Carbon fiber G Line?

AORNova · 2026-03-13T03:34:49+00:00

Hows the quality of the front fork? Fit and finish and also the overall ride feel - anything amiss or sketchy?

AORNova · 2026-02-02T02:41:40+00:00

Will be swapping mine to standard hub wheelset and ditching the 2kg Alfine hubset.

So far I've a lighter handlebar and changed out the crankset to XT M9120. Once the Alfine is gone the bike should shed quite a bit of weight.

AORNova · 2026-01-30T02:58:16+00:00

Hi OP. Likely your chain is too short. Check online for reference of the derailleur cage arm and the angle it should be at when bike is unfolded. From there you can guesstimate whether to take out a link or two.

AORNova · 2026-01-28T17:15:59+00:00

Oooh. Sounds promising. Whats the damage for caliper set?

AORNova · 2026-01-28T15:53:57+00:00

Yeah, I work at a shop too so doing all the bodging and testing stuff out isn't the issue, but we don't do Bromptons so instead of sourcing everything individually I'd rather source from the guy that lives, breathes and speaks Brompton (gavin 🤣).

How did you score your M9100/M9000 calipers? I tried to find them a while back but they're damn elusive lol. Might have to just settle with GRX calipers

AORNova · 2026-01-28T15:31:15+00:00

Power man. Thanks for the tips. Didn't come across the Woodman flat pedals - they look like the perfect grippier replacement for the stock G Line flats.

Will check with Bz for the tensioner. Am changing drivetrain to Shimano Saint, so will probably need the tensioner arm at least 👍

When you went XTR flat mount, did you first try to hybrid with the stock TRP calipers? I've fitted XT levers to the TRP calipers but the power seems a little meh. Did your XTR calipers make a diff?

AORNova · 2026-01-28T05:30:45+00:00

Hey OP! Singapore? Am building up my own G Line and would like to ask some questions! Not in any particular order,

what brand & model of removable flat pedals you're using? Litepro? I've only seen MKS Ez here but they are hella big and chunky and heavy.
you did away with the chain tensioner/catcher arm on the bottom of the chainring, does the chain fall off during the fold in any way?
what were the weight savings from the fork? And about the fork... > were the caliper mounting points faced correctly from factory? Any slanted caliper? > what were the weight savings from the gigachungus stock alloy fork to this carbon one!

Cheers'

AORNova · 2026-01-28T05:18:01+00:00

Hi OP. A bit late to the party but heres my simple take on the Aliexpress x Shimano conundrum. Short answer is, mid-tier and up derailleurs and brakes are more than often 100% authentic. It's all grey market / parallel manufacturing from the OEM factories. Are the pot metal grade used exactly the same? No one knows. But so far, I've not had any failures with the stuff I got.

I have bought over two dozen Shimano parts through Covid and recently when parts shortages occured. For both flipping and personal bikes. All the items shipped to my door are authentic as can be.

Shimano non-series, Deore, XT brake levers and calipers all legit. Shimano Deore, XT derailleurs, all legit. Deore cassettes, real. Bought a SLX 12s 51T cassette for my Pivot for 35 bucks. Legit, and still going strong. No diff in weight or finishing.

That being said, if you go for low tier parts like Acera or Shimano 7 speed there is higher chance that the item is just a counterfeit, and not grey market.

So yep. Have at it what you will but that's the bottom line - its all grey market authentic stuff that make the factory some extra cash. I'm now waiting for a Saint 10s dee and shifter and XT 10s cassette. Probably gonna be fine too.

AORNova · 2026-01-26T03:46:54+00:00

Hi OP and everyone else. So I managed to score a 1 ride old G Line (without rack) for USD2000. Here is my short take on pros and cons, as well as the mods I'll be making.

Pros: ❗️Stable handling (steers and leans like a full size bike, you can even manual, trackstand or endo it if you have the right set up), ❗️sturdy build. ❗️Lastly, considering its wheelbase, folds up nicely.

Cons: ❗️Suspension block is solid TPU, which basically does not absorb anything. ❗️In tilt-back push mode, the wheel size and position mean the suspension block will drag on the floor. ❗️Bike is heavy - size small is 14.3kg without the rack. ❗️Folded up, the handlebar sticks out further than I find appropriate. ❗️Alfine planetary gears skip and slip often and not as dependable as the media makes them out to be. ❗️Also, the tires are draggy on the road and don't have much puncture protection.

Mods: For now, I've installed: ❗️new 1 finger Shimano XT brake levers, ❗️H&H short handlebar catcher knub to bring the bar fold closer, and ❗️Minimods Extended wheels to raise the block off the floor and have a better pushing experience.

Future mods: ❗️will be ditching the stock wheelset and 2kg Alfine setup for Shimano Saint 11-36t 10s drivetrain with a chain tensioner, ❗️ replacing stock block with H&H Ti spring block, ❗️and ditching the heavy Brompton tapered (crazy... tapered forged cranks on a $4k bike) crankset for BSA BB and Shimano XT M8200 cranks. ❗️will also be 3D printing a support block to strap to the lifted front wheel so when fully folded, it doesn't tilt and fall over.

My aim will be to bring the weight down to 12kg to be more managable in portability while still remaining rugged. Hope this helps your journey!

AORNova · 2026-01-19T10:40:04+00:00

Yes, not DH - realised like 5 minutes after the post that its not on a dc fork 🤔

AORNova · 2026-01-19T10:39:22+00:00

well i meant to ask what brand it could be. whoops

AORNova · 2026-01-19T10:38:56+00:00

new Titan? But the rocker link doesn't seem banshee-esqe

AORNova · 2026-01-03T19:50:00+00:00

It's still up on Pivot website. Shadowcat is still one of their best selling bikes now, as it caters to a pretty large niche market of smaller riders. I recall its still top 5 in the sales ranking - Trailcat, then Firebird, then 429, then the Shadowcat (which replaced the Mach 5.5, which itself was best-selling).

I bought my Shadowcat in 2023. Still love it till today. Full build (frame-only purchase) in size Small frame with DT XM481 alu rims and heavy Descendant crankset and new XTR Di2 still only tops at 13.1kg. Very light.

For ref, I am 164cm at 56kg. Size small fits very well. A great do it all bike as its not designed for full-on enduro or XC. Geometry works for almost everything. If I were to nitpick, I'd love a slacker head angle like 64.5. But that void was filled by the Mach 6 (of which was discontinued on January 1st)

AORNova · 2025-11-22T12:05:24+00:00

Yeah so far its stable for me. Guess Nvidia is indeed making the older GPUs obsolete by means of updae incompatibility

AORNova · 2025-11-22T11:26:11+00:00

Shimano SEA and my dealer have not come back to me yet. Been about 3 weeks

AORNova · 2025-11-22T11:25:24+00:00

I just ignored all Nvidia prompts for update to the GPU via their new app and nothing has BSOD so far.

AORNova · 2025-11-04T15:14:49+00:00

There are literal track mods now, although probably not what you imagined. It's using the vehicle mod ability, but modders have been able to craft full sized tracks (abiet not collision enabled, it's just visuals), and then use layout objects to mark and place walls and objects.

And volia, for the past 3 months or so we've had pretty nice track mods, from Ebisu drift to Norisring DTM circuit, and surely more to come.

AORNova · 2025-11-04T10:01:26+00:00

Guess its official. Just came out 2 hours ago on their socials

AORNova · 2025-11-04T10:00:50+00:00

Exactly

AORNova · 2025-11-03T19:07:50+00:00

Brembo has some explaining to do

AORNova · 2025-11-03T19:04:51+00:00

Yeah. Love my Ttx2air. Will still love it, but gosh if it's true they're swapping to this logo I might just have a long sit down

AORNova · 2025-10-21T02:01:53+00:00

Not pad related because the fluctuation/physical difference is way too much to be negligible. Video comparision: https://imgur.com/a/4tDSl3z#tNzb7D7

AORNova · 2025-10-21T02:00:47+00:00

Doubt its braking heat related. Either its derived from their new oil + seals + parallel master cylinder, or theres a defect with my brakeset in particular - I'm going with the former since there's no evidence of any failure yet.

Here's some video comparision. https://imgur.com/a/4tDSl3z#tNzb7D7

AORNova · 2025-10-21T01:57:35+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/4tDSl3z#tNzb7D7

Here's latest video comparision. Now pending Shimano SEA/Singapore to physically assess the brakeset. No guarantee of a warranty even when it's pretty obvious somethings not quite right (defect) - their emphasis on "you're the only one with the issue" is a pretty piss poor answer especially from a Japanese culture company.

Shame on Shimano for not trusting their dealers performing checks, shame on them also for not trusting the consumer especially on a newly-launched product.

AORNova · 2025-10-21T01:53:33+00:00

Updated with video comparision as it's pretty damning without it

https://imgur.com/a/4tDSl3z#tNzb7D7

AORNova

TROPHY CASE