Hi All,

I'm a roadie looking to get into MTB. I'm building a 26er for my 9 yo daughter and I'm hoping to be able to take her onto some local trails. My wife has a hardtail hybrid/MTB I can ride to get started but I'm thinking that, sooner or later, I'll want to upgrade and just have a bike of my own for family rides. I'm older, 57 yo, 5'10" 155 lbs, in decent shape from riding on the road. We'll probably do more XC and some trail, but I would like to be able to eventually ride trail without beating myself up too much. I'll probably go 1x12 sp Shimano in some flavor unless I can find a better deal on SRAM.

My first thought was to just go with a hardtail, keep the costs down, and build up a Tideace FM028. Being older though, I was wondering if it's just better to eat the costs and go with a full suspension frame right out of the blocks. It looks like riders here seem to like Carbonda frames, FM 909, 936, and 1001, what Carbonda describes as two lightweight XC frames and a Trail frame.

I am a complete n00b, have barely more than a basic understanding of MTB, but would like to build it myself. I'm confident in my ability to build a bike, just not confident in my ability to tune a full suspension MTB. I can follow the build guides on this forum, but I'm not really confident about even being able to choose the right frame, let alone the correct suspension pieces myself. I'm just going on the fact that I won't be doing much more than following a n00bie 9/10 yo on a trail for awhile before having to really learn the nuances.

My budget is ~$2000 USD. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi All,

I rode my TT-X21 for about 8 months and put around 2000 miles on it. It's a 56cm frameset and the final build was all Shimano Ultegra r8070 with a Quarg PM and DUB Crankset. I run a set of Scribe Aero Wide + 60D wheels tubeless with Conti 5000s. I ran a 52/36 with an 11/28 cassette initially, then switched the cassette out for an 11/30 to do more climbing over the summer.

The TT-X21 is fast. If Strava results hold any weight for you, the bike got me enough KOMs, top 5s, and top 10s, over mostly short sprints, sprint climbs, shorter time trial segments, and a couple of descents, to confirm for me that the set up I had around a 56cm TT-X21 frame was fast. Compared to a mainstream Aero specific frame that retails for 3 times as much? Yeah, the TanTan TT-X21 is still a fast bike. That's the good news, and if you're perfectly happy with Chinese made carbon frames, you can stop reading here. Happy riding! =)

The Propel with same set-up, though, is quantitatively faster...so far. I'm way off my summer fitness peak and I haven't dialed the bike in yet, but for short sprints at top speed, yeah, markedly faster, anywhere from 1 to 3 mph faster. All in all, speed is up and wattage to achieve that same speed is down.

The direct qualitative comparison? The TT-X21 is fast, but it's a stiff and harsh ride. It's stiff, but not strategically so. That translates to good power transfer, but you really take a beating in exchange for speed. The bike doesn't exactly lumber, it gets to top end but it takes a lot of effort to hold speed.  At all out effort, on the other hand, the fork flexes and the rotors will grind. It's not a lot of flex, but the grinding is consistent when you're out of the saddle and putting the power down. It handles well enough though. Descending is rewarding. I'm not a very confident descender, but it's not because the TT-X-21 doesn't inspire. I have no complaints about the handling at speed.

The Propel accelerates really quickly in comparison. The speed comes easy, 0 flex anywhere that it matters, but it's not nearly as harsh a ride. Once it's going, it just keeps going and the handling is noticeably better. No drama, you can feel it lurch forward with every pedal stroke and you don't pay for it in ride quality. I'm not sure about the relationship between frame stiffness and power measurements at the spider, but my power readings are more consistent overall, not necessarily higher, just more consistent over the course of a ride. I wouldn't call these marginal gains. They smacked me in the ass the first time I really rode the Propel. That being said, I wouldn't call it a surprise for a frame that retails for 3 times as much.

In retrospect, would I still be happy riding the TT-X21? Absolutely! The bang for your buck is phenomenal compared to the Propel. The main reason I switched was because I felt like a 56 cm frame was a bit big for me, after all. I would have been fine trying out a 54cm TT-X21. On the other hand, I have no regrets after plopping down my hard earned cash for a mainstream frame either. As an older rider, I can appreciate the difference in ride quality without having to sacrifice the aero geometry.

Took me awhile to sort out all the issues with my TanTan TT-21 build. All due to my lack of build experience, not anything noteworthy wrong with the frame.

I'm thinking about this next....

https://www.sigeyishop.com/product/zracesigeyi-rx-power-meter-crankset/

Everything I've read about the power meter has been mostly positive, positive enough for my use anyway. Does anybody have any experience with the crankset though? I'd be swapping out my Shimano 105 R7000 crankset and would be happy with performance that is close to the 105 anyway, with regard to stiffnes. I'd also have to switch out my Wheels MFG BB86 threaded pressfit, which I love, for a DUB BB92, which concerns me about compatibility. I welcome any thoughts.

Thanks!

Hi All,

I contacted Hong Fu to order a frame a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked good until I saw the shipping cost of $286 USD. After exchanging a couple of emails, she explained that they could go with EMS Express for a lot less, but there would be no way to ship the frame using EMS Express before Spring Fest, Feb 14th.

Really. Anybody else hear about this from Hong Fu, or any other company using EMS Express?