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greglepore greglepore is online now
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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Charlottesville Va
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The wheels are from Xiamen Carbon Speed https://www.xmcarbonspeed.com/. They make a bunch of different profiles, internal and external widths. I went with 50mm front and 65mm rear depth, and they're very wide, 26mm internal, 34 external. They also do a 24mm internal. I know these are pretty deep, but the deeper rear moves the aero center of pressure away from the steering axis, so that combined with the oval profile and 30mm tires make them fine in crosswind. They use their in house hubs, which are dt240 clones, will take actual dt parts (dt's patent expired, and many chinese hubs are now dt clones). Carbon spokes (you can get steel or ti). Best part is weight and price. Mine are mostly t800 (cheaper, somewhat heavier, more durable) and were $800 delivered and 1300g. For 150 more you can get t1000 which are 100g lighter. Comparable wheels from Roval or Enve etc are closer to $3000-3500 and often weigh more. There are a couple other Chinese brands doing similar stuff (Zen and DFS for example). If you're under 180kg you can even buy 1100g 40mm wheels for under 1k delivered. Chinese wheels are killing it, honestly. The best part about Carbon Speed is the owner is a workaholic and you can communicate directly with him. They do oem stuff as well but its somewhat secretive for who.

The groupset is Wheeltop Tx. Completely wireless, magnetic charging. The batteries for the derailluers are external like Sram's but larger and are bolted on. Replaceable, but charge in place.
It is user setable for anything from 3-14 speeds. I'm running it as a 12 spd setup. Unlike any of the major players, each gear is individually adjustable for tuning. Its even available for rim brakes to retrofit older bikes. Cons? Its a little heavy. The factory app isn't intuitive and requires an internet connection to work (there's a better free aftermarket app by a guy on FB that solves those issues and adds features). There may be some durability issues, we'll see. But overall, I'm very happy with it after a full season. Pricing is $700 if you buy from official US sources, cheaper on Ali. Just beware that warranty support is iffy unless you buy direct.
I sourced all of this from China pre tarriffs. Most sellers now are shipping duty paid-they pay the tarriff up front so it arrives direct with no later bill for tarriff plus "processing' but be certain of this in advance.
LTwoo is another Chinese wireless group, seems ok but not as advanced as Wheeltop and their hyd. calipers use non standard mounting so you have to use their adapters. Quirks prevent use with sl8 or Aethos.
Saddles are another area - Ryet's 3d printed saddles are $75 or so and as nice as some of the megadollar euro brands.
Astana rode XLab, a chinese frame, in the World Tour last season and next.
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Greg Lepore
85 Targa
05 Ducati 749s (wrecked, stupidly)
2000 K1200rs (gone, due to above)
05 ST3s (unfinished business)
Old 11-18-2025, 08:48 AM
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