 Welcome back to the Friday vlog series. It's been a while since I've said that. It's good to be back on the channel and thanks still for supporting my work despite taking about four to five months off in the end. So in this video today, which is a tough one for me to present, I feel a little bit cornered to be honest, but it needs to go live. And that is I'm gonna be presenting what is a bike issue? I feel like we're starting back on the channel in 2022 in a similar fashion to the way we wrapped up in 2021. So let's get into it. Hey, before we get into this video, I just wanted to clear up the use of Chinese bike or Chinese carbon bike in the title of this video and other videos in the past on the channel because there appears to be quite a strong cohort of individuals or people that seem to think it's inappropriate or even some that think it has a racist tone. But here's the thing. Chinese bike or Chinese carbon bike or even China bike are search terms widely used on a month-to-month basis by many people around the world wanting to learn more about Chinese carbon bikes. And what have we done on this channel in recent times? We've explored this popular Chinese carbon bike segment via the windspace, the Saver, and now the Seeker. And look, even two Chinese bike specific videos have made my top 10 videos of all time. And take out Neil Stambry, who secretly runs this channel and would have three in the top 10. So it's a hugely popular topic and search engine optimization is a massive part of what we do as YouTubers. Now I know what some of you may be thinking. Oh, they're all Chinese bikes, you idiots. Well, the fact is most of them are made out of China. Even the ones that label themselves as Taiwanese are normally outsourcing to China. But what I am talking about specifically here is everything is Chinese based. Supply chain, logistics, sales, marketing, quality assurance, head office, everything is Chinese based. And I think, tell me if I'm wrong here, many people are intrigued in this topic because of price. And I feel that is why there is such demand or interest in this particular topic. And all I'm doing by adding Chinese bike into the title is bringing more of these people into these projects that we're running on the channel. So let's get into it. So the Seeker RDC, what's it like to ride? When's a long-term review coming? These are the questions that have been coming at me quite a lot during my leave of absence. So in this video, I wanted to basically do two things. Number one, be transparent about what's been going on behind the scenes and in doing so, give you some context as to why the long-term review of this bike is still probably gonna be two to three months away. So it was December last year and the date was the 11th when I sent an email to my main contact at Cycling 100 who are fully aware that this video is going live today and I can only assume that they probably don't want it to go live, but they can also appreciate when I'm presenting products like this to you, the audience that I need to be fully transparent. So the email went like this. The Vortex rear wheel has a lot of up and down movement. Yes, that is the extent of my bike engineering talk, up and down movement. And let me be clear. When it comes to bike engineering, wheels and frameset, I'm out of my depth. So what I'm gonna do here is I'm feeling a little bit uncomfortable or have been feeling a little bit uncomfortable about presenting this topic to you as I've got some experts and I've had some conversations with some experts, I'm gonna share their insight with you. So back to the email. When the bike is in the stand and you spin the pedals, the oscillation, so the up and down movement is far greater than any wheel I've ever come across. Have you noted this yourself and or do you know the reason behind this? So yes, when we're talking about the Seeker Exceed build, we're talking specifically about the wheels, the Vortex wheels for this build, which came from Cycling 100. So far the frame set to ride has been top shelf. Now I sent this iPhone footage to Cycling 100, who then on sent the video to Vortex. Vortex came back to Cycling 100 and said, we'll send Cam another wheel, which they did. However, at that point, I had no indication of what the issue was. And back to the issue, that up and down movement, where it all started, was around about the time of publishing the first impressions video. I was starting to feel something, a sensation or gather more awareness surrounding, I'm calling it feedback through the pedal stroke. Not when you're free pedaling, but when you're pedaling, I was feeling some bizarre feedback. And that feedback was ever so slight. I genuinely believe if you weren't testing bikes and thinking about things and changing the same pedals from one bike to the other, as I do, most people probably wouldn't even pick up on it. But this slight sensation through the pedal stroke led me to go sniffing about the bike to try and identify where the issue might be. So while Vortex were in the process of sending me a second rear wheel, I took the seeker to Aaron at Trilogy Cycles, who's appeared on the channel before, notably in the Sarva Bike video, or the Chinese bike that backfired. At that time, it was around Christmas time and Aaron and Trilogy were under the pump. So Aaron could only have a quick look at the bike and he didn't even do it in his bike stand. We did it out the front of Trilogy Cycles, but immediately he said, that's a hub issue. I said, why? He said, have a look at the disc brake rotor, which looked as if it was ever so slightly bent. So when the rear wheel is rotating, the rotor has an ever so slight wobble through the disc brake caliper, as if the rotor was bent. But the rotor definitely wasn't bent. How do I know? Well, we put another rotor in, which when you wasn't bent and the same thing happened. So we tested the theory. So Aaron said, come back after Christmas. In the meantime, a second rear wheel, the bearing's been taken out of this one. We sort of pulled it apart a little bit, which I'll explain shortly. And I had the exact same issue, which was just in time for my visit to see Aaron, which actually ended up being mid to late February. Here's some footage from that outing. You want them to have a reference point there. It's gonna be half in a seat, but. So if you spin that there. Yeah. So what we're looking at there. Look at the cassette. First and second gear. Yeah. Yeah, massive. Compared to the rim. Though you could say it's the cassette, because it's one piece. It's not. But that's because the free hub body. That's why I'm getting feedback. He's doing that as well. You can see it there. So that's probably the perfect example of what the other wheels doing. So that footage was sent to Cycling 100, who then sent it to Vortex. Vortex then came back to myself and Cycling 100 and said that they had reviewed all their hubs. I assume after seeing this video, or maybe they reviewed them beforehand. I can't be exactly sure. And informed me and Cycling 100 that. Roughly 3%, or 21, out of 652 hubs had now been identified with this out of roundness issue. And it's to do with the center lock hub area, of which it could be as much as 0.5 millimeters out. Now hub runs, according to a wheel machinist I spoke to just yesterday, are done in minimum batches of 500. So the 652 that they discussed seems like a likely story where this story falls down for me a little bit is the fact that we're only talking about 3% that had the issue and me being a Cycling YouTuber who presents these products, happened to get two of them. But going a level deeper here, yesterday I spoke to a guy I hold in very high regard. He works in the wheel industry, has so for many, many years. He's been over to China. He's been to hub factories and rim factories and knows a lot about carbon rim. So when he tells me what something may be, I tend to believe what that could be. Albeit, I think it's still speculation in this case, but he seems to think based off of what I have described and what I have showed over video that the issue lies in the bearing seat. What is the bearing seat? I hear many of you ask is I had to do the same thing. In fact, I had to go and use my hands and start pulling this thing apart to identify if this wheel even had a bearing seat because not all wheels do, apparently. So I had to get my hands dirty and try and figure this one out. Oh, f**k sake. But after that fail, I took the wheel into Kyle at the Cyclo Sportif and Kyle kindly pulled everything apart for me and we identified that there is a bearing seat which can be identified by the silver surface. Now I'm gonna have to read this one out because it is above my pay grade, but according to this guy who knows a lot, bearing seats are machined after the hub shell has been anotized. What is anotizing? It's with a D, you dickhead, anotizing. I hear many of you asking, well, let's hear what an American dude with a very deep voice has to say. Anodizing aluminum is an electrochemical process to convert the metal surface into an anodic oxide finish that is durable and highly corrosion resistant. But back to the story. Bearing seats are machined after this shell. Anodizing. That's better. To create a more precise bearing tolerance. But here's the thing, miscut, mismanufacture, the bearing seat, and you will create what we have here, an issue. But then you got to ask yourself, okay, this is an issue, but how big of an issue is it? I mean, when it comes to the wheel or carbon wheel world, you don't have to look back five or so years where you'll find zip wheels had a recall in 2016. The recalled front hubs were included on many of zip's most popular wheel sets sold between May 2010 through to January 2015. What about Hunt's recent recall in 2019? On there, limitless. That's a good name for a wheel that is failing. 48 aero wheels where Hunt issued a voluntary recall after reports of a number of rim failures following impacts on potholes. All riders are urged to stop using the wheels immediately. Now, whether that Hunt issue was a hub related issue, like the vortex or like the zip's, I'm not exactly sure they didn't release stipulate, but the point I am trying to make here is, even the big companies have issues, bigger issues than what we have right here. I mean, is this issue even recall worthy? I don't know, it's not my expertise, but what I can say is the wheel still runs true. So no doubt speed performance and even safety could possibly not even be an issue here. Although I could be wrong. What is an issue for me here though is for $2,000 USD or just above. You should expect perfection. A hub that oscillates creating disc rotor wobble and also a potential to impact gear changing due to the off-center rotation in the rear cassette. That also produces some slight feedback into the pedal stroke. You don't want that of course. So that is the reason why over the last three, four months, I haven't really been riding the Seeker Exceed RDC. Now, I know some of you might be saying, well, why don't you just put some different wheels in there and you can still test the frame set and deliver the review. Don't forget that Cycling 100 are sponsoring this content. Well, not this video today. Not all the videos, but they did for the build video. They did for the first intro video and they did for the first impressions. So they put to market the Seeker Exceed RDC and the Vortex wheel. So this is a Cycling 100 project and as a result, I can't do the long-term review without incorporating the Vortex wheel. So Vortex have committed to sending me lucky number three and hopefully will be over this issue. But here's the problem. There's a lot of weird stuff going on in China. There's COVID related at the moment and they haven't been able to get me that third wheel. So the long-term review could still be two, three or so months away. But I promise you, we will finish it off once the rear wheel is in good working order. I'll catch you in the next video. It's with a D, you dickhead, and out thawing.