Dengfu m06 - Another build, question about travel, and Linkage drawing

[olao]

Ok, so after having been a proud alloy builder, I found that the m06 appears to have all I desire in terms of geometry and weight. I must say the exterior of the frame is better than I hoped - it is a beauty. My build is not quite ready yet, so have only been sitting on it in the living room, but it looks and feels fast

While making up my mind, I was playing with Linkage, and drew the frame there. Once the frame arrived I double checked all measurements and just now uploaded the drawing to the web library, for anyone to play with.



As you can probably see from the photo of the bike below, the fork (Manitou Minute Pro) has 120 mm travel. My plan is to shorten it, but I will need to rebuild it to do that (cutting the air piston, and a bit more), so just trying to gather all the info first. [you can also see that the rear brake and some other cables are still in a rat nest on the bar, but that is not the point now]



In another post adbl, and perhaps others, had run the frame with 120 mm, but were not happy with that in the end, as far as I recall. Recently I saw that Dengfu wrote that the m06 was for 110 mm travel. Has anyone tried 110?

I'd be happy to hear what people are thinking and their experiences regarding 120 or 110 vs 100 mm. My inclination is definitely to go 100 mm, as I want a fast xc bike and believe that the 68.5 degree head angle is slack enough. But I am happy to take advise before cutting my piston...

[olao]

All right, I am a rookie when it comes to posting images here. Trying again...

[olao]

And the photo of the build. Sorry for this mess (how do you do to post your photos?)

[adbl]

Great looking bike!!!

I have about a year on mine now and i can say i love the geometry. Yes, i'm using a 120mm fork and don't feel it has slowed me down at all. My area has a lot of ups and downs, especially gullies leading into creeks, and i feel the extra slack in the head tube angle has helped. I too had thought about dropping mine to 100mm but now that i'm used to what i have i feel no need to do it. I don't feel it will make me any faster. If anything i feel the 120mm makes me safer, if that makes sense.

[olao]

Thanks

Ok, nice to hear that. Perhaps I might wait a bit with shortening the fork then. I'm all for feeling safe, but also think I want a longer reach. An additional 20 mm fork gives me a degree less in head angle, 15 or so mm less reach, a degree less in seat tube angle and the saddle 15-20 mm further back from the bottom bracket. But the bracket should be 10 mm or so higher.

Oh well, it's not all numbers... I'll try.