All Reviews

Best looking SPD shoes on Ali right no IMO
My first pair of actual SPD-SL road shoes. Absolutely love these things and the carbon sole is great.

Best looking SPD shoes on Ali right no IMO

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805983618808.html
My first pair of actual SPD-SL road shoes. Absolutely love these things and the carbon sole is great.

Currently riding these. Very stiff sole, feels similar to a S Phyre pair I have. Boa system is obviously cheaper than S phyre but works very well. Highly recommend them for the price.

Currently riding these: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMBsLMx

Very stiff sole, feels similar to a S Phyre pair I have. Boa system is obviously cheaper than S phyre but works very well. Highly recommend them for the price.

Here and there I have tried some socks on Ali, looking for a good cycling sock. Most are pure nylon - stifling, uncomfortable pieces of meh. I found these to be pretty poor:

Then I hit the jackpot. These are really good - about 1/3 cotton, poly, and nylon (and a bit of spandex). Not super cheap, but 1/4 of the price of the norm.

Wanted to test my dental plan so I ordered up some $40 carbon bars in April last year. They arrived quickly and were immediately put into service on my gravel bike and taken to a 100 mile race that included pavement, gravel, and single track trails. They have since been through nearly 4000 miles of duty on the trainer and out in the real world on everything from fresh pavement to smoother blue rated MTB trails. Color me shocked, but they are still going strong. They are also pretty dang comfortable. I am 165cm and 53kg. I ordered the 370-510MM model and have them installed on an all aluminum everything Kona Rove AL.

I would wait until me and the other user here receive our frames as there has been what seems like some decent delays in shipping. Mine has been stuck at awaiting flight since the 24th.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007696367264.html

offers the frame in 3 tiers, the third tier being the highest quality closest to a real one, the one in Oralmaster's photos that he said he could not feel the difference between a test ride of a real one and his tier 3 version. I have ordered the same one, actually identical to oralmasters size and color by chance lol.

I knew you'd race in here to say that lol. Mechanic had nothing to say but good things, really liked the BBinfinite quality (not F-C related I know). Not much else I can say he test road it and gushed over it but I haven't yet, 6.8kg with TPU tubes and could probably shave more off with new wheels as these are the 3 year old Hypers. No mention of BB issues as I said I was concerned I couldn't fully hand screw it in when I was messing around with it without grease. It was just good to go news from the mechanic besides waiting for the longer rear brake caliper bolts. I hope my detailed journey helps people. But from what I can see F-C puts out a legit frame, I would say better than a lot of the stuff we see here but you do pay a premium. My final thoughts after using a endoscope on the frame was probably just the loose fibers where the BB goes that the other user had, mine had a few of those but other than that the v1 feels almost like a dead copy to my eye, and perhaps even ride quality as @Oralmaster said he test rode a real one and couldn't tell the difference. So other than the super long delay on shipping due to the postal strike and the couple fibres inside the BB I'd give it a pre-ride rating of 9/10.

I can only recommend the one i dealt with which is F-C who has shown to deliver reproducible quality, they also seem to only focus on two frames (the blurred out Pinarello TT frame and the Factor) soon to be the v2 Factor. Whereas Taiwan Eisen is selling every single high end frame copy, I'd trust the store/reseller who focuses on one specific thing over the one saying they can perfectly produce you a Colnago fake, Madone fake, SL8's etc. After seeing the interior of the other frame in here there is definitely not just 1 factory pumping all these Ostro V1's out, they are very different quality interiors.

Finally have build back of F-C Ostro V1 and the final tally is 6.8kg with all goods attached except the rear light/mount. Ostro V1 Tier 3 DuraAce 9200 groupset with 165mm cranks carbon bottle cages 90x400 bars Favero PM pedals BB Infinite T47A bottom bracket Winspace Hyper 45s early gen models weather here is way too cold so no ride report yet.

SPEXCEL 22 insulated Jacket Explore 3 Season Windproof And Thermal Fleece Inside Cycling Jacket 2 layer With Chest Pocket
This one is pretty good to be honest. The thermal fleece is just at the front, which is sufficient. Sizing is pretty good so, typically asian sizes, I went 1 size up to my European one. Kept me dry on some spray rain for 15-20 minutes.
Biggest disadvantage: the back pockets are why to high, made them practically unreachable. I can barely grab into the one across the back, the middle one - no chance.

waterproof socks.

used them about a dozen times so far. waterproof as advertised.
pretty stretchy, not the old bag in a sock feeling of the old sealskinz, but not as stretchy as bridgedales offerings.
XL is plenty big enough for my Eu47 feet, with a bit of room to go. Normally I find it difficult to get big enough waterproof socks.
warmth wise, they're sortof microfleece, sortof. they're not as warm as my merino lined winter sealskinz, but on par with my winter Bridgedale waterproof socks. I do get cold feet easily, but have been comfortable in these down to 0degC. anything lower and the old sealskinz come out.

I just wanted to add my 2 cents to this convo. I am a dealer for wheeltop and have set up a few bikes with the road gruppo. I am no where biased to wheeltop as I am a shimano fanboy. What I can say about the gruppo is. 1 it was a pain in the ass first time around to set up the fd as someone else has said here the trim screws do nothing. The Rd is clunky. The app sucks. Now haveing said all that once I got over the first time pains and I went on to insatll it another time on another bike I can say. Fd was a breeze to set up the app still sucks but what it does allow is great. It allows you to use 3rd party cassettes and trim them perfect for flawless shifting. I wish the group was much lighter but app its in the works. Being from canada I had a issue with 1 of the shifters. Customer service from the wholesaler was fantastic. I will say this if the group was the same weight as a duracace and im fine if the gruppo was more money it would be my gruppo of choice.

I have these.

They weigh 285 g and clip easily, but to be fair after 1000 km I started noticing a bit of lateral play on the right one so I can't tell how long they will last. It is still pretty minor as discovered this only by inspecting the pedal by hand, I didn't notice anything while riding.

--edit--
Well, just to confirm the above post.
BTW 285 g on my kitchen scale, so the weight they claim is quite true.

My first pair of actual SPD-SL road shoes. Absolutely love these things and the carbon sole is great.

I have enough now to add my two cents.

Fall/Winter

This vest is SWEET. I have a couple of RION newer design jerseys and I love them. This vest is excellent at blocking wind I wish they made a jacket with the same design.

Fall/Winter

These are awesome. I have worn these down to low 40F and they do great! Better at wind blocking than my CLD RDY Adidas bibs I have. Read the size chart because these are asian fit.

I have enough now to add my two cents.

Spring/Summer

Favorite bibs I have from Ali. fit is true to size and they have been great for long rides.