Carbonda fm936 Thoughts

[japjoe7]

Has anyone been in contact with a Carbonda rep recently? It’s been roughly 30 days since my initial inquiry email with a follow up 3 weeks in and it has been silent on their end.

They are usually very responsive. Try sending from another email address. My email from @Outlook.com email address went through fine. I talked with Wing.

[BigbikeBuilder]

Got my FM936 near the end of June. Size Medium felt like my old trek M/L once I slammed the stem. I am 5' 11" I was comfortable on the medium, but I wouldn't mind trying a large. My build ended up around 27lbs. I put about 180 miles on it in July. The bike was fun to ride, and very capable in both technical and rough terrain. I felt like it was a little ridgid when landing jumps, but that was probably a tuning issue.

Everything was going great till the bottom bracket started to separate from the frame. I had 2 events that may have contributed to it. 1) A pedal strike, not an especially hard one or anything. 2.) An end over wreck off a drop. Not sure how it could have affected the BB though.

Carbonda has been somewhat responsive. They have not offer to replace it or a discount on a new frame. They have offered to analyze the Frame if I ship it back, but that may be cost prohibitive. Cheapest ups shipping of the lower section of the frame is $134. I have sent more detailed pictures and am currently waiting for Wing to respond.

[lukwy]

For me it looks like it was hit from the side. From the side where is no serial number. Pedal strokes are common. Today I got one myself :/

[BigbikeBuilder]

Maybe so. If it was I don't remember it happening. That would be the chain ring side. There is a scuff in the middlish of the down tube.

The day it fell apart was a slow flowly ride with friends. I fell behind taking some pictures then put some power down to catch up and noticed something was wrong.

I added a photo of the full build for those who are interested

[Liter]

Wish I´d seen your post before, I really recommend some other fork for two reasons, one SID is extremely harsh and 100% leaves this bike very prone to pedal hits. I know this may sound crazy but I´m running 130 and I´m much more happy with the bike. Still great on climbs but just less pedal hits

Wanted to say thank you to all who contributed to this thread as it was invaluable in the first FS build for me. Have only ridden FM936 few times but it feels night and day against my aluminum HT. It did end up half a kilo heavier than expected, but 11.2kg with pedals, power meter, bottle and garmin mounts for size XL seems competitive weight for 3.8k euro. Very glad to have found this forum. Hope everyone has a great summer on their bikes.

 

[Andreas_SWE]

Excellent Service!

I've been riding my L standard frame for two and a half year pretty hard and some weeks ago it feel different.
It felt like something was loose in the backend.
After inspection I found a crack in the chain stay on the right side at the smallest part near the attached chrome part (Chain ring protection)
Contacted Wing at Carbonda and got an reply in a day.

Carbonda sent a new triangle for free after some discussions and that was not what I've expected from them!
Makes me convinced that they are a serious company with great customer care in focus.

[Medico]

Anyone having issues with the headset? I'm having an iritating sound coming of the front. Canecreak headset is in it, but having some play in the frame at the top, which should be normal considering this type of headsets.
Any ideas to fix it besides a lot of grease(which helps for a couple of xx km)?

Did my own fix/bodge...plumberstape !
Some tape around the upper bearing made it a tight fit and gone js the sound!
Also helps with bb issues...

[OldFish]

Wish I´d seen your post before, I really recommend some other fork for two reasons, one SID is extremely harsh and 100% leaves this bike very prone to pedal hits. I know this may sound crazy but I´m running 130 and I´m much more happy with the bike. Still great on climbs but just less pedal hits

Thank you for feedback! I found SID to be great, however, my experience is limited only to Manitou Markhor and SID, so not one to make any judgement on performance. Pedaling wise it is fine, with 170 cranks and non rocky terrain I have not had issue so far. Could have went for 120, but decided to go with 100 and I am happy with it.

Unrelated note, reached out to Wing to confirm if I can drill a drainage hole in the bottom of bottom bracket (as someone already did already did earlier in the thread) and she confirmed that it is OK to drill a hole of up to 4mm:

you can drill a small 4mm hole in the middle of bottom bracket area

[adroitrider]

Everything was going great till the bottom bracket started to separate from the frame. I had 2 events that may have contributed to it. 1) A pedal strike, not an especially hard one or anything. 2.) An end over wreck off a drop. Not sure how it could have affected the BB though.

Carbonda has been somewhat responsive. They have not offer to replace it or a discount on a new frame. They have offered to analyze the Frame if I ship it back, but that may be cost prohibitive. Cheapest ups shipping of the lower section of the frame is $134. I have sent more detailed pictures and am currently waiting for Wing to respond.

Carbon failure is typically caused by impact and a pedal strike could definitely transfer enough force into the BB threads to challenge the carbon. Unlikely, because most pedal strikes are absorbed by the body. I’ve had 20-30 pedal strikes and have broken the carbon body on pedals twice, but I’ve never considered the frame at risk.

Another consideration with threaded BB is cross threading or misaligned threads. Did you have the frame prepped with facing/chasing the threads to ensure alignment? I doubt this would cause such fast failure.

The crash referenced is likely the culprit. The bike does crazy things during a wreck. But, you would have heard something or felt it if you were still on the bike. I’ve punctured the top tube with the shifter high siding a berm, cracked the chain stay trying to ride through a rock garden, and cracked a rim when a loose rock kicked up off my buddies tire.

All of these events I knew right away there was carbon damage due to the sound.

[adroitrider]

I wouldn’t ship anything back to Carbonda. Just order a new front triangle and chalk it up to Carbon being Carbon.

[adroitrider]

Not sure if it would have helped but I use the Nukeproof down tube protector.

Here is the frame protection order I placed at Chain Reaction.

[impmonkey]

Well after almost 2.5 years took a fall and damaged the linkage enough to warrant replacement. Might as well move to the 120mm linkage. Anyone have any luck getting just that piece lately? While I wait for a response from Carbonda, any idea what I am looking at for cost?

[Arno Knell]

Well after almost 2.5 years took a fall and damaged the linkage enough to warrant replacement. Might as well move to the 120mm linkage. Anyone have any luck getting just that piece lately? While I wait for a response from Carbonda, any idea what I am looking at for cost?

Cost for the 120mm linkage 95USD + shipping.

[adroitrider]

I’m thinking of retiring my 936. I have 1500 miles on it. The drive side chainstay is failing (due to a lame attempt to ride through a cinder block garden) and the drivetrain is 11sp (same cassette for all 1500miles, one chain swap).

Here’s what I’m thinking so that I don’t trigger the wife alarm:
1. new frame that is T Type compatible
2. New T Type drivetrain
3. Swap wheels, suspension, brakes (sus just got the 200hr service 500 miles ago)
4. Ride like a stole it

Anyone else retire their 936? What did you do?

[Medico]

I’m thinking of retiring my 936. I have 1500 miles on it. The drive side chainstay is failing (due to a lame attempt to ride through a cinder block garden) and the drivetrain is 11sp (same cassette for all 1500miles, one chain swap).

Here’s what I’m thinking so that I don’t trigger the wife alarm:
1. new frame that is T Type compatible
2. New T Type drivetrain
3. Swap wheels, suspension, brakes (sus just got the 200hr service 500 miles ago)
4. Ride like a stole it

Anyone else retire their 936? What did you do?

Nope...I did 15000km on it and still loving it.
I still don't think there are better frames out there for the same price...maybe the 909 which has uds(isn't it?) And two bottle option.
A new frame will definitely trigger any wife...replacing only the rear will probably not