What did you do TO / WITH / FOR your bike today!

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
I swear that bent while I was looking at it.
There are some that look a bit more sturdy, but definitely start to move away from the 'cheap' category.

This is without shock, weighs 3900gr and doesn't state what rear hub/axle standard it is (but doesn't appear to be 135QR like 99% of the AliExpress duallies), but it has some great features like:
German wave-saldering technology head tube ensure durability, and
Dissymmetric structure triangle design

Gotta love the AliExpress randoms!
 

Lazmo

Old and hopeless
I must say magpie season has its upsides... as Sue dropped me at the top of the 1000 steps and after a short climb, mainly to warm up... I got to bomb downhill for about 45 minutes. I'll get really fat at this rate. One section was very muddy, much more so than it was in winter... weird. Fun though, getting all loose.

380701
 

ashes_mtb

Has preferences
...ish.

It's an NS Bikes designed frame supposedly, but the front triangle is open-mould so it appears under various brand names with slightly different rear-ends (NS Synonym, Vitus ?, Ican S3, Stevens _?, etc...). The one on here was a Ican S3. I did initially contact Ican but never got a response. Wasn't really a bad thing in the end because it made me dig a little deeper into it, and I found what I just ordered:
Carbonda FM936

It's a short-travel "XC" dually but with long-low-slack geo. The Ican has pivots between the seat stays and chainstays near the rear axle, but the Carbonda uses flex-stays, which helps keep the weight down a couple of hundred grams lighter. The large "Superlight" BSA BB frames seem to be around 2000-2100gr, so even adding ~340gr for the shock it should still be plenty light.

I'll run mine with ~107mm-ish rear travel via a RockShox/Scott Nude 165x40mm shock and a Fox 36 (Yep, a 36!). I'm planning to mod an airspring to drop it down to a 120mm fork, which will slacken it out a degree and shorten the reach ~10mm. I'm also going to swap the Grip damper from from my Marz Z1 (it'll get the Grip2) into the 36 and adapt a remote lock-out onto it so the fork somewhat matches the shock's remote-actuated modes. The shock is typical in it's closed ("Climb") and open ("Descend) modes, but has an interesting trick with it's Trail ("Traction") mode - it closes off part of the air-spring as well as simultaneously increasing compression damping to partly reduce the amount of travel and firm things up at the same time.

Should be pretty spritely.
Damn, those NS Synonyms are mint.
 

Cardy George

Piercing rural members since 1981
Yep, I just e-mailed them, and went from there. I spoke with Wing.

They said both the Superlight or standard frame are rated to 125kg (I thought the Superlight might be lower, but nope). I'm not that heavy but it gave me some confidence it might forgive the occasional bodgy line-choice.

Depending on whether you just want the standard matte charcoal (free), or flat/gloss single colour, two-tone, colour-fades, metallics, clear-coated carbon, tinted clears, etc... they all have different prices. I thought about getting custom paint (It's not much, the most expensive option was tinted clear which would've been $150USD, metallics were ~$90USD). But wasn't keen on waiting. They quoted 2-4 weeks for paint, but having had a read on the Chinertown forums it seems like occasionally that pushes out a little.

They also have one (potential) known fault. The main pivot bolt is sometimes machined too long and bottoms out in the nut and leaves the rocker pivot a little loose which apparently leads to creaking, and then eventually cracking of the rocker. It seems if you find your frame's main pivot bolt is too long (not all are apparently), you can pull it out - machine a little off the threaded end and reinstall and torque and then they seem to have no issues. Seems to be several comments suggesting the bearing aren't the greatest and generally turn up without any grease in them too. The carbon lay-up seems to be quite good though, so to be honest, the other stuff is fairly minor fixes when you're getting a frame that's around 2/5ths of the price of typical "boutique" brands.
How very tempting. Can I ask how much, and was it through the site you linked or somewhere else?
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
How very tempting. Can I ask how much, and was it through the site you linked or somewhere else?
Second this ^ happy if you want to send it in pm. This would be perfect for a budget/in-stock spur build.
Hello friends,

I happen to have a few of these in stock. Sharp prices, custom colours, and competitive build kits. If you shoot me a $30% deposit via western union I will be proceed to happy nest.
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
This would be perfect for a budget/in-stock spur build.
That was exactly how I ended up going down this road. I wanted a Spur frameset but couldn't afford/didn't want to sink that kind of money into a light-duty trail bike. I haven't been riding the Waltly much, so had a build kit sitting idle I could steal too.

How very tempting. Can I ask how much, and was it through the site you linked or somewhere else?
I just e-mailed the address on the site. Yes I'm sure they can do metallic orange for you. :p

As for pricing, this is the breakdown I got:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
One set of sample FM 936
Super Light : US $ 820
Normal : US $ 650
heatset : US$12
rear axle : US$15
extra rear derailleur hangers: US$5.00

shipping cost for one frame set 3-10 days : US$ 230 (If you are in a remote area please let us know in advance. The remote fee is $50)
standard matte: free
UD gloss, black matte. black glossy :US$ 45
One color: US:$70.00(matte or glossy,solid color)
Two colors: US$85.00 (all matte or all glossy,solid color)
Two colors: US$95.00 (matte and glossy, solid color)
Two color gradient: US$105.00 (all matte or all glossy, solid colors)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Painting seemed to add around 2-4 weeks to the e.t.a, but I would suggest factor in the 4 weeks (at least) into your timeline to avoid potential disappointment and frustration.

Oh, and metallics were around US$85-95 from memory. Clear coat was only $45ish, but they sounded nervous about the 5 week wait they suggested (they suggested they would sand down an existing frame, but I think realistically they would wait for the next production run if possible...). Tinted clears were around $150.

I ordered the Superlight frame, a headset and a couple of spare axles and hangers (as I figure they're not going to be easy to find locally/quickly if I damage one). There's also varying fees depending on how you pay. I chose PayPal which adds 4.5 per cent. So in total it came to $1130 USD (~$1550 AUD at current rates) in the standard charcoal matte. Just remember either PayPal (in default settings) or your card provider may try to add currency conversion fees (depending on the card you use), and that the price is for frame only (without rear shock).

165x40 shocks are hard to come by new at the moment too, and are typically going to cost around $600-700 to your door.

Apparently 165x42.5 do fit (though isn't recommended by the manufacturer), but 165x45 do not work as the seatstay brace would contact the downtube. Chances of fitting a shock with a reservoir are non-existent due to the upside-down trunnion layout - so bank on buying an inline shock.

Mine will leave next week, so with the shipping estimate of 3-10 days I should be able to do an "unboxing"/quality impressions review soon enough. :)
 
Last edited:

ashes_mtb

Has preferences
That was exactly how I ended up going down this road. I wanted a Spur frameset but couldn't afford/didn't want to sink that kind of money into a light-duty trail bike. I haven't been riding the Waltly much, so had a build kit sitting idle I could steal too.


I just e-mailed the address on the site. Yes I'm sure they can do metallic orange for you. :p

As for pricing, this is the breakdown I got:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
One set of sample FM 936
Super Light : US $ 820
Normal : US $ 650
heatset : US$12
rear axle : US$15
extra rear derailleur hangers: US$5.00

shipping cost for one frame set 3-10 days : US$ 230 (If you are in a remote area please let us know in advance. The remote fee is $50)
standard matte: free
UD gloss, black matte. black glossy :US$ 45
One color: US:$70.00(matte or glossy,solid color)
Two colors: US$85.00 (all matte or all glossy,solid color)
Two colors: US$95.00 (matte and glossy, solid color)
Two color gradient: US$105.00 (all matte or all glossy, solid colors)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Painting seemed to add around 2-4 weeks to the e.t.a, but I would suggest factor in the 4 weeks (at least) into your timeline to avoid potential disappointment and frustration.

Oh, and metallics were around US$85-95 from memory. Clear coat was only $45ish, but they sounded nervous about the 5 week wait they suggested (they suggested they would sand down an existing frame, but I think realistically they would wait for the next production run if possible...). Tinted clears were around $150.

I ordered the Superlight frame, a headset and a couple of spare axles and hangers (as I figure they're not going to be easy to find locally/quickly if I damage one). There's also varying fees depending on how you pay. I chose PayPal which adds 4.5 per cent. So in total it came to $1130 USD (~$1550 AUD at current rates) in the standard charcoal matte. Just remember either PayPal (in default settings) or your card provider may try to add currency conversion fees (depending on the card you use), and that the price is for frame only (without rear shock).

165x40 shocks are hard to come by new at the moment too, and are typically going to cost around $600-700 to your door.

Apparently 165x42.5 do fit (though isn't recommended by the manufacturer), but 165x45 do not work as the seatstay brace would contact the downtube. Chances of fitting a shock with a reservoir are non-existent due to the upside-down trunnion layout - so bank on buying an inline shock.

Mine will leave next week, so with the shipping estimate of 3-10 days I should be able to do an "unboxing"/quality impressions review soon enough. :)
Isn’t the 42.5 stroke shock what the 120mm Synonym uses?
 

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Isn’t the 42.5 stroke shock what the 120mm Synonym uses?
Yep, but they have a different rocker link and rear triangle. You can fit one to the Carbonda, it'll work - it's just they don't recommend it. As mentioned previously though 45mm stroke will not work, as it will allow the seatstay bridge to contact the seat-tube before full compression.
 

SummitFever

Eats Squid
165x40 shocks are hard to come by new at the moment too, and are typically going to cost around $600-700 to your door.
You guys are probably all over this already, but all 165mm eye to eye trunnion shocks are the same. The 42.5mm and 40mm stroke versions have an internal travel reduction spacer to limit travel/stroke. These are easily removed (or added) but require a complete damper service as you need to either undo the eyelet from the main shaft or take the piston off the main shaft.

I searched high and low for a 165mmx42.5 shock as a spare for my Trance and ended up buying a new Fox DPS from the US. I could not find anything cheap/second hand and I was looking for months and months. However, last week, @Litenbror did find me a used RS Monarch which are easier to service than the Fox equivalents.
 

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
Picked up gumtree special stp for $100. Add mentioned small hit to chain ring. It must have been a pretty massive hit as bent the ring and the mounting tabs on the cranks.


Still ... $100 well spent! You'll flip that for at least $500 covid dollars!
 

ashes_mtb

Has preferences
You guys are probably all over this already, but all 165mm eye to eye trunnion shocks are the same. The 42.5mm and 40mm stroke versions have an internal travel reduction spacer to limit travel/stroke. These are easily removed (or added) but require a complete damper service as you need to either undo the eyelet from the main shaft or take the piston off the main shaft.

I searched high and low for a 165mmx42.5 shock as a spare for my Trance and ended up buying a new Fox DPS from the US. I could not find anything cheap/second hand and I was looking for months and months. However, last week, @Litenbror did find me a used RS Monarch which are easier to service than the Fox equivalents.
Can you do the same with old imperial shocks as well? Or is it just the newer metric ones that are designed to do that?
 
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