After a couple of years on my hardtail, I thought I'd build something up with full suspension. The FM10 seemed to have reasonable geometry for my gorilla build (long arms, short legs) so I pulled the trigger on a discounted 'small' frame on Aliexpress.
After a relatively short wait, the much reported banged up box arrived.
The listing said matte black, but the listing photos showed a painted orange frame. Didn't mind either, so I'm now the owner of an orange bike.
Paint quality was reasonable and it came with headset bearing cups, seat pole clamp, steel lower shock bolt, and alloy rear axle.
The initial build consisted of using everything that was compatible from my hardtail and a few upgrades. The doner bike, a Polygon Xtrada 7.
Suspension wise, I went with a 160mm Fox Performance 38 for the front and a X-fusion Pro Air RL in 180x55 for the rear. Handlebars are Raceface carbon with a 35mm rise and capped with ODI locking grips.
From the doner bike I used the 1 x 12 Shimano Deore controls, derailer and cranks, 29" wheels, MT201 brakes with 160mm discs, and the existing dropper and seat. Upgrades included a new Shimano press fit BB, Cane Creek 40 headset kit and a few other miscellaneous parts to make things work.
Comparison with the 'medium' polygon frame
Since these photos I've upgraded the brakes to XT 4 piston front and rear, disks to 203 front and 180 rear (Z-race metal pad compatible) and I have a Fox DHX2 coil shock on the way as the air shock is at close to maximum PSI to get a reasonable sag (rear geometry is fairly progressive, so a coil shock will suit it I reckon). In the future I might get a remote dropper post, but for now the lever operated one is doing fine.
Build went fairly smoothly. Only issues I've come across have been the rear brake mounts were not deep enough for the Shimano screws, the trunnion shock mount was too tight (but a bit of sanding fixed that), the bottom shock mount bolt was too short (fixed with a 68mm titanium one), and some of the cable routing holes needed a bit of a clean up with a file to get the cables through.
All up a pleasant build and I can't wait to throw it down some trails in the near future.
