Midwest's 036 Build

[Midwest-MTBer]

Very excited to finally start one of these threads for myself! I'm tired of looking through all the other threads imagining what it will be like to have my own Chiner! So I have everything on order now... All of the components besides my wheels are here so I'm probably going to do some unboxing and building Friday when I get a little more time. Hopefully this carbon wheel-set from Peter is worth the wait! For now I'll upload my build list! I have to update the list a little more with new weights for rotors and also individual parts of the groupset, but for now I'm probably looking at a 26lb bike. A little heavy, but the dropper post, seat, tires and fork aren't the lightest that I could go!

[dudleik]

Looks good. I wouldn't say at 11.3kg a full suspension bike is heavy, how's the build going?

[carbonazza]

Here are some additional elements you will probably need. They prevented us finishing my brother's 036 today

• 2 bushing kits for the rear shock. On our frame the width was 21.8mm, the axle is 8mm and for a Monarch XX
• The seat clamp must be about 10mm wide, more is useless
• A PM/PM brake adapter is needed for a 180mm rotor(I though it would come with the XT brake set, like for my kid's bike, but no)
• Some black zippers to attach the rear hoses

[Midwest-MTBer]

Alright! Updates. Frame looks pretty good. The UD Matte finish shows the layup more than I expected and you can sort of see the different pieces of carbon as sort of various streaks on the frame. It's not too bad, but it doesn't have a perfect even finish. I expect to put on some custom cut vinyl in September, so I'm not too concerned. The frame though... It's awesome. Holes look great, threads are clean and it just looks cool. I took it to the shop to have the headset installed and the crown race on the fork installed and they ended up just installing the fork for me too. That's fine, I could've done the fork myself, but if I'm paying for an hour I might as well get my money's worth out of it. I picked it up last night and was able to make my way through all the pivots greasing the spacers and sex bolts. I didn't bother pulling out the bearings. So now I just got back from the hardware store where I bought some blue threadlock and a set of 3/8" hex heads for my torque wrench. I'll lock those pivots and torque them to spec now before I start on the other stuff. I'm trying to document as thoroughly as I can, so you can expect to see a lot more images in the build book when I finish that. For now I'll just attach a few images with each update.

Carbonazza, I think I have everything that you mentioned... My seatpost clamp is just a tiny bit above the frame, but it doesn't bother me. I'll post a pic here later. Instead of zippers I bought the Jagwire stick on housing clips? They look really nice. They should route my dropper cable well.The only thing that will be holding me up is my wheels! They won't get here till next week. So I'll have to wait till next weekend to ride.

- Midwest

[Lanz]

Wow. Looks already cool.

Guys, I have a question regarding the fs frames weight. How do you think, which weight can be considered as 'light'? What is the weight 'trade-off' from the chinese fs frames over the branded one?

[dudleik]

Wow. Looks already cool.

Guys, I have a question regarding the fs frames weight. How do you think, which weight can be considered as 'light'? What is the weight 'trade-off' from the chinese fs frames over the branded one?

I can't speak for carbon fs frames but I've got an aluminium fs with 120mm travel, the frame alone was about 3kg and the complete bike built for all mountain use is 14kg.

[Midwest-MTBer]

So the build is going well for the most part, I had to make a last minute purchase of hydraulic brake line from my LBS since my current rear line was too short. Only one shop in town had it and when I actually asked him for it he came out with shifter cable housing and tried to tell me it was a brake line... I awkwardly pointed out his mistake and informed him that it was shifter cable. Not sure if I really want to ever take my bike to that shop for service!  So crisis adverted there, I installed the new line (threading through the 036 frame is so easy) and bled the system. The other stuff went fairly smoothly too. Installing the shifters and shifter cable wasn't really that hard. Overall since this is my first bike build I'd say that it's not super challenging but is a lot of fun!

Questions:
1. The thru axle nut I got from peter won't sit inside of the rear derailleur hanger hole.. Does anyone else have this issue? Suggestions for a fix?

2. I'm trying to run my dropper seatpost cable and I'm wondering how others have ran it on the frame. I'd like to run it down the downtube and up the seatpost, but my cable and housing isn't long enough. Do you think I could run it under the top tube and above the rear shock and then up the seat post?

3. The lower arm of the suspension has a hole that appears to be for cable to come out to pull on the front derailleur. I was able to put a ferrule underneath, but the upper hole is smaller and looks like it was designed to be open? I'm worried that the cable will wear on that carbon around the hole a lot. Anyone else seen this before?

Pictures below


Progress...


Dropper seatpost cable routing?


Front derailleur cable rubbing on carbon?


Issue with the nut for the thru axle.

[Midwest-MTBer]

Yesterday I got basically as far as I could without the wheels. I answered 2 of my own questions in the process. The thru axle nut will now be mounted in the dropout with the hex end out. I find it strange that there is a set screw for this... I might try to mill a little pocket for it onto that threaded end. I know a lot of people have had issues with the axle before, so I'll give it a shot for now but it might get replaced anyways. I ended up running to a (different) bike shop in town to buy bulk cable and housing to run the dropper post line along the downtube. That route worked fine, but I did run into an issues with the Jagwire stick on housings. I cleaned the surface with alcohol and tried to apply the adhesive, but it was very weak. I stuck them on the best I could then wrapped electrical tape around the housings and frame to hopefully adhere for the next few days. If that doesn't work I might need to come up with some alternate method of mounting.

Regarding the front derailleur.. When I originally was browsing through these threads I found people calling for a S3 Direct mount. All you 036 builders who plan on using a front derailleur it's an S3 Direct mount bottom pull. To my defense the person I purchased it from never specified what it was for, so lesson learned. No big deal really. Just another $10 and a little more time before I can ride.

I'll post another update this weekend hopefully after my wheels arrive. I'm pretty excited to see these rims without holes!

-Midewest

[kaiser]

Yes my through axle nut fits in the space. Its not deeply recessed so to speak but sits in fine. I puchased the through axle from Peter.

Yes I have seen others run the dropper post cable past the rear shock and up. There is a photo in this thread somewhere of it

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-bikes/dual-suspension-chinese-carbon-29er-737952.html

I ran mine out of the exit hole near left side of crank and then up the down post using cable ties and a cable guide provided with the dropper purchase. You will need a long cable for this though (default length just long enough with a small frame)

I have a single chain ring setup so cant help with the derailler.

[Midwest-MTBer]

Thanks Kaiser, I appreciate the response! Most stuff is sorted out now! Now I'm trying to price out a Twin Loc lever system. Does anyone have any favorite ways to mount cables to their Chiner frames? I want to run two cables along my downtube and as I noted above the Jagwire stick on housing guides sucked. I'd like to avoid zip ties if possible, but that might be my only solution. Anyone have opinions on just zipping the two cables together so they run parallel?

[kaiser]

Looked everywhere for a 2 wire - one sheath solution but no good. I think you are going to zip tie them together.

[SportingGoods]

Looks really nice. I like the UD Matt finish. From the pictures I can't see anything wrong.

I don't recommend to lock the fork and shock with one lever (if I understand what you want). You will find that most of the time you want to lock the shock but not the fork. So I would not go with a solution that always locks both. Fork probably does not need a lock out at all if set properly.

Cables along the downtube: I haven't found anything better then the stick-on Jagwire. Not perfect but pretty good looking on a black frame. I use it for my Reverb dropper-post. I'd be interested if you ever find a better solution.

[Midwest-MTBer]

Thanks for the input SportingGoods. Out of curiosity what sort of setting do you leave your fork on for riding? My fox fork has the CTD technology and I guess I wonder if the trail setting is really adaptive enough to not switch between climb and descend. I know CarbonDude really liked his TwinLoc setup, but maybe I should give my 036 a couple rides before investing another $80 into a remote system.

Did your Jagwire stick-on's work well with your carbon frame? Mine seemed to hold for a minute and then fall off.

[SportingGoods]

My fork is very different. It is a RockShox Reba. I set it so that I use most of it but never bottom out. I rarely lock it out, even though I have a remote. And I always forget to unlock it when I do

The Jagwire stick-on last me about 12 month. They would last longer but I have to flatten them (they are rounded) to get them onto the flat area of my frame where I need them. This flattening process is not good for them
You have to shape them to the curvature of your frame to get stick

[Midwest-MTBer]

For those of you with front derailleurs or any experience with direct mounts: The 036 mounting bolts for the front derailleur come with 3 washers. One bolt has two on it and the other only has one. Where do these belong? Under the bolt head? Below the actual front derailleur mount? Not at all? I'll mess with it to see what gets me the best chain line, but some input would be nice.