Hello guys,

stepping in right in now as I am much much interested in this frame and have some serious thought we can discuss about.

Backstory: Just built a Mondince FM336 Gravelbike a month ago. Loved the process, love the riding. But its a gravel bike and it has its own use case which is not speeding on roads. It performs great on gravel. I initially chose size L and think its a very good match. So far I am very pleased with mondince.

Because I also want to do some races and/or triathlons in the future I am thinking about building up a road bike. I asked Jack if he has a road frame and answered with "yes, the fm126". Then I offered, I could produce a buy and build process video on youtube for this particular frame. His answer was, that he can send me the frame for 450€ only - but I have to mention Mondince as brand (no details yet actually in which way he wants me to place the brand).

Keeping the 450€ in Mind its almost a no-brainer. But there is this flexy BB issue which could be kind of dangerous for me: 185cm tall, 90kg heavy.

Do you think I should still consider this frame? Another way to go would be the LCR018D (but its more of a allroad endurance and not meant for racing), the not yet released LCR020 or the fully built up Seraph TT-X71.

I read so many threads about all those frames and the more you read the more issues you find. Its frustrating diving into a rabbit hole and overthink stuff   

Loooking forward to your replies!

++++++ REVIEW TIME  ++++++

USED PARTS:
- Mondince FM336 with custom Paint Job
- Ryet 3D Printed saddle
- Elitewheels SLR Gravel (god they are loud! :-D)
- TPU Tubes
- Setback Saddle by mondince
- Sunshine Cassette 12 Speed 11-46T
- Senicx T47 BB
- Senicx PR3 Gravel Crankset 170mm crankarm, 40T Chainring
- Kocevlo X01 Handlebar
- Ltwoo egr electronic groupset (Bought used)
- Shimano 160mm Discs

COSTS
Overall I paid around ~2000€ of which are only 1700€ parts for the bike (like the frame, handlebar etc.) and 235€ materials like mineral oil and tools and other stuff.
thats kind of a bargain for a bike like that. I currently weighs about 9kg which is kind of good for a gravel bike i think - what do you think?

ORDER AND DELIVERY
- Ordered on 12th May 2026 via Mail
- Delivered 19th June 2026
- They had some Issues on my order so it was delayed. When Jack told me the package is sent it took roughly 10 Days to arrive in Germany
- Package was well secured and no damage at all. I wish they had put some parts descriptions or even a manual in there as there were parts in the package which I dont know what to do with them but so far everything was right and when I built up the bike my questions about some parts answered itself.
Rating: 8/10 very well experience. Jack responded quick. Delivery was quick but with the delays in my order I cant give 10/10

UNBOXING AND BUILD
Unboxed everything and the paint job was exactly as ordered by me. Also the frame was very well manufactured: I saw no sharp ends anywhere or problems with the paintjob. As a first time builder it took me about 2-3 days to build the whole thing. I think thats fine. Only issue I ran into were the mounting brackets for the brakes. I use 160mm Discs front and rear. When I mounted the calipers with the 160 Ltwoo adapter the brakes were only slightly touching the discs. I showed it to a local bike mechanic and he also said "that looks wrong - try another adapter). I then used the 140mm adapter and thats it. So I dont know what thats about but It works now.
Rating 9/10

RIDING EXPERIENCE
Building the bike I decided to first try out road tyres and took it up a local hill. Performed pretty well. No rattling, no shaking. Just a fun bike to ride. A week later I went on a tougher Gravel route together with a friend of mine and hell yeah that was fun! Had some schwalbe tyres with only 45mm on it but the bike performed outstandingly well! Fast ascending on forest tracks, lot of stability on "single-trails" descending and a lot of speed too. I still have some Issues with my hands as I think the Ltwoo brifters are kind of small and maybe my handlebar is also a bit too short. But nothing I cant fix. New parts are already ordered and will be delivered today.
So the only 3 things I miss a little bit:
1) a slightly lighter gear for climbing (maybe trying a 48T or even 50T Cassette? Experiences?
2) a bit more top speed when descending roads (had 60 km/h max which is a bit low)
3) a bit wider brifters of the ltwoo as I think my hands are a bit too large ( any ideas how to fix it?)
Rating 10/10

Attached some pictures with road tyres and gravel tyres aswell as standard and setback seatpost.


Glad I discovered this forum. I never thougt I would be able to build up my own bike with kind of high end parts on a budget.

But the best thing: I have learnt a LOT and the next project will come soon: Road bike for my first race and triathlon ( suggestions? thought about the prebuilt seraph tt-x42 or tt-x71 or tt-r18)

A reasonably quick test would be to (temporarily) remove all the spacers from your Stevens and see how you get on with that position. If you are comfortable, size L is a good option.

Did exactly this. Moved all the spacers to the upside of the handlebar (looked shit af) and rode about 2hrs and did 56km. At first I thought that it was way more sportive. After some minutes I adapted and felt way more agile, speedy (i definitely was faster than before - i like). at the end of the ride I cant even tell much difference. But overall I liked this ride with 35mm lower handlebar.

No pain anywhere (except my butt thats normal). I felt a slightly little bit more pressure on my hands when I had them on the hoods but it was not unrideable.

Overall:

- The position felt good (8–10/10)
- Felt strange at first, then athletic/awesome, and normal by the end
- I could ride in this position for a long time
- No numbness
- No neck issues
- No shoulder issues
- No lower back issues
- Breathing was fine
- Could push hard
- Still okay after 2h20
- Didn’t want to go any higher
- Even fingers didn’t go numb anymore
- Nothing was worse except the look

I guess size L it is. will tinker around with some paintjobs now

Thank you so much for the detailed analysis @chiyou - means a lot.

I think right now I lean to size L and just adapt to it since the XL FM336 is so close to my current stevens (it has the same stack to reach ratio for example). And I got the feeling that I can tinker around a bit more in Size L. My only fear is, that my legs are too long for size L. And on the other side my arms could be too short in size XL. Idk man its hard  - maybe I am overthinking and overanalyzing way too much here.. 

Just some side Information (dont know if it helps for further analysis): Never really changed anything on the stevens. I had a bike fitting once but they didnt do much adjustments there. I have the adjustment data in the attachments.
The stevens had 35mm spacers under the stem - that was default. Never changed anything

Stuff I measured by myself:
- From bottom to top of handlebar I got 100,5cm
- saddle size 130mm
- source for more data: https://www.stevensbikes.de/2024/de/de/gravel/alloy/gavere/ There you find also stem size etc.

Didnt think choosing a frame could be that hard and complicated

Looking at BikeInsights, the Mondince XL frame is slightly smaller than the Gavere one while the L frame is substantially smaller than the Gavere. If the Gavere works well for you, I'd go with size XL for the Mondince.

https://bikeinsights.com/compare?geometries=622f5a0e4fad47001d40c191,69be1e96e0c59c001b08ac87

I am not sure how to interpret the 'BUT' in your post - are you hoping to adopt a more aggressive riding position?

One small observation: a 300mm seatpost may not be long enough (also, Mondince's website says that a seatpost (of unspecified length) is included with the frame).

The Gavere in general works for me, yes. When I see the bikeinsights diagram I just think "is even the XL too small for me?" But maybe this is caused by lack of experience because the Gavere is my first gravel bike. I even have to say its my first bike where I spent more money. In the past Ive ridden cheap, used vintage peugeot bikes. But these bikes were just for being mobile and not for doing ride-outs and doing sport. Now I enjoy doing sport on my bike, doing ride-outs. Its more than just being mobile in the city and around.

The "BUT" was related to my actual riding style and what the gavere was designed for. I think its not a perfect fit (anymore). I am definitely not a frequent bikepacker and adventure graveler. Yes, I do bikepacking and adventure graveling but rarely. Long story short. I dont want to lose the ability to do graveling but I want a bit sportier more for street/asphalt/road designed frame.

seatpost: yes you are right. But thats not a big deal. I can use the seatpost for my girls bike. My current seatpost on the Gavere is 350mm long, and most of it is buried in the frame. But that’s just because the frame itself is larger—when I bought that seatpost, the FM336 wasn't even on my radar yet. Thats why i chose 300mm.

Hi there,

same here. Ive spent the last days and hours with measuring my body and my current bike and researching a lot. I mean a LOT. Thanks to AI and bikeinsights I am a lot smarter now.

I also thought a bit more about my riding style and the conclusion was that I may not need an ultra gravel monster with possibly up to 57 tire clearance. Since I mostly ride asphalt, bike roads and maybe light gravel sometimes I may should look for an all-road frame with a litte bit more tire clearance. I guess this is what is need..

When I searched for gravel frames I had this tierlist for me:

1) LightCarbon LCG071S-PRO 580 - when i want 45mm fast gravel
2) Carbonda CFR707 XL/530 - most rational price to value ratio
3) SPcycle G028 L — super cool Gravel-Project, but maybe too much gravelish

Right now I am thinking about the LightCarbon LCR018-D in 560 size. Would be the best match when riding 70-80% street. Think with 38 tires i would still be able to do some gravel trails. My current bike also only got 40 tires and i graveled single trails with it.


Does anybody know some other sporty but also quite relaxed/comfortable all-road frames which perform on the street aswell as in gravel?