So, finished building this about two weeks ago. It's almost identical to a Specialized Epic, save for some minor differences in geometry.
2022 Tantan FM199-B-SL.
Bought from Tantan off eBay. Frame came in about a week and a half to Colorado. Was shipped from China and not a more local warehouse/
Full build weight is currently right about 26 lbs, 11.8kg. I could get this down to probably 11kg with different aluminum wheels, no dropper post, and a couple other minor component changes, but I don't care enough. I could see this bike being built under 10 kg without a lot of trouble.
I think the bigger thing I made note of is that the routing of the dropper post cable seems like it takes a rather tight bend. And also, you cannot use a big dropper like some 150 or 170mm droppers on this. They just won't fit due to the seat tube not being straight, so it won't drop all the way in and then you'll be limited to a minimum seat mounting height that will probably be too long. If you use a standard seat post or a shorter dropper post, you shouldn't have any issues. Which is what I ended up doing only AFTER I bought a longer dropper post. So word of warning there.
Having 3 cables routed internally means I didn't need to block any part of the port that goes into the frame.
The head set fit well enough. Derailleur hanger and thru axle are fine. And the bottom bracket, while press fit, is doing just fine. I do want to make note of the fact that getting the crankset to fit wasn't the easiest and required a bit of extra effort to get it to go through far enough. Basically, the BB shell is is actually closer to 92.5mm instead of 92.0mm. This is probably the biggest oversight in the construction of the frame. It made fitting the Shimano crankset difficult and I wonder if it will impact the longevity of the BB bearings. Other crankset attachment methods that use a wavy washer or other preload methods like SRAM DUB won't have any issues, I don't think.
Note: Rear brake mount is flat mount and NOT post mount. With no adapter, it fits 140mm rear brakes, which is what I have on it right now. And it fits nicely as is. I haven't actually tried to lock up the rear brakes.
Component spec:
RockShox Pike, 120mm, bought used, it's a 2019 model, but not lot of mileage. 160mm brake rotors.
Shimano MT600 wheelset
Conti RaceKing Protection in 29x2.2 - Note here: these are wicked fast tires. Get yourselves a set!
SLX 7100 crank
SLX 7100 brake levers
SLX 7100 post mount front brake caliper
Deore XT M8110 flat mount rear brake caliper - Note here: This was a planned buy and didn't catch me off guard here, but honestly I didn't need this caliper, you can buy any flat mount, like, even a Shimano 105 or Tiagra road spec.
Pro Tharsis 100mm dropper - the dropper level integrates into the SLX brake lever, which is really nice.
Deore XT M8000 rear derailleur
Deore M5100 shifter - Note here: I originally had the Deore XT M8000 shifter, but it did not fit right with the new SLX brake levers. This 11 spd shifter does though.
SLX7000 11-46 cassette
I'm currently on a 65mm stem and I'm thinking of switching to an 80 or 90mm stem, but we'll see.
Non-frame issues I encountered which are, admittedly my fault: So, I originally planned to reuse a Deore XT M8000 shifter, derailleur, and SLX 11spd 11-46 cassette, which is why I went with the MT600 wheelset instead of anything else. It worked with some of the stuff I already had. Downside is, as I mentioned, the shifter doesn't work with the new SLX(or higher spec) brake levers. It doesn't fit right. You can technically still shift it, but it's awkward as hell to use the knuckle on your pointer finger to shifter down the cassette instead of using the tip of you pointer finger like normal. So, I switched to the Deore M5100 shifter, which, is okay. I can't shift up the cassette as many gears in one swing of it, which I don't like, but it's not a deal breaker. It works, it fits, it's fine. If I upgrade my wheels later on, I might swap shifter/derailleur as well.
Overall, I'm happy with it so far with the limited riding I've been able to do. I have a couple things to be mindful of long term, but I think it's going to make a great XC race bike this year.
