The frame arrived ahead of time so that was a bonus to start with. It actually arrived before the mechanical parts arrived, so I had plenty of time to give it a thorough inspection before building it up. The only slight flaw that I could find was a small paint chip on the base of the head tube, presumably caused by machining the bearing seats after painting. However, the position of the chip is not visible from any angle so it’s not a problem.
Building the frame was super easy, and everything went together without having to make any modifications. The hardest part is threading the hydraulic pipes through the bars and down the head tube whilst keeping the steerer tube spacers in place. You need 3 hands for this job, but it’s no more difficult than building any fully integrated bar/stem.
I think building the frame took perhaps 5-6 hours, and that was including the setup of the L-Twoo eRX electronic shifters.
I’ve now covered about 300km a the bike and it’s fantastic. It’s very stiff, so you feel that no power is wasted, but it’s also surprisingly comfortable. After an initial short shakedown ride I did a longer ride of almost 100km and I had no aches or pains. It’s certainly more comfortable than my Giant Defy, which is supposed to be a comfortable endurance bike.
The only thing I don’t like is the long reach. I specified the shortest stem, but that was out of stock so it was substituted for one 10mm longer. It would still be considered short, but for me I would prefer even shorter as the long reach means that it’s hard to remain in an aero position for more than a few minutes. However, that’s more my problem rather than the frame. The bars themselves are superb. The curvature of the drops is better than any bike I’ve ridden, and riding on the drops is much more comfortable than most other cars I’ve used.
Overall, I’m very happy. This Loong frame is as good as any bike I have ridden previously, including my Ridley Noah team race bike. Keep up the good work OG-Evkin, and I wish you every success for the future.
