The reason for the relatively low seat tube was to have a lot of exposed seat post, which should add some compliance.

It was a point of attention in the design. Looks like we’ll be able to try to frame in June, can give more feedback then.

I’m all for it, but i’m saying the seat tube of this frame is taller than my current frame, so my reasoning tells me it potentially may be a less forgiving ride 

This post details the diagnostics I performed to be 100% certain the clicking came from the non-driveside fork dropout/flip chip. Feel free to skip it if you aren’t interested, though I’m also writing it to serve as something of a general-purpose creak locater checklist.

The behavior of the clicking serves as the first diagnostic. It is not correlated with any contact point or motion, and occurs when I am/am not pedaling (including when my feet are off the pedals completely), when I am/am not in the saddle, when I am/am not holding the handlebars, when I am/am not turning, etc. However, the clicking is more correlated with road surface: the bumpier the surface, the more clicking, though it’s far from an r^2 = 1 type of deal.

Working back to front, as I wanted to eliminate the least likely suspects first:

• Rear dropout/hub interface: the clicking did not change when this interface was clean or dirty, and I tried 3 different wheelsets to no effect. The rear axle also showed no signs of fretting anywhere and the fit in the dropout is snug.
• Rear hanger: no change in the noise when I was using a regular derailleur hanger with a Shimano setup versus the full mount XPLR derailleur.
• Wheels: again, no change in the noise with 3 different wheelsets (rear+front), and 4 different freehubs, as I had to change from an HG to an XDR freehub on my 700c wheelset.
• Rear derailleur: no play in either derailleur. Jockey wheel bolts are tight and the wheels have no play or noise. No chain interference.
• Cassette/chain: no change in the noise when using a Shimano cassette, a monoblock Goldix cassette, or the Rival XPLR cassette. Also, no correlation between pedaling and the noise, so probably not anything in the rear.
• Bottom bracket/crankset/chainring/pedals/cleats: no change in the noise when this is perfectly clean or very dirty. Chainring bolts are tight, and there was no change in the noise when using 2 different sets of chainring bolts. Again, the noise occurs when my feet aren’t even on the pedals.
• Seatpost: this did creak (see prior post) but that was unrelated. No problems with the saddle mounting interface either. Noise occurs even when not seated. 
• Bottle cages: bolts are snug. Noise occurs even when all cages and their bolts are removed from the bike.
• Brakes/rotors/calipers/pads: no change in the noise when swapping between multiple different rotors, Shimano or SRAM calipers, and stock pads vs SwissStop. Also no correlation between speed (i.e. rotor rotation rate) and the noise.
• Stem/handlebar: no change in the noise when swapping the stem’s titanium bolts for steel, both in the steerer clamp and handlebar clamp. The noise occurs even when no hands are on the bar. This also ruled out the shifter clamps/clamp interface being the problem.
• Headset: this is the main other suspect, but the noise didn’t change when I swapped the original bearings for Enduro ones (for corrosion – the original ones got a little rusty), and it also doesn’t change depending on dirtiness, which I’d expect to exacerbate any headset noise, especially if it’s coming from the bottom bearing which is more easily contaminated.

Given all this, and ruling out structural damage (this bike has been babied), and the fact that I could change the click behavior somewhat via different chip shimming methods, that was the only logical conclusion. To pinpoint the exact issue, I put silver Sharpie around both chips and rode for several hours. Only the non-driveside chip showed wear (see pictures). I repeated this after I swapped the chips around, so the threaded chip was on the non-driveside, and it showed the same wear pattern. Thus, the problem had to be caused by the non-driveside dropout/chip interface. I did some very gentle 1200 grit wet sanding of that dropout, in case there were any invisible protrusions, but this neither helped nor hurt. Ultimately, the epoxy fixed the issue for a brief time before it failed, giving final confirmation that chip movement in the dropout is the problem. Considering all this data, and the fact that the driveside dropout, with its chip retained by a grub screw, has never had a problem, I’m almost completely certain the new fork with its dual grub screws will fix the issue. 

I’m sorry to hear this was the case. Unfortunately I have a similar situation at hand. But mine does have the grub screws!

Since i first purchased the frame, I had some funny issues with sounds coming from my brakes. Shortly after, I purchased a new wheelset from the shop called Easdon wheels. Set everything up and same issue occurred. I switched to new pads, sound came back.

I paid a shop to just put in some OEM Sram pads and i provided a new pair of aliexpress rotors. I was desperate for them to just solve it. It was fine for a few rides, but unfortunately returned in the form of turkey gobbling sound. Front and rear.The power is there, but the braking sounds awful. Big headache to solve the problem!!

In a last ditch effort, I purchased again NEW floating rotors and this time Bucklos ceramic pads. I saw great feedback on em. I installed them ultra carefully as if I were handling a bomb. I wiped and cleaned my hands and the rotors after every interaction to prevent contamination. After 10 minutes of following the bedding process, and letting the rotor cool down, I now have a new sound. HOWLING. I am about ready to list this and sell it to someone else who would prefer
to figure it out. Has anyone else with this size M frame had this issue?

Spcycle G068, running a 2.2 race King on the front fork, using the 55 mm offset position, perfect for the tire size. 48mm PF Pro in the rear. Feels responsive yet stable. I was using the shorter 51 mm offset while running 45mm front and rear.

Thats comforting, sounds like this should be a lasting fix then, thanks for that context!

I let the epoxy cure for about 16 hours and because I'm impatient I tried to unthread the BB cup that took the insert with it, and the BB unthreaded without issue. I was able to insert a new BB and torque it down to spec as well. So hopefully it holds. For some reason I have a soft spot in my heart for this stupid frame.

Hey again, how has this repair held up? I’ve just about given up waiting for the replacement triangle, and i think i’m going to try and repair the inserts myself.

Any instructions or tips you have would be super appreciated.

Did you replace the rotor with an identical one? It might just be an unfortunate case of the resonant frequencies of the rotor matching those of the fork, and switching to a different rotor design can fix it. If the issue persists with a different rotor, then try changing the fork offset (i.e. swap the flip chip) to see if that helps, as it will change the fork's frequency slightly. If that doesn't help, then try swapping pad brands/compounds, I've had good luck with SwissStop pads. And if that doesn't help, I can only suggest trying out different brakes altogether to see if it's a caliper issue... but that's pretty expensive.

Thanks for the detailed message!

Different rotorset, I actually tried two different kinds of rotors, both ended up, producing the same sound after a few minutes of breaking and riding.

The fork offset recommendation is hard to hear, as I bought this frame set for its ability to run the 55 mm for giant tires in the front, or the 51 for your standard 45 mm tire…

I do happen to have another force AXS, I think my last ditch effort will be to swap out that caliper. gosh what a headache.

I’m hoping David has some more info for me or can help in someway when they return from their holiday.

Hey all. Running into a low resonance/howl on my front fork… very perplexed on this one.

pad and rotor are fairly new and clean, I even tried replacing the pad and rotor with fresh set.

Fork was faced in a rudimentary way, but my caliper is pretty straight on my rotor. I had this double checked by my bike shop when I asked them to face it, and they recommended I did not mess with it because of how good it already was.

I tried torquing the axle bolt and then tightening down the grub screws for the flip chip. I am running into this in the 55mm offset position.


Originally had the OEM pads, but switched to some pink coomas.

I had the axle entering from the right side, but switched it back to the left side as it came from the manufacturer, I want to say the sound improved slightly, but it is definitely still there. When I can figure out how to upload the footage of this sound, I will.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I’m at the point where I don’t really like riding my bike anymore… it’s ultra frustrating. China is on holiday so David isn’t getting back to me at the moment.

Like others have said, i also do not trust the bottom bracket threads.  Mine have dislodged on both sides.

what has your solution been? Personally, I’ve been waiting about seven months for them to be able to produce me my replacement with the correct paint. It’s been pretty crazy. AWST Cycling Tactics, AKA All Star Bicycle…

As most of you know, the 11.11 sale is one of the biggest of the year. Vendors also have a history of increasing prices in advance - just like US retailers for Black Friday. What is in your cart waiting on the sale?

I have a set of NGEbut hubs (i9 hydra clones) that show as $158 today with a price drop to $136 on Nov 1st. https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806584091583.html Now to see if it drops even more.

Love the look of those. How did you like those hubs? What kind of build and what terrain do you ride it on?