 In this video, I will be focusing on the ride experience review of this custom painted Elf's Falloth Evo UCI approved frame set with some general thoughts on their Aurom Velar 50mm carbon wheels. Time stamps for you below if you'd like to jump about and I'll also link to the build video and other videos I've made about this bike in the video description below. But first up, I need to clear the air because there was very much big sentiment about this Elf's Falloth Evo anonymous frame that I purchased and took in to see Aaron Dobbs, who's an experienced bike mechanic and carbon fiber repair expert, Gary McDonald to give us their thoughts. My big takeaways from that whole experience is that the use of glass fiber or fiberglass is perhaps more common than you think. And I feel as consumers where ill informed. For example, if I go onto the Elves website, they say the Elves Falloth Evo has a full carbon fork. But the inside of this steerer tube is borderline half fiberglass. So I say not just to Elves, to all bike companies, please stop bullshitting consumers and just tell us what's in our carbon bikes. Additionally, from an Elves perspective, my biggest takeaway was the original Falloth I purchased anonymously at the end of 2022. Gary from Carbon Steed said, ah, this is what I'm saying to you, it's almost too nice. And with this one, Gary said, is this the same brand? Because I don't keep up with all the frames you bring me as the one I said that was really good because it doesn't look the same. Hey, so there appears to be inconsistencies in the Elves product or manufacturing process. But in my humble opinion, I don't think that's just an Elves thing. That's probably an industry thing. And it just comes down to the fact that some companies may do it a bit better than others. But in no way shape or form does that video that I created on that frame stop me from sharing my ride review experiences on this bike right here. So I've heard many people say that this bike looks super aggressive but uncomfortable and probably fast. However, in my opinion, it's quite the opposite to uncomfortable and super aggressive and fast in different ways. Now, before we get into that, please know that the geometry of this bike is odd. So I would suggest if you're going to invest in this bike right here, downsizing, going with a longer stem, this is to accommodate the elevated top tube, which is going for that streamlined integrated handlebar look, which as a result, gobbles up your available seat post. Now, having said that, I downsize from a 54 to a 52 and I'm 179 centimetres in height, by the way. And you can see I'm still only scraping into the Elves seat post guidelines and Aaron even removed the rubber boot that comes with the setup to make things look more visually appealing. Now, please note, I have tested this bike right here with the creative 45 millimetre wheels with ultralight hubs and Vittoria Corsa 25 millimetre tyres, the Ascent Polaris 69 millimetre wheels with 30 millimetre Vittoria Corsa tyres and of course the Auron Velar 50 millimetre wheels with Vittoria Corsa 28 millimetre tyres. And be aware before I delve into riding experiences here, I am one bloke with one opinion and your ride experiences could be different to mine. So surprisingly for me, given the fact this bike looks like an angry beast, this bike is actually comfortable for an aero bike. In other words, it's not a stiff plank of wood like the Cannondale System 6 or the predecessor to the Currants of Velo S5 that I've ridden and I'd even put the old Venge in that stiff plank of wood category. And when you start to look at the frame more closely, you start to get a picture as to why this may be the case. It's got a big fork absorbing the front end bars. In fact, there's roughly 20 millimetres more fork than the six other bikes I have lying around here right now. There's a chunky drop seat stay area which does a good job of softening the rear, particularly seeing we don't get a lot of seat posts which can often lead to an uncomfortable riding experience in the rear. But we do get a lot more seat tube compared to other aero bikes, which may be compensating for the limited seat post when it comes to comfort. So the comfort box, I'm gonna give this bike a tick when it comes to aero bikes in terms of speed. I'm gonna pull up some speed tests for you here where I've taken this bike up a local one and a half kilometre climb at 350 watts and on a 1.6 kilometre descent on a low wind day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to do the two other tests I normally do for various reasons, including some roadworks. So what I found really interesting was the uphill closed road segment at 350 watts, particularly when I go back in time and compare the results to the three-way comparison I did with the Windspace T1500 and the Giant Propell and Merida Reacto mid-tier models on the Windspace hyper wheels. Yes, different days, but the wind conditions are basically the same because I tracked those and we're using the same Asioma power pedals you will see. The elves is surprisingly faster. Now I say surprisingly because this bike feels quite cumbersome when you're climbing hills. This is despite the fact that it weighs. Without pedals, a respectable 7.5 kilograms with the creative 45-millimeter wheels and 7.7 kilograms with the Aurom Velar 50-millimeter wheels and just over eight kilograms with the Ascent Polaris 69-millimeter wheels with the 30-millimeter tires. Keep in mind for that weigh-in, there was a computer mount and two bottle cages. Now during this climb, where certain sections have a very slight gradient of two to three percent, I really noticed with this bike, you gather or gain some momentum rather rapidly as you would hope for a bike with aerodynamic profiles but as soon as a gradient hit four to five percent plus that momentum that you had would go like that which is very common for aero bikes but I feel more pronounced with this aero bike than most others that I've ridden. And then when you go up a steeper climb and you're out of the saddle pushing the bike side to side, expect a bit of interference between your legs and the top tube. I feel this is mostly to blame because of the elevated top tube and just how wide or girthy it is. So in other words, any climb over four to five percent gradient, I feel this bike isn't gonna be doing you any favors. Having said that or conversely, on a descent, the bike feels like possibly the fastest and most stable descender I have ever ridden. The time of one minute 35 down my local descent is decent but one minute 27 is unheard of. Now that time discrepancy I should note was probably caused by three to four cars, about 20 meters up ahead of me causing a bit of a draft down this descent. But I've left the time there because it demonstrates the ability for this bike to generate speed very rapidly down a descent and for me to feel very safe and comfortable with the speeds that I'm hitting. On this particular descent, I hit 90 kilometers per hour and I felt like the bike was as solid as a rock. And I feel part of this stability sensation I'm getting as I'm going down descents at high speeds has to do with longer wheelbase on this aero bike compared to others in the same category and the elevated top tube when you look down. Maybe it's just a mental thing but you feel more at one with the bike so you get a big tick when it comes to descending on this bike in terms of general bunch riding or group riding. You definitely get that aero advantage including that sling shot sensation you get out of a draft when you roll a turn or the ability to be on the pedals less in a draft. But to be honest with you, given the raw look of this bike when it comes to speed in group rides and bunch rides I was hopeful of a little bit more but to be fair I feel a big part of this for me is because most of the bunch rides or group rides we have here are lumpy. You're going up and down hills all the time and while the descending is fun the pinch climbs are not so much fun. And from a stiffness and handling perspective I wanna give you a bit of an analogy here. My first proper bike was a 56 centimeter specialised tarmac. I'm right on the specialised geometry border of a 56 and 54, well I used to be. Anyway, and one day I was riding with a mate who had a 54 tarmac and he said here you go take it for a ride. So I took it for a ride and immediately it felt a little bit stiffer, a little bit more agile and a little bit more aggressive. So the next time I bought a tarmac I bought a 54. Now let's take a look at this bike. It's simply a beast. There is just so much frame. Interesting to note as well is this bike external to the Merida Reacto which also has a long wheelbase, has a five to 10 millimeter longer wheelbase than most aero bikes in its category and the standover height because of the elevated top tube is significantly higher than other aero bikes I've ridden. For some icing on the cake the tire clearance is just borderline out of control. Out of curiosity because this bike was asking for it I went and purchased some 30 millimeter tires put them on the Ascent Polaris 69 millimeter set up and to me it just felt like it slowed the bike down. Yes it made it a little bit more comfortable but I don't understand why we need such a big tire clearance on a bike like this unless you're intending on taking it on extreme gravel adventures. You can let me know below. But back to the point because this bike is so big it rides big and for me in certain tight and explosive situations it does feel on the cumbersome side. In terms of stiffness you've got a small head tube to accommodate the integrated bars which you'll want to slam. So that combo for me makes it feel stiff enough in the front end and I'd personally get a soft rear end riding experience. Finally on practicality before we talk about the wheels I like it how elves are going down the local distribution path. So if you experience an issue with your frame you can call up somebody in your country and get it resolved there. Big tick. They also offer a five year warranty on this frame which as an emerging Chinese brand isn't too bad. For example the Windspace T1500 is a three year warranty. The tire clearance is a big plus if that's what you're into. I believe you can get up to 32 millimeter tires technically but I reckon you could go over although to me the 28s were the perfect match and I still haven't gotten to the bottom of this monster gap between the frame and the tire which I feel could be impacting aerodynamics. If elves come back to me on my question to them on that point I'll pin a comment below. They're not so positive when it comes to practicality. First one is geometry. After you downsize are you going to be happy with having a slammed or running a slammed front end? The reason why I say that is I feel like if you're gonna buy this bike one of the big reasons will be aesthetics. You just like how mean this bike looks or you might be interested in getting a custom paint job which elves offer at a very affordable rate and they do a great job too. You can see my one is based on an old school Porsche 904 color scheme. So rocking a monster chimney at the front of your bike when you've purchased this thing based on aesthetics it's probably gonna be counter-intuitive. On geometry as well because of the elevated top tube the standover height is gonna be a lot higher so if you have a short inseam this bike may not be practical for you and this very girthy seat post makes it difficult to strap on lights and my old specialized saddle bag I can't even strap it on properly. So the wheels to me in my opinion these are the pick of the bunch. If you are sitting on the fence or you've been waiting for this review go and buy these wheels right now and here is why I'm saying that and please know I am definitely not earning any commission off the sale of these wheels from elves. Number one, they're $1380 Aussie dollars. Tic, they have a visually appealing T800 carbon layup and an ideal all round 50 millimeter depth at under 1500 grams in weight. In terms of the hub they've gone with custom ceramic bearings in a CNC hub with a 52 tooth star ratchet system which is all based on a very well regarded DT Swiss system and I can tell you after a solid few months of use the bearings still feel buttery smooth unlike cheaper bearings which tend to become notchy after a thousand plus kilometers. The pillar triple butted spokes despite hitting a pothole of 50 kilometers per hour have kept the rims true which I know for a fact when you're paying for wheels at this price isn't always gonna happen. Finally, if you like the aggressive hub noise these wheels are the noisiest wheels I have ever heard. Mitigating the need for a bell on a bike path. If you've gotten value from this video please don't forget to give it a like. It helps the channel out. I would greatly appreciate it and I'll leave you with my rating system which is based on the category. So here we're talking about mid-tier aero bike. I'll give you some everywhere in town. Think about the ways I get my burn up. Try to see the trail.