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Re: Carbonda fm936 Thoughts So, I have a few rides on the bike and I think it's time to share some thoughts:



Frame build quality:

I ordered a medium superlight version in medium, UD matte.

- Weight for the medium "superlight" version was over what I expected. Not by much, but just slightly over their "+/- 50g" claim.

- Frame construction is very good. The inside is a little rough in places, but nothing I haven't seen on many brand name frames I own/have owned.

- Linkage came with the upper shock mounting spacing 0.5mm wider than spec (see my previous posts). Hairline crack in the paint on the linkage's left side after the first ride. I highly doubt it's anything but paint, but I am going to sand down the paint to verify.

- BB pressed in very smoothly without issues (Wheels MFG). I was actually worried the ease of which it pressed in might cause creaks, but so far so good. Crank axle went in nice and easy which means well-aligned BB shell holes. Time will tell...too early to judge any longevity issues.

- Internal cable routing was fairly straightforward. The holes in the port covers appear be just slightly undersized for hydraulic lines, but they closed nice and flush with some persuasion.

- Frame hardware came dry from the factory and not torqued to spec.  I disassembled, lubed everything up and torqued everything to spec. The bearings used aren't fantastic quality, but they're fine for now (weren't notch or loose in the bores, etc).

Current build spec:


- 2018 Fox Float DPS 165x42.5, LV EVOL (more on that later)
- SR Suntour Aion 35 (lowered to 120mm, 331 A2C).
- XT M8000 Drivetrain with a ZTTO SLR2 11-46 cassette., KMC chain, SRAM XO shifter (yes, works great with an XT 11-speed rear derailleur) and XT M8000 pedals.
- Crank Brothers Cobalt 3 wheels. Goodyear Escape rear, WTB TrailBoss 2.25 Front.
- Crank Brothers Highline 150mm dropper*, WTB SL8 Team wide saddle.
- ZTTO 35x50mm stem with Race Face Next R 35mmx800mm handlebar (which I plan on trimming down to 780mm).

12.7kg inc pedals with the current build spec. With a lighter fork (SID 120) I can bring it down to around 12.1kg. Carbon wheels will easily make it sub 11kg without even trying to go lighter with XTR parts, etc.

Ride:



- The suspension is very efficient but also rather active. It rides somewhat similar to my Cannondale Scalpel Si 3 (a flex stay design as well) but feels much plusher on the descents (no surprise as it is a 120mm rear vs the 100mm Scalpel...and large volume shock air can on the Carbonda)


- This is a relatively high leverage frame (2.8:1) and with the Fox Float EVOL LV shock on it, I found that I needed about 240psi in the shock to get 25% sag (I am 75-76kg geared up). NS specs the LV shocks on the Synonym TR, but we don't know the shock tune. I am not unhappy with the shock but I have a preference towards shocks sitting higher up in the travel. It's fairly active (not in a bad way) and I miss the lockouts I have on my Scalpel for sprinting. I am going to put an air volume spacer and see how it feels with this.

- Climbing: Despite its radical geometry, the frame does indeed have an XC pedigree. My position on the bike on steep climbs feels very centered, and I ascribe that to the steep ST angle. If anything, with the extra travel and much slacker head angle, it climbs as well as my Scalpel on pretty much everything other than smooth double track where the lockouts play a big role in out-of-the saddle hammering. One thing where it falls short is technical climbs with rocky step-ups or ledges: the bottom bracket is super low and you need to work on your crank ratchet game if you don't want to keep bashing pedals (read more on the BB height below).

- Descending: It's much plusher than I expected. Really tracks the ground and feels like a bigger bike. The low stack and very slack (for its class) head angle make for a really fun (and controllable at speed) ride. A regular 32mm tubed fork is totally fine for most purposes, but a 34mm or 35mm stanchioned fork really stiffens things up on the front end and enables you to get the most out of that geometry if you live somewhere with rough descents. (that's why I think a SID 120 35mm is the perfect fork for this frame: stiff enough, very light and can come with a lockout).

- At 326mm with a 120mm fork, the bottom bracket height is among the lowest I have ever ridden on a full-suspension bike. It's really LOW. It's a good bit lower than bikes in the same class: YT Izzo is 334, Nukeproof Reactor 290 C is 336mm, Mondraker Dune DC RR is 337mm, Yeti SB130 is 337. Granted: most of these bikes spec a 130mm fork with a taller A2C length, but even a Yeti SB100 has a 336mm high BB. I am running 170mm cranks and still bashing pedals more than any of my other bikes (on familiar trails). The bike is really planted in corners, but the very low BB height is something to keep in mind if you ride rocky/rooty/technical trails. The other bikes I ride don't have particularly tall BB heights, but with this one there will certainly be some getting used to period.

Other issues:

- S3/E-Type for a light top-only chain guide mounts would have been a nice option! I haven't lost the chain yet going down some fairly rough descents, though.

- Chainline is great with my non-boost XT M8000 crank, but my beloved 34T oval doesn't clear the chainstay. I am going to find a boost crank to run an oval chainring as I do on all my bikes, but will chainlink be worse? I don't know yet.

*Yes, I know the dropper cable is too long and rear brake line is too short: waiting on some other parts to trim everything to length and tidy up the cabling with heat-shrink tubing :)

Edited for spelling.
May 18, 2020, 01:18:59 PM 		1
Re: Custom Waltly Titanium 29er I wrapped up some of the anodizing. The head tube I had to do twice and the finish is a little more matte than I was hoping for. But overall, I'm happy with the outcome.










August 05, 2020, 07:41:03 PM 		1
Re: Looking For A Chiner Road Bike Frame - SWORKS Tarmac Well I got my VeloBuild VB-R-068 Frame set a few weeks ago......today I went racing on it, it was bloody awesome!
I got the matt black 54cm frame (I'm 1.8m / 5'11") and the fit was great. I stripped the matt black back to raw carbon on the forks and left the frame. Wet saned the whole frame and did my own custom paint job (Courtesy of Martin Grey's Etoe Youtube channel) and the result was awesome. From AliExpress I got the saddle, wheelset (50mm x 25mm carbon rims) Ultegra Crankset and brakes, Carbon bars with integral stem, Bar tape, shifter cable set, BB109 Ceramic Bottom bracket and from NZ online off Facebook (Bikeshelf) second hand near new Ultegra shifters and derailleurs. After about 40 hours work doing the custom paint job I put this all together and came in at a very nice 7.7kg ready to race.

I did see a review that said it was not very exciting/responsive but I have to disagree....it was agile and a real rocket ship on the downhills...very stable at 61+ Kph. I did however have to make a 3mm washer for the headset to work properly and pack the outer ring of the top headset bearing with ptfe thread tape to give it a nice snug fit.

Chris@velobuild was awesome to deal with and replied same day to all emails I sent him, I cant recommend this frame and Velobuild website more highly. Very impressed overall.
August 16, 2020, 05:19:30 AM 		1
Re: Custom Waltly Titanium 29er So the rims were lost in the mail, the brakes are on backorder, and the fork is unavailable at this time. I ended up ordering some cheap take-off wheels to run for now and keep as back ups and that solved the rim issue. I also dug into my parts bin and my brothers to find the rest of the needed items. It's all put together and riding great. It will be nice when it looses a few pounds with the permanent parts but it works for now.






October 19, 2020, 11:06:27 AM 		1
Re: Carbonda fm936 Thoughts Here is my bling build !

The weather isn't very nice here, so only two ~70km rides so far.
But I loved every instant of them, a smile from one ear to the other, even once when I crashed it :o

Not sure if it is the geometry, the full suspension, the seatpost or the electronic shifting in particular, but this has little in common with my past hardtail riding.

It is a size M SL.
OG-Evkin bar
Ligthbicyle XC925 wheelset with DT-Swiss EXP 240.
XX1 AXS derailleur + Blipbox + Multiclics
SID Ultimate 120mm and SIDLuxe shock 42.5mm
Piccola brakes
Reverb AXS
2.35 tires.
And 10,1kg

The commands are, left click easier gear, right click harder gear.
Click on both for the seatpost.

I was hoping for a more greenish blue, than this reddish one, but I start to get used to it  ::)

I'm still testing different 3D printed mounts for the blips for different positions.
For now the cables are taped below the bar, my plan was to make them go through the bar end and exit through one of the mount holes.
But there was some sun, and I preferred to go ride than work more on it. Maybe later.
April 12, 2021, 05:55:25 AM 		1
Re: Waltly Ti gravel bike build Bead blasting is finished and came out better than I had hoped. I started the build and should have that wrapped up today or tomorrow. Looking like the final weight will be in the 19.5 pound range. The heavier Ti frame and dropper post add about 3 pounds over carbon and fixed post.
















July 15, 2021, 01:41:39 PM 		1
Re: ICAN P1 Trail-27.5'' (Chinese Carbon) 2021 Frame Build! New update!

Lesson Learned #1- Confirm with bike frame manufacturer that rear shock frame mount will accept shock with a piggyback reservoir



As you can see in the front triangle (picture shown is when rear triangle is locked-out (not-compressed), if you were to put a rear shock with a piggyback reservoir, the rear shock (piggyback reservoir part) will make contact with the downtube at compression. You can already notice when shock is uncompressed, it's already in a diagonal position

I bought the DVO Topaz T3 (200x57 or 7.875''x2.25''), and it definitely did not fit and I went to LBS to confirm if won't work. They confirmed that yes only single reservoir rear shock would work

I ended of purchasing the Rockshox Monarch T3 (200x57) which I'm still waiting on receiving. Will update on how it goes

Lesson Learned #2- Do more research on modern/current rear shock sizing. 200x51mm or 200x57mm are traditional (out-dated) rear shock size measurements. From research I've done, the majority of major mountain bike manufacturers (Fox, DVO, Rockshox, Marzocchi, etc) are moving towards "metric" size measurements since 2016.

Lesson Learned #3- If I were to do it all over again, I would definitely have purchased the Ican P9 "Enduro" frame. It's accepts metric rear shock size of 210x55. So in the future if I wanted to upgrade rear shock, I would have more options available

-Crankydad
July 16, 2021, 04:59:30 PM 		1
Re: ICAN P1 Trail-27.5'' (Chinese Carbon) 2021 Frame Build! Photos from Session #2 (July 7th 2021)

Steps I did for this session:
1. Measured and cut steering tube of fork (make sure to place stem, crownfork race, headset, and all spacers/bearings and mark cut on top of steerer tube. Cut 2-3mm below that line to have room for stem cap and bolt or extra 2mm spacer )
2. Installed star nut into steerer tube and crown fork race
3. Installed fork onto frame with headset, bearings, spacers, and stem
4. Measured and cut handlebar to my preferred length (780mm)
5. Installed handlebars on the frame







Some tools that were super useful to me during this stage of building:

1. Pipe Cutter (plumbing tool)- for cutting steerer tube of fork and also handlebars
2. Reamer for Pipe/Tube- to smoothen the edges of the steerer tube and handlebars after cut
3. PVC Pipe (1 1/2'' Diameter)- to pound crown fork race into bottom of steerer tube
4. Star Nut Setter Tool- To set star nut into the steerer tube
July 16, 2021, 05:06:38 PM 		1
Re: Waltly Ti gravel bike build










July 20, 2021, 09:38:13 AM 		1
Re: ICAN P1 Trail-27.5'' (Chinese Carbon) 2021 Frame Build! Photos from session #3 (July 8th 2021)

Steps I did for this session:
1. Routed dropper post cable and housing internally from seat tube through downtube
2. Installed left brake lever, then installed dropper post remote onto left brake lever clamp (I-Spec EV)
3. Installed right brake lever, then installed rear shifter lever onto right brake lever clamp (I-Spec EV)
4. Installed grips to get correct positioning of brake lever clamping
5. Installed front bake caliper onto fork with Shimano F180P/P2 adapter (since I'll have 180mm rotors)- Confirm with fork manufacturer not already designed for 180mm rotor
6. Install rear brake caliper onto rear triangle of frame with Shimano F180P/P2 adapter (since I'll have 180mm rotor in back)- Ican P1 frame designed for 160mm rotor in rear













Tools helpful:
1. Housing dampening foam (for internal routing)- I heard other people say cable rattle loudly during rough terrain on trails
2. Pre-routed plastic with masking tape ends come stock with the Ican P1 frame (so all you need to do is tape housing to plastic and push and pool through frame. Or if routing cable first then housing, you can just insert cable into the pre-routed plastic

Lesson Learned #4- Budget extra time for routing cables internally!- I imagined this only taking 1 hour tops, this took me 4 hours at least!
- Also, the pre-routed plastic were routed in a way that didn't match my setup. My setup was:
i. Left brake lever and dropper post remote on Left of handlebar
ii. Right brake lever and shifter lever on Right of handlebar

I wanted the rear brake and right shifter cables to through from the left side holes of top of downtube then cross to the right side to handlebar. Ican had the prerouted plastic for rear shift cable coming from right side of holes on top of downtube. The same for the rear brake hose (on the right side holes of top of downtube)

The pre-routed plastic for the dropper post was coming from the left side holes of top of downtube. I wanted it to come from the right side holes of downtube and then cross to Left side of handlebar

Something to note!

-Crankydad
July 20, 2021, 05:19:34 PM 		1