What are Enduro, Super-Enduro & DH options?

[RAVC]

As an example only, I can refer you to the ICAN P9 frame. My son is interested in more travel than 150 mm and this is why I added 'DH' to my thread title. It is also clear ICAN has made their share of errors so I am hoping this thread can provide me with some additional companies to do business with when the time comes.

My son and I are most likely to need larger frames but he can also use a medium depending on the sizing of the manufacturer. My wife and are are interested in the 140-150 mm travel frames but she needs small or XS.

If we can get current or nearly current geometry that is great but I think we'll do fine with geometry dating back as far 2014. I really do not know where do draw a line regarding this issue.

Please let me know of your suggestions or experience with a particular frame in the enduro, super enduro, and DH categories. I am interested in 27.5 or 27.5+ frames.

[emu26]

You can take this reply with a grain of salt and I will not be at all offended.

I would steer clear of any chinese 27.5 + frame for one very simple reason, I can't think of one (and I am happy to be shown I am wrong) 27.5+ frame that is NOT a 27.5+ / 29er frame. They are are not different rear triangles they are frames built for a 29er that accept 27.5+ tyres.  What's wrong with that I hear people ask?

The BB heights are too low for riding anything but butter smooth, groomed bike park trails with 165mm cranks.  If near constant pedal strikes on anything but those trails isn't an issue for you then have at it but otherwise look specifically at 27.5 frames or move up to 29er wheels.

Hope that helps and good luck with your search.

[RAVC]

Of course this helps. Your response is well within the spectrum of what I was hoping to learn. That is, good manufacturer's to work with, preferred frames, rims, etc. I feel no reason to pursue the 'boost' technology and have no concerns regarding the standard 27.5 MTB.

[Crankydad]

I can offer you my experience with the ICAN P1 which I ride as a trail bike. Regarding Ican P9, per ICAN it's considered their enduro bike. That may fit your needs compared to the P1. If I were to do it all over again, I would've gone with the P9. More updated geo, and also the P9 is compatible with metric sized shocks (newer type of rear shock sizing since 2017) and piggy-back reservoir shocks. For the P1 frame there isn't enough space for a piggyback reservoir shock once it's fully compressed. Just has compatibility for more up modern shocks

My ICAN P1 frame is a medium, I have a 150mm fork (44mm offset), and a 135mm rear shock. I have 27.5'' wheels and 170mm cranks on there. I've done about 35 rides on it with about 375 miles on it.

The type of features I ride include climbing over some roots about 1ft or less in height, small drops 2ft or less, ramp/rock drops (about 3ft-4ft drops), small to medium sized jumps. I have not taken it to the bike park, but been wanting to take it there as I've never been! I used to ride an XC bike, and just got the ICAN P1 trail last July 2021. From my experience so far, the bottom bracket height hasn't really been much of an issue. One part I remember where you'll definitely have pedal strike is climbing over 1ft high tree roots. I remember I would have to time my pedal stroke just right and lift my back wheel to avoid pedal striking the root. If you were to pedal over it, you'll definitely strike pedal on root

Overall, I've have so much joy with my ICAN P1 frame on the 27.5'' wheels and I definitely felt like it was worth the purchase for me thus far! And it's just been about 1 year since purchase

Hope this helps!

[JimLee]

From the point of view of our factory, enduro is enduro, DH is DH, when we manufacture them, we follow different material strength requirements and ratios according to different uses.
In terms of material strength, DH frames are much stronger than enduro frames and trail MTB, so the cost also more higher, a trail MTB carbon frame in our fatory cost is under USD$ 600, cost of enduro under USD$700， but a DH frame is near to USD$1000. check out the photos as below,

[Dave TN]

RAVC,

I just put together my first full-suspension Carbon bike and I am absolutely blown away with the performance. I went with the Carbonda FM 1003 which has 180 mm of travel front and rear. They have at least three other full-suspension options with shorter travel. I spent a TON of time comparing geometries with the FM 1003 and decided that for the price, this was what I wanted. I ride similar trails to Crankydad with small to medium jumps, roots, and some quick but not super gnarly enduro runs with about 500' of descent. I am probably over biked for the terrain but we also have some black diamond trails that I am hoping to work up to. I built my bike with 27.5" wheels, though the frame is rated for 27.5 and 29" wheels. I have a few more pedal strikes than on my previous 27.5" bike (2017 Diamondback Release--basically a Sant Cruz 5010 copy) so I am planning to remedy that with a 29" fork and wheels in the near future. I really love how the bike handles on 27.5" wheels though so will probably do some experimenting with the 29" fork and the two different wheel sizes, in various permutations (29" fork with 27.5" wheels, mullet, maybe even reverse mullet, who knows?) before converting it to a full 29" rig. I am so impressed with this frame. I think it ran me $1,180 plus paint ($75 for a single color with plenty of schemes and options available) and shipping. The import bike company, Sherpa, is working on adding the FM 1003 frame to their lineup. My frame came with a two-year warranty and it takes the newer trunnion style rear shocks. I've included a couple of pictures, which I also posted in the 29er thread. Happy shopping!

[adi]

Hey Dave TN,

Did you contact Carbonda?

Im wondering because on their website it isnt updated and it still says "coming soon".

So I wanted to know the whole process of buying the FM 1003.

[FullCarbonAlchemist]

Hey Dave TN,

Did you contact Carbonda?

Im wondering because on their website it isnt updated and it still says "coming soon".

So I wanted to know the whole process of buying the FM 1003.

It’s very straightforward. They’re easy to work with by email.