Ride News | From Smart Manufacturing to Smart Riding: The Launch of the AD350 Road Bike with Standard Power Meter, Marking the Beginning of XDS's "Smart" Riding Era
- Cassie Lyu
- Mar 9
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 26
On March 8, 2025, XDS held its spring new product launch event in Shenzhen. The new products showcased included the soft-tail mountain bikes Hanma（悍马）, Lie Ma（烈马）, and Ye Ma（野马）, the hard-tail mountain bike MT series, and the road bikes AD350 and AD300. The event was themed "Super-Dimensional Evolution, New Benchmark," highlighting XDS's leading position in high-end bicycle R&D and manufacturing. It presented a fusion of technology and aesthetics for global cycling enthusiasts. Nearly a thousand people, including distributors, media reporters, cycling influencers, and XDS's brand ambassador Wu Lei, witnessed the product launch.
From Made in China to Created in China
At the event, XDS's new mountain bikes were a highlight. For the hard-tail market, XDS introduced the MT series, with MT1 and MT2 offering high aesthetic and performance value to users.
XDS CEO Tan Yancong mentioned the "carbon fiber revolution" during the introduction of mountain bike products. He stated that the company has established a specialized R&D team focused on optimizing carbon fiber production processes. The plan is to achieve mechanical production of carbon fiber products within the next five years, reducing production costs and breaking the traditional perception that high-end products are expensive. This will allow more people to enjoy high-level cycling at a more affordable price.
Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing and Innovation
XDS, which started as a bicycle OEM, is transitioning from "Made in China" to "Created in China." This transformation reflects not only technological progress and industrial upgrading but also aligns with the nation's advocacy for new quality production.
New quality production emphasizes innovation, high technology, efficiency, and quality, driving economic development through technological innovation and optimization of production factors. Smart manufacturing is a manifestation of new quality production in the manufacturing sector, enhancing production efficiency and product quality through smart technologies.
Entry-Level Road Bike AD350 Equipped with Power Meter
The highlight of the event was the launch of XDS's new road bike, the AD350. Priced at ¥3,998, the AD350 features a lightweight design with a total weight of 9.6 kg (frame height 450 mm). It uses an X6 ultra-light aluminum frame and upgrades to a carbon fiber fork, providing a lighter and more comfortable riding experience. Notably, as an entry-level road bike, the AD350 comes standard with a newly developed power meter that can connect to the XDS app, making ride data more accessible.
In recent years, with the rapid development of smart technologies, the concept of power riding has become popular. More cyclists use power meters to improve training effects and riding experiences. XDS's self-developed power meter is a pedal-based power meter, measuring the energy output of the rider. It is designed with the battery and circuit board hidden within the axle, enhancing waterproof and shock resistance with an IPX7 rating. The large battery capacity allows for 400 hours of continuous use, with data collection every 3 milliseconds and a power error rate of less than 1.5%.
In the past, the cost of power meters often made them inaccessible to entry-level users. However, XDS's AD350 has set a new benchmark by equipping an entry-level road bike with a professional power meter. As a result, smart riding is expected to become more widespread among young cyclists as they purchase their first road bikes.
Editor's Note: XDS's "Attack" and "Defense"
Over the past year, XDS has been active in the market—signing Wu Lei as its brand ambassador, sponsoring Tour of Hainan, supporting the Astana world team, and facilitating the signing of young Chinese cyclist Su Haoyu. This new product launch also reveals XDS's strategic "attack" and "defense" in product development.
Defense—Through continuous R&D and innovation, XDS enhances its smart manufacturing capabilities, builds high technological barriers, reduces production costs, and forms core competitiveness.
Attack—By developing highly cost-effective entry-level road bikes like the AD350, which comes standard with a power meter and integrates with the XDS app, XDS achieves "zero promotional cost" acquisition of app users. The seamless binding of products with app applications showcases XDS's operational wisdom in a complex context of consumer downgrade, industrial upgrade, and smartification—upgrading traditional product operation thinking to user operation thinking.
Additionally, XDS's new high-end product line, X-LAB, will achieve more technological breakthroughs on the competitive platform of the Astana team, creating new brand appeal.
The recently concluded spring new product launch event indeed witnessed XDS's perfect transformation from a bicycle manufacturing company to an smart manufacturing company. The era of "smart" riding has begun for XDS!
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