Interesting Aliexpress finds! - good deals, interesting stuff, new products etc!

[jonathanf2]

I actually ordered 2 Racework carbon cranksets. My 2nd one arrived and I bought this one with a 1x 44t chainring to go on my 1x road/gravel bike. 1x was definitely less of hassle with no FD to worry about and this frame comes with a PF BB386. I replaced a GRX 600 1x 42t crank setup. I was also super careful to mount the left crank arm using my torque wrench in small increments. I torqued it at around 4-6nm. The crank arm that cracked was torqued at 8nm, so I'm being extra careful. I'm also using Wolf Tooth crank arm protection tape on this crankset.  I've contacted Racework to get exact torque specs. The contact said he/she will get back to me after the holiday.

[hahel]

Anyone has experience with A-Ex gloves? Need pointers. I need to rethink my glove buying strategy. Second pair of the set (Specialized) I bought on 4th July 2022 has given up today. That's $50 every 3-4 months. Not sure if that is the expected life from road gloves but to me that sounds terrible.
The first pair developed holes on index and middle finger and on the cushion of the thumb and I retired them around October. The second pair now has hole on index finger tip of left hand and is disintegrating around the rubber pads. My thought process was to not skimp on products like this (gloves, bibs, shorts etc) and always get a good name brand stuff. Now I am thinking how bad those $5-10 gloves will be off of Amazon?

I've had good experiences with "FireLion" shortfingerd gloves from Ali, i have pairs that been in rotation since 2016.
At the time of purchase it was one of the few brands that had sizes large enough for me (XXL).

[coffeebreak]

Thanks. Like everyone mentioned earlier sizing is odd on these Chinese gloves which I found to be applicable to many other Asian apparels. I will look for this brand you mentioned. Just to make sure, what size do you wear normally? How much did you have to upsize?

[jonathanf2]

Any suggestions for a lightweight alloy gravel crankset? For the type of riding condition I ride in, I don't think carbon would be a good idea. The Senicx gravel cranksets don't save me any weight over my current 2x GRX setup, so I'm looking at some of the other brands.

Anybody try these Goldix ultra light cranks? I was thinking of mounting it with a 42t direct mount chainring if I go 1x or if I stick with 2x, a Senicx 46/30t chainring:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803455977621.html
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804443192765.html

[hahel]

Thanks. Like everyone mentioned earlier sizing is odd on these Chinese gloves which I found to be applicable to many other Asian apparels. I will look for this brand you mentioned. Just to make sure, what size do you wear normally? How much did you have to upsize?

I went by their size tables based hand ciircumference.
I don't know if glove sizes is universal (I'm from Sweden) , but I've purchased "costume" gloves in size 12-12.5 from international eBay.
Link to a seller of the gloves I have.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_msd82QK

[coffeebreak]

Not Ali-ex but anyone going the weight-weenie route, I don't think there is any lighter cassette than this? The 11s cassette weighs just 118 grams. My ultralight 1 piece Sunshine cassette from Ali-ex weighs exactly 225 grams which I thought was pretty light compared to equivalent Shimano one but this is straight 100 grams saving over that. Sounds crazy.
I had not heard of this website or brand before but they seem to have some pretty unique bits and pieces for sale:

https://bdopcycling.com/product/bdop-alloy-cassette-shimano-sram-11spd-1128t/

The Campy cassette is on clearance at $90. Not cheap but its weight weenie stuff to core.

[zxcvbnmjm]

Hm that sounds maybe dangerously light.. hahaha

Thats definitely the lightest 11 speed cassette ive heard of

Even the lightest 10 speed cassettes ive seen are heavier than that. The lightest i can think of from memory are 120g+?

I personally am a bit iffy of 100% al cassettes

But if you end up buying im keen to hear how it goes!

[carbonazza]

"There is a rider weight limit of 90kg for these cassettes" is kind of strange limitation, how about watts ? 

[jcr]

Not Ali-ex but anyone going the weight-weenie route, I don't think there is any lighter cassette than this? The 11s cassette weighs just 118 grams. My ultralight 1 piece Sunshine cassette from Ali-ex weighs exactly 225 grams which I thought was pretty light compared to equivalent Shimano one but this is straight 100 grams saving over that. Sounds crazy.
I had not heard of this website or brand before but they seem to have some pretty unique bits and pieces for sale:

https://bdopcycling.com/product/bdop-alloy-cassette-shimano-sram-11spd-1128t/

The Campy cassette is on clearance at $90. Not cheap but its weight weenie stuff to core.

Why not the SRoad cassette 11s 11-28T, my one measured to be 185g. At least it is not 100% aluminum. The only downside was the lockring that my one came with was more like cheese (aluminum)...

[coffeebreak]

Why not the SRoad cassette 11s 11-28T, my one measured to be 185g. At least it is not 100% aluminum. The only downside was the lockring that my one came with was more like cheese (aluminum)...

Well, that is pretty impressive in my books because I had not seen a 11s Shimano cassette that is close to 100 grams. I mean its still 65 grams off of your SRoad cassette in the end, Aluminum or not. For someone who is targeting 5 / sub 5 kg build this seems almost a cheap way to shave of some serious weight.

[jonathanf2]

I finally put my Ztto lightweight 11-50t cassette to use after converting my gravel bike to 1x!

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832714834342.html

[jannmayer]

I finally put my Ztto lightweight 11-50t cassette to use after converting my gravel bike to 1x!

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2251832714834342.html

Looks good! What derailleur mount did you use? I think it's possible to clear a 50T with the Wolf Tooth mount, but I've only tried 46T max.


What was the weight on that cassette, and how is the shifting?

[jonathanf2]

Looks good! What derailleur mount did you use? I think it's possible to clear a 50T with the Wolf Tooth mount, but I've only tried 46T max.


What was the weight on that cassette, and how is the shifting?

I used a Goatlink which is optimized for 1X Shimano shadow derailleurs. Shifting seems pretty good paired to a 42t chainring. If I had to nitpick, there's just very minor hesitation shifting into 50t.

If I were on a budget and staying with mechanical brakes, I'd prefer using the GRX 812 RD + Goatlink + Sensah Team Pro shifters. Price wise it's on par with Sensah SRX and you get a true clutched derailleur. The cassette clocks in around 370g on my weight scale.

[Crash217]

Ordered this light today from the S-Wing Biking Store on AliExpress;  5200 Lumen, 8000mah internal battery w/ USB charging port.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804558555808.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.5.21ef1802D8xRpl&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa&_randl_shipto=US

I got the light in the mail yesterday.  11 days!

Seems pretty nice for $35!  It is obnoxiously bright.  Definitely isn't 5200Lumens, but its way brighter than the pair of 1000s  (labeled) i've been using for MTB night riding.   The LED reflectors focus the beam nicely. There is a center spot focus reflector/LED and 2 reflectors/LEDs on either side that seem more flood oriented.    You can run it with just the center LED, only the outer 4 LEDs or all of them on.  There is also a flashing mode that uses all the LEDs, which is probably so intense that it could cause an epileptic seizure.

The mounts seem pretty sturdy and I like that they are fold away clamps so mounting the light is a 2 minute job.  You can slide them across so they'll work with tons of options.   

I haven't had a chance to do an extended ride with it to test battery life.  It supposedly will run 2.5 hours on the highest setting and 10hours on the lowest.    If it poops out mid ride, an hour in, I will update on that.

Here's a photo of the light mounted.

[Fat Larry]

How long does the battery last?