Lightcarbon LCFS937 Build

[drummercat]

Finally built mine, now seating at 25.8 lb, Later may switch to some more trustworthy tyres and sealent, the weight may add up to 27ish.....

I have a problem for the rear linkage axle, its a little but too long, so there is some play even I fully tighten both side.....

also the paint is easier to chip off, compare my previous bike CS-027.

hope an ride this Sunday to test it out.
 

[kduvey]

with the rear axle, it looks like you might be able to make it work with a couple washers/shims? Otherwise you might have to grind/sand down the axle a little bit to make it shorter...

Mine is still in paint and probably at least another week or two away from shipping. They charged me 100$ USD for a single colour of paint, so hopefully it dosent chip too easily....

Please come back and give us your thoughts after your ride

[drummercat]

Yes I may need to grind the axle down 2mm......not dare to ride before I fix that problem....

[sclyde2]

That's pretty poor if you have to do that.  Have you contacted the seller on this?

[emu26]

I'm pretty sure it's not the first one that has reported this.  I don't understand how grinding down the end of the thru axle will make it tighter, surely you need more thread cut on it unless the thru axle doesn't actually come thru the retainer nut?

[kduvey]

I'm pretty sure it's not the first one that has reported this.  I don't understand how grinding down the end of the thru axle will make it tighter, surely you need more thread cut on it unless the thru axle doesn't actually come thru the retainer nut?

I could be misunderstanding the system, but it looks like its just a hollow axle that is threaded internally and a hex-key 'bolt' threads into the end. The bolt looks to have a very wide flange (with printed torque specs on it). For it to work properly, the axle would need to be less than the width of the carbon linkage/swingarm, otherwise the flange of the bolt wouldn't be able to compress onto the carbon of the swing arm.

Shortening the axle by a couple mm should do the trick. Looks like they either gave him the wrong axle by mistake, or the axle was somehow machined 2-3 mm out of spec.

[emu26]

That makes sense. I wasn't thinking of the retaining nut screwing into, or over, the axle. All of my thru bolts are more of a traditional nut bolt set up with the nut being open for the bolt to come through.

[kduvey]

Well, Lightcarbon has finished painting my frame and it should be in the mail now. Here's a a photo of it pre-shipping:

[drummercat]

finally I found 2 nylon washers of internal diameter 15mm, seems the problem is fixed.
however I still not going to ride for a few weeks...... quite bad situation there in Hong Kong......

[kduvey]

Hopfully things improve there soon...

My frame and wheels arrived yesterday. I'm about 1/3 the way through assembly. No photos yet, but here's some initial thoughts:

-Bearings were full of what looked like nice quality grease. (white, thick). However, Some of the seals don't fit quite right - looks like they were taken out and replaced by unskilled labor.
-One bearing wasn't quite seated all the way in. not a huge deal.
- I had no trouble with my suspension hardware. However, the threadlocker they used looks to be very poor quality. I cleaned it all off and replaced it with blue loctite. Also, it wasent torqued to the specs printed on the bolts (12nm).
- The paint job is OK. Not sure I'd pay 100$ USD for it again. I reckon I could have gotten similar results with a careful application of a nice spray paint.
- I really like the internal cable routing on this frame, its very well done.
- There was some gunk in the bottom bracket threads, I had use a pick to get it out in order for the bearing to thread in smoothly.
- overall the quality of the carbon looks excellent. Looking inside the frame where I could it all looks good. I'm happy with it.
- frame appears to be very beefy. Very stiff. Linkages all move smoothly.
- there does appear to be a bit of progressiveness engineered into the suspension via the link. I do believe someone knowledgeable has engineered this frame.

-I also ordered the 810mm carbon 'downhill' bars from lightcarbon, which I've cut down to my preferred 780mm width. I am extremely happy with the bars, they appear to be very well made.

-the carbon wheel set I ordered (27.5 'all mountain' rims with areo spokes and dt 350 hubs) are really, really nice. Trueness, roundness and dish re all superb. Really good. I will report back once I try to seat my Maxxas tires tubless.

So far, so good. Ill report back once I finish the build and have a ride or two.

[carbonazza]

...Not sure I'd pay 100$ USD for it again. I reckon I could have gotten similar results with a careful application of a nice spray paint...

By spray paint, do you mean in cans or with a air compressor and gun ?
Did you try to paint a frame already ?

Thank you for the interesting and precise report.

[kduvey]

By spray paint, do you mean in cans or with a air compressor and gun ?
Did you try to paint a frame already ?

Yes, with cans of spray paint. High quality spray paint that is.

No, I had light carbon paint it. However, I have painted many things before, including bike frames. I reckon with a couple cans of high quality primer, base color, and clear coat - and some fine grit sandpaper and a few hours of work - one could achieve as good or better results painting one of these frames than what I got from light carbon.

Don't get me wrong, the finish on the paint job is pretty good. I dont see any flaws anywhere.  Its just that paint seems pretty low quality (a bit thin and easy to scratch/chip) and the masking job around bearings and fittings was really not that great.

Ordering the paint job from light carbon cost me $100 USD (thats like nearly 20% of the cost of the frame!) and an extra two weeks lead time. The color choices was actually very limited as well. They only had 2 different blues to choose from, neither were really what I wanted.

Long story short, if i were to do it again, I'd order an unpainted frame and paint it myself in my garage.

[carbonazza]

...I reckon with a couple cans of high quality primer, base color, and clear coat - and some fine grit sandpaper and a few hours of work

I though it was more complicated than that, I could document myself and try next time

...a bit thin and easy to scratch/chip...

From my experience, definitely true !

[kduvey]

nah, just build up several light coats of each (primer, color, top/clear), sanding with 1000+ grit in between every other coat or so. Need to do it indoors (out of the wind/dust). Its not that difficult, just time consuming. A bit messy.

The build is pretty much done. Bike looks great, Will put some photos up soon. Haven't ridden it properly yet - need to sort out possible contaminated pads

Couple more tid-bits:

-The shock is a bit of a pain to air up. I have two shock pumps, one of them just barely is able to screw onto the air valve with the shock installed into the frame, the other is not. Shock is a 2019 fox dps evol, 165x45.
-Speaking of airing up the shock, the shock requires a bit more air pressure in this frame than others. Probaby because its a fairly small stroke.
-At the recommendation of Sissypants I got the 21.8mm shock hardware rather that the 22.2mm recommended by lightcarbon. I wish I had just gone with the 22.2mm as recommended by the manufacturer. Feels like there is exactly 0.4mm of play.... However, I may order an even wider one in order to eliminate the spacers provided by the factory. Need to take some measurements Ill update on how I go with this.
-Bottom Bracket. With my 27.5x2.6 maxxis ikons, 150mm fox 36, and full 130mm rear travel,  I'm measuring a static BB height of 325mm exactly. That's freakin LOOOOOW. My god its low. Hopefully the smile in the berms make up for the pedal strikes on the way up...... Needless to say, for most people this bike would probably best be built as a 29er. Shame the max width for 29 tires is only 2.3.
-I rode the bike for about 60 seconds up and down my street. did a few obligatory curb hucks. Boosted off the neighbors' tree root. No cracks in the frame yet (whew!). Obviously cant say much yet, but i can already tell the frame is really, reeeally stiff - smooth - quite - solid. Honestly, feels great. Feels like a serious tool.

Will be back with more. Having brake problems atm, suspect contaminated pads/rotors, need to sort that out. Hoping to get onto some trail in a few days.

[emu26]

Do you mean 325mm not 425mm for bb height?  I assume that is to middle of bb?