welsh mountain.
they look pretty, but I'd not trust them.

any news on when these will likely be released?

I tried some orange kingstop after reading the reviews here. Started off OK, but they fade pretty quickly and don't offer much in the way of bite. Back to SRAM semi metallic which are much much better feeling.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006050330522.html

waterproof socks.

used them about a dozen times so far. waterproof as advertised.
pretty stretchy, not the old bag in a sock feeling of the old sealskinz, but not as stretchy as bridgedales offerings.
XL is plenty big enough for my Eu47 feet, with a bit of room to go. Normally I find it difficult to get big enough waterproof socks.
warmth wise, they're sortof microfleece, sortof. they're not as warm as my merino lined winter sealskinz, but on par with my winter Bridgedale waterproof socks. I do get cold feet easily, but have been comfortable in these down to 0degC. anything lower and the old sealskinz come out.

I have the LM03, got it for about £12. it's pretty, it's light, it holds a bottle well. not sure how durable it'll be but it's decent enough and feels pretty solid.

Looks like a very similar solution as the Rotor 1x13 cassettes and freehubs. Theirs however let you use a normal shimano cassette on the freehub, with their 10T sprocket screwing onto the 11 tooth and an elongated lockring securing the whole lot to the freehub. The hub was spaced similar to if you use a boost adapter on a normal 142mm rear wheel, so slightly iffy chainline, but it works.

I have a vague memory of a company in the early 90's (maybe mountain tamers) selling a small sprocket for standard (7 speed?) cassettes of the time that replaced your lockring and overhung the axle a bit...kinda reminds me of that.

I'm looking to buy a set of boost hubs, but now quite uncertain about what to get, having read some of the pro's and cons here and seeing what's available on AX.

so we have Goldix, 370, 350, 240 and 180's.

370's use either a 36t or 60t ratchet made of steel. look like EXP type in some of the drawings but the photo's are old style DT.

350 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006641370009.html) use a 26T ratchet, but I can't make out quite how that works. looks EXP configuration, but the teeth are angled and looks like there's not a huge amount of contact patch.

240 (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005220417823.html) look more like traditional EXP ratchet, with a 36/60t option (though one poster above said goldix only did them in 60t, which contradicts this) and I see some 54t resale ones. are these compatible with DT ratchets should they need to be replaced?

180's (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004721073940.html) look very similar to the 240's but with the 54t exp style ratchet.

I did see a 72T ratchet setup, I think by goldix too which looked like it'd fail on the first bit of mud. the ratchet teeth angled 30 degrees or so, so likely not cross compatible with anything else. I actually see it posted on p9 of this thread..

Then there's venfort, who have had mixed reviews, but do look like you can swap out the ratchet with genuine DT ones if it goes, though uncertain if that's just an issue with the 60T version, or if the 36T is OK?

The ZTTO M1 hubs folk talk about seem to not be sold on AX anymore?

I'm tempted to go venfort, 36T unless there is a compelling argument against?

Quoteat the back of the cassette, there are 3 small screws (i have the half alu, half steel ones). i had one instance where one screw was getting loose. i loctite-d everything and it's been fine since.
i hope you're not asking a refund because a screw you can tighten & lock is getting loose?

No, mine was like the one above that cracked, it's just small brass rivets. I really wished they had done the same as the road ones and used small torx bolts as that may have been a much better solution, maybe...I still have the fear from when old M900 cassettes were assembled using miniature chainring bolts, that just wouldn't stay tight.

I have the SPEDAO version of this cassette, 11-42 11 speed MTB and have just opened up a refund request.
it's nice, well made and light. shifts great, but after only about 200 miles it's started to click, which developed into a creak. Further inspection one of the point where the sprockets are attached to the carrier has some movement. it's not loose, but there is definite movement under load.
they're only attached using small brass rivets vs large steel rivets holding sprockets on to say, shimano alu carriers.

may be bad batch, but it's a risk certainly.
replacing with a XT shimano one instead

they have the 2 pot also:
https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-parts/bike-brakes/clarks-crs-c2-cnc-2-piston-hydraulic-disc-brake-set-824806.html?stockInventory=undefined