Another Tan Tan FM10

[northup]

One off, craigslist willing to ship. I've seen a lot of good stuff on pinkbike though, a couple going for around $300 new

[northup]

Confirming the DPX2 fits. The shock mounts on the fox are closer to the top of the canister, so no problems with swing.

[emu26]

Good stuff, pleased it worked out for you.

[northup]

Alright - major update after a long silence. The bike is together, and absolutely rips. I'm really happy with it.

I took my time on assembly, and greased, threadlocked, and torqued things to spec. I had one small creak around the seatpost, but re-torquing the seatpost clamp seems to have solved that issue.

I'm out in Colorado at the moment, and I've so far completed a 12mi ~2000ft elevation ride, and a 10.5mi ~1000 ft ride. Mostly singletrack, loose over hard, 1-2ft drops, some rock surfing, and generally smooth climbs with mild technical sections.

I've also been testing the bike around the property out here, with some dirt jumps we put together (small) to test the flex and dial in the suspension. I'm really quite impressed.

Off to ride some more tomorrow - I'll leave you with a picture of the steed.

[northup]

The one hiccup I'm having is that the derailleur is seated too far away from the sprocket to get the 12th gear. With the low stop all the way out, the derailleur can't reach the 12th gear, so I'm riding 1x11 at the moment. I'm looking into whether that's an issue with the hanger, or if there's something else going on that I can adjust. If anyone has any experience repositioning derailleurs, that would be super helpful - though I'll see what I can find.

[emu26]

Thanks for the updates Northup.

Re your derailleur, a few weeks back I was reading the reviews from the different sellers on Aliexpress and there was a Russian guy complaining about not being able to reach gears as well, he was saying the chainline looked off. English not being his first language it was a little confusing and there is no way to reach him unless you also bought from the same seller but it might be worth trying to find it.  I spoke to Guitsboy about it and he was saying chainline isn't the best but he could reach all of his gears.  I'll see if I can find the other comment.

Did you do boost or non boost frame?

[emu26]

Here https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32890086557.html?spm=a2g0o.store_home.productList_1025045650.subject_2

Read his second comment.

Any chance you can post some pics of the rear so we can see what is going on?

Are you using the LTWOO rear mech and if so, do you have a shimano or sram one you could test with?  I'm wondering if it is a frame issue or a compatibility issue.

[northup]

I was able to fix the derailleur and the chainline! I took some things apart and realized 1: I forgot to put the spacer in behind the cassette  so that was an easy fix. 2. I have the fovno cranks running a spider adapter to a 104bcd 34t oval chainring. Flipping the chainring to the inside of that stack closer to the frame (rather than on the outside nearer to the pedals) gives an excellent chainline putting me centered on the center cog in the rear cassette. I'll take some pictures of how it's rigged up if that would be helpful to you.

If you had cranks with a gxp chainring and didn't use the adapter, it would put the chain line to far outboard and it would cross/bend pretty hard to reach the big cogs.

I went with the boost frame, and the SRide 12speed derailler with an 11-50t cassette. Just to be clear I can confirm I can now access all the gears smoothly. And that makes me happy.

Note: the rear axle that comes with the bike is trash, and sheared on my when I was installing the rear wheel for the second time. Any old rear axle is better than that one.

[emu26]

Cheers Northup, really glad you got it sorted.

That Russian guy also complained about snapping the rear axle.

[emu26]

Hi Northup, what tires did you end up using and can you take a pick of rear tire clearance please?  I'm wondering if max tire of 2.8 is being conservative and if a 3 would actually fit.

TIA

[emu26]

Hi Northup, did you order the 27.5 version or the 29er version of the frame?

I want to ride 27.5 plus tyres but not sure which of the frame options I should be ordering. 

BTW, just got a new take off DPX2 Kashima 185 55 trunnion mount for $400A, ($286USD) so I have to commit to this frame now. 

[northup]

Nice price on that shock!! I think you'll like the frame, even with some of the issues we're seeing here. I got the 27.5 version of the frame.

Also - just to note - The crank bolt on the Fovno Phantom cranks sheared off mid ride on me last week. It's thin, cheap metal, so for the record, it's not very durable. A few pedal strikes can weaken it enough to cause issue, and the crank arm just let go while I was pedaling uphill. Thankfully not a disaster that caused injury, but I would be careful if you go that route. There's a reason they are so light...

[emu26]

Cheers mate. Shock was dropped off to my door and it is mint condition.  Hope it rides as good as it looks.

Icyseanfitz had issues with those Fovno cranks as well, he posted about in the last couple of days.  http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,2959.15.html

[northup]

Emu - here is a pic of the rear tire. I think you could comfortably do a 2.8, a 3.0 might be pushing it but depending on your rim, you might be able to squeeze it in. These pics are with a Maxxis DHR2 2.6 (the wide tire version) on a 40mm rim (33.6mm ID). The rim is a light bicycle AM733 if you want to hunt down more specs.

[azmtbkr]

Hello All,

I placed an order for an FM10 frame from tantan cycling last week. I am starting to put together a parts list and this thread has been very helpful. I just bought a Fox DXP2 185x55 trunnion shock off pinkbike for $275.

Northup if you are reading this I had some questions for you.

How did those Dairs 29er wheels work out? Are they worth purchasing? I live in Arizona and the trails I ride are very rocky. Is it advisable to have carbon wheels? If not can you (or anyone) recommend any other wheels I should check out?

 It sounds like the Fovno cranks didn't work out very well with the bolt sheering off. Can you recommend any other relatively inexpensive cranks I should look into?

Any other advice that you would have for someone that will be starting an FM10 build? Thanks!