Chinese Carbon Fiber Mountain Bike Frame Review – Twitter Leopard Pro 29er 1×12 Deore

Here’s what’s new: I bought this Chinese Carbon Fiber Frame here in Colombia. I’ve been testing it out here in the Andes. It has 1×12 Deore and 29-inch wheels.

I did some paint all over it, so I’m going to rate that paint job a legitimate 10 out of 10, the nicest paint job I’ve ever seen on any bike. It is sparkly and shiny.

I’ve done quite a bit of riding on this bike, and there’s not a darn scratch. This is my Twitter Leopard Pro Mountain bike. I bought it here in Colombia to ride in these hills.

On my YouTube video here I’m going to show you some more, but as far as testing has gone, this bike has been through all of it, and I want to show you a little bit about the bike that I got for about 1,200$. I can tell you this: I am pretty darn impressed!

As far as Chinese carbon fiber frames go, for the last couple of months, you can’t see anything wrong with it. That’s not to say that it’s not going to fail in the future, I don’t know.
But my overall impressions so far are quite positive. So here, for the 1,200$, I have got this Shimano Dior 12 speed, pretty big cassette in the rear, with nothing additional needed.

Here they use these retrospect cranks. I have no complaints about those. There’s also Dior Rear Derailleur, a kind of pretty much no-name inovapro Crossfit 29 by 2.5 inches tires. I’ve lost track of these tires quite a bit, but they’re not pure off-road tires. These are about as close to a file tread pattern as you can get. The seat is a post aluminum seat made by Twitter as well. I have no complaints about it.

And this is probably the worst part of the whole bike: these grips. These are leather grips. I’ve never seen that on a mountain bike, and they’re not comfortable. Handlebars – no problem. Stem – a little short for me, but I’m a bit of a geek.

There are a couple of imperfections, but that’s a legitimate painting for imperfection here. There’s a sparkle, and there’s so much metal flake in this paint, but it’s pretty beautiful.

There is a lockout for the front shock. I usually keep it locked out when I’m going uphill for obvious reasons. Here are hydraulic disc brakes, but these are some weird disc brakes that are made by LZOOM. I really have no complaints.

There’s some adjustability. I’ve got these bad boys pretty darn hot. They seem to be working okay. They’re probably the equivalent to cheap hydraulic disc brakes. I’m not racing or anything so it is not of that great importance for me.

A retrospect wheelset completely out of true from the get-go. Jben spokes for some extra compliance, the hub has a nice sound. I like the sound of an iceland hub.

Here’s something funny – a ramon lockout. That’s funny. Shock too.

I haven’t bottomed it out, seems pretty good. After really hard use it doesn’t seem to be fade or anything, so that is good. The geometry of this bike is pretty raked out. I mean your saddle over a head tube.

People here are nice. They are passing by, saying hello. And I choose this area for the review because it is nice here, but also it is a great starting point to exercise down this road. The air is phenomenal, and these hills are just amazing.

We’re at 7,500 feet here, and we’re going up to 12 000 feet here in Manizales, so I’m going to try and do that while we have some sunlight. The sun goes down quickly because of the hills.

I’ll do a little ride here today, just want to do this nice setup review of my Twitter Leopard Pro. You may follow the review over my YouTube video:

There was some traffic on the highway, but even with 2.5, there is still tons of clearance. This was the first time I was driving it here. I’m enjoying it. Especially view on those beautiful clouds off in distance.

It’s time to freeze our butt off on this descent. Everything is going just fine.

Mountain Biking Around Manizales Colombia on a Chinese Carbon Fiber Mountain Bike

When I started this ride I was wondering where should I go. There’s been a bunch of clouds up there, all over the area. So I decided to go south, through Chinchina and Santa Rosa. We’ll see how far we get. Santa Rosa is 14 miles away, that’s 22 kilometers, and it’s down so it’ll be easier. We’re up at 7,500 feet.

We’re gonna head down to Santa Rosa and Chinchina. It should be fun, it should be nice and warm.

And here we are already on our first bit of crazy traffic. Although the main roads are renewed and wide enough, and these parts (and I can’t stress this enough) have a very developed motorcycling culture, the land traffic is more than crowded. And it is somehow weird since the main mean of transport in the country is – air traffic. Colombia officially has the highest rate of air travel in the world and four times more tonnage than the state railways. Still, there is significant land traffic. Interestingly, not all parts of Colombia are connected, especially between Panama and Colombia. This area is known as Darien Gap, and although governments of the two countries have been discussing the roads for more than 100 years, this is still not happening. The main reason behind it is a fear that this road might aid drug trafficking and illegal immigration between the countries.

This is an interesting spot. I wanted to show you this because you have some beautiful views here. Look at that nice and green look at these beautiful plants with some coffee plantations down there. Feeling good in the neighborhood.

The old Twitter Leopard Pro has made it. We are at 7,500 feet what a thousand foot climb. We came from the Manizales. And there are so many beautiful things to see here.

And this is my favorite part of Colombia. When you’re on a back road on the hillside. See, a little restaurant like this to hang out and buy some bananas, have some juice. I’m telling you – my favorite part of Colombia.

Thanks for being here, reading, and watching. I’ll see you next time! In the following video from my YouTube channel you may see more about my biking tour: