I think that LTWOO electronic WILL be a good option. Not today, may be in 2 years.
I just love SRAM's AXS, and the price AND performance must be very tempting to make me jump from this wagon.

You need a new freehub for Sram cassettes is what I meant. With Shimano, you „only“ need to upgrade everything to 12sp. Still, either option requires you to buy many more components than just shifters, brakes and derailleurs.

Not strictly necessary. You can run a Shimano 12s (HG body) with SRAM AXS (I use that combo on the trainer). The issue is that you loss the 10t smallest cog (XDR is mandatory). Not a problem in the trainer, but could be an issue on road, with 46T or 48T big chainring.

Yesterday I brought the R086-D to my weekly fast group ride. The 2 hour training ride consists of a section of rolling hills and several sprint/drag points where we can easily hit 38-40mph on the flats with a proper tailwind. While it's technically not a road race (we re-group after every sprint section and traffic light) all the local race clubs do show up to make it quite competitive. For these type of rides I only trust my T1500 and Allez Sprint for obvious reasons.

Last year as an experiment I once brought my VeloBuild VB-168 with the same Elite Drive 65D wheels as a test. Big mistake. I was struggling all evening to put the power down as the 168 was noticeably sluggish/flexy (for me). Not great out of the saddle either.

I can confirm with both Bike Radar and Road.cc that the R086-D is a proper aero bike. Sprinting, climbing, handling into the corners at speed. The bike is fast on the flats and I did not detect any noticeable deficiencies compared to the T1500 and Allez Sprint. In fact this frame may just be slightly faster on the flats than the Allez Sprint, but I don't have any scientific data to prove it.

I've been showing up to this group ride for 2 years. Everyone knows each other well. But last night I was complimented on my ability for closing down gaps and make several bridges to the lead groups attacking up the road (I never do this LoL). While some of this is from experience and fitness, honestly the R086-D is such a bike to ridden fast with confidence.

Last thing note about the frameset specifically - I would invest in some microshims for underneath the headset cover and do a dry run of fitting the entire cockpit (including the expander plug and compression cap) before permanently routing the cables. Initially the headset cover was very slightly rubbing on the headtube. A 0.25mm microshim immediately solved the issue. I can't say if the problem was a anecdotal or a tolerance-related. No one else has reported it but just a heads up to be safe.

Nice to read that Pat.
Just to be curious, W/Kg of that "race" rides?

i did it.

I took advantage of the Ali discount week and ordered on Friday.

With the BTS32 discount code and the current discount due to the promotion at Aliexpress, I'm currently paying $538.04 including tax and shipping via the SellersShipping method, which I'll pay with my credit card, and after conversion I'll end up with €495.57...

And that for 65 mm high rims with 21 mm jaw width with a set weight of 1495g ... unbelievable.


They wrote to me after the order that they are happy - but that I have to extend the delivery time by 15 days, otherwise they can't manage the order and have to cancel it.

Since I don't need the wheels until next year, that's fine and I'll wait 3 months instead of 2.


I will report on my experiences.

Happy to read that!
I'm interesed in Gravel and 50mm options on that wheels. Usually in November 11st Ali offers good deals.
Keep posted your experience on this.

That is because you use a quality cassette, probably good chains and you wax 

If you use Ali cassettes, 5K is very lucky sometimes

Not yet in the wax wagon (maybe on next cassette). Also surprised on 12s XDR cassettes on Ali, same price as Force or Rival in EU.

Driveline do some shorter cranks, I went with an adjustable length crank from Driveline because I wanted to try 160mm as well, but they have others that are a single fixed length.  Adjustable length Driveline crank, I emailed them and bought it via email. Paid USD $100 plus postage, with chainrings installed, I'm sure you could get your preferred chainring combo from Driveline.  I run this with an Ultegra 6800 setup, works fine

That's something I was looking for! Thanks for the data.

Amazon (USA) is selling SRAM Force eTap groupsets on sale for around $800.

Levers, calipers, pre-bled hoses, both derailleurs, a set of rotors, 2 batteries, AND charger. All you need to buy is a crank, chain, and cassette.

This is a no brainer...

Almost same situation in EU. SRAM Rival is at same price than LTWOO, and Force a little bit higher. For me, no cost/risk option going for LTWOO, and at it first batch.

Really nice looking bike (besides the saddle, but that's 100% personal).
Thinking of this frame or a VB CX-002 for double duty as CX/Gravel bike.

Hi!

Find this deal on Ali:
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/33019194925.html?aff_fcid=ddd8b3d857d14c70bf8fcf7340ec5547-1686822533730-06416-_DDMj4mv&tt=CPS_NORMAL&aff_fsk=_DDMj4mv&aff_platform=shareComponent-detail&sk=_DDMj4mv&aff_trace_key=ddd8b3d857d14c70bf8fcf7340ec5547-1686822533730-06416-_DDMj4mv&terminal_id=f59f9c6474c248a4ac5688da1c637a21&afSmartRedirect=y

Less than €300 for a pair of 50mm, shipped to EU.
Any comments on this wheels before hitting the trigger?