Just got my daughter's bike together and I noticed this. Tideace fm-001 26er. Pretty sure I cracked it trying to fit the seat post. I knew I was going to have to cut it down to size but I pushed it in too deep trying to mark a cut point. Honestly not sure if it cracked going in, or twisting it out. I think it's repairable. Just hoping I don't have to trash the frame.

Any thoughts are welcome, I'll even take a tongue lashing because I know better

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!

Did you order the extra spacers from VB? How much did they cost?
I think 60mm spacers should be fine. I have seen Giant Propels and Orbeas come from the factory with about similar or more spacers so the rider can adjust stack based on their own bike fit.

Just as an FYI, the Giant Propel with carbon steerers are OD2 1 1/4 inch diameter and use a longer expander than the stumpy ones that usually come stock with Chinese frames. If steerers are OD1, they are 1 1/8 but made of aluminum.

"#4 - I found all of this out while building my Yoeleo gravel bike. I had the same headset play issue. Turns out Yoeleo's headset bearings for the top and bottom are slightly two different thicknesses. The thicker (red bearing) one needs to be on top, and I had them reverse. During troubleshooting Yoeleo send me a spare flat C-Clip, but the fix was simply switching the bearings around."

Just a note specifically for #4...

Yeah, TanTan sent the same red and blue bearings, but I can't remember which one was thicker. I did notice the different thicknesses though, but just ran with one combination, I think thicker on the bottom and thinner up top, before switching them around.

In the end, it didn't matter. It was still pretty sloppy either way, which is why I tried different headsets with different bearing thicknesses. Just wish I would have known about microspacers from the get go. I finally took it in to my LBS. The tech there suggested the microspacers, thankfully.

Hi Pat,

I ran the FSA ACR headset on my TanTan TT-X21, which is a clone of the VB-099. I'm not sure what the differences are between any of these open mould frames that run 1.5" to 1.5" headsets, but I can tell you, though, that there were no major issues running the full FSA ACR headset, even with the ACR top cover if wanted to. I would have preferred to dump the open mould handlebars too, but I did recognize the issue with running cables and hydraulic hoses with a full FSA ACR system.

Just thinking out loud here, but it looks like FSA routes the front brake hose through the compression plug to deal with the space issues with running everything down the front of the head tube and around the steerer.  Other than space limitations, there's no inherent design reason why you couldn't try to cram everything down the front of the headtube, bypassing the compression plug route for the front hydraulic hose.

I don't think that would work too well, but if you are contemplating electronic shifting, especially SRAM, you could probably make it work. 

Do it Pat! Do it for us!!!!

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I'm looking for advice for a similar build for my daughter. She's 138 cm tall but growing every day it seems. She's going to be done with her 20" by the Summer.

It seems like next up would be a 24er, or maybe a "small 26er" as well?

 I know absolutely nothing about any of these types of frames or builds. I've built up a couple of road bikes, and i do all my own maintence. My first build was a TanTan road frame so I have no issues starting with a Chinese frame and I believe that I can manage the build.

I just really don't know where to start. The only Chinese 24er I could find is this one from Twitter.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001067409058.html

Any input would be appreciated. I'm not worried about her growing out of it too soon because her sister would be next up on it. Just looking for suggestions on where to go from here or if this is even a good place to start.

Thanks!

A friend of mine who drives the same frame noticed a huge improvement of stability after changing the stem/bar-combo.

What can I do to change my system? TanTan has the hb010 (or something like that), but after all the disappointing support mails I don't wanne spend more money to this brand - is there any other chance to get something work?

Tan Tan uses a pretty generic Chinese top cover and spacers for their handlebars. You can replace everything from the top cover up and go with a ride range of options that include separate stem/handlebar combos. If you want to go with a pricey mainstream option, the FSA ACR system will fit. I kept the Tan Tan top cover and spacers, replaced everything else in the headset with FSA ACR, then picked up a set of Og Evkin bars.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/334115428750?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item4dcad4d98e:g:kc8AAOSwA5JhGjGA&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAAA4BX3RHiBvFRGqGzniKAxrooapQdykKwxb17DrX8EI18bFF4sE5QJo3HVyUb2wQ3i3A0Owj1pbht0CVtyGAKOChNMQ%2FphItDf6J%2FQuDWeBWUJVLHPgJdRKowHEjElKgCTM01yU66ihi1izU1KpeSXZOAkSt6vLLRVcaquVVnwznnwgd6etHO5FjNOvsVnUrIfa4%2BAMRcTNwNsgA9vP4Q9ngMaqkuu6Q0yUWIV6UBYNMVC%2FTvGcgci0mgjEfbCD2RnG22z6ih12mvwKcGK3mHoHCrwn%2BUCBRqBHpdhqjTo9ngN%7Ctkp%3ABFBMsqDOnfhf


I had to drill a couple of tiny holes where the spacers meet the stem, but other than that, it was straight swap.

That's awesome RDY, thanks for putting in all the work and aticking with it. Good of Chris for being so flexible.