Anyone try the Libraton one? $33, has a ton of good reviews

I found this video useful when deciding which one to purchase.

I want to throw out that TPU tubes have one major downside - they are NOT patchable long-term. Despite meticulous cleaning and application, every glueless TPU patch has failed on me after a few days or weeks at best.
Ridenow and Cyclami TPU tubes are still good value, but if you puncture, treat patches a temporary fix to get home and be prepared to throw the tubes out eventually.
I'm cheap and don't like being wasteful, so I switched back to butyl tubes for training rides which I can patch over and over again. I still use TPU tubes for racing and as a spare.

Other Aliexpress items I can definitely recommend:
- $18 2x Carbon bottle cages (Bontrager XXX knockoffs)
- $24 Elita One carbon saddle (the Specialized Power knockoff one)
- $425 Elitewheels carbon rim brake wheels with Powerway R13 hubs and Pillar Wing 20 spokes, 47mm deep and 27mm wide, 1500g. Used for ~3800 miles and no issues except having to retrue each wheel once. No issues braking even on 3000ft+ descents.
- $20 Magene H303 heart rate monitor with chest strap
- $8 2x CYCPLUS Cadence/Speed dual sensors. Yes I got two of them for $8.
- $20-30 Spexcel Jerseys and Bibs

Steer clear from these:
- Kactus Titanium QR skewers. I don't know what Trace Velo was thinking, these are awful. Lots of friction, loose rattling fit on the threads for the nut, extremely sharp edges on the lever that make it impossible to close the lever with any force. Just completely unusable.
- Cheap unbranded stems. The one I got had paint overspray in the clamping areas and screw holes which was a pain to get rid of. The screw holes faces on the faceplate weren't flat and could cause a stress raiser if I torqued the bolts up, so I had to use a faceplate from a different stem I had. Not worth cutting every dollar for an important part of your bike - stick to Kalloy/UNO alloy stems with lots of reviews or western brands.

I am really confused now, I thought new gen Shimano 105's construction is 2 alloy that was forged together by glue?

BTW how is the performance of cranksets such as the one that I posted? I generally don't mind the chainrings as I can get them easily and replace them with better quality ones. I am thinking about the stiffness generally

105 has never been glued - even the newest Shimano 105 12-speed crankset is still hollow forged. Only Ultegra (6800/R8000/R8100) and Dura-Ace (9000/R9100/R9200) are glued.

Can't personally comment on stiffness but Hambini has said that having a cut-out section on the back of the crank arms is less stiff than a hollow design (like Shimano or Rotor). Not sure if it's a noticeable difference in practice.

If bonding issues are a concern, Shimano 105 R7000 and R7100 cranksets have one-piece forged construction that do not use glue.

Cranksets in the style of that Racework generally work fine. They do have some quirks worth knowing about, the chainrings generally don't last as long as Shimano ones, and the straight crankarms (as opposed to Shimano crankarms which curve outwards) don't have much heel clearance when pedaling.

Hybrid-hydraulic calipers are pretty reliable. From what I've seen in this thread http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,3333.30.html and Trace Velo's videos, the ZRACE BR-005 cable-actuated hydraulics are more than adequate and affordable at about 60 dollars a pair. A more pricey but well-proven option are Juintech F1s.

TRP Spyres are the go-to for fully mechanical. I'd think you'd be better off buying used than going for a Chiner knock-off of those.

Agreed, for pedals you really have to pick 2 out of 3 for lightweight, inexpensive, and durable. Because of how many moving parts they have, saving weight is not so simple.

Another masochist eR9 beta tester chiming in:

As with the user above I also had sub-optimal interactions with their customers service, with typically 1 business day gaps in the reply time, so getting a replacement part which I had damaged took a total of 5 days to be dispatched.

What was the part?