See likes

See likes given/taken


Posts you liked

Pages: [1] 2
Post info No. of Likes
Serpah FM199 Drop Bar MTB Build I wanted an aggressive gravel bike that's able to fit MTB tires.  Trying to copy a Salsa Cutthroat with a Chiner frame.  I basically wanted ~70mm BB drop, clearance for 29x2.25, chainring clearance for 36t+, and modern XC geometry (100mm fork geo, ~69 deg headtube, etc).  I usually ride large MTB's (I'm 5'10.5") so I ordered a medium FM199 frame from Serpah on Aliexpress.  It arrived in 9 days from ordering and was packaged very well!

-Serpah FM199 Chinese Carbon 29er MTB Frame
-SRAM Rival HRD 1x w/ 38t and 10-42
-Teravail Sparwood Tires on ARC27's laced to Novatec hubs (my first wheel build!)
-Niner Boost RDO Fork
-Tranzx Dropper actuated with left shift lever
-Ritchey VentureMax bars

The main setback on the build was routing the rear derailleur cable.  This frame is intended to run bare cable through the frame, but I like to run full housing so I drilled through the frame fittings.  The DS chainstay is THIN inside, I had to grease up the housing and use a bit of force to get the housing through.  With Jagwire 1.1mm cable there's no issue with stiction.  Other than that the build was super straight forward, the BB was solid and the PF BB went in no problem, no creaking yet!  Headset area was solid, the rest of the cable routing was easy, everything else went together in one night.  This frame is weird that the rear caliper is set up flat mount, but they include an adapter.  Luckily I'm running a road groupset so I actually am running flat mount in the rear and post mount in the front.  Since there's only clearance for 29x2.3 tires and it's boost spacing, the DS chainstay runs parallel to the centerline a ways past the chainring, I'm sure I could fit a 40t or 42t no problem.

It weighs 21.9 lbs as it sits in the pictures.  I also have carbon road wheels that will get the weight down to 20.5 or so.  I could drop another pound or so off the gravel weight if I went carbon with some lighter spokes, but I'm pretty happy as is.  The wheels are 1840g without tape or valves.  I found a nice gravel two-track trail that leads into a tight single-track trail and then leads to a long dirt road, this bike was perfect for that!  I want to get it out on some longer single-track trails to see how it does.
October 02, 2019, 11:19:15 AM 		1
Re: Groupset News I suspect it'll be a couple of months before this turns up on Ali.
October 22, 2022, 08:47:34 AM 		1
Re: Groupset News China cycling just released a video about this groupset



Not that much technical info like installation/bleeding/is there a clutch on derailleur/etc but you do have the pricing.

I'm still not sure about the ergonomics... On one hand it looks like it can be easily be shifted from the drops, but the thumb lever looks a bit far to be used on the hoods.
October 28, 2022, 10:01:32 AM 		1
Re: LTWOO RX hydro sets pics of shifter. if the left thumb shiftrt does the same i'll trim the rubber for it too.
December 12, 2022, 08:50:58 AM 		1
Re: Velobuild VB-R-177 Update on my 177 after about 1000km. I got the headset rubbing issue fixed, not by the replacement bearings which VB sent, but by sanding away the paint in the areas which rubbed. Not pretty, but worked. I swapped the horrible flexy handlebar for the Deda superbox stem and some Zipp alloy bars. I'm done with internal cble routing, especially on bars!

Had a bit of a problem after a long ride last week - the frame was full of water with no obvious way to drain it, and the headset bearings were grinding and making a terrible noise. I took the front end apart and the bearings are totally rusty. I don't have spare hoses and cables to be able to swap them right now so just greased as best I can, and reassembled.

Has anyone else had issues with water ingress? I'd like to drill a hole in the bottom of the BB shell, but this seems like a perfect way to start a crack.

Current build:


Previously (same wall!):
December 30, 2022, 04:30:09 AM 		1
Re: Recommended chinese dropper seat post? PNW has a 25% off sale right now. Just fyi.
February 12, 2024, 11:33:43 AM 		1
Re: XC Marathon Fully with... Drops? Advice?
Really the biggest issue I see using an MTB frame as the base for a gravel bike is the limited front chainring size if you try to keep the recommended chain line.

Maybe going 2x solves this?     
April 03, 2024, 02:21:34 PM 		1
Re: XC Marathon Fully with... Drops? Advice? dengue makes a full suspension gravel frame.  built around a 100/100mm travel.  http://m.dengfubikes.com/index.php?s=/229.html
April 03, 2024, 04:07:26 PM 		1
Re: XC Marathon Fully with... Drops? Advice? Ha, I just responded to you on reddit.  Here's how my old Monstercross bike started life, I did a few rides with a fork and messed around with different tires, but mostly had it set up as a 29er gravel bike https://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,2837.msg20146.html#msg20146

Chainring clearance is limited by the chainstay.  MTB's have the wide tires that road bikes don't, so the chainstay flares outward where the tire is.  Bigger chainring means you need to push that little bump out rearward or inward, which means either making chainstays longer or limiting tire clearance.  In reality, 36t is probably the largest you'll find on a full squish.  The FM199 I built from had a bunch of chainring clearance, but it's a hardtail.  36t front and 10t rear is pretty tall gearing though.  Remember than 29er's are worth about 2t more speed than 700c, and 10t is 10% over 11t, so a 36/10t on 29er is similar to 42/11t on 700c.  Not enough gear to win a gravel race, but more than enough for XC racing and fine for most gravel stuff.  34/10t on my MTB's is enough to get around 30mph before I spin out and tuck.
April 03, 2024, 04:48:24 PM 		1
Re: XC Marathon Fully with... Drops? Advice? One other thing is to look for 0° or 3° offset chainrings.  I run shimano cranks and Pass Quest makes some in both variations. You could flip a 3° around so it moves outward to give you more clearance. 
April 03, 2024, 05:17:15 PM 		1