Behind the Evolve CIMA, the brands of Tony Tong and Mian Chan

At the China Cycle 2025 show in Shanghai, Evolve exhibited a complete road bike claimed at 4.95 kg, with a Shimano Dura-Ace groupset. For the 2026 edition, from 5 to 8 May, Elitewheels announced a stand shared with Evolve, W5-1316, and promised to say there whether that weight would be beaten.

The two brands make no secret of their kinship. In a January 2026 press release, Elitewheels calls Evolve its “sister brand”. Evolve and Kreuza, the handlebar and accessories brand launched at the same time as the first Evolve frame, have the same two co-founders. Tony Tong co-founded Elitewheels. Mian Chan founded Cybrei cranksets.

That first frame, the Evolve CIMA, is a carbon road frame claimed at 650 g unpainted in size M. If you build it with a Kreuza handlebar, Elitewheels wheels and a Cybrei crankset, the kinship shows as early as the top cap, designed for a single handlebar. This article draws on the four brands' websites and press releases, and on our product pages.

Who founded Evolve and Kreuza?#

Evolve and Kreuza name the same co-founders on their About pages, Tony Tong and Mian Chan. Each also has his own brand. Tony Tong is an engineer. He co-founded Elitewheels, where he is still the product engineer, and Evolve credits him with more than ten years in the trade, from design to quality control. Mian Chan comes from racing. Evolve presents him as a UCI-registered professional rider and a former technician with a UCI team. He designs the cranks of his own brand, Cybrei.

According to its launch press release, dated Xiamen, 22 May 2025, Evolve is the result of three years of preparation, and Kreuza appears in it as its accessories brand. The About pages of both brands say the founders drew on Xiamen's research and manufacturing capabilities.

The websites say more than the press releases. Kreuza's contact page gives an email address at evolvebicycles.com and a postal address in Jimei district, Xiamen. Its FAQ answers questions about the warranty “on our frames” and about the CIMA's bottom bracket. The same Kreuza Apex handlebar is on sale at kreuza.com, on Evolve's website and on Elitewheels' (checked on 2 November 2026). None of these brands, however, describes a shared company.

Cybrei publishes less. Its website gives no address. Its link to the other three runs through its founder, Mian Chan.

Elitewheels built wheels for others before putting its name on them#

Elitewheels publishes the most detailed history of the four brands. Tony Tong and Jack Chen met in 2009 as engineering students in Xiamen, and were already designing wheels part-time for carbon wheel factories. Their company, Xiamen Yuan An Composite Technology, was founded in 2013 and first produced rims and wheels for European brands. The history of Elitewheels adds that it became the top seller of carbon wheels on AliExpress.

The rest comes down to two dates. In 2015, the company bought Japanese FANUC CNC machines and began machining its own hubs. In 2016, it developed its fibres and resins, and the Elitewheels brand was born. Elitewheels now says it makes its own prepreg, rims, hubs and wheels, with 100,000 rims a year.

The peloton is the shop window. In 2025, the UCI ProTeam Solution Tech NIPPO Rali took podiums, stage wins and overall classifications on Elitewheels wheels, notably at the Tour of Slovenia and the Tour of Hainan. In 2026, it races on the Drive II among others. For the 50 mm version, Elitewheels claims 5.2 W saved against the previous generation, in the Silverstone wind tunnel at 15 degrees of yaw. Its carbon spokes can be replaced and retensioned like steel spokes, which keeps the wheel repairable in a workshop.

ElitewheelsELITEWHEELS Drive II carbon road wheelset €1.099,00 ElitewheelsELITEWHEELS Drive G42 carbon gravel wheelset €1.069,00

Evolve CIMA: 650 g claimed and 21 in-house tests#

The Evolve CIMA combines TORAYCA T1100 and T800 fibres with high-modulus M40 reinforcements. Evolve says it is tested beyond the ISO standard, with 21 in-house tests on the frame and fork, including a seatpost fatigue test at 1,440 N over 10,000 cycles. The German institute Zedler certified it at its Advanced level. The brand validated its shape in the wind tunnel of the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub, in England.

One question has no public answer. The launch press release states that the CIMA is designed and manufactured in-house, and the About page refers to Xiamen's manufacturing capabilities. Neither names a factory.

In 2026, the CIMA races in the colours of Solution Tech NIPPO Rali, co-branded with Rali, Evolve's distributor in Panama. The CIMA GR, which Evolve announced for the 2026 Shanghai show, is its racing gravel version, claimed at 750 g unpainted in M and 830 g painted in Sahara Nude. The two share most of their parts. Only the headset bearings differ, CeramicSpeed on the road frame and steel on the gravel one, plus a protective film on the GR's down tube. The seatposts swap from one to the other.

EvolveEVOLVE CIMA road frameset €2.299,00 EvolveEVOLVE CIMA GR gravel frameset €1.999,00

Does Kreuza make its own handlebars?#

Kreuza does not say so clearly. Its About page states that besides the Apex handlebar, the brand designs and makes bar tape and bottles, and offers bottle cages and computer mounts. The sentence does not say who moulds the Apex.

The Kreuza Apex is a one-piece handlebar and stem in T800 carbon, claimed at 305 g in 380 × 110 mm, painted. Kreuza offers it in 21 combinations, three widths from 360 to 400 mm and seven stem lengths from 80 to 140 mm. The May 2025 press release announced 18, the figure Elitewheels' French page still gives, with stems from 90 mm, while its list of variants includes the 80 mm stem. The count adds up: six lengths across three widths make 18, seven make 21.

Its NACA profile comes down to 16 mm at its thinnest section, and Kreuza claims 4.5 W less drag in computer simulation. The Apex GR brings this profile to gravel, with 60 mm of flare and a moulded interface for extensions. The flattened Slice bottle, tested in the wind tunnel, saves 2.6 W against a round bottle at 45 km/h, according to the brand.

KreuzaKREUZA Apex One-piece Handlebar integrated road handlebar €330,00 KreuzaKREUZA Apex GR integrated gravel handlebar €330,00

Cybrei, cranks designed by a racer#

Cybrei sells carbon cranks and what bolts onto them, spiders and chainrings. It says it was born from racers. Its GP-3 carbon crank took three years to go from concept to production, with testing entrusted to UCI teams and World Tour riders. Since 2022, the brand has also supported the Ferei Mongolia Development Team, a UCI Continental team.

The Cybrei Ultra crank arms replace the aluminium spindle with a 28.99 mm carbon spindle, integrated into T1000 carbon arms, for about 270 g. With an aluminium spider and Metarbon Aero chainrings, the Cybrei Ultra Metarbon crankset weighs 445 g in 50/34T, a sum we calculated from the published weights.

These figures have a limit. Cybrei's website has no page for the Ultra. Our product pages therefore use data from its retailers, and Cybrei does not say which crank length the claimed weight applies to.

CybreiCYBREI ULTRA METARBON carbon road crankset €968,99 CybreiCYBREI ULTRA carbon road crank arms €718,99

On a CIMA, the Apex fits without an adapter#

The top cap supplied with the CIMA is designed for the Kreuza Apex handlebar, and the CIMA GR takes the Apex GR in the same way. For another handlebar, Kreuza refers you to that handlebar's manufacturer, as it has no top cap for other models. The other way round, the Apex fits other frames with one of Kreuza's 45 adapters, each specific to one model. Cockpit height is then set with the 5 and 10 mm spacers supplied, then by cutting down the steerer.

The wheels fall within the tyre ranges of both frames. The Drive II, 23 mm internal width, is designed for 28 to 30 mm tyres, and the CIMA takes up to 32 mm. For gravel, the Drive G42 and its 28 mm internal width call for a 40 mm tyre according to Elitewheels, in the middle of the 35 to 45 mm Evolve recommends on the CIMA GR. Evolve warns that a tyre's actual width also depends on the rim and the pressure. So measure the tyre once mounted.

Evolve chose a 68 mm threaded BSA bottom bracket rather than T47, for about 50 g less and because BSA accepts the widest range of cranksets and power meters. The Ultra needs a BSA bottom bracket to the SRAM DUB standard, the one of its 28.99 mm spindle. The frame accepts chainrings up to 58 teeth, and the largest Metarbon on offer has 54.

We added up the weights published by the brands for the frame, cockpit, wheels and crankset, in size M.

That leaves the groupset, saddle, pedals, tyres and the frameset's 180.2 g of small parts.

The claimed watts do not add up. Kreuza quantifies the Apex in simulation and the Slice against a round bottle, Elitewheels compares the Drive II with the previous generation. The January 2026 press release claims 4.1 W saved by the CIMA fitted with Kreuza accessories, without saying against which bike.

Elitewheels promised to say at the 2026 show whether the 4.95 kg would be beaten. Its announcement page, read again on 2 November 2026, still asks the question.