Chinertown
Chinese Carbon MTB => 29er => Topic started by: JeffersOG on May 04, 2026, 01:35:35 AM
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The frame came in Saturday, May 2nd, 2026. Clear UDGloss. This is their 100-110 rear travel XC frame size med (17.5) The build quality is amazing, way better than I expected. It came with a bottom bracket, BB92 looks like generic for SRAM. Head tube and bb tube look to be finishes properly. Next I buy forks and shock, those and a dropper and I can start the build. I'm going to replace all of the pivot bearings and paint it first. I'll show all of the progress. Oh! I ordered and paid on April 12th I believe. I'm in Ft. Lauderdale. First photo is bottom bracket, second is head tube top.
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Nice! It looks super good. I was considering buying a XC Frame but I am having trouble with the suspension compatibility with rockshox shocks. What kind of shock can this frame take? I see that these chinese frames have often weird measurements for the shocks and I cannot find a compatible shock to install in these frames.
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190x50 or 190x45. The 50mm stroke shocks can be a little harder to find but they're out there. I believe that gives 110mm and the 44mm stroke 100mm travel. They aren't that hard to find at all, it's just that good rear xc shocks are pricey. Even on eBay I'm looking at $200 minimum, retail for good rear shocks is 400-500 bucks. I picked up a Rock Shox SiD RLC 2nd hand, recently serviced for $150 on OfferUp. I have the wheels, carbon with notated hubs and a CNC 10-50t SRAM clone with maxxis recon race rear Vitoria mezcal front. I think I'm getting a oneup v3 dropper and I'm going to go with Shimano xt two pistons front and rear.
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What kind of fork is this built for? 100mm? 120mm?
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100-120mm. One thing I noticed is an important detail, there is a hole for the cable housing for the rear shock’s lockout, and it guides all the way through, slipped in no problems. I was planning on replacing the bearings, but when I took apart all the linkages to paint the frame purple, I saw that the bearings were marked NSK, which I consider a quality bearing, at least not a no-name.
One warning, the linkage bolts were not torqued, none of them were. They are now.
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I was thinking of buying this frame. I would love to see a pic of the completed build!
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My Meinier frame's pivots were not tight either. They need to be extremely moveable to fit the way they ship them.( Which is very good, secure, and padded. I would want to re-torque things anyway. I haven't ridden my new bike a lot, but all bearings good so far 🙏 I too had to look hard to find the right size for shock, odd they do that. I've been very pleased with my frame's fit and finish. Carbon layup inside the frame looked very clean. Cable routing was easy. I would definitely recommend Meinier.
(https://imgur.com/a/ahZ7uPe)
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Why did you choose this model?
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A few things, price, design and build quality.
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Here’s where I’m at so far. I decided to replace all of the pivot bearings and the crank bearings as well. Enduro Max. I’m waiting on some aliexpress cranks -Goldix branded 165mm 5dev knockoffs with Shimano spindles but sram 3-bolt direct mount. Like a dummy, I used a loctite cement compound to put the bb cups in without checking the spindle size, and I’m not risking knocking them out to go with sram. I’ve got a used but serviced Rockshox Sid rlc fork with 32mm stanchions and 120mm travel. I’ve got some carbon 29” wheels from Nomadik, and a CNC eagle knockoff cassette 10-51 and Novatec hubs. A DNM AO-38RL shock @ 190x50. Shimano CUES 2 pot brakes and rotors. Origin8 headset. I did the paint job. There’s a section of raw carbon on the top tube under that white point/stripe thing I designed using spray.bike paints. I may use the dropper on my Giant trance X 29, as well as my NX derailleur and chain just to get it on the road. I’ve got FSA Gradient carbon bars, sram/rockshox twistloc remote and a sram grip shift.
There must be excellent guides for hoses and cables inside the frame as so far the hoses slide right through and pop out the other side! So far I’m super happy with the build quality of the frame and should have this bike on the road mid-July.
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I'm finished! So I started with the Meinier M09, didn't like the bearings so I switched them out to Enduro Max, including the bottom bracket bearings. The bottom bracket is glued in with LocTite fixative. I'm super impressed with the headset cups in the frame as well as the cable routing, which was a breeze. I cannot recommend this frame enough. It's a medium, 17.5" and I'm 5'8" with a 30" inseam and it's a little on the small side but I think I'd rather have this than a large. Here's the build list:
Origin8 headset on a Rock Shox SiD rlc (32mm stanchions) 120mm. Kalloy m35 stem, FSA Gradient carbon bars. SRAM Twistloc lockout for rear (debating on whether I want remote for front, it's an expensive upgrade) SRAM Gripshift 12 speed and shorty ergo grips. I have 29"x30mm Nomadik carbon wheels with Novatec hubs. Vittoria Mezcal front and Maxxis Recon rear. CNC rear cassette 10-52 oil slick (basically SRAM xx1 knockoff) SRAM X01 oil slick chain. 34t from chainring (round may put on a wolf tooth 32t oval i have) Goldix 165mm cranks (5dev knockoff) PNW pedals. One Up v3 180 dropper with a RYET carbon 3d printed saddle. Shimano 2 pot hydraulic brakes. They are CUES, they were cheap, I may upgrade I may not. A lot of titanium bolts. Ingrid long cage derailleur. Oh and a DNM AO38rl rear shock for 110 mm travel (190x51)
The ride? I thought it might be squirrelly with the 32mm SiD stanchions, but I love it. This bike is really light at about 27lbs and super nimble. It takes bumps and such well. I haven't done a ton of trail riding yet, but I commute to work 6 days a week mixed pavement and dirt. It's sturdy with just enough travel and flex, but the lightweight does often have me tempted to try and get air. Now the frame is advertised as utilizing a maximum 34t chainring. My cranks are mixed bag, shimano 24mm spindle with an SRAM 3 bolt direct mount. This does not allow for the 3mm offset recommended for boost 148. Instead I have a 1mm offset, I tried 3mm 34t and it rubbed on the chain stay. This does not seem to affect my drivetrain, maybe time will tell. The Ingrid derailleur was icing on the cake, I got a great deal on it and so far so good on the drivetrain! I can't wait to take it to the trails in my area, it's a really fast, nimble bike!
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ded for boost 148. Instead I have a 1mm offset, I tried 3mm 34t and it rubbed on the chain stay. This does not seem to affect my drivetrain, maybe time will tell. The Ingrid derailleur was icing on the cake, I got a great deal on it and so far so good on the drivetrain! I can't wait to take it to the trails in my area, it's a really fast, nimble bike!
Nice build, but The fake Ingrid and other fake components make it look like a fake Ferrari, wouldn’t be better to put simple shimano or sram components? We should never forget that behind these names like Ingrid or 5dev there are people and families, their sustainability depends on these small pieces of engineering
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Nice build, but The fake Ingrid and other fake components make it look like a fake Ferrari, wouldn’t be better to put simple shimano or sram components? We should never forget that behind these names like Ingrid or 5dev there are people and families, their sustainability depends on these small pieces of engineering
It very well may, but when they price their products as much as a new bike, it puts those products out of reach for 90% of the cyclists out there.
Also, I understand a little more about why you see these products offered and they seem exactly like their name brand versions. When you contract a Chinese firm to manufacture and build your product, there is a clause in most contracts that says if you are late on payments, your intellectual property rights are forfeited. I don’t think that’s the deal with the cranks at all, they look a little like 5dev but they are obviously not. The derailleur looks exactly like Ingrid and included documentation from Ingrid. I think it looks like a Walmart mountain bike, not a fake anything, people hardly know what derailleur is what. In fact, because of my hokey paint job I was thinking of putting Hyper or Huffy stickers on the down tube as a theft deterrent.
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It very well may, but when they price their products as much as a new bike, it puts those products out of reach for 90% of the cyclists out there.
Also, I understand a little more about why you see these products offered and they seem exactly like their name brand versions. When you contract a Chinese firm to manufacture and build your product, there is a clause in most contracts that says if you are late on payments, your intellectual property rights are forfeited. I don’t think that’s the deal with the cranks at all, they look a little like 5dev but they are obviously not. The derailleur looks exactly like Ingrid and included documentation from Ingrid. I think it looks like a Walmart mountain bike, not a fake anything, people hardly know what derailleur is what. In fact, because of my hokey paint job I was thinking of putting Hyper or Huffy stickers on the down tube as a theft deterrent.
If you can't afford Ingrid, just buy Deore. If you can't afford 5dev, just buy Deore. Both of those would work for your build but you chose to go with fakes.
That's a lot of made up copium to justify why it might not be a knock off akshually ::)
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Look, if we could be riding top tier bikes and had all the money in the world we wouldn’t be here. I opted for the derailleur because it looks cool and it’s light. The same with the cranks. There are a ton of options I could have gone with, but again the weight and the design of what I bought was why I made my choices. I had actually never heard of Ingrid or 5Dev when these components caught my eye, I really had zero clue they existed. Now, knowing how this market works I do know that there’s no possibility of the cranks being cheap originals and there is a good possibility of the derailleur being the real deal. I have done lots of business with the Chinese over the past 15 years and have found everything from expensive high end overstock to flimsy cheap replicas and rejects/blems of popular brands. We’re here on a site dedicated to open mold and knock off goods, like it or not. I’m glad I turned on to aliexpress and I like that I can get durable, light nice looking components cheap.