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Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Airwolf Madone
« on: July 28, 2024, 12:09:40 PM »
Hello all,
I've recently completed an AliExpress build focused on a knockoff Madone Gen 7 frame from airwolf. Everything was bought from AliExpress and my rotos(Shimano CL800) and chain(Sram Rival 12 speed) are the only non-chinese parts. Just wanted to share with you guys some thoughts about the buildand, frame and Wheeltop groupset.
The frame: It's very heavy, 1550g for the 58cm. Paint is good but fragile. There's a defect on the front near the logo. The mount hole for head unit on the handlebars isn't threaded for the first 2mm so I can't fit a screw in, unsure what I'm going to do about that. Couldn't center my brake calipers in the rear, had to add 1mm of electrical tape on the left side of the caliper similar to another user here who added nail polish.
The build: Don't attempt unless you're willing to deal with small issues and you have all the tools necessary. The compression plug that came with the fork had some edges that were 2mm too wide. This had to be filed down to fit in the fork. Internal routing on this handlebar is an absolute nightmare even with the cable routing kit I got stuck and almost gave up. Rear caliper is angled slightly wrong after torquing, not centered on the wheel. Another user added nail polish to fix the paint discrepancy, I added some electrical tape.
The groupset: Wheeltop eds TX, haven't ridden it much yet but bleeding this thing is very tedious. Takes multiple passes to get the last little bits of air out. The micro adjustment per cog on the cassette is nice. The shifter buttons have a very far travel before actuation. I've added some filler on the outer edges to prevent the buttons from resting so far out resulting in less travel.
Full list of parts here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19EG7w-PL_o6xKSSonwYg_NhqtS9TUTIpZ4kgHLeZcio/edit?usp=drivesdk
I got lazy and stopped weighing individual parts during the build but the whole thing weighs 18lbs with cages and sealant. With a quality frame it could be dropped to around 16.5 but I'm happy with the result.
Here is an imgur album with the bike, haven't been able to add an image and make the list successfully.
https://imgur.com/a/6nXO66F
I've recently completed an AliExpress build focused on a knockoff Madone Gen 7 frame from airwolf. Everything was bought from AliExpress and my rotos(Shimano CL800) and chain(Sram Rival 12 speed) are the only non-chinese parts. Just wanted to share with you guys some thoughts about the buildand, frame and Wheeltop groupset.
The frame: It's very heavy, 1550g for the 58cm. Paint is good but fragile. There's a defect on the front near the logo. The mount hole for head unit on the handlebars isn't threaded for the first 2mm so I can't fit a screw in, unsure what I'm going to do about that. Couldn't center my brake calipers in the rear, had to add 1mm of electrical tape on the left side of the caliper similar to another user here who added nail polish.
The build: Don't attempt unless you're willing to deal with small issues and you have all the tools necessary. The compression plug that came with the fork had some edges that were 2mm too wide. This had to be filed down to fit in the fork. Internal routing on this handlebar is an absolute nightmare even with the cable routing kit I got stuck and almost gave up. Rear caliper is angled slightly wrong after torquing, not centered on the wheel. Another user added nail polish to fix the paint discrepancy, I added some electrical tape.
The groupset: Wheeltop eds TX, haven't ridden it much yet but bleeding this thing is very tedious. Takes multiple passes to get the last little bits of air out. The micro adjustment per cog on the cassette is nice. The shifter buttons have a very far travel before actuation. I've added some filler on the outer edges to prevent the buttons from resting so far out resulting in less travel.
Full list of parts here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19EG7w-PL_o6xKSSonwYg_NhqtS9TUTIpZ4kgHLeZcio/edit?usp=drivesdk
I got lazy and stopped weighing individual parts during the build but the whole thing weighs 18lbs with cages and sealant. With a quality frame it could be dropped to around 16.5 but I'm happy with the result.
Here is an imgur album with the bike, haven't been able to add an image and make the list successfully.
https://imgur.com/a/6nXO66F