Wait, what? People are actually making their own CF frames DIY style? That's pretty cool. Not sure I'd do it myself but still interesting. Had no clue.

^^hahaha. One of my finer moments was realizing I could use my bike wheel as a wheel of fortune.

I especially like how you didn't waste the opportunity to share the Sun Ringle hub sound 

Oh yeah - ENTER!

Still at least a year left on the warranty, correct? A crack is a crack and should be dealt with under warranty.. It is tiny, though.  Maybe use one of those carbon repair kits and keep an eye on it? If it gets any worse at all I'd be wanting a new frame.

I wouldn't necessarily say any 2.2 tire would fit until tested.  For reference I'm running the 35mm wide , which is 30 on the inside.   Have a 2.1 Thunder Burt mounted on there, but is extremely difficult to seat as the tire doesn't want to spread out that much without some help.  So on a 35mm wide opening some 2.2 tires may not open up enough to seat properly, which may leave them to burping or rolling off the rim in hard use.

Bottom line, if running a 42mm wide rim, you ahould probably run a 2.35 minimum, more likely a 2.5.

Good info - Thanks. Will a 2.5 fit through most of these chiner frames?

Guess I haven't been keeping up with the trend as well as I thought I had bc 42mm seems really wide to me. I'm definitely intrigued though and will do some reading.

The anticipation is all part of the fun!

That said, I'd skip it and go for the instant gratification if I could 

Probably because it is - that's a 20" kids' fat bike.

Uhh, yeah, of course.. I knew that

Lol, it's obviously a kid's bike now that you point it out. For some odd reason, that possibility didn't even occur to me 

Seems like a lot of MTB guys around here are interested in a cyclocross type bike, myself included. I've recently been doing some research into the different groupsets and have decided to most likely go with SRAM rather than Shimano or Campagnolo.

Word seems to be that the Shimano hydraulic brakes (which I've also researched and also sided in favor of) reign as the best much like they do in the MTB world. I was told the SRAM brakes had issues and had a recalls not long ago.. not sure if that's still a concern,  but the consensus still seems to be that the Shimano brakes are better. The Shimano groupset also has a rep for being pretty durable whereas the SRAM has the opposite rep with complaints of shifters breaking, internal ratchets failing, etc). 

I know.. why in the heck would I choose SRAM then?

On the flip side, the SRAM "crispness" in shifting is preferred by lots of people. Many complain that Shimano is too "light" so to speak, and I understand what they mean from having experience with the same things on my MTBs, of course. The other downside for the Shimano that is pushing me towards SRAM is that Shimano seems to be the most susceptible to getting contaminated from environmental conditions - Which is even more of a concern with a CX bike.

So, to summarize,  this is why I've chosen SRAM for a CX build:

-Assuming they have their brake issues sorted (seems to be the case but not sure)
-Crisper shifting
-More reliable drivetrain performance when it gets dirty/muddy
-Even though durability seems questionable, all parts are easily rebuildable and SRAM has a quality warranty service.

All in all, if I built a CX bike I'd go SRAM Apex for a good value, well performing groupset. If I build a road bike I'd go Shimano. The lighter shifting fits better on the smooth road and the issues with performance when it's gets contaminated is not a concern on the road usually. Thing is, if I built a road bike I probably won't be doing a budget build like if I do a CX build; I'd want mechanical shifting and all the other high end components that would do justice to such a cool technology.

Also, I'd most likely do all chiner handle bar, stem, post etc as I'm not concerned at all with failures and I don't want to spend more than I have to. Others may want the "mental security" of some higher end, name brand stem/post/bar though, so to each his own.

Hope that helps. Link to some of the Giant bikes you're considering, I'd be interested to see what you have in mind.

The Trek with the Rockshox RS1 looks really nice.

Sure does! Really liking that fork, and I think RS made a great move by making it. Hopefully I'll get to ride one soon.

Cool pics, Carbonfan. So why do you go there? Just for fun or are there suppliers that you purchase from there where you can see there products? I mean..  is it only name brand companies there or are there people like Hong Fu or Iplay or some of the other companies that sell wholesale direct from the factory?