I have the SPcycle version of this frame and it's not as bad as the one here. bearing seats are well formed, PF BB is always going to be a potential problem...

I have a RF aeffect chainset with a 0 dish 34T chainring and it's tight, couldn't go bigger in this frame. it's definitely Boost only wheels, no adapters in this or the chainline is not great.
the dropout is a bit odd. I've had the driveside retaining bolt jump a couple of times on rough stuff, especially cornering. I replaced with a slightly longer bolt and it's been fine, but I think it's the design. The threaded section of the dropout, the bit the axle screws into, is part of the inner plate of the dropout/hanger. the outer plate just holds it all in the frames dropout, and is secured using a small bolt. If there is any flex being transmitted through the rear wheel, it loads the little bolt. On similar dropouts (they look very much like cube dropouts) the threaded section is part of the outer plate, so tightening the axle closes it all together around the frame dropout, making for a much more secure setup. No idea why it's different on these frames.

ride wise, it's quite stiff and not that forgiving. it may be the short stays are responsible for that, but it doesn't have the give of other carbon frames I've ridden.

it's light and climbs like a goat though.

I ran mine with 120mm forks, but it's much better suited to forks up to 110mm travel.

Hello all!  I am 6'2 with 34 inseam and can't decide between a L or XL FM936.  Any thoughts or feedback from those who have built theirs up?  Thanks!

go XL. I'm similar, albeit slightly shorter legs and went for a L. It just felt really short when seated and a compromise. yes, the seat tube on the XL is pretty big, but the fit will be better.

I'm 5' 9.5" but have a 5' 11" wingspan so sizing always sux for me.  I prefer a longer TT, but need a shorter ST.

I went with the medium FM936 primarily because of dropper concerns with the long ST on the large.  The sizing isn't terrible, but TT is a bit short for my liking.  I'm up to a 70mm stem (and could actually go up another 10-15mm), but the steering gets slower as the stem length increases and the 66 HTA (with 120mm fork) already slows that down considerably.  IMO this bike really needs a 40-50mm stem, especially with a 120mm fork.

I was exactly the same, being 6'2, long torso, short legs. wanted to go with a XL, but the 540mm seat tube really put me off, as my normal saddle height is around 785mm. I figured the 500mm reach would be OK for a large so bought one of them.

In hindsight it was a bad move. the top tube length seemed OK, but the 66deg HA (with 120mm fork) means that anything over a 70mm stem feels floppy on the ups and not brilliant on the flatter stuff. unfortunately, with a 76deg SA, the position felt really short, also, while the SA positioned it so there was more weight over the front to stop it being wandery, I'm the sort of person who likes to have my bum X cm behind the BB. makes it difficult to do that, and when I did use a laybak post to get close, I'd need to put in so much pressure in the shock that it would either be wallowy seated, or pretty stiff when out of the saddle. in short, very difficult to get right. Not quite URT feeling, more akin to a non brain specialized from the mid 2000's.

would it have been any different on a XL? maybe. I could have fitted a short dropper, for XC, and a <70mm stem would have worked for seated reach to bars OK. I would have probably adapted to being a bit more over the BB, when I had the right stem length.

I did find however, that the very active suspension didn't suit my riding style at all. So even on a larger size I wouldn't have enjoyed the ride.

Thanks for the write up. So they have almost no modulation like Shimanos?

was out for a short ride last night with them. they have more modulation than shimano's. My Xt 2 pot's just seem to bite, with a little give, but it's quite a short window.

These, rather unsurprisingly, feel more linear. there's a fair bit of travel to get to the bite point, however I think that's more to do with the really strong pad springs I have, pushing the pistons back, rather than just keeping the pads in place. once at the bite, there's maybe 1.5x the lever travel once you hit the bite point to getting full power.

That took a bit of getting used to. I like the shimano's for their warp speed into anything and brake late, but you need to be quite subtle with feathering etc. these, no problem, grab a bit of brake and squeeze more for more power.

I'll try a few tricks to get the bite point a bit closer and see how they go.

one thing I did realise though, is that on my local trails, I brake a lot less than I thought. :-/

Finally got round to fitting them a few days ago, after a bout of illness has stopped me going out.

So not used in anger yet, but I thought I'd give a few details on how it's gone.

Firstly, they come set up front left hand. which, being British is all wrong for me. First thing to do was swap the levers.

This was as easy as it is with any brake. 8mm spanner at the lever, undo, pull out hose, swap round and luckily no need for a new olive.

The hose is fairly flexible, but doesn't seem to need, nor come with, a barbed end reinforcing thingamy.

Now, I said the separate lever and caliper and hose didn't come filled. that was wrong. the lever has a screw in cap in the end with 10mm spanner flats. the hose has a small screw with a rubber seal to seal the end. fitting is a doddle. cut to length, remove caps and screw, fit lever rubber cap, screw thread compression bit and olive. pop it all together and nip it up.

in theory you shouldn't need to bleed it. however I will. I say will, as the bleed nipples are not a size I've got. the caliper end is M3 (I think), the lever end is M5. I have a multi size kit coming, so I'll update on ease of bleed and exact sizes.

Fitting the calipers to the bike is easy, as you'd expect. The levers are easy enough, it's a similar type setup as avid/sram used, a wrap around clamp with a bolt that runs through the lever but it's worth noting that the edges of the clamp are quite sharp, so watch those carbon bars and make sure the bolt is undone more than needed when adjusting the angle of the lever.
The lever fixing bolt is a torx, couldn't say exactly which size, a T20 sort of fits, but is slack. T25 doesn't fit. it's like a t23, if that was even a size. fairly typical for chinese bolts to be a more vague size than expected. it is steel though, and you do need to give it a bit more effort to close the clamp. I'm going to look for replacements fairly quickly.

Back to the calipers, the pads on the X2 are shimano G04/G03 size. The stock pads look cheaper than anything I've seen before. I swapped them out with a set of used pads from my SLX/XT brakes to give them a try.

Aligning the calipers is easy, but for my bike needed a little fine tuning as they run close to the rotor.

first 'up and down the road' brake test was a little underwhelming. modulation was good, but ultimate power seemed to taper off a little. Now, I'm 90kg (give or take a few portions of cheesecake) and run a 180 rotor up front and 160 at the back, so figured maybe that was it. Then they started to squeal...and squeal.

so, back to the workshop to remove the glazing from the pads and clean them up.

decided to go with new pads instead of the well used ones, just to give the brakes a fair trial.

bought new resin pads, didn't want to risk the additional heat build up from sintered, even though they are my preferred in shimano brakes. Cleaned up the rotors with brake cleaner, cleaned up the caliper pistons, just to make sure there was no oil in there too, a light sanding of the new pads prior to fitting and out I go for a couple of road hill reps to bed the pads in.

immediately different from the near outset.

Modulation is on par with my shimano's, albeit the final bite comes a little longer in, but ultimate power had me endoing down the hill, even with my butt hanging off the back of the saddle. All pretty controllable too, had a couple of nice nose rollers balanced, to my surprise.

The lever feels firm to use, little flex in the lever and only a bit in the lever body on the bar. It has enough shape not to be too narrow and not to wide. it reminds me of the feel of my old Hope Mono Mini's, but with more bite.

ultimate proof will be in the longer riding though, but so far, I'm hopeful (no pun intended)

:-)

Used a novatec rear hub for 5+ years, (I think an old D712SB) only recently replacing it with an XT when freehubs weren't available.

observations over that time:
if you're using cheaper HG cassettes, invest in an ABG freehub, or the steel freehub option. they are pretty readily available thankfully, although I think one of the other model hubs, the freehub is something like £70! most are between £20-40 though. I think the D792 takes a B2 type which are between £40-50 here in the UK.

if you can, change the freehub bearings for better quality ones as soon as you can. I'd gone through a few freehubs due to the innermost bearing shattering. Sometimes you can use a blind bearing puller to get the outer race out, sometimes you can't. They get very stuck.

I did manage to crack the axle on mine, but there was a steel option available as a replacement.

Novatec are easy to contact and are very helpful, so product support is actually pretty good.

the 4 pot pads look very similar to Hope E4 pads, see: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-hope-tech-3-e4-mtb-disc-brake-pads/rp-prod175496