XDS Carbon-Tech’s X-Lab AD9 aero road bike is available to purchase in the United Kingdom, framesets officially now listed online for £2,553.
The bike has attracted plenty of attention in recent months, especially since WorldTour team XDS Astana — now also with XDS Carbon-Tech’s brand as part of the team’s name under sponsorship rights — is racing the aero road model this season. However, up until now, apart from some listed on Chinese retail website AliExpress, details about the X-Lab AD9’s availability and price in Europe were scarce.
It is listed on CycleGears at £2,553 for the frameset and available in three paintjobs — ‘Cloud’, ‘Blue Cloud’ or ‘Black Silver’.
That’s significantly cheaper than many comparable WorldTour frameset models such as Specialized’s S-Works Tarmac SL8 (north of £4,000 depending on where you buy), Giant’s Propel Advanced SL (£3,799), Trek’s Madone (£5,500). For a full bike, with a top-tier groupset and some expensive carbon wheels, that’s still likely to be below the £10,000 mark, perhaps by a decent whack, and again significantly cheaper than many more established brands.
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Things get even more interesting if you were to drop to Shimano 105 and a cheaper, but still quality, wheelset and perhaps even build this sub-£5,000.
The carbon aero road bike is the work of XDS Carbon-Tech, the world’s largest carbon fibre factory, based in Shenzhen, China. The X-LAB line represents the brand’s premium offering, similar to Specialized’s S-Works range. Significantly, the X-Lab’s move into the WorldTour perhaps promises to be the first time we’ve seen a Chinese bike brand establish itself at cycling’s top level.
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XDS Carbon-Tech has reportedly stumped up enough cash to bring Astana’s budget in line with the likes of UAE Team Emirates and Visma-Lease a Bike, promising to transform them into a super team with the deal reported to be between five and 10 years long.
While, the XDS Astana riders are using it complete with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupsets, Vision wheels, Continental tyres and Prologo saddles, frameset-only options for non-pro customers are all that have been spotted so far.
According to the brand the X-Lab AD9 frameset weighs 850g for a size medium, a saving of 100g on its previous model, and enjoys a “1.5W power saving compared to the Canyon Aeroad CFR, making it one of the most efficient frames on the market”. Aero testing and the way brands present the numbers in their model’s favour can be a minefield at the best of times, so perhaps the main takeaway should simply be the confidence it can compete with established names such as Canyon.
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As you’d expect for a pricey aero bike raced by WorldTour pros, the design process involved CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and wind tunnel testing, XDS stating the shape of the fork and head tube had been optimised for aerodynamics.
In the case of the head tube, this was apparently achieved by reducing the area by “about seven per cent” than the brand’s RS series. In marketing speak, it makes the area is “like a sword”, apparently, “piercing the air barrier” and contributing to “excellent” aerodynamic performance.
15 thoughts on “Chinese X-LAB AD9 aero road bike as used by Astana on cycling’s WorldTour now for sale to the public at £2,553 for the frameset”
AI text incoming! “Our
AI text incoming! “Our aerodynamic engineering team meticulously optimized the frame’s streamlined design.” I have grown to detest AI text as I see it a lot in my day job. Words like ‘meticulous’ are a giveaway, as if you couldn’t tell anyway.
Tons of marketing blurb about aero and watts but I can’t tell whether the integrated bars are included in the price or what the tyre clearance is or what type of BB shell it has.
In any case, who’s to say
In any case, who’s to say that what works for their ‘aerodynamic engineering team’ is still going to work for us normal unaerodynamic folks?
It appears that the bars and
It appears that the bars and seatpost are included. Can’t help you on the BB nor the tyre clearance.
The bars are included
The bars are included although they are apparently 400 mm in all sizes which won’t suit everybody. From a recent picture (below) of Astana’s African champion Henok Mulubrhan’s bike it looks as though tyre clearance will be what is technically known as “plenty”.
Rendel Harris wrote:
I dunno, once you’ve put mudguards on, not sure you’ll get more than 28mm 😉
Miller wrote:
To be fair to AIs, a Large Language Model will only output such meaningless word-salad because it was trained on the soulless drivel that marketing people have been writing for decades.
Although you’re right that AI in general will soon start eating its own tail, as new LLMs are trained on the output of previous LLMs, quickly degenerating to something like “Meticulous Aero Optimium Smooth” and finally just repeating the word “Penis” over and over again, forever.
Why the need to say “Chinese”
Why the need to say “Chinese” in the headline? None of your recent posts include the nationality of a brand apart from this one…
AndyPara wrote:
Because it’s a completely new brand that most readers won’t have heard of, it’s a safe assumption that there is no need to say “American brand Specialized” or “Italian brand Colnago” but in the case of a new entry to the market… I’m sure I’ve seen plenty of headlines with “New British brand enters market” and so on.
It’s a steal for a product
It’s a steal for a product that may not have any enforceable consumer rights or warranty and no legally enforceable obligations on the manufacturer to provide a safe product that meets relevant standards.
It’s cheap right up to the point it fails and you’re looking at £000s in emergency dental treatment.
What you say about consumer
What you say about consumer rights or warranty may or may not be true, although as/if these bikes become popular that will doubtless change if UK retailers start selling them. However, there is no reason to assume that just because it’s from China it’s going to fail, I haven’t noticed huge numbers of Astana riders suffering broken frames, have you? XDS have for some years been making open mould frames used by minor but well-known brands such as Planet X, it’s unlikely as they are attempting to establish their name in the west that they would drop at least the quality control standards they use for those. There are numerous moral and ethical questions to be addressed about our appetite for Chinese goods but there’s no denying that they produce some extremely good stuff, I think we need to get past the assumption that everything made in China is going to be tat.
open_roads wrote:
This is prejudiced scare-mongering nonsense. In the past decade I have bought multiple frames, rims and components direct from Chinese suppliers and have had a good experience with all of those items. I spend less money and I get bikes that are highly personalised to me. None of the frames or other items have failed in any unexpected way nor have they been of noticeably less quality than name brands in shops. I don’t expect much in the way of warranty although customer service can be quite responsive, there again I haven’t spent big money on anything.
My dental bills are real but that’s nothing to do with cycling … and everything to do with a Scottish upbringing.
Agreed. The likes of Trace
Agreed. The likes of Trace Velo on YT are showing that Chinese kit can be both excellent VFM and that there is after-sales service. I’m old enough to remember when we would classify anything made in Japan as cheap junk. It’s just the same prejudice a few decades on.
Lots of comments are about
Lots of comments are about the lack of quality.
I owned 3 bikes from the dutch brand Apex , all open mould china built. All 3 exelent !
2 bikes from the german brand Stevens got cracks in the frames..
I’m now on a Cannondale scalpel, Cervelo aspero, and a Ceepo mamba R .. so far, so good on anny of those..
But make no mistake all are built in china !
Cannondale are made in Taiwan
Cannondale are made in Taiwan and Vietnam, I thought?
My cannondale SuperSix gen3
My cannondale SuperSix gen3 frameset i recently bought has a sticker saying: made in China. Dont know about the newest models.