FYI i built this up over 6 months ago - you can see it here: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,1349.0.html

I did a 29er build, so let me know if you have any questions.

Just going through your post - i routed the dropper cable over the BB shell (all internal). As for the additional holes, I covered it with clear tape.

Thanks for posting what you did! Yours and rideczeck's build logs are a main reason why I ordered this frame!

With all this talk about shocks and since you're here, did you order that Topaz straight from DVO? I looked around for deals on them but couldn't find much for under $500 or so.

I managed to get a pretty good deal on this Monarch, apparently they came on some trek slash. I bought this one as a factory takeoff on ebay for a touch over $200. I was planning on ordering more volume spacers, it has two now and I can still get through all the travel pretty easily with 12mm or 20% of sag. I think it might be because the frame has a linear leverage ratio and the debonair can is supposed to make the shock less progressive. From what linkage says, it goes from 3.35mm/mm to 2.3mm/mm at full compression. If I am not mistaken, this means it's 150% linearly progressive ratio, as in it's right about 2.85mm/mm at half the travel. I think Specialized Enduro is similar, some people complain about the debonair can and attribute it to the geometry being linear, I assume they mean linearly progressive? But what kind of slope are we talking? I should roughly sketch one of those up, curious what they look like in comparison.

I need to know what my shock does, too. Need to build adapters for my homemade shock dyno.

I wish I could be more help but I haven't many points to reference, other than the two stumpys pictured above. Those are both large, my frame is a medium and feels less cramped than either now that I have my bars angled properly. If you look at the comparison between a medium P9 and a Large SJ6F here you'll see they are pretty dang close except the chainstay...

https://geometrygeeks.bike/compare/specialized-stumpjumper-fsr-carbon-6fattie-2016-l,ican-p9-2017-m/

I wish I got a 150-170mm dropper post now, I had mine as low as it would go and it was great till I hit a climb. I've been slowly raising it, and I've been bit by the saddle twice now!

I might look into making some spare lower piviot bolts, just in case. I should have measured the thing while I had it out. Guess I still need to replace those bearings, anyway. What's your guy's opinion on the enduro bearings, I think they have more bearings for better load capacity? They aren't cheap, must be good 

Nice! Funny you mention this as I bought one a couple weeks ago also. Which one did you get? There is a bit of a learning curve but I think I have it figured out. It's the cut settings that seem to be variable. I've been using some Oracal 651 with great results but I've also got some black reflective vinyl that's been a bit of a pain. I've set the depth so it's cutting halfway through the paper and it's still a PITA to weed. It also decided to leave an adhesive deposit on the cutting blade which then pulled all the letters off and I ruined half a sheet.

I got a UScutter MH365, the little one. I've worked with lots of cheap chinese laser cutters, cnc routers and other oddities, this one is by far the smoothest one I've played with yet.

I'm using some greenstar outdoor stuff for now, figured I'd practice on the cheap stuff but it's honestly not too bad where I've used it so far. I did a few tests to calibrate blade offset and messed with the roller pressure so it doesn't emboss the material so much. I also turned up the cutting pressure quite a bit and the speed way down, I think I have it around 60mm/s and 180-200g for a pressure.

I managed to cut a tiny little brake rotor, going to make a "Right hand front" sticker to warn people! This complicated mess weeded just fine but the big block text to the left did not! I think it is because most of the cuts on the artwork were continuous, but the text had sharp corners where the blade stopped or restarted. I imported a raw DXF as a test, it cut that segment by segment as if there was no continuous contour!! Not good for weeding!



That black reflective stuff is cool, I'm going to have to get some of that! I might try using a new blade to see if I can keep from wasting a sheet, I've accidentally ran across the wear strip a few times on accident besides all the vinyl I've cut.

Nice !
This prototype testing may be more dangerous than a cassette 

It is funny the effort to make it the same shape as a classic stem + bar.
On my Canyon, it is totally flat, and seems more of a one piece.

I wonder if it's effort, or just using a standard alloy stem/bar as the mold?

Still very cool!

I'm running a Sram Torque cap front fork and a novatec D791SB hub with standard 15x110 thru axle endcaps. I don't mind much, but getting the front hub lined up with the fork is a right pain.

I took a random search just out of curiosity and found these, they appear to be torque cap compatible endcaps! The listing only gives compatibility with "D541SB,D881SB,XD641sb,factor, and some oem/odm hub such as spank kore" Bummer, not my hub!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOVATEC-hub-Torque-Caps-for-SRAM-RockShox-Forks-15x100-15x110mm-Boost-31TC-/302547608141?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c1&var=601385023191

I found this web page and it makes me think that all of these novatec hubs use similar endcaps and they call it "multi axle system." I'm curious how likely it'll be these fit if I order them, they aren't expensive so I don't mind trying them for the sake of knowing.

http://nguide.eu/faq/convertible-vs-non-convertible-hubs

Has anyone any experience with these novatec hubs multi axle system? Any guesses on how likely they are to work?

Thanks!

I think I figured out what a lot of my problems were on hitting these jumps, I had my handlebars rotated way too far back and I'm guessing lost a lot of leverage over the front end. I was having a hard time getting the front to pop off kickers, no matter how hard I tried to preload it just seemed to eat it up even more and leave me no speed till the rear hit and tries to send you OTB...

Rotating them forward moved me forwards a good bit and I'm able to manipulate the front much easier. I can pretty reliably clear the jump between the trees in the last photo 

I went and rode some real trails today and had a blast, part of the ride was maybe a 500-800 meter 20% grade to "earn the decent" and this thing eats it up so we did it twice! It climbs better than the 2013 stumpy elite on the same hill, and I seemed to be having an easier time than my buddy on the SJ6F with the 9-46 ethirteen cassette. I forgot to use the dual position front shock the first time up and really didn't notice much of a difference the second time, kind of wishing I got a solo air now since they've got more easy upgrades. Maybe I just need to find steeper hills!

Spent some time working on some jumps in the afternoon too, with shovels and bikes both...



My buddy jumping the stumpy, then my bike after the sun pretty much gave up. He slipped off the brake levers and almost ate a tree, I moved them in quite a bit to work them with one finger 

I need to get a MTB friendly gopro setup!

I don't think this frame has a hole, I checked the iscg holes and they are blind so I can't use them as a drain. I might just have to drill one

My brakes finally came, tomorrow I might get some real riding in!

Bleeding brakes sucks! It took much longer than I thought it would, all the daylight was gone by the time I was done. In the end I made a hanging handlebar reservoir and used a syringe to push/pull fluid back and forth 800 times. I found it best to only trigger the brake lever while pulling fluid through the caliper, then waiting for all the tiny microscopic bubbles to collect on top of the syringe before pushing it back through. Also zip tied the calipers vertical and tapped them with a plastic handle a lot to dislodge bubbles. When I was finally done I capped off the master cylinder while using the caliper syringe to purge all air from the bleed port. I had to remove the calipers and make sure to have them above the master cylinder when removing the syringe from the caliper, then I'd use the syringe to add a few drips of fluid to the port before installing the cap. I'm pretty happy with how tight they are now, but I think I can make them better still.

I came up with a trick for the rear brake cable, there is no cable stay on the seat tube and the cable naturally wants to flex out into the crank arm. Since I did not use the odd extra dropper post hole I was able to use it and a zip tie to make a seat tube cable stay.



Here is a shot of the rear at full droop travel with the 210x60 shock, the seat sure gets close 



I took the bike out to some jumps earlier, while I still didn't have brakes. I tried sending it, but it's still pretty muddy and no brakes don't mix well. I ate it a few times and christened the pedals on my calves really well, but the bike took it all like a champ. I cased one pretty good too, used all but the last 10-15mm of the front shock but still managed to roll over. Whoops! 

The bottom bracket is really really low! It's going to take some getting used to, feels as though you'll hit everything. I got a pedal down hauling around a corner on a paved trail and skipped the rear out pretty good, could have went a lot worse.

I think I need to slow down before I really hurt myself 
 

I'm not sure I can bring myself to drill a hole, and I'm not too keen on pulling the bottom bracket apart often!

I believe I can figure a way to control a proper drill bit to do so without delamination, but not so much when crossing over into the aluminum. The aluminum bracket also has a 5mm lip inside where it meets the downtube, for complete drainage I would need to drill the downtube. This lip also makes it interesting getting dropper screws out of the frame, careful while removing those hose covers

I'm not sure what I would like to do, I'll have to think about it for a while. Maybe I can use a thicker version of plastidip to seal as much as I can? I wish the seatpost were a little easier to remove!

If I dry out my wheels and put a little sealant in with the nipples I wonder if it'll help keep that water out. I'm not as worried about the wheels as I am the bottom bracket.

Thank you both for the nice comments! Carbonazza, were the frames you drilled alloy or carbon?