That’s my kind of dad! Nice built sheet, she will surely enjoy it!

Well, my wonderful child has just turned 12, and having 2 parents over 6' - she has been growing like a weed.

She currently rides a Polygon Cleo 2 in XS that she got for her 8th birthday which has rapidly become too small for her.

After joining this forum, lurking and looking at AliExpress I thought it would be a good opportunity to use the collective knowledge of the forums and build my daughter a lightweight Chinese carbon bike!

My goal is pretty simple - I want to build a 29er bike that will last a good few years, and I want to to be as light (or lighter) than her current bike (XS frame, 27.5" wheels), I want it to be comfortable and capable on suburban streets, but I also want her to be able to to come riding with me on the MTB trails.

So I have started making purchases, and should hopefully have it ready to ride in a month or so.

Frame
I have gone with the Carbonda FM1306a.
I had sent an email to Wing last year enquiring about one of these frames for myself - but heard nothing back - that is when I found out that the emails had most likely ended up in my junk mail! Wing has been an absolute dream to deal with, super quick with replies, very detailed and helpful.
The frame ended up costing a bit more than I had hoped (US$230 shipping is a hard pill to swallow), and I also paid extra for the chameleon paint scheme as my daughter had requested it.

Fork
I was lucky to snap up a second hand RockShox SID off Facebook marketplace for AU$450. It was un-used, and taken off a 2024 Giant Anthem Advanced 29 3.

Wheels
I bought some EliteWheels off AliExpress - I will add more details later.

Brakes
ZTTO MTB Team Brakes in Silver and Gold.

I will update this post over the coming days with more information - been stuck busy at work...

I've tested EDGE, ENT, and DRIVE wheels. The ENT and EDGE differ mainly in weight, spokes, and rim profiles. I am not sure about the SLT and SLR. I will consider writing a comparison article about all these wheelsets. Anyway, the DRIVE wheels have carbon spokes and ceramic bearings.
Regarding ride feel, EDGE + ENT are pretty soft but comfortable. But for example, I didn't feel like riding 1350g wheels when riding EDGE. They are not as responsive as DRIVE ones, which are a bit lighter. The ENTs are much heavier and better for flats and steady efforts.
Having said that, I would recommend saving a bit more for DRIVE wheels. They are my go-to climbing wheels (45mm depth weighs under 1300g), and they are much more responsive than EDGE.
However, it also depends on your experience. For example, I would be happy if I was transitioning from ALU wheels to EDGE. But given that I've tried wheels costing over $1000 with carbon spokes, I'd opt for those instead.
Feel free to visit my website where you learn more details on these wheels.

I'm based in Germany. I used cells from German company (reseller?) PATONA. They do all kinds of batteries including big ones for e-scooters and e-bikes. They were slightly more expensive - something like double the price of the cheap stuff on Amazon. But they're working reliably. I guess you really shouldn't save money on the battery.

I hope you get this solved...

I can't believe there are fake Novatec hubs  I bought a couple of sets for 80 EUR in the past sale. And that is incl VAT... They can't win more dan 10 EUR by using fake hubs I guess... That's a really low move...

There are more fake DT SWISS. Some sellers will clearly state that they are fake, but some will not.
“Novatec” also has fake ones, but they are easy to tell the difference.
You can see the difference in micro-marking and size