Slack HT / ST angles generally means you're sitting back and more upright. More comfortable and stable but not as manoeverable, maybe not as fast. Downhill mountain bikes take it to the extreme.

Boost rear axle - basically a different frame standard with wider bottom bracket shell and wider pedal spacing to allow wider tires. If you get a boost frame, you need a boost crankset, as a road / gravel crankset will be too narrow. Boost is fairly common though in the mountain bike world so finding parts shouldn't be hard.

HT and ST change independently based on the frames intended use. HT angle does not change the riders position nearly as much as ST angle. Downhill takes slack HT to the extreme but not ST, modern MTB is slack HT and steep ST.

Boost rear axle standard states what the axle width for the wheel hub is and is independent of the bottom bracket. It was introduced to increase wheel stiffness and improve chainline for wider BBs but does not dictate the BB standard.

This is starting to show up at some events, and could be a lot of fun to build and ride. But, comes with tradeoffs. They're not as aerodynamic as gravel bikes, both bike and rider position, so you will lose a lot of energy trying to hold a speed of 30 or 35km/h. But option of front or full suspension and truly wide tires 2.4" - could be huge fun too for singletrack or rough roads.

I think here in the gravel forum the best approach would be to pick a 50mm clearance frame from the list, and install 650b wheels per above. These bikes look aweseome too.

650b is not the answer. They have their place but it is not the same category of bike for someone trying to hop on board with the current trend at the pointy end of racing.

Does anyone know how good Carbonda's paintjobs are and if they do somewhat complicated jobs? I am usually relatively picky with such things and I would rather go with their unpainted black version than getting something that I don't like in the end. On top of that I did find a couple of posts reporting that the paint chipped easily in certain places. The paintjob would be based on the Cube Nuroad C:62 SLT Design (see image ). I wrote to their salesteam but didnt get an answer yet.

Their paint is pretty good considering the price and seem to have no issue with more complex designs. However, unless things have changed recently, they also just buff out matte and glossy paint and only put a clear coat on metallics. My 505 from 2018 with just a single glossy color has held up well with minor scratches in the paint but no real chipping.

great, thanks for the inside. So I will go down the GX AXS route. What setup are you running specifically now?

Rival AXS shifters, GX AXS rear derailleur, X01 10-50 cassette, X01 chain, Force Wide 1x crank with 42 tooth chainring and Sigeyi power meter on a LCG071.

I feel like SRAM in general are just a bunch of d**ks. I reviewed many of their patents and they even filed patents from interns. They're using the broken US patent system to stifle any and all innovation and then lawyer up. One of my bike buddies was complaining how one SRAM RED shifter cost almost $700 USD, and I told him both my gravel and road LTwoo groupsets cost less than that!   

The system is absolutely broken but SRAM is just playing the game at this point, they're all multinational corporations trying to turn a profit. Shimano did this for years and has some equally asinine patents. They're the reason SRAM double tap exists and why lower tier brands were stuck with thumb shifters.

My current gravel bike is a LCG071, and previously rode a CFR505, as well as owning multiple other frames from both Carbonda (FM909, FM1001, FM936, CFR505) and LightCarbon (LCG071, LCR017). Both brands produce high quality frames and are easy to deal with (you can ignore the nutjobs in a particular road thread, even that frame has resounding positives with a few outliers). Carbonda finally updated their website and maybe that helps streamline some of the process.

The CFR707 is a longer frame but assuming you can fit either I would decide based on aesthetics, in which case the LCG071 wins for me. I doubt you will notice a meaningful difference due to their tire clearance (you really don't need to jump on the MTB tire trend unless you're racing for the win in Lifetime Grand Prix events, in which case why would you be here?). Running 1x on gravel can have limitations but when out exploring or riding solo it doesn't bother me, I mostly notice it when riding on pavement with someone on 2x and have slightly unsatisfying cadence matching. For your own ease of upgrading maybe look at a GRX build that lets you just swap crank and FD instead of a full 105 swap, plus 105 will come with a different set of limitations in easy gears if this is really meant for big gravel.

I really like my LCG071, and want to love it, but it does have some caveats. I'm 6'2" and have the size 550 with a 100mmx400mm integrated handlebar and the fit is great but there is considerable toe overlap with 42mm tires. I really only notice it when doing a U-turn on pavement and haven't noticed it when riding, even on mild single-track. Most concerning though is death wobble. On two occasions when riding downhill at speed on pavement I had removed both hands and the front end instantly began violently wobbling back and forth. It happened so quickly that I immediately grabbed the bars again, but in hindsight it seemed stable just very concerning. As a gravel bike it has been great.

With those considerations I think you would be happy with either bike for gravel, go with what fits you or looks exciting to ride.

It looks to be same frame as Carbonda FM1001 discussed here quite a lot :-)

It is the FM1001, and Vortac acknowledged that in another standalone thread they made about the DIYCarbon version. Still coming from China with a middle man when no one seems to have an issue dealing with Carbonda directly. Curious what DIYCarbon will actually offer that is different. Seems like their US presence doesn't actually mean anything if the frames are painted and shipped from China.

Because they have the frame I like with with the geometry I’m looking for.  Already researched Ican, hongfu, tideace, spcycle, Airwold, dengfu, et al…

Their DCB F140 is just a Carbonda FM1001 but they claim different rear travel for the same shock sizes. Identical geo charts