Is the cheapest World Tour bike in the peloton? The Astana X-LAB AD9 goes on sale

As expected after XDS sponsored Astana, the X-LAB AD9 bikes used by the team are now available and, as expected, they are at rock-bottom prices as is usual for bikes manufactured and sold directly from China. An aerodynamic bike with features on par with any other machine in the World Tour.

The new trendy bike is here, the X-LAB AD9 used by XDS-Astana

If last year the bikes that made headlines were the Van Rysel from Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, this 2025 season that role belongs to the Chinese bikes from XDS-Astana, the X-LAB AD9 with which the Chinese-Kazakh team is managing to overcome a critical situation in terms of the points needed to stay in the top category when we are barely a month and a half into the competition.

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The X-LAB AD9 features a frame made with top-quality material, a mix of Toray T1100G and M40X carbon fibers, the latter used in high-end frames to maximize stiffness in the areas where it is applied, achieving an optimal balance between performance, strength, and weight, which stays at 850 g in size M, a remarkable figure for a purely aero model.

Speaking of aerodynamics, it is worth mentioning that X-LAB has carried out a thorough development in which, as is usual in creations from China, they do not hesitate for a second to apply technical solutions from other brands. In fact, the main triangle brings reminiscences of the Canyon Aeroad frame to the point that X-LAB does not hesitate to compare the aerodynamics of the AD9 with the bike from the German brand. Also familiar to Pinarello fans will be the small flaps that X-LAB has placed on the fork legs.

As expected, the X-LAB AD9 excels in terms of price with its frame kit priced at a very competitive €3,096, much lower than other top-level brands.

The new X-LAB AD9 is available online in three colors from the Cyclegears website, with shipping throughout Europe. Considering that the Van Rysel RCR Pro Team Dura Ace DI2 from Decathlon AG2R is currently on sale for €8,999 at Decathlon, it won't be difficult for the X-LAB AD9 fully assembled to be priced below that.