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Messages - jrasero

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Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Tavelo Aero Frame
« on: July 31, 2024, 04:56:20 PM »
I totally agree with you about being counter culture.  I have my mainstream Scott Foil RC but I did want another bike that I wouldn't be devastated if I laid it down and had to shell out for a whole new frame but also different from the sea of Tarmacs, Pinarellos, and other high-end bikes that are in the local group ride scene here.  I think the T1550 is a talking point during rides for me and quite frankly when people ask how I like it, I always tell them straight up it's basically just as good if not better in some ways than any Scott or whatever bike. 

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Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Re: Tavelo Aero Frame
« on: July 31, 2024, 03:32:21 PM »
I think I am with Patrick, (BTW a big fan and subscriber) on how with the increase of prices for most major direct to consumer Chinese brands, big Western brands seem to make more sense for more people.  However I think there is this middle ground with companies like Winspace who have really started to build a brand, who yes have raised their prices but always have a discount code or pretty aggressive sales or package deals where a frame really will not be $1700-$2000 dollars.  I recently got a 1st gen T1550 Disc w/ Zero SL bars with UPS shipping for $1602.  I commonly hear how people got their T1550 frames during Black Friday for $1300.  I bought my original T1500 frame and bars for $1500, so to pay $102 more this time around for a slightly better product in the T1550 isn't terrible one bit.  I sold my T1500 with bars in 2022 after a season of use to someone for basically $600, thus 60% is steep, granted I recently sold my Aethos fact 10R frameset that I bought new for $3000 and got back $1250 thus basically hitting that same 60% deprecation after one year mark.  Where I think Winspace has a better chance is that they do have some US warehousing, there customer service is pretty good, and the more key this is that they have US dealers.  In my state of NY thye have 6 dealers and I know one is ACME Bikes in Katonah which is known to be a high end shop that sells everything from Moots, Time, ENVE, Parlee, Colnago, Look and I guess now Winspace.  I think the pivotal thing Winspace did was sell a crap load of wheels during the pandemic, not to mention their wheels at the time were not only a terrific value but performed insanely well.  I can't go to any semi big group ride and not see at least a couple riders with Winspace wheels here in NY.  In 2022 no one new about the T1500, but now in 2024 after I picked up my newly built T1550 I had 6 people come up to me and ask me about the bike and telling me how much they liked it and how they saw the same exact bike on Grant's GCPerformances chanel or so on.  I simply don't hear or see people talking about Seka or other high-end Chinese D2C bikes that cost $2k+ for a frame.  I am not saying they don't have a place and can't take off here in America I just think again on any big group ride or shall I say big "money" group ride sponsored by either a company or a LBS, her in NY you mostly see waves of SWORK Tarmac SL 8.  So I doubt you would see a Seka at one of those but at a recent PAS Normal Studio ride I did see one Devel and two Elves bikes.  I was very tempted to bring my T1550 but decided to go with my MY22 Scott Foil RC because I am still playing with my fit.  I think while Colnago is an amazing brand it's a heritage brand and what Tadej did for that brand riding that V4RS even though it's not the "best" bike is insane.  My buddy has a V3RS and countless people came up to him saying how much they liked his bikes and these are riders on SWORKS, Pinarellos, Factors and ect.  Point being, I think if any of these Chinese D2C brands want to really hit the US market they need to get elite athletes on them or really hit the local sponsored group ride scene where influencers are riding them

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He didn't like the direction they were heading, which very well may have to do with the prices and no rim brake versions

No clue why he personally left but I can speculate it has nothing to do with no rim brake models since he himself doesn't ride any bikes with rim brakes anymore and two there is little to no demand for rim brake stuff.  The prices are trucky and I think Patrick Lino best summed it up in that if Winspace kept the prices low or as they are for better or worse they will be seen as a certain type of China product regardless of the quality of performance.  I think Seka is a great example of this, where the prices really start to rub against big Western brands framesets price wise, but people associate price with prestige and quality at a certain point. 

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Road Bike Frames, Wheels & Components / Winspace T1550 NBD
« on: July 23, 2024, 10:24:44 AM »
1st Gen Winspace T1550. I previously had the T1500 and really liked it but sold that to build an Aethos, which consequently I sold to build this. I would have gone with the Winspace T1550 2nd gen but the geometry of the 2nd gen drastically increased SOH wise. Either way awesome insanely stiff and fast bike and Winspace threw in the integrated bars and upgraded the shipping for free, plus the standard 10% off. Reused the 23 Hyper D45 wheels I bought last year and stuck some iridescent decals on them.

* Winspace T1550 Disc 44cm (Small) White Frame

* Winspace Zero SL Integrated Bars 85-380

* Supacaz Super Sticky Cush Tape

* Berk Lupina Short Padded Saddle

* Force AXS D2 groupset w/ left sided crank power meter. Red D1 10-33 cassette and Red E1 chain

* Galfer Wave CL 160mm rotors

* BBInfinite BB86 one piece ceramic BB

* BBInfinite Oversized ceramic jockey wheels

* Shimano SPD-SL Dura Ace pedals

* K-Edge chain catcher

* Winspace 23 Hyper D45 Wheels w/ GP5000 28mm tires and RideNow 36g TPU tubes

* Delta Cycle 16g carbon cages

As shown weighed 16.35lbs.

Bike is insanely stiff just as I remember the T1500 was and it's so stiff to the point where for some people it might be unbearable.  I think I might switch to tubeless to provide some more rear end kush, granted it will add some weight.  Bike being ultra stiff means it very fast and is an amazing sprinter out of the saddle.  The bike holds speed very well and on the flats surges like you would expect from a true aero bike.  Maybe it's the combination of really stiff wheels, TPU tires, thin carbon saddle, and a really stiff backend but again the comfort level on the T1550 due to stiffness probably rivals a Cannondale System Six.  As Cam Nicholls remarked in his original T1500 review, the bike has a heavy feeling rear end thus once you start getting to consistent climbs of 6%+ the bike instantly slows down compared to other all around aero bikes or even more modern aero bikes.  I didn't build up my frameset but as per the shop they found the tolerances to be very good with no glaring issues.  I went with a BBInfinite 1 piece BB86 ceramic BB and there has been no creaking while performing insanely smooth.  My only issue with the bike so far has been the spotty quality of the painting of the fork which isn't really noticeable but just odd since my original T1500 in white was painted flawlessly.  My other issue was that at 5'5" I ride their 44cm size small frame but on every single T1500/T1550 they provide the same 300mm seatpost and for me I had to fully insert the seatpost where it was bottoming out, yet I still needed a touch more room of insertion to get my fit just right and I wanted at least .25"-.5" inches of space incase the seatpost slipped.  This required me bringing the seatpost to a local shop to cut 20mm for $20, granted I have yet to experience any seatpost slippage which can be an issue on any proprietary aero seatpost, just ask Canyon.  The T1550 is now fully wireless in that there is no option to run any of the wires externally especially with Winspace's own Zero SL cockpit.  I found the cockpit to be really stiff, but the sizing of stem length of being 85mm, 95mm, 105mm to be odd.  My T1500 I used a Small frame with 374mm of reach with a 95x380 bars, which put the total reach 469mm which for me was a tad stretched out.  This time around I went with a 85x380 bar giving me a total reach of 459mm which is right on par what I run with my MY22 Scott Foil RC 49cm at 458.8mm of total reach or what I ran with my Aethos.  Looks are always subjective but IMO the T1550 scheme is a huge improvement over the T1500 series, granted I think the 2nd Gen T1550 retro blue, flavored black, and chameleon white colorways look sick and look to be of the quality of aesthetics you would see on premium big Western brands. 

I think the T1550 or really any Winspace product are great, but my one issue is that Winspace has never been the cheapest product, thus their value compared to Canyon or Giant is little to non existent when you are comparing complete bikes.  Where I think Winspace shines is the ability to get the bike that best fits you geo wise but also performance and price wise, however the idea that riders just getting into cycling want to "gamble" on buying a direct to consumer Chinese frame/wheels and then even more so want or know how to build a bike is a tough ask.  IMO the future of Winspace will come down to retailers and expanding authorized retailers in the US and setting up a program like Trek does with their Project One system where you can pick everything from the groupset, size of parts, to even the color.

     

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I recently decided to go back to Winspace and buildup a T1550.  I previously built up T1500 but sold it to build an Aethos but I have found the Aethos to be too flexy.  Winspace has limited stock of their 1st gen T1550 Disc frames in stock and only had white in my size Small 44cm.  I just got the frame and sent it to the LBS to be built up but beforehand I noticed the paint quality on the fork was a bit spotty.  The edges of the white paint also seem to be raised and I am not sure if the paint it peeling off, but there was definitely a sharp edge where they masked off some parts of the white paint.  I sent Winspace photos and since the bike is already built and awaiting to be picked up, Winspace offered me a $50 refund.

Has anyone noticed on their T1550 poor paint quality?  Again I had a T1500 before in white and the paint was flawless. 


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