Quote from: j3reun on October 26, 2026, 02:55:30 PMnice build. Nice to see it with a entry level groupset between all the red/force/rival groups.
What kind of rubber cap do you use to cover of the seatpost? Is it custom made?

The rubber seat post gasket is stock. Came with it.

I like the groupset well enough. I have Force axs on my road bike. Not too proud to have Apex mechanical on a bike I'll ride in the mud

Here's photos of my size L in matte black. Mine built up easily. No issues with the caliper mounts and then seemed faced. Been out for 150 km so far and it rides great. I'm 185cm and tried to match the wheelbase to my Tarmac. I'm a little more relaxed with a shorter reach and slightly higher bars, but it still handles great in tight corners. I bought this for racing and to do some long bike packing and I'm confident it will be good enough at both. The frame bag (Agu large) that I use on my 58cm Tarmac is too long for this frame. I have a smaller frame bag that fits in on top of regular water bottle, but it doesn't hold as much. This is my first bike with internal downtube storage. It's not big enough to fit my pump, plugs, extra tube, and multitool so I don't really get the point. This is a general criticism, not specific to this frame. I'm still going to have a seatbag for local rides. I only put a tube in the internal storage.

I also have a frame on order. I intend to use this for bike packing and regular gravel riding. I guess I'll have to get something like this (https://www.topeak.com/global/en/product/1773-CAGE-MOUNT-EXTENDER). Doesn't seem like a big deal, but I've never had to lower my bottle cage... Has anyone used one before? My frame bag fits well on my racing bike with a bottle in place, but touches just a little.

Did you order wheels from Dengfu at the same time or just the frame? I have a R13 that I built the wheels for separately and I had to dish them off center towards the drive side maybe 3-5mm. Just curious if you notices this or if anyone else has noticed this on other frames? It makes wheel building more challenging.

I searched for wide rims and found more Q's than definitive answers. But I did find some good options at Light Bicycle like these: https://www.lightbicycle.com/carbon-road-gravel-cx-disc-bike/rims/700C--24-25mm.

Now I get in the internal debate that buying rims, hubs, spokes, and nipples separately at retail prices is the same or sometimes more than buying a complete wheel. I guess the long term value is buying good hubs and then using them with multiple rims over the years, changing out the bearings as needed.

I'm looking to build a new set of wheels for my racing bike. My current rimes are 21mm inner and 28 outer. I'm trying to follow the "rule of 105" so that means I need 30mm outer width to match with my 28c tires. I haven't seen any that wide. I've built up two wheelsets from Lightcarbon rims and I'm super happy with them. Any ideas or links are appreciated!

I met someone with this frame and they seemed happy with it: https://www.bxtcycle.com/carbon-track-bike-frame_p18.html

Thanks. I've not personally ordered a frame from AliExpress. I got a response from Winow and they told me that they have this frame: http://winowsports.com/product/products-10-carbon-track-tr045.html. The cost is $440. It seems like people have had good experiences with Winow here on the forum. Anyone have any specific thoughts about Winow? I'm mostly interested in the quality once it arrives. I can deal with some time lag etc.

It might come to that, but my current backup option is a Dolan frame. I'm just always scared of buying from the UK after Brexit. I have to pay a penalty VAT at the postoffice in the EU. I found an Ican frame (https://icancycling.com/products/carbon-track-bike-frameset-tra01?_pos=2&_sid=0051108cb&_ss=r&variant=40012609323086), but I'm worried about the proprietary stem. I think I'll need it to be more adjustable to get the right position.

Hi all,

I'm looking to build a track bike and I'm having trouble finding frames that are either in stock or that I can buy just one. I was told that Dengfu's frame is out of stock without and indication that it will be back in stock when I emailed. Lightcarbon told me that the minimum buy count was 30 for their track frame. I'm planning on racing a mass start events so I don't want a time trial/pursuit type frame. Just an aero frame with horizontal dropouts. Does anyone out there have suggestions? This will be my fourth build of and OEM frame if I can find one. I've had a Hongfu rim brake road frame, a rinasclta rim brake frame to replace the Hongfu after 9 years, and now I'm racing on a Dengfu R13 disc frame that I've posted about here.

Thanks for the help!

Hi everyone. Longtime lurker, first time poster. I've learned a lot from the forum over the years so it's time to give back by sharing some knowledge.

The first frame that I ordered directly from a Chinese manufacturer was a Hongfu FM069 in 2014. It felt a bit more like gambling then. Fewer people doing this, less knowledge about the producers, and not knowing anything about how customs would work. I was out of the game for some time because that frame lasted until spring 2022. The only trouble I had with it was due to a small design flaw. Shimano changed the front derailleur when they came out with Ultegra 6800 and the arm of the derailleur pressed on the frame, but like I wrote, it lasted for years and thousands of KM, until last spring. I noticed what looked like a slight crack on the top tube while sitting at a cafe after riding. It felt a little soft when I pushed on it, but I couldn't tell how bad it was. I road it a few more times and pushed on it, and pulled on it with my fingernail, etc. I eventually decided that I wasn't going to feel safe riding it at speed on the open road, so I dissected it the best I could around the crack. Long story short, I'm convinced that it is next to impossible to properly inspect a carbon frame without professional tools. Full stop. Sure there are visually obvious flaws, but we won't catch anything internal. The other side is just as true. I'm happy I retired that frame, but I'm not 100% that is was necessary. So I decided to order a new frame and use my existing grupo and wheels.

It was spring and I needed a frame asap so I panic ordered a Rinasclta 2020 light weight rim brake road frame. They were professional, I got the frame relatively quickly, even with a custom paint job. It rides nicely and generally does what a frame should do: let you focus on riding. I had a little problem with the rear derailleur hanger. It was misaligned and there is so little carbon where it screws to the frame that I'm afraid to use a derailleur hanger adjustment tool to bend it into place. I made a shim out of thin plastic and that got it close enough that it shifts without problems. I can share photos or a tutorial if anyone has questions about what I did. I'm happy with that bike and it is now on my indoor trainer and I use it as my winter bike.

I was ready to take a big step forward after putting in the training time the last few years so this autumn I started looking for a new frame to build up from scratch. My priorities were integrated cables, disc brakes, and somewhere on the aero spectrum of frames. After much lurking on the forums, I finally settled on a Deng Fu R12. The Yeoleo R12 (completely different from the Deng Fu R12) did work with me for geometry and taste. A few final contenders had BB86 bottom brackets, which don't play nicely with sram dub cranks. So the Deng Fu R12 with its BB386 was the call. Mia was helpful and answered my questions promptly. The price was nice. Everything was good until I changed my mind about the size. I wanted at 56cm frame instead of 58cm. The 56cm frame was out of stock. I was disappointed because I was ready to pull the trigger, but she got back to me to let me know that they had the new R13 in 56cm. She said it was very close to the R12, sent me a photo, but didn't have a geometry chart to share. I decided to order it anyway. It came about a month later. Mia shared a tracking number when it shipped and it arrived very well packaged in my country without incident. I tried to look at the inside of the frame the best I could without a proper insertable camera. Everything checked out. The only thing that I noticed was some latex leftover from the molding process. I built it up with sram force. The brake cable routing was easy; I didn't need anything other than tape and the plastic tubing that came pre-inserted in the frame. I'm not 100% happy with how the headset spacers are fitting into the integrated bar/stem. The spaces have a little dot that fits into a corresponding hole in the spacer above and then the stem. The space match up perfectly, but the carbon stem is tightened around the steerer tube, which changes its diameter, making this last interface slightly misaligned. It's about 99% there, just not perfect. Certainly not a safety issue. I have zero other comments other than it was easy to build. I used a Token thread together ninja bb. Besides having to find their tool in stock to buy, it was easy and tolerances checked out the best I could tell with calipers.

The other part of the project was building wheels. I bought light carbon rims (Hi everyone. Longtime lurker, first time poster. I've learned a lot from the forum over the years so it's time to give back by sharing some knowledge.

The first frame that I ordered directly from a Chinese manufacturer was a Hongfu FM069 in 2014. It felt a bit more like gambling then. Fewer people doing this, less knowledge about the producers, and not knowing anything about how customs would work. I was out of the game for some time because that frame lasted until spring 2022. The only trouble I had with it was due to a small design flaw. Shimano changed the front derailleur when they came out with Ultegra 6800 and the arm of the derailleur pressed on the frame, but like I wrote, it lasted for years and thousands of KM, until last spring. I noticed what looked like a slight crack on the top tube while sitting at a cafe after riding. It felt a little soft when I pushed on it, but I couldn't tell how bad it was. I road it a few more times and pushed on it, and pulled on it with my fingernail, etc. I eventually decided that I wasn't going to feel safe riding it at speed on the open road, so I dissected it the best I could around the crack. Long story short, I'm convinced that it is next to impossible to properly inspect a carbon frame without professional tools. Full stop. Sure there are visually obvious flaws, but we won't catch anything internal. The other side is just as true. I'm happy I retired that frame, but I'm not 100% that is was necessary. So I decided to order a new frame and use my existing grupo and wheels.

It was spring and I needed a frame asap so I panic ordered a Rinasclta 2020 light weight rim brake road frame. They were professional, I got the frame relatively quickly, even with a custom paint job. It rides nicely and generally does what a frame should do: let you focus on riding. I had a little problem with the rear derailleur hanger. It was misaligned and there is so little carbon where it screws to the frame that I'm afraid to use a derailleur hanger adjustment tool to bend it into place. I made a shim out of thin plastic and that got it close enough that it shifts without problems. I can share photos or a tutorial if anyone has questions about what I did. I'm happy with that bike and it is now on my indoor trainer and I use it as my winter bike.

I was ready to take a big step forward after putting in the training time the last few years so this autumn I started looking for a new frame to build up from scratch. My priorities were integrated cables, disc brakes, and somewhere on the aero spectrum of frames. After much lurking on the forums, I finally settled on a Deng Fu R12. The Yeoleo R12 (completely different from the Deng Fu R12) did work with me for geometry and taste. A few final contenders had BB86 bottom brackets, which don't play nicely with sram dub cranks. So the Deng Fu R12 with its BB386 was the call. Mia was helpful and answered my questions promptly. The price was nice. Everything was good until I changed my mind about the size. I wanted at 56cm frame instead of 58cm. The 56cm frame was out of stock. I was disappointed because I was ready to pull the trigger, but she got back to me to let me know that they had the new R13 in 56cm. She said it was very close to the R12, sent me a photo, but didn't have a geometry chart to share. I decided to order it anyway. It came about a month later. Mia shared a tracking number when it shipped and it arrived very well packaged in my country without incident. I tried to look at the inside of the frame the best I could without a proper insertable camera. Everything checked out. The only thing that I noticed was some latex leftover from the molding process. I built it up with sram force. The brake cable routing was easy; I didn't need anything other than tape and the plastic tubing that came pre-inserted in the frame. I'm not 100% happy with how the headset spacers are fitting into the integrated bar/stem. The spaces have a little dot that fits into a corresponding hole in the spacer above and then the stem. The space match up perfectly, but the carbon stem is tightened around the steerer tube, which changes its diameter, making this last interface slightly misaligned. It's about 99% there, just not perfect. Certainly not a safety issue. I have zero other comments other than it was easy to build. I used a Token thread together ninja bb. Besides having to find their tool in stock to buy, it was easy and tolerances checked out the best I could tell with calipers. The only difference that I can see between the R12 photos I've seen online and my R13 is in the seat stays. The R12 has slightly flared seat stays that are separate when they leave the seat tube. The seat stays on the R13 come off of the seat stay as a single, joined piece that then separates to each side.

The other part of the project was building wheels. I bought rims from Light Carbon (https://www.lightcarbon.com/super-aero-undulating-rim-depth-700c-disc-brake-carbon-clincher-rims_p207.html). Super easy to deal with. Prompt emails. Answered questions. Shipped with a tracking number and I'm completely satisfied and enjoyed building the wheels.

Last, I used a matte 2k clear coat on the frame and semigloss on the rims. I had more elaborate painting plans, but not a place to warm and dry to realize them in the winter.