Just thought I’d add my 2 cents to this group, as I finally received my frameset at the weekend. I ordered from Polar bicycle store on AliExpress a few months ago. However the frameset took a little longer than others,as I ordered the raw finish with the hologram logo which seems to be more difficult to manufacture and this seller was the first to have it on the market. Honestly I was a PITA customer asking loads of questions and being really picky about every detail, he answered all my questions thoroughly and promptly and never complained.

For a size medium/54cm frame weight was 898g, front fork uncut was 410g, 0mm offset seatpost was 125g and a Darimo nexum drag replica in 380x100mm was 284g.

The quality was outstanding and just as good as any western brand, perhaps even better. The facing on the BB shell meant there was no paint and the threads were super smooth. The handlebar and seatpost were a super tight fit with no play and the mounts for the calipers were also really well faced and the calipers were perfectly parallel with the rotors when I built it up.

Anyway here’s some pictures of the final build, came in at 6.7kg without bar tape.

Nice build and impressive weight! have fun riding it, every km or mile counts!

I've purchased it on Aliexpress (store: taiwan factory bike parts Store - model New Model Fasterway Ostro) and I could choose between any factor color scheme (painted or the stickers are under the paint), I doubted the one without any paint or just the clear paint that you could see the carbon layers. I know a lot of people here don't like replicas or placing a brand name on a copied frame, but in the end, I still did it, because I liked it (sorry).

I had to look back which seller I actually had, because I forgot it and have since I build the bike now around 5300 km done, and still going strong.

I have now confirmed that Colonel's supplier (Taiwan Glory Bike Store Store) is the latest 2025 V2 EPS molding hence the better quality.

For anyone keeping up with this thread, avoid taiwan factory bike parts Store as they could not guarantee the quality and would not confirm 100% refund it not happy.

I think it's quite an aggressive claim to be honest, but I do believe before you make a purchase it's good to do your own research. If I had a chance to do it again, I would probably also take another seller that is known for a nicer and smoother internal build, however I want to make a point that it is not exploding or cracking or what so ever. I'm riding it, 3 to 4 times a week and it's holding firmly, steady, solid, it's fast, etc., even with all the "fake" stuff that is not done here on the forum.

So I'm still happy with my Taiwan Factory Bike Parts Store replica factor frame, that everyone should avoid!

Those video's coming out are great from the EuroBike 2025 show, saw the one of Hambini, was really impressed with the Gravel model from Seka. But also the Magnesium rims look interesting, like all the stuff that kbernstein said

Yesterday during a group ride, I saw someone trying to overtake us on a Factor Ostro frame. It was the first time I’d ever seen one in the wild—you recognize it immediately. He was drafting behind us for a while and then tried to jump ahead, but he wasn’t going fast enough to break away from our group (around 40km/h). That gave me the chance to ride behind him and check out the bike.

There were no logos on the frame, just a glossy UD weave. The Black Inc handlebar and wheels stood out—the wheels looked like they were about 50mm deep, with only the Black Inc logo on the hub. It had a solid Ultegra groupset, though I couldn’t really see the crankset clearly. He also had those ultra-light 7-gram bottle cages from AliExpress.

I was pretty stoked to finally see the same bike in person, and I think you guys would love it too—especially since it didn’t have any logos.

Anyway, if the rider was local, it must’ve been somewhere near Goes in the Netherlands.

Yesterday I took wheels for a proper ride, bit of a climbing, some flats and a long descends, all in a winds with gusts up to 80 km/h. Wheels are definitely on the stiff side, my bike is already very stiff so I felt a difference compared to my previous carbon wheels. Road chatter is easily picked up and you can feel it on your hands, especially on the hoods, but not that much in the drops. Sidewinds do affect the wheels but not that much and this is what I really cannot fully confirm. I felt few wind pushes from the side but mostly the wheels are balanced and stable. On the flats they roll nicely and I was able to hold my power around 350W and maintain a speed of 45 km/h with compact crankset (34/50). During the descends wheels are nice and they are not twitchy.

I am not a pro rider and I didn't tested a ton of other wheels but I can say they are worth the money and they are upgrade over my 1000 EUR wheels. A bit on the stiff side but that could be good thing. No problems so far and I also backordered a few spare spokes from Matter.

What kind of wheels did you had previous to using the Tagoola DAO50s? Interesting that you say that they are stiffer, do you have carbon spokes on the 100 euro wheels or also steel? for me the Carbon spoke wheels are stiffer than the Tagoola. Also with the same power output, only not the same speed.

Have a pair of these https://vi.aliexpress.com/item/1005004767705476.html and the rear has started creaking after limited use. Rode them a few times earlier on with no noticeable issues and then been mainly riding another bike - with the rubbish weather here.

Rode them again recently and found the noise appeared - maybe they've just bedded in. Subsequently I've definitely isolated the noise to the rear wheel - by elimination I ruled out the seapost area, bottom bracket area or anything on the front of the bike. Proved it today by riding a different rear wheel with zero noise.

Noise happens when in a low gear and torquing - think slowly up a steep hill. No crashes, dropping into potholes or similar.

Suggestion of one of the other bikers I know was to lube the spokes. So I plan to put a small amount of grease where the spokes overlap and touch initially and see how that goes. If that fails then I guess I need to think of where the spokes, nipples and rim meet.

Anyone got any alternate thoughts / suggestions pls?
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Edit
Actually I haven't changed the cassette -  so that may be worth doing first or after lubing the cross spokes point?

I had this issue in Rouvy when it was really steep on my Saris H3 trainer. When I switched back to Zwift, I didn't had it anymore. I tightened the Casette checked the hub, etc. Controlled the Bottom bracket and made sure it was the correct torq. Unfortunatly no hills here to test it in person outside. but I got it with Low cadance and high torq. I also have elite wheels that's why I was triggered but I haven't experienced it yet outside.

I drove now several times on the DAO50 Wave from Tagoola (1386 gram) and compared to my Elite Drive D65 (1516 gram) they are very good with crosswinds (obviously) but I'm amazed how much easier it is, even though they are also "deep" 45-50mm. As an addition the steelspokes sounds awesome compared to my carbon spokes from the elite wheels so, I would give that a plus as well. The hub is a bit disappointing but yeah you can't compare that to a middle tier wheelset of 944 euro. These are I think entry level (316 euro) and the price/quality is also what you pay for.

I'm just 300 km in, and I'm pretty content with them. I tested them with Pirelli P-zero race RS and Maxxis Highroads SL, both easy to put on the wheel. I think the rolling resistance is a bit better for the Pirelli's, but it's almost not noticeable for me. I bought and tried the Highroads because they are lighter (184 gram instead of 243 gram), without considering that the rolling resistance might be more.

In total the wheelset from Tagoola is 200 grams lighter with tires, inner tpu, discs and cassette on it compared to the Elite drives. But then again I should have compared them to the Elite D50 maybe but then there was no point of getting them, I wanted the 65mm and now I have a bit shallower so of course they are lighter less material, but then heavier spokes.

Anyway I happy with either wheelset but I just wanted to share my experience with it