I took a look at some photos and geo between the torpado matador and the hongfu fm 258. They do look to be the same. Thanks for the info.

Hi sissypants, thanks for your posts that contain so much great information. It is a great time to build your own bike with the exact components you want. Adding links to unbranded (at least in the US) components that you used, weighed and reviewed is extremely valuable.  I followed your model in my build blog.

Information about frames/components is sometimes obfuscated by external forces. Things like advertising income, manufacture's marketing... impact the information that is distributed. Shimano does not want you to use non Shimano chainrings, cranks, chains... with their derailleur/cassettes/shifters so they say that you cannot do it or if you do, will suffer performance penalties. They even designed the master link to not work with existing SRAM compatible chainrings (why else would you design a chain to have one link that is narrower than all other links on a chain? BTW M9100 chain works well with SRAM link on SRAM wide/narrow chainring).

Information gathered on these types of forums should be taken with a grain of salt. There may be external forces or simple lack of expertise that may cause inaccurate information to be distributed. It is great when there are people like you who add information that is accurate and well thought out. Keep up the great work!

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I just thought about how lame I am regarding the shock mounting. I can mount it upside down. I can flip the bike upside down when I need to modify the air pressure. Thanks for pinging me on this subject.

I got a chance to take it out for a few rides on varied terrain that included climbing and descending a 2412' fire road, high and low speed single track, and mild to very steep climbs. This is my early ride report.

I want to give some background on me as a rider. I used to road race motorcycles (and still ride motocross). There is so much chatter about riding techniques and bike setup that it makes you dizzy. I definitely weigh an opinion higher if the rider finished in front of me. With that said, I am not a bicycle racer.  I ride often and consider myself a very good descender. I am a motivated rider but suffer with a high heart rate and low power...

The bike is efficient with no sign of pedal bob. Handles and climbs well. On the trails I rode, I did not have any problems with the low 12.6"  bottom bracket height (same as Spark). I usually ride a 22lb FS 26" (geometry similar to a 2012 Scott Spark) bike and was apprehensive about the agility of this bike due to it's larger wheel size. I did have to compensate a little to get the bike to turn by putting a  little more weight on the front and using more handlebar pressure (than on the 26). I am surprised that the maneuverability difference between the bikes is so small. This has probably been said a billion times, but the 29 wheels roll better and keep momentum better. It seems that you don't lose as much speed (and need less effort) on the upward slope of undulating terrain than on the 26. It is a fast bike.

The bike has a SRAM XX1 Eagle crank/chainring, Shimano M9100 chain, M9100 SGS (long cage) derailleur and M9100 shifter. This combination works great and shifts flawlessly.  You can up shift up to three gears at a time. Down shifting is one gear at a time. I used a 30T front 10/51T cassette. The low gear 30/51 combination on the 29 is roughly the same as 22/34 on the 26. The M9100 chain uses a master link that requires a master link tool for installation and removal. Gone are the days of tool-less master links.

I like to set my bike up firm/light rebound so the suspension does not sack down on high speed bumps.  The shock is Fox Factory Float set up with 6mm of sag and run in the mid compression setting. The fork is Fox 32 Factory Step Cast set up with 9mm of sag and 10 clicks rebound. The fork settings are still a work in progress.  The medium compression lever setting is very stiff for small to medium bumps, but good for drop offs. Open mode with almost no compression 18 clicks (22 none, 0 stiffest) is good for small/medium bumps  but compresses too much for drop offs. I say this with great conviction after going over a drop off , compressing the fork too much, and endoing it. Next time I am going to try Open mode with higher compression settings.

I really like this bike for cross country riding. It is light, efficient, and turns well.  There is nothing negative that stands out to me. After all, this frame is OEM'ed by a few companies that have hopefully done more testing than myself. Also the frame was raced at and made the podium at the U23 World Cup level.  Now that is something  I would pay attention to.

Still early in the development cycle for this bike. I rode mt. tam (2572') today (fire trail up, then down). Did not ride anything too steep, but did not have any bob. In any case, shock adjustment can alter this behavior. Reducing sag, volume spacers, and compression damping all effect this.  I set the rear up very firm  (6mm sag on shock).  based on Fox's recommended settings.

I have not converted to tubeless because I can run the tire pressures I want without pinch flats. I am not sure that converting to tubeless would save weight. I run a conti race king racesport tires. They are light, have very thin sidewalls and are not recommended for tubeless. There is a 75g difference between the racesport and protection (tubeless ready) model. The tube I use is 126g. The weight difference before sealant would be  126 -75 - 7(weight of tubeless valve stem)= 44g. I think you would use more than 44g of sealant. However, if you could get the racesport tire to seal, then you would save some weight.