r/ChineseCarbon

Hey everyone,

​It’s no secret that the industry has almost completely shifted to disc brakes, but trying to find a brand new, high-performance rim brake frameset in 2026 feels nearly impossible.

​I was planning to pick up a Winspace SLC 2.0 — it was pretty much the holy grail for a lightweight, snappy climbing build at a reasonable price point (sub-800g, rigid, UCI approved). However, it's now officially discontinued and sold out everywhere.

​That leaves me wondering: in that $800–$1,200 / €800–€1,100 price bracket, is Elves (specifically the Vanyar) the last man standing? Or are there other legit options out there that I’m overlooking?

​What I’m looking for:

​Brake type: Rim Brake (Direct Mount or standard single bolt)

​Focus: Pure climbing frame — lightweight, stiff, reactive, and aggressive (stiffness matters more to me than aero gains)

​Certification: Ideally UCI approved (or at least from a factory with a proven track record for safety and quality control)

​Condition: Brand new

​Are there any hidden open-mould gems from manufacturers like, lesser-known brands, or distributors still producing new rim brake stock? Or is the Elves Vanyar basically the end of the line for a new budget/mid-range weightweenie build?

​Would love to hear from anyone who has built up a new rim brake bike recently or knows of remaining stock!

​Thanks in advance!

I've found a bunch of cheap Chinese frames and given the price of groupsets and wheels, I'm tempted to try and build a whole carbon disc brake bike for less than 1000€.

Seeing as Shimano R7000 or R7100 mechanical DB groupsets are north of 400€, SRAM and Campy being even more expensive, and I can't find anything used in my area, I've started looking at LTwoo and Sensah. The price is about 210€ for the R9 and ~250€ for the Empire (shipped), both of which are mechanical 2x11, hydraulic disk groupsets. This includes a cassette, crankset, bottom bracket, chain, discs, calipers, and brake levers.

I'm no stranger to wrenching Shimano parts, but I'd like some opinions on the two Chinese brands. I've read LTwoo can have questionable QC and that Sensah front derailleurs are worth less than the material they're made of. Does anyone have any firsthand experience or pointers? TIA

I'm looking for some new budget carbon wheels from AliExpress to buy, test and review.

Any recommendations?

Hello everyone, I’ve been looking to buy myself a tt bike for a little while now and i’ve fallen in the rabbit hole of chinese carbon. Since I have never owned this type of bike most people advice would be to buy a used one, but I have not found anything in my budget in my region yet so this doesn’t really work for now. So I have a couple of questions regarding this build and I’m open to all suggestions and comments regarding this topic.

The build

Frame: Winow TT-119 with the hb052 cockpit
Groupset: LTWOO eRX-TT groupset
Crank: Shimano 105 R7100 52-36
Cassette: 105 CS-R7001 11-34
Wheels: Elitewheels ENT 2.0 ?
Tires: GP5000
Saddle: Ryet

I have the entire bike in my aliexpress cart and the total comes out to 3661,65 $ cad

Questions

1. Should I wait to find a TT on marketplace ?
2. Is this bike actually good ahahah ?
3. The wheels is the only parts I haven’t look that much into, are they worth it ?
4. With that price in my mind, is it actually a good deal compared to the likes of some Canyon, Trek, Cervélo etc ?
5. Should I just buy a complete bike like the JAVA Vega ?

Also, I know that building the entire thing is complicated, but I like the idea of building my own race bike and I have a lot of tools already.

I've been riding a Wheeltop EDS GeX 1x13 for about a year now, around 5,000 km total. Bikepacking, races, everyday riding, after-work rides, etc.

To start with the positive: once the system was set up, shifting generally worked well. The brakes are also fine and I actually like the ergonomics. One thing to note though: the levers sit quite far away from the bar, so I think you need fairly large hands to use them comfortably.

The app is another story. Some of the translations/settings are pretty poor and can be confusing.

Unfortunately, I've had quite a few random bugs and errors over the year. Nothing that happened constantly, but enough to make me question the reliability. I even had the shifting completely stop working during a gravel race once. I had to stop and set up/pair the system again before I could continue.

Now I've had a hardware failure as well.

At the beginning of August 2026, the right shifter stopped recognizing its two buttons separately. Whatever I assign in the app, both buttons always perform the function assigned to the small button.

For example:

Large = "+" / Small = "−" → both shift "+"

Change the assignment:

Large = "−" / Small = "+" → both shift "−"

The shifter is still detected normally, the gear position is displayed correctly, and the rear derailleur itself works perfectly when shifting through the app.

I've tried new batteries, firmware updates, re-pairing, resetting everything and resetting the button assignments several times. The problem is completely reproducible.

I sent Wheeltop a detailed description and videos showing the problem.

Their response was basically just: warranty expired, buy a new groupset.

The warranty had expired by only a few days. I wasn't asking them to replace the whole groupset. I was hoping they would at least look at the problem or offer a replacement right shifter.

But there was no troubleshooting, no technical analysis, no real assistance and no offer for a replacement part.

This is probably what annoys me most about the whole thing. After around 5,000 km I can say that the actual product isn't bad. When it works, it works well. But I need electronic shifting to be reliable, especially when using it for bikepacking and racing.

The combination of random errors, an actual failure during a race, questionable spare parts availability and now basically zero support when a component fails has completely changed my opinion of the system.

I originally bought Wheeltop because I liked the concept and wanted to give a smaller manufacturer a chance.

I wouldn't buy Wheeltop again.

Personally, I'd rather spend the extra money on Shimano or SRAM and have proper spare parts availability and customer support. It's a shame, because I actually enjoyed riding the Wheeltop for the first year.