Pretty sure the brand is SPCycle, not SpyCycle. Also, the listing title is not the model. It's just a sting of search terms that describe the product. Pretty sure this frame is called the SP-M05. I wouldn't put any more or less faith in carbon over other materials. Plenty of aluminium and steel frames have snapped. I have those same wheels on the bike I race marathons on. The rims and really soft. I destroyed the rear rim in the first race. Replaced it with a Spank rim which has been a lot more reliable.
looks so mint, awesome bike. dont get drawn in by big brands. ive used expensive and cheap things and most times its useless to buy more expensive things especially consumables like cassettes and chains
It can definitely be true, however, for chains in particular I have made some bad experiences as well. I've gotten one of the more reputable 12s chains from AliExpress and that one was done after about 800km - while all other drive train parts were like new. Could have been a bad apple of course but QC is not quite up there.
Affordable frames and parts are for andvance users leave the branded ones to those who just ride and pay for maintenance thats how the ecosystem works let them pay while us who knows how to work with parts enjoys the affordable parts. Try the ltwoo 12 speed
I thought You have more subscribers than 181. I am not english native speaker and I appreciate speakers who normally speaks like you and I can understand them. Nice video! Sorry for my grammar.
I'm planning on making a touring bike with internal gears. Bikes are so much better, when you build them yourself, it makes you aware of how everything works and helps you customize it to fulfill your needs. Nice video!
Thanks for walking through your self built bike. I enjoy building bikes, you can build them to ride how you want, get to try different parts, and smile when you find that great value part. I also build electric commuters and MTB, and share batteries between the builds. Enjoy testing the different motors, including the CYC Photon.
Just got done with my Aliexpress carbon build. HyperX Carbon walmart i ended up getting free after trading. Carbon bars Carbon seat post MT200 hydraulic brakes Buckaloos stuff Bolany fork Shimano Deore drive Ceramic bottom bracket Every other oart from Alieexpress. Total build cost = $322.13 for a Carbon hard tail 29er with an air fork. I also have a RAW jibb with thousands invested. This build was for fun to see how cheap i could build a decent Carbon bike.
Nice build. Only suggestion would be replace that bolany fork with a suntour epixon from Ali when it wears out. Much better fork with replacement parts you can easily find.
@davidgarza2267 Yeah i agree. The Bolany was 34mm and cheap. I just wanted to see it in person. It's been very good but I'm not dying huge jumps with it. Suntour has a trade in deal. I might do that anyways and just keep it on the shelf
I am currently building a XC bike myself (the first time though) and I could get it for around 850€. I went with VeloBuild, as aliexpress frames were slightly worse for the price, but every other component was from Ali and I could mount a full Shimano Deore change in it (derailleur+cassette+crankset+chain) and MT200 hidraulic brakes. I risked it with the fork and went with a Nanlio, but seems really good for what I paid. I think that AliExpress and the Chinese market in general is a great choice for budget builds. You won't obviously get the peack performance, but I guess they are far from being bad. It's always good to see other people going the AliExpress way. Congrats on your build, it looks great!
First of all the bike looks sick! The blue is mint! Very cool video overall and great breakdown, I wonder how long will it last so be much appreciated if you do a long run video in the future! Good job!
Thank you so much for the kind words!! 'll definitely keep you posted on how the bike will perform in the future and especially if something doesn't work as desired!
Nothing wrong with Ali if you find the right parts.I built an Aliexpress bike in 2018 , raced a bunch of xc and i weigh around 240. Frame still holding strong all these years. Ali carbon cranks is a different story,lol.
Even the carbon cranks have gotten good. It seems they change design almost instantly as soon as they get negative reviews. Use the Racework N1 cranks as an example. The design has changed three times in about three years and now they are very VERY similar to SRAM's carbon cranks.
Great video, man! Gave me inspiration to start my channel. I've been buying Aliex parts in the last two years and i recently finished my MTB build with some Aliex parts in it. I live in Brazil and their parts are a great save of money.
Looks amazing. I actually like that it doesn't have decals cluttered on it. Just plain matte black is so cool. Please keep is posted on how it holds up. I often thought of buying direct from Ali myself, but just wasn't too sure about their quality. Good luck!
Thank you so much! I totally get where you are coming from thats why I wanted to try it out and see whether or not these AliExpress items hold up long term. For now it works out
Nice build dude. I can recommend use Continental tyres Race King Performance 2.2" in back and Cross King Performance 2.2" in front and I think for XC that is super. I also seen Tom Pidcock use them on that Pinarello Dogma MTB so it must be good :D (he had both tyres race king tho)
Thank you for the great review!! I am in a similar position of wanting to build a cheap Ali-Express eMTB. My issue is the lack of Alloy frames. It seems there are plenty of cheap carbon frames, but the aluminium frames are either non-existent orvery expensive. I would have thought that alloy frames would be common and cheap!!
Thank you!!! Yeah that is true. I have also tried to find any of those but with no luck. Have you seen the titanium company waltly? They make custom titanium frames and as far as I know they are quite reasonable when it comes to price.
Can't remember exactly where I saw it but one of the sellers said that shipping aluminium frames is a pain, expensive and not worth it for them. Something to do with taxes/tariffs and exporting aluminium. Edit: I think I saw it on ICAN's website iirc
@@crtgamer2355 of course there are concerns but that's the gamble I was willing to take. I wanted to see how good value-for-money can get on AliExpress. Whether the customer support is as good as with established brands is probably doubtful but maybe things work out okay
Those are the great carbon parts , here in the Philippines alot of mtb riders use those parts , also toseek carbon and ec90 carbon and no issues at all durable and cheap
It would be interesting to take that frame and handlebars to carbon repair shop to check for voids in carbon layout. It would provide information about quality and how much you can trust the bike.
Nice build. For that budget I probably would've used a cheaper fork and spent money on a better drivetrain. Ltwoo now has rear mech's with a sort of clutch that works well. I have one on my chinese gravel bike and it has zero chain slap or chain drops.
You are definitely right, however I got the fork on a good deal off of ebay so it made sense in that instance. I am also keen on trying this mtb with a rigid fork from AliExpress but thats for a later date
Cheap and carbon in the same sentence scares me lol. I would have the carbon checked by a professional to make sure there are no air bubbles between the layers and for spots that are too thin before sending it too hard.
@@Hoops176 what about the bikes that are made in China? What you said is completely not true, bikes are made in many countries, most major manufacturers use Taiwanese manufacturing but it's certainly not all lmao
I can recommend the Maxxis rekon race 29x2.25. The race version has smaller and more knobs than the normal rekon casing. I have ridden 1500+km on my trail full over forest and park paths as well as tarmac with this profile
I built an aliexpress emtb (dengfu e55) and its been a few months now and its still working great. Although the frame and motor are from aliexpress, everything else was from amazon. LOL. Joking aside, I believe as long as you do your research and know what you want, and know how to build and troubleshoot, you should be fine.
Im going to be honest, ive started to move away from Aliexpress on my bikes now. I love their products, and they were very, very appealing in my early mountain bike days. However, its just been nothing but problems. Between the long shipping, so so returns, lack of dealers, and wide variety of quality, its just been better to find deals from other brands. Ive bought two XD cassettes from Zitto, they were about $100. The greatest build quality ever, super super light with great range. But after about 150 miles, both cassettes developed play. It would be fully tightened on the hub and still wiggle slightly. It led to bad shifting sometimes, an awful grinding noise, and might have led to the downfall of my hub, as the internals literally exploded metal on the inside but that might not be related. So im going to look for an actual xx1 cassette once it wears out again. I bought some inexpensive mountain bike shoes and used them for about 2 years. They were super ripped and scratched and scarred but somehow held together. When riding the shoe I could never get the cleat far back enough as there wasnt built in enough room to push it back. For 2 years I had really bad foot pain when riding because of how far forward and to the right the cleats were, but I just thought thats how clipless shoes were. But then I bought a pair of Giro shoes for about $70, and for the first time was able to get the cleats in a good position. Turns out it was simply bad design on the part of the aliexpress shoes, and it all could have been avoided if I had spent $20 more.
Thanks for giving your insights on the topic! I agree, AliExpress can be hit or miss and at some point in your life you just dont want to deal with that risk anymore.
I would say ltwoo shifters and derailleurs are getting better and the cheap hollow tech cranks is really good too and running about 15-19 dollars and for 1 by chainring I would go with Deckas brands its really cheap and quite durable for 3-5 dollars
I respect what you're doing but let me just say one thing. You're young. I'm old. There's a saying that rarely fails. " You get what you pay for." Regardless, well done and thanks for making this video. Aloha. 🤙
Very interesting! I wanted a new mtb and considdered building one to keep cost down. Only issue was is it a good idea and how long will it take. Ended up going second hand and got a scott. I have a second hand carbon cross bike which has held up very nice. Handlevars and seat post are alloy, and I would want those alloy. No need to worry about carbon snapping. Yes I have bought stuff on Alieexpress. Most often stiff that is not dangous if it breaks (glasses for example good deal on alieexpress).
You mentioned your tires need more grip, i ride with maxxis ardent race both front and rear, it's grippy enough in trails but also slick enough if you're just hitting the road. Anyways, i really love your build, great work!!!🫶🏾🫶🏾
I thought of doing this but i would be worried of stuff snapping and getting hurt. Are you planning on taking it on anything more rough then dirt roads?
We do have quite a few flowly kinda trails around here and I have tried a few of those but not all. If I find the right one I would also try a rougher trail.
I oder a lot of stuff from Ali, and some is pretty good. For doing Road or XC build Ali parts might be alright, except for suspension forks and brakes. But as soon as you start riding trails, please get some reliable name brand stuff. You can't trust any of these Ali components with your life. The only things I'd maybe try from Ali on my Enduro bike would be drivetrain, but with name brand cranks. If any of that fails I'll mots likely stay on the bike.
Aren't those brakes overkill for an XC bike? I got simple cheap mt200's and they do their job fine. They do fade a bit off course, but none of my loops is taxing enough on them where it really matters.
@@nikinikcc you're extremely lucky then, the price difference I'm used to here is quite atrocious, though last time I was buying it was just after everything came back into stock after the pandemic when everyone else bought the entire inventory and even mt200's were more expensive then they are worth.
I've been eyeing a couple of full suspension frames from ali but all things considered shipping and duty to Canada would make it too expensive for the level of uncertainty, carbon rigid frames are very well priced tho 🙃 *I've personally broken two of these bottle cage holder, the little tab in the back snapped on both, don't push like a mad man on it I guess 😢😂
Hi there. Did I understood it correctly? None tubeless tire, but it's setup as a tubeless? Didn't know that could happen. I knew about not tubeless ready wheels but converted to tubeless by adding the tubeless tape
So, the wheels are tubeless ready but the tires are not tubeless compatible. However, you can still run non-tubeless compatible tires tubeless (it is not recommended though)
Here in Russia we have a lot of chinese parts and brands due to sanctions. At first we were very cautious about it. But due to lack of big brand supply people eventually start buying them. And they arent too bad actually. Plus the prices went down a lot. For example I've purchased full carbon aero road bike with carbon wheels and electronic shifting just under $1000 dollars. Which is impossible for a major brands. Carbon hardtails with air fork starts at $600 and $850 for a full suspension XC bike. Carbon gravel bike is around $700. With hydraulic brakes and everything. Obviously quality isnt top notch, but i never heard anyone having an accident due to a failed carbon. Maybe not enough time has passed. But so far so good.
Hey, thanks for your take! Really glad to hear that you don't know anyone with a broken frame yet. Makes me feel a bit more at ease with the frame and handlebars. After all, you are completely right when it comes to the price point. If you can score good parts then you'll have a bike much cheaper than from comparable western brands.
@@bonbonflippers4298 If we talk carbon hardtails i can recommend Spcycle frame. It cost ~$250. Has decent geometry and build quality. The main downside is 19 inch is the biggest size. No XL is avaliable. I know one person who found a crack between seat tube and seatstays after a season. But the seller just sent him a new one. Which is fine imo.
Nice video, I kinda lost you on "I don't want to compromise on safety" when it comes to the brakes, but your OK with your tires blowing off the rim (using non tubeless tires for tubeless) Just seems like bad risk management, IMO (specifically regarding the tires, I know Ali have high quality carbon) You could have ordered a proper set of TR tires (also from Ali) for a really fair price
Unfortunately, the listing seems to be deleted. When I go to my past purchases and click the link to that item it reads something like item no longer available.
Cool bike, bit of a shame you don’t run Chinese wheels. I do mtb races at quite a level and I have had 4 bikes all with Chinese rims and never had any problemsn
Yeah you are right, I might change that in the future. I'd also like to have one xc kinda setup and one with a bit nobblier tires for going on rougher trails. But thanks for sharing your experience!
@@nikinikcc idk, I've tried a couple of times using two different credit cards from two different banks, and the sales were denied. Scared me into thinking AliExpress is a scam. Now that I know it's not a scam, next time I'll call the bank first. Thanks for the info.
@@headofmyself5663 Yeah, I put in my card(s) directly instead of using Paypal. The fact that it didn't work out made me so nervous that I reported both cards lost, so the bank would issue new ones. Next time it's Paypal. Thank You!
I’m very skeptical as I owned a bike rental/repair shop for thirty years and I assembled a thousand bikes from China and even though pre-assembled Chinese bikes are typically great in the higher end, whenever you cut costs by using lower end components you typically get a bike that doesn’t work well or hold up more than a year or two.
Those are some of the most expensive components for Aliexpress :) I mean for $2000 you can get a CF brand name bike these days. Not under 10kg, but with nothing Ali
Are you sure? In the end I did say that I think it might be worth it for an experienced tinkerer to try and build your own AliExpress MTB as its a rewarding experience. During the video I elaborated on the pros and cons of such an AliExpress MTB build.
@@nikinikcc saying and doing are different. Many of your major parts aren’t from aliexpress. I have some parts on my bike from Amazon. Does that make it a Amazon bike? Come on bro
I guess what constitutes an AliExpress bike is in the eye of the beholder - I would argue the frame is the most important element but I agree that I could have used more parts from AliExpress.
It's heavier than I thought all things considered, but one can't complain with 2400 euros for a new carbon bike As a student I went down the hole of very old, but high end and modified with my 2009 Ghost Lektor 7700 Carbon Edition Fully that I bought in Allgäu for just 500 euro used from an older gentleman that had maintained it very well and done some light upgrades like a XTR crankset, ZTR Olympic Tubeless rims and it even came with some fresh Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evos. To be honest most of what I do is XC, but for that price and the fact that it's still only 11.5 kg despite being a L frame fully (though it is a 26"), I've been having a lot of fun with it, having done over 1000 kms in the past month and a half on it and only having to change the worn chainring bolts and nuts for 10 euro Hopefully the weather improves from this heavily rainy season so we can go ride more!
That also sounds like a very fun endeavor!! Do you ever feel like 26 inch wheels are too small for rougher terrain? Because that is also what deterred me from going with 27.5 inch wheels on this build.
@@nikinikcc I haven't tried out any 27.5"s, but I have tried two of my friends' new 29" cube aluminum frame fullys on some trails this year and done extensive riding in a high-end 29" Nikolai GT1 Eboxx EWB e-MTB last year (all three were XL, so a bit big for my 185 cm self). What I can attest to is the increased ease of riding and comfort in rough terrain, but I found that all three of them (especially the 30+ kg Nikolai) felt very unresponsive, disconnected even, making it a lot harder to take turns quickly on asphalt or go down gravel trails, compared to my bike, but I do believe that could also partly be due to them having wider handlebars, too big of a frame for me, the difference in weight of 6-7 to 20 kilos, as well as their aluminum frames. Either way, the feeling of being much lower to the ground in my bike definitely helps in the corners and I haven't had any issues with ground clearance either. With all of that said, if I was building out a bike on top of my current one, it'd likely be a 27.5" gravel bike, but if I didn't have my current bike, it'd be a hardtail carbon 26" instead.
I was listening for a few minutes and then I ger bored. You sure love talking. You should've created a podcast If you're just going to talk and talk and talk and talk
Pretty sure the brand is SPCycle, not SpyCycle.
Also, the listing title is not the model. It's just a sting of search terms that describe the product. Pretty sure this frame is called the SP-M05.
I wouldn't put any more or less faith in carbon over other materials. Plenty of aluminium and steel frames have snapped.
I have those same wheels on the bike I race marathons on. The rims and really soft. I destroyed the rear rim in the first race. Replaced it with a Spank rim which has been a lot more reliable.
I just checked and you are right!! I will pin your comment in case someone wants to get their hands on that frame as well. Thanks!!
SpyCycle is more chinese-like namefor brand. The Big Brother watchs You
SpyCycle....comes with TikTok pre-installed.
@@wvjeepguy8178 Good One!!!
looks so mint, awesome bike. dont get drawn in by big brands. ive used expensive and cheap things and most times its useless to buy more expensive things especially consumables like cassettes and chains
It can definitely be true, however, for chains in particular I have made some bad experiences as well. I've gotten one of the more reputable 12s chains from AliExpress and that one was done after about 800km - while all other drive train parts were like new. Could have been a bad apple of course but QC is not quite up there.
Buying used is also the way to go. I use them for my bikes a lot, its very rare you see people wear parts.
Affordable frames and parts are for andvance users leave the branded ones to those who just ride and pay for maintenance thats how the ecosystem works let them pay while us who knows how to work with parts enjoys the affordable parts. Try the ltwoo 12 speed
I thought You have more subscribers than 181. I am not english native speaker and I appreciate speakers who normally speaks like you and I can understand them. Nice video! Sorry for my grammar.
Thank you so much, that means a lot!
Your video obviously hit right in the algorithm :D
I'm planning on making a touring bike with internal gears. Bikes are so much better, when you build them yourself, it makes you aware of how everything works and helps you customize it to fulfill your needs. Nice video!
100% agree!!
Thanks for walking through your self built bike. I enjoy building bikes, you can build them to ride how you want, get to try different parts, and smile when you find that great value part.
I also build electric commuters and MTB, and share batteries between the builds. Enjoy testing the different motors, including the CYC Photon.
Glad you liked it!
Just got done with my Aliexpress carbon build.
HyperX Carbon walmart i ended up getting free after trading.
Carbon bars
Carbon seat post
MT200 hydraulic brakes
Buckaloos stuff
Bolany fork
Shimano Deore drive
Ceramic bottom bracket
Every other oart from Alieexpress.
Total build cost = $322.13 for a Carbon hard tail 29er with an air fork.
I also have a RAW jibb with thousands invested. This build was for fun to see how cheap i could build a decent Carbon bike.
Nice build. Only suggestion would be replace that bolany fork with a suntour epixon from Ali when it wears out. Much better fork with replacement parts you can easily find.
@davidgarza2267 Yeah i agree. The Bolany was 34mm and cheap. I just wanted to see it in person. It's been very good but I'm not dying huge jumps with it.
Suntour has a trade in deal. I might do that anyways and just keep it on the shelf
Damn that sounds like a really awesome deal you got!! How does it ride so far?
I am currently building a XC bike myself (the first time though) and I could get it for around 850€. I went with VeloBuild, as aliexpress frames were slightly worse for the price, but every other component was from Ali and I could mount a full Shimano Deore change in it (derailleur+cassette+crankset+chain) and MT200 hidraulic brakes. I risked it with the fork and went with a Nanlio, but seems really good for what I paid.
I think that AliExpress and the Chinese market in general is a great choice for budget builds. You won't obviously get the peack performance, but I guess they are far from being bad.
It's always good to see other people going the AliExpress way. Congrats on your build, it looks great!
First of all the bike looks sick! The blue is mint!
Very cool video overall and great breakdown, I wonder how long will it last so be much appreciated if you do a long run video in the future!
Good job!
Thank you so much for the kind words!! 'll definitely keep you posted on how the bike will perform in the future and especially if something doesn't work as desired!
@@nikinikcc Sick!
Nothing wrong with Ali if you find the right parts.I built an Aliexpress bike in 2018 , raced a bunch of xc and i weigh around 240. Frame still holding strong all these years. Ali carbon cranks is a different story,lol.
Even the carbon cranks have gotten good. It seems they change design almost instantly as soon as they get negative reviews. Use the Racework N1 cranks as an example. The design has changed three times in about three years and now they are very VERY similar to SRAM's carbon cranks.
@@jflaim410 Ill check those out!
240 kg?
Great video, man! Gave me inspiration to start my channel. I've been buying Aliex parts in the last two years and i recently finished my MTB build with some Aliex parts in it. I live in Brazil and their parts are a great save of money.
Glad to hear that and the best of luck on your journey as well!!
Looks amazing. I actually like that it doesn't have decals cluttered on it. Just plain matte black is so cool. Please keep is posted on how it holds up. I often thought of buying direct from Ali myself, but just wasn't too sure about their quality. Good luck!
Thank you so much! I totally get where you are coming from thats why I wanted to try it out and see whether or not these AliExpress items hold up long term. For now it works out
Looks great! The experience you gained from building is likely the best part. .
For sure! Thank you!!
Nice build dude.
I can recommend use Continental tyres Race King Performance 2.2" in back and Cross King Performance 2.2" in front and I think for XC that is super. I also seen Tom Pidcock use them on that Pinarello Dogma MTB so it must be good :D (he had both tyres race king tho)
Thank you for the recommendation! I might try those as my next ones
Looks clean bro !
Thanks a lot!
Did it myself. SPcycle 27.5 17 inch frame, Fox Stepcast 32 NX groupset. Its perfect for me.
Love it! Wish you lots of fun shredding that thing
Thank you for the great review!!
I am in a similar position of wanting to build a cheap Ali-Express eMTB. My issue is the lack of Alloy frames. It seems there are plenty of cheap carbon frames, but the aluminium frames are either non-existent orvery expensive. I would have thought that alloy frames would be common and cheap!!
Thank you!!! Yeah that is true. I have also tried to find any of those but with no luck. Have you seen the titanium company waltly? They make custom titanium frames and as far as I know they are quite reasonable when it comes to price.
Can't remember exactly where I saw it but one of the sellers said that shipping aluminium frames is a pain, expensive and not worth it for them. Something to do with taxes/tariffs and exporting aluminium.
Edit: I think I saw it on ICAN's website iirc
Nice build bro. Im sure you'll be competitive with this build
Thank you!!
This looks like a very decent bike, well done 👍🏼
Thanks a lot!
2400 euros, for that price you might as well get a name brand bike.
Please show me one example of a bike in that price range that has a 12s drive train and is below 10kg
@@nikinikcc Just saying, it ain't exactly cheap for AliExpress. What happens if something fails?
@@crtgamer2355 of course there are concerns but that's the gamble I was willing to take. I wanted to see how good value-for-money can get on AliExpress. Whether the customer support is as good as with established brands is probably doubtful but maybe things work out okay
@@nikinikcc Gotcha, I totally get where you're coming from. It is a nice bike for sure.
I think a large chunk of that cost is in that fork! That's a top tier item in comparison to everything else.
Those are the great carbon parts , here in the Philippines alot of mtb riders use those parts , also toseek carbon and ec90 carbon and no issues at all durable and cheap
Cool review. Find an Octone One Prone and swap the parts. The Prone has a great geometry and the price is good and solid construction.
Thanks!
It would be interesting to take that frame and handlebars to carbon repair shop to check for voids in carbon layout. It would provide information about quality and how much you can trust the bike.
Very true, I might check whether there are such shops in my area
Nice build. For that budget I probably would've used a cheaper fork and spent money on a better drivetrain. Ltwoo now has rear mech's with a sort of clutch that works well. I have one on my chinese gravel bike and it has zero chain slap or chain drops.
You are definitely right, however I got the fork on a good deal off of ebay so it made sense in that instance. I am also keen on trying this mtb with a rigid fork from AliExpress but thats for a later date
If your taking it off road you dont want the fork to snap wich can happen with cheap forks
@@zevcohen7456 by cheaper I meant something like a rockshox revelation or marzhocchi. Not the cheap chinese forks. Would never trust those.
Cheap and carbon in the same sentence scares me lol.
I would have the carbon checked by a professional to make sure there are no air bubbles between the layers and for spots that are too thin before sending it too hard.
All bikes are made in Taiwan…all bikes brake and almost all break.
@@Hoops176 what about the bikes that are made in China? What you said is completely not true, bikes are made in many countries, most major manufacturers use Taiwanese manufacturing but it's certainly not all lmao
I can recommend the Maxxis rekon race 29x2.25. The race version has smaller and more knobs than the normal rekon casing. I have ridden 1500+km on my trail full over forest and park paths as well as tarmac with this profile
Only for dry conditions. On the wet they are terrible.
@@beafmilk oh interesting. interesting. i have driven 1500+km in northern germany, where there is 50% rain. it was okay for me.
I built an aliexpress emtb (dengfu e55) and its been a few months now and its still working great. Although the frame and motor are from aliexpress, everything else was from amazon. LOL. Joking aside, I believe as long as you do your research and know what you want, and know how to build and troubleshoot, you should be fine.
Thanks for sharing your experience too!
Im going to be honest, ive started to move away from Aliexpress on my bikes now. I love their products, and they were very, very appealing in my early mountain bike days. However, its just been nothing but problems. Between the long shipping, so so returns, lack of dealers, and wide variety of quality, its just been better to find deals from other brands. Ive bought two XD cassettes from Zitto, they were about $100. The greatest build quality ever, super super light with great range. But after about 150 miles, both cassettes developed play. It would be fully tightened on the hub and still wiggle slightly. It led to bad shifting sometimes, an awful grinding noise, and might have led to the downfall of my hub, as the internals literally exploded metal on the inside but that might not be related. So im going to look for an actual xx1 cassette once it wears out again. I bought some inexpensive mountain bike shoes and used them for about 2 years. They were super ripped and scratched and scarred but somehow held together. When riding the shoe I could never get the cleat far back enough as there wasnt built in enough room to push it back. For 2 years I had really bad foot pain when riding because of how far forward and to the right the cleats were, but I just thought thats how clipless shoes were. But then I bought a pair of Giro shoes for about $70, and for the first time was able to get the cleats in a good position. Turns out it was simply bad design on the part of the aliexpress shoes, and it all could have been avoided if I had spent $20 more.
Thanks for giving your insights on the topic! I agree, AliExpress can be hit or miss and at some point in your life you just dont want to deal with that risk anymore.
😍Just got yourself a new subcriber
Thank you!!
I built 5 Bikes off AliExpress already thay all worked out really good, just need to pick the right parts!
I would say ltwoo shifters and derailleurs are getting better and the cheap hollow tech cranks is really good too and running about 15-19 dollars and for 1 by chainring I would go with Deckas brands its really cheap and quite durable for 3-5 dollars
Thanks for your input!
I respect what you're doing but let me just say one thing. You're young. I'm old. There's a saying that rarely fails. " You get what you pay for." Regardless, well done and thanks for making this video. Aloha. 🤙
pretty hefty pricetag considering most parts are chinese nonames. not sure if i would do smth like that. stay safe and good luck with it :)
If you’re concerned about the carbon fiber parts, it could always be a pavement princess.
That's what i built. Light trails and urban mountain biking.
hahaha true that! But as long as I dont hit the pavement I'll try to trust the bike
Very interesting! I wanted a new mtb and considdered building one to keep cost down. Only issue was is it a good idea and how long will it take. Ended up going second hand and got a scott.
I have a second hand carbon cross bike which has held up very nice. Handlevars and seat post are alloy, and I would want those alloy. No need to worry about carbon snapping.
Yes I have bought stuff on Alieexpress. Most often stiff that is not dangous if it breaks (glasses for example good deal on alieexpress).
You mentioned your tires need more grip, i ride with maxxis ardent race both front and rear, it's grippy enough in trails but also slick enough if you're just hitting the road. Anyways, i really love your build, great work!!!🫶🏾🫶🏾
Thank you for the suggestion. I will check them out!
1:38
these are not tubeless compatible, i have yet to have a problem, however, pss- *cuts out*
BEAUTIFUL BIKE
Sweet video
Thanks a lot!
I build a emtb from AliExpress and its awesome
I thought of doing this but i would be worried of stuff snapping and getting hurt.
Are you planning on taking it on anything more rough then dirt roads?
We do have quite a few flowly kinda trails around here and I have tried a few of those but not all. If I find the right one I would also try a rougher trail.
I oder a lot of stuff from Ali, and some is pretty good. For doing Road or XC build Ali parts might be alright, except for suspension forks and brakes.
But as soon as you start riding trails, please get some reliable name brand stuff. You can't trust any of these Ali components with your life.
The only things I'd maybe try from Ali on my Enduro bike would be drivetrain, but with name brand cranks. If any of that fails I'll mots likely stay on the bike.
Respect for building quite a nice bike. No respect for the Chinese rear derailleur and non tubeless tires lol.
Aren't those brakes overkill for an XC bike? I got simple cheap mt200's and they do their job fine. They do fade a bit off course, but none of my loops is taxing enough on them where it really matters.
Yea, perhaps you are right but they weren't that much more expensive than lower grade ones so I just went with them
@@nikinikcc you're extremely lucky then, the price difference I'm used to here is quite atrocious, though last time I was buying it was just after everything came back into stock after the pandemic when everyone else bought the entire inventory and even mt200's were more expensive then they are worth.
I would go with titanium parts, particularly frame.
titanium parts from china? is that a thing on aliexpress?
edit: turns out: it is!
that would be a cool build as well!
I've been eyeing a couple of full suspension frames from ali but all things considered shipping and duty to Canada would make it too expensive for the level of uncertainty, carbon rigid frames are very well priced tho 🙃
*I've personally broken two of these bottle cage holder, the little tab in the back snapped on both, don't push like a mad man on it I guess 😢😂
Haha that's good to know, I mean the bottle cages are pretty thin. Have you been looking at any suspension frame brand in particular if I may ask?
Hi there. Did I understood it correctly?
None tubeless tire, but it's setup as a tubeless? Didn't know that could happen. I knew about not tubeless ready wheels but converted to tubeless by adding the tubeless tape
So, the wheels are tubeless ready but the tires are not tubeless compatible. However, you can still run non-tubeless compatible tires tubeless (it is not recommended though)
With the brakes - it is possible to get shimano on ali and the price (at least compared to AUD) is very cheap.
Fact that nothing broke in past 2k km should give you reassurance that they will not brake in next 10k km.
Feel so too!
Do you have the link to buy this bottle cage?
de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006582602986.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.27.7b89G9nDG9nDAd&algo_pvid=8b1d592a-4093-47b6-af47-932f1672c9d6&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A
Here in Russia we have a lot of chinese parts and brands due to sanctions. At first we were very cautious about it. But due to lack of big brand supply people eventually start buying them. And they arent too bad actually. Plus the prices went down a lot. For example I've purchased full carbon aero road bike with carbon wheels and electronic shifting just under $1000 dollars. Which is impossible for a major brands.
Carbon hardtails with air fork starts at $600 and $850 for a full suspension XC bike. Carbon gravel bike is around $700. With hydraulic brakes and everything.
Obviously quality isnt top notch, but i never heard anyone having an accident due to a failed carbon. Maybe not enough time has passed. But so far so good.
Hey, thanks for your take! Really glad to hear that you don't know anyone with a broken frame yet. Makes me feel a bit more at ease with the frame and handlebars. After all, you are completely right when it comes to the price point. If you can score good parts then you'll have a bike much cheaper than from comparable western brands.
Those are very good prices. For those prices you only get shit from western brands
Can you tell me the most common Chinese brand you guys are riding over there? I'm interested in doing a project.
@@bonbonflippers4298 If we talk carbon hardtails i can recommend Spcycle frame. It cost ~$250. Has decent geometry and build quality. The main downside is 19 inch is the biggest size. No XL is avaliable.
I know one person who found a crack between seat tube and seatstays after a season. But the seller just sent him a new one. Which is fine imo.
Nice video, I kinda lost you on "I don't want to compromise on safety" when it comes to the brakes, but your OK with your tires blowing off the rim (using non tubeless tires for tubeless)
Just seems like bad risk management, IMO (specifically regarding the tires, I know Ali have high quality carbon)
You could have ordered a proper set of TR tires (also from Ali) for a really fair price
You are totally right! I wanted to buy tubeless tires, though I guess I have mistaken these ones for TLR. I will get proper tires next
@@nikinikcc nice, personally I'd probably go for a pair of 29x2.35 Maxxis Rekon Race, in EXO + 3C, to keep the build nice and snappy
GL 👍
this looks great, now lets get a riding video =p
Planing on doing that this week!
Can't see the handlebars in the list. Mind stating which handlebars you used?
Unfortunately, the listing seems to be deleted. When I go to my past purchases and click the link to that item it reads something like item no longer available.
The derrailleur is ltwoo not zzitto. Love your video you got a new suscriptor
Oh yeah, you are right! Thank you!!
Just like in the west, looking for popular domestic brands and authentic product is probably the only way to avoid a stinker for important components
Very true! Research is everything
Have you had a look at a Waltly titanium frame with custom geometry? You could transfer some of the parts of this build.
It is so funny you say that, I just recently stumbled across that brand! That would also be a cool build! For now I have to save up though haha
Try the "MOUNTAINPEAK EVEREST" Frame
For good path only to avoid issue
Cool bike, bit of a shame you don’t run Chinese wheels. I do mtb races at quite a level and I have had 4 bikes all with Chinese rims and never had any problemsn
Yeah you are right, I might change that in the future. I'd also like to have one xc kinda setup and one with a bit nobblier tires for going on rougher trails. But thanks for sharing your experience!
in the philiphines we Buy rigid fork and negative stem big front chain rings so that we can use mtb for racing lol
Weapon MTB was china too...
But they used ALU6069
nice bike
Can you do a gravel bike AliExpress build?
I'll put it on the list!
Is that a 27.5 fork? 2.10 feels to tight for that fork
I'm surprised you were able to order. Every time I try to order from Ali Express, both my credit cards block the sale?
Oh really? That must be your bank though
@@nikinikcc idk, I've tried a couple of times using two different credit cards from two different banks, and the sales were denied. Scared me into thinking AliExpress is a scam. Now that I know it's not a scam, next time I'll call the bank first. Thanks for the info.
I always use Paypal. Built 2 bikes already and ordered tons of other stuff. Never had an issue.
@@headofmyself5663 Yeah, I put in my card(s) directly instead of using Paypal. The fact that it didn't work out made me so nervous that I reported both cards lost, so the bank would issue new ones. Next time it's Paypal. Thank You!
Mekus men ..that's my Rd Ltwoo AX
Do they sell derailleur hangers as spares, or are you completely screwed the second you break the one you got?
They do sell them fortunately - also they are pretty inexpensive.
Did you pay customs when the frame arrived? I'm in germany and wondering if I need to consider that.
Yeah unfortunately. In Switzerland it was roughly 10% of the purchasing price
@@nikinikcc thanks!
Dangerous Bike! 🤔🤔🤔😮
A little danger is the right amount of danger
You say the front sprocket is 32T but on the video it's 36T?
Oh yeah, seemingly I had it wrong in my notes. Its a 36!
Most people just need a hard tail , as far as MTB goes, thats why Gravel bikes are such a big deal now.
I’m very skeptical as I owned a bike rental/repair shop for thirty years and I assembled a thousand bikes from China and even though pre-assembled Chinese bikes are typically great in the higher end, whenever you cut costs by using lower end components you typically get a bike that doesn’t work well or hold up more than a year or two.
would you mind sharing the store link of where you got the bike frame?
Of course! de.aliexpress.com/item/1005002982566507.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.productList_2009177775217.1005002982566507
Apparently the frame is a replica of a Scott Scale :).
Ahh yes could be.
You think about safety at the brakes but not the handlebar or the frame where the brake parts are mounted to? :D quite amusing i think
exactly. when carbon brakes it creates very sharp chunks wich can pierce your arterie and you die
Whats the total weight?
About 9.5kg
I’ve thought about making this video
What are now the Total costs and weight?
The build in total cost about 2400 Euros and the final weight is 9.5 kg.
I think your front Brake disc is the wrong orientation
This frame looks like Scott Scale 2022
Word is it might come from the same factory but I have no idea if that is true
Those are some of the most expensive components for Aliexpress :) I mean for $2000 you can get a CF brand name bike these days. Not under 10kg, but with nothing Ali
"Frame 300$ pretty cheap" that just demolished my ability to do the whole video lmao....
Have you seen a substantially cheaper carbon frame?
Will it last?
That's what we are here for to find out
@@nikinikcc Yes maby some ride and footage and montly update video if you have the time
Sounds like a great idea! I'll put it on the to-do list
@@nikinikcc Maby get the frame tested/checked by Carbonfire Expert make a video about that
I have this frame,please contect me.
Sure, how would you like to be contacted?
You could have gotten some decent goldix wheels for $600 and the build would have been in the sub 22lbs.
Have not heard of that brand before but will check it out!
noice
...Is it worth it to build a MTB? Maybe if you add drop bars
That would be a cool conversion too!
I had a blow out with non tubeless tyres.
Could of been catastrophic.
I was lucky...
Good to know that it can happen! Glad you were lucky though
@@nikinikcc glad to hear your ok bud.
Dropper poast!
Definitely an upgrade that is coming in the future!
i mean.. you didn't follow the premise of the title of your video
Are you sure? In the end I did say that I think it might be worth it for an experienced tinkerer to try and build your own AliExpress MTB as its a rewarding experience. During the video I elaborated on the pros and cons of such an AliExpress MTB build.
@@nikinikcc saying and doing are different. Many of your major parts aren’t from aliexpress. I have some parts on my bike from Amazon. Does that make it a Amazon bike? Come on bro
I guess what constitutes an AliExpress bike is in the eye of the beholder - I would argue the frame is the most important element but I agree that I could have used more parts from AliExpress.
Riding a chyna carbon frame, you need your head read..
Theres only a hanful of carbon factories in china and ALL the bikes of the market comes from them
Thats very true but there can be large differences in quality control and execution.
Hope your dentist is on speed dial
Та не зламається та рама, то хіба важити 120кг і стрибати, тоді може трохи страшно ))
haha yes
that is breaking soon
What part would you think is going to break first?
It's heavier than I thought all things considered, but one can't complain with 2400 euros for a new carbon bike
As a student I went down the hole of very old, but high end and modified with my 2009 Ghost Lektor 7700 Carbon Edition Fully that I bought in Allgäu for just 500 euro used from an older gentleman that had maintained it very well and done some light upgrades like a XTR crankset, ZTR Olympic Tubeless rims and it even came with some fresh Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evos. To be honest most of what I do is XC, but for that price and the fact that it's still only 11.5 kg despite being a L frame fully (though it is a 26"), I've been having a lot of fun with it, having done over 1000 kms in the past month and a half on it and only having to change the worn chainring bolts and nuts for 10 euro
Hopefully the weather improves from this heavily rainy season so we can go ride more!
That also sounds like a very fun endeavor!! Do you ever feel like 26 inch wheels are too small for rougher terrain? Because that is also what deterred me from going with 27.5 inch wheels on this build.
@@nikinikcc I haven't tried out any 27.5"s, but I have tried two of my friends' new 29" cube aluminum frame fullys on some trails this year and done extensive riding in a high-end 29" Nikolai GT1 Eboxx EWB e-MTB last year (all three were XL, so a bit big for my 185 cm self). What I can attest to is the increased ease of riding and comfort in rough terrain, but I found that all three of them (especially the 30+ kg Nikolai) felt very unresponsive, disconnected even, making it a lot harder to take turns quickly on asphalt or go down gravel trails, compared to my bike, but I do believe that could also partly be due to them having wider handlebars, too big of a frame for me, the difference in weight of 6-7 to 20 kilos, as well as their aluminum frames. Either way, the feeling of being much lower to the ground in my bike definitely helps in the corners and I haven't had any issues with ground clearance either.
With all of that said, if I was building out a bike on top of my current one, it'd likely be a 27.5" gravel bike, but if I didn't have my current bike, it'd be a hardtail carbon 26" instead.
Your chain is way to short
I'd recommend putting on at least 180mm brake rotors
I was listening for a few minutes and then I ger bored. You sure love talking. You should've created a podcast If you're just going to talk and talk and talk and talk
I hear a bit of german😂😂😂