Winspace T1500 Aero Bike Frame Review
Introduction
Winspace is a company based in Xiamen China, they are one of the most well known companies outside of their home market and have a reputation that has grown from a small Chinese focused company to one that is gaining worldwide market share quite rapidly. Winspace is an OEM, they are well known for their LUN sub brand and their hyper wheels.
The T1500 is the Winspace Aero offering, it has aerodynamic tubing, dropped seat stays and in the case of this frame, shielded rim brakes. The model on test was the direct mount rim brake model, it is also available in disc brake.
Frame Manufacturing and Quality
The frame was purchased with a handlebar bundle which included the headset and spacers. The overall quality of manufacturing of this frame was extremely good and would easily surpass the named brands (Canyon, Cannondale, BMC, Giant etc). It is obvious that a lot of time and care has been put into the frame manufacture, the internals of the frame were very clean and there were no voids detected.
It should be noted that material type and grade are largely immaterial, the quality of manufacture is much more important. A void can reduce local structural strength and stiffness by 90%.
The BB to headset alignment was square. The BB to seatpost and dropouts was perpendicular. Geometrically, there was nothing wrong with the frame.
The bottom bracket was BB86 specification and the opening was measured at 40.95mm average. It was at the bottom end of the size spectrum but nonetheless remained within specification. For an end user it would be beneficial to polish the opening slightly, it would make it easier for BB installation. If installing a Hambini BB, the necked BB86 type would be recommended as the cable cover bolt can impinge. The bottom bracket was one of the better bottom brackets for accuracy.
Front Fork
The front fork had no voids upon examination, the bearing seats were within acceptable tolerances for roundness and eccentricity between the upper and lower bearing seats was found to be very low. This indicates the fork was manufactured to a high geometrical standard.
The front fork featured a double threaded mount for direct brakes. At the point of this review, they had not been fitted with a brake set (owing to parts availability).
The dropouts were geometrically within acceptable limits and the faces for the QR clamping were flat and devoid of paint. These faces looked like they had been machined post production which is superior to pre-paint masking.
Seatpost
The seatpost was of carbon construction and came with an infinite adjustment approx. +/-30 deg clamping rocker. The system worked well and the fit and finish on the parts was good. There were no voids detected in the seatpost.
The seatpost was clamped by an aluminium wedge assembly tensioned by a grub screw.
Handlebars and spacers
The handlebars and spacers were an optional item. They are a one piece unit with a combined stem. A number of different sizes of stem and width equivalent were available. The cables were hidden at the STI lever mount point and exit towards the centre of the handlebar before being routed externally into the bike frame. The handlebar came with an out in front Garmin/Go Pro mount.
It would be possible to fit standard handlebars if required, the steerer tube was 1.1/8 diameter.
There were no voids detected in the handlebars
Frame Internals
The internal composition of the frame can be described as extremely clean.
Conclusion
This bike frame has been clearly well made. It’s quite obvious that Winspace have listened to consumers and made a frame that has very high levels of manufacturing quality. There were no defects in the frame and the ancillary parts were well made and well specified. The limiting factor for Winspace is unlikely to be the quality or technical capability of their frame – that is of a very high standard. Although this frame was easily better than the likes of BMC, Canyon, Cervelo, Giant etc, Winspace do not have the history and reputation of those brands and hence do not have established “brand loyalty”… Yet
In short, this is one of the best frames that has been reviewed to date.
Future Follow Up
This frame will be tested to get an indication of it’s aerodynamic performance
Hi Winspace or trifox? Thanks
IF you are on a budget, get the trifox. If money will stretch, I would get the winspace
I try not to directly support any business in China’s one-party communist dictatorship, but I’m not naive enough to think I am not giving indirect support, given how much China manufactures. I have attempted to use as many “made in USA” bike parts as possible (e.g. Thomson, Chris King). I’m not an “America First” person, but China has cracked down on human rights in Hong Kong and will probably “integrate” the breakaway province of Taiwan in the near future. I have a 2005 Cannondale aluminium frameset made in the USA, an All-City Reynolds 853 frameset made in Taiwan, but I won’t own a carbon frameset unless it is made in Europe or USA and meets Hambini standards – like a carbon Time or Colnago frameset made in Europe.
Looks like a great frame. I’ve just bought one.
Hi Hambini, can’t wait for the aero review part of this winspace t1500. Any idea when it’s coming?
In about a month
Hi Hambini,
Would you recommend other brand of inner seat post clamp for Winspace T1500 (part number CA-B04) with similar function and dimension.
I lost the original one and need it fast. Already ordered the spare part from Winspace but it will take ages to arrive.
Thanks for recommendation.
They are a fairly generic CN type – I have seen them on several different types of bike – ICAN, Yoeleo etc I think they must be made by one supplier.