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FM086 TT frame
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Anyone have an feedback on this frame? Ride and build quality?


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Re: FM086 TT frame [AG] [ In reply to ]
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http://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._reply;so=ASC;mh=25;


Also some discussions on weight weenies forum and UK time trialing forum on this bike.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [-Mike-] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks I read most of that thread. Was hoping for feedback from someone who actually bought, built and rode that frame.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [AG] [ In reply to ]
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Go back to that thread, click "View all" and then control-F to find all the hits of fm086 on the page. The guy you want to ask is mikedrutar.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [dfroelich] [ In reply to ]
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I have been following the 2 Chinese bike threads for some time and with good information in both. The FM086 is it's own thing in some respects so I'll post briefly here.

I just received mine last week, first ride today. The short version:

Pro's: construction quality is pretty good. Everything fits. No fork steerer cutting etc, came all assembled. Ride is just fine. I've owned a PX Stealth and a PX Exocet 2 prior. The handling and ride quality are good.

Con's: Cable housing is a sticky point with me. All brake and derailleur runs are full cable housing instead of just in the exposed sections. Routing those can be entertaining. Note to others, run the housing FIRST before you install the bottom bracket. The base bar has a fair bit of texture but with all 4 bolts at 5nm, it still slips. Need to add carbon paste.

Some feel the price is too much but alternates, especially new, at the price are few. I really which they'd use a conventional front brake so a TriRig could be used instead of having the front cable in the wind but that was the compromise I ultimately decided to give on.

More later after a few rides.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [AG] [ In reply to ]
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Building one up this week! Pics to follow hopefully
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Guys!

Where did you buy your FM086? I emailed an inquiry on a couple sites but not sure who to go with and how payment is handled, etc. Any advice?

Thanks!
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Re: FM086 TT frame [lmandelin] [ In reply to ]
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I asked for price and availability from Honorteam, Deng Fu and Flybike. Never got a response from Flybike. Honorteam offered the lowest price (~$100 less) which ultimately Deng Fu agreed to match after some time. I used Honorteam but even with the frame "in stock", it took 3 weeks to be shipped. Both Deng Fu and Honorteam wanted either wire transfer or Western Union. Both will take paypal if you pay the fee (3% Honorteam, 4.5% Deng Fu). If you want to use a credit card via paypal, there's an additional fee for the international purchase. I definitely wasn't comfortable using wire transfer or Western Union.

Communication with some of the Chinese vendors is spotty and I'd say that was my experience with Honorteam. Not that there is any actual issue with taking your money etc, just long sections of time with "crickets". For my own peace of mind, I'd use Deng Fu just because they have a decent history with selling lots of frames in the US. See Roadbikereview or weightweenies for lots of user experiences.

It's truly possible (I have no way to know) that all 3 of these companies are selling for the same manufacturer. I go to Shenzen on business from time to time, just not at the time when I wanted to buy a frame. Given some of the complex details of the frame, I can't believe that each made their own molds, tooling etc.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [wasfast] [ In reply to ]
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If you search alibab.com you will find the corporate pages which indicate these are 'trading companies' I.e. resellers. It is my understanding that Flybike and Deng-fu are oth colocated on the same campus as the manufacturer.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Re: FM086 TT frame [wasfast] [ In reply to ]
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Wasfast,

thanks so much for the info. I've got emails in to all of them, just waiting to hear back. I think I'll go with paypal, I agree with you about wire and Western Union, not gonna happen!
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Re: FM086 TT frame [lmandelin] [ In reply to ]
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I found this US based company and went though them. I was just a little nervous about the whole international thing. I know there are lots who have done it, but the communication was 'off' shall I say, that I wasnt going to sleep good going that option.

http://febi-usa.com
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Team_Doc28,

Thanks for sharing that info, where is that company is located? Unfortunately they don't have this frame listed on their site, I'm certain it's too new to be available yet. Still going to pull the trigger and order directly. By the way, how are you liking your new bike? Any issues during the build?
Last edited by: lmandelin: Mar 25, 14 8:18
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Re: FM086 TT frame [lmandelin] [ In reply to ]
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http://febi-usa.com/...ockpit-frameset.html

They have it. They were based in California I believe.
No real issues with the build right now. Had to enlarge the holes on the top tube to get all the wires and 5 port junction inside the frame. It's looking really really clean so far. I thought I was going to be able to get ALL the wires inside but couldn't quite do it. Still will look cleaner than 99% of the di2 bikes out there. IMO. I had to order extra risers to pedastool the pads a bit though. Very aggressive frame.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, you were able to get the wiring junction in the frame? That would certainly clean the look up, hate having all those wires messing up the look of the front end! That frame that is on the febi website is the fm086. The fm109 is basically an upgrade on that, with the different stem for a less aggressive position, hidden DI2 battery compartment and modified fork. How's the quality of your frame? That's always my biggest concern with these things.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [lmandelin] [ In reply to ]
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I think everyone in this thread is talking about the Fm086, FYI. Im fairly familiar with a lot of the frames but dont know much about the 109, although I find more and more, I am still learning a lot. With the 86 you are able to hide almost everything, the battery stashes in the seat tube easy, in fact you have to wrap it so stay put. The 5 port junction box fits EASILY in the space between the top tube and the down tube. If a guy were comfortable machining some stuff and didnt mind doing some other cutting, you could probably route all the wiring internal of the cockpit and have it look unbelieveable. I took the route of my bike will look cleaner than most other di2 so I was ok with having the typical tri bike look of wires coming out of the bars and into the front of the top tube. There was just no way I was going to put that hideous looking junction box and all 5 wires sticking out of it on the top of my bike and ruin that awesome, clean, flat line that it has going. Ill try and get some pics up and share them with you.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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Looks like Planet X are getting in the this frame.

https://www.planetx.co.uk/...ck-on-the-cuckney-10
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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OK, serious question here, we're all entitled to spend our money the way we want to. I don't have any issue with buying a Chinese frame if you're on a budget. But to me, if you can afford di2, why are you messing around with a Chinese frame with all the question marks of warranty, actual aero performance, etc.?

Not trying to flame you, just wondering.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [tttiltheend] [ In reply to ]
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Maybe they were only able to afford Di2 after saving money on the frame...
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Re: FM086 TT frame [tttiltheend] [ In reply to ]
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No worries at all. Glad to share my thoughts.....
A little bit of both. Save money on the frame to afford the di2, which I cant even imagine how people ride tri bikes without anymore. Once you ride more than a couple miles on a TT bike with it, you will never go back. Especially if you live around areas with hills.
Aero... and what not, a frame is such a small part of that, that if I can save thousands of dollars on a frame, I am going to do it. I am not getting paid to do this and the difference between a 4:50 half and a 4:48 half, really doesnt mean that much to me. (And I personally dont feel that there is a frame that is 2 mins faster than this frame, just saying).
Warranty......how many people do you know that have an a real issue with a frame? I have never encountered someone who had a frame that just happened to crack or whatever the reason would be for a warranty on it. And most Chinese frames do have a warranty, just a little harder to get an issue resolved :)
You do know there are tons of frames out there on the market that have a nice flashy "bike industry" name on it, that are open molds being produced in the same factories right?
And knowing all this its still somewhat scary buying parts from China, which I have done, but with the larger purchase of the frame I decided to pay a little more and go with an American company selling the same bike.

All and all, I couldnt be more happy right now. But I hear ya, there are lots of questions out there.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Team_Doc28] [ In reply to ]
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I'll echo Team_Doc28 on this. These frames are much, much cheaper, and if there really is an aero difference it is unlikely to be meaningful to most users. Considering how cheap it is to pick up used high end components, you can build up a custom setup for much less money.

Open mold frames have been around for a long time, and there is no evidence of a massive quality problem. I built up my road bike 6 years ago on a cheap open mold frame with a SRAM Red group I got on a massive deal, and it is still going strong with 4-5k miles per year (though the SRAM RD cage combusted after ~15k, and was replaced cheaply). My next road bike frame will definitely be an open mold frame. I plan to buy the FM109 for a TT build up soon.

I think open mold frames are polarizing, in part, due to perceived quality differences. Price plays a role here -- people who buy expensive Apple products feel they are superior to a cheap PC, when in reality a cheap PC can have nearly identical real world utility when set up properly. Again, if there was a huge failure rate in open mold frames, they would have been exposed by now.

To each their own.
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Re: FM086 TT frame [willhs] [ In reply to ]
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Had the bike in action for a couple months and overall am happy. I'm 5' 9" on a size small (490). Saddle to bar drop as shown is 160mm.I'm doing only TT's under 1 hour (10M,20K, 40K) so my needs don't necessarily align with the tri folks directly.



Bike is Campagnolo 10 spd Centaur, Quarq Riken compact (34t-50t), mechanical shifting. Specialized TriTip 40 is a recent experiment with just ok results. Race wheels shown in the picture (Zipp 900 tubular, Zipp 808 tubular both with Veloflex Extreme tires glued) and 11-21 cassette.



I did one modification which is to reroute the rear brake housing from the training edge of the aerobar, along side the stem and into the back of the "sorta headtube". The basebar is nearly solid resin in a large area where I drilled so no concerns about breaking. I filed a 1/2 circle detail into the stem so I could drill the headtube inside the outer corner. It works fine but the housing rattles inside the basebar which is annoying. I intend to cut the housing shorter but haven't taken the time yet.




A few niggles.

--Stem to basebar requires assembly paste to keep from slipping with all 4 bolts torqued to 5nM.
--Really don't like the full length internal housing. The front derailleur isn't too bad but the rear is just silly long. It also wants to slide back and forth since it's not secured on both ends. I put a small tiewrap on the ends but would strongly prefer to have a liner in the frame and the housing external. The P-X Exocet 2 I had just before this had the liner with normal housing lengths and worked just fine.
--I finally decided to accept the compromise of the exposed front brake housing and the dreaded "noodle". Braking is actually pretty good but the rear brake on the drive side has almost no clearance as the pad holder hits the frame.



--The cover for the rear brake required major surgery on the drive side to keep it from rubbing on the brake. Others have reported the same thing previously Not a big deal but annoying for a factory item.
--The headset design is a bit of a headscratcher. With the upper half of the stem removed, there are 2) 5mm bolts that load the bottom half of the stem against the V shaped section of the fork. I can only assume this is intended to be the preload method for the headset bearings. However, it's overconstrained because there's also the 5mm bolt on the centerline of the steerer through the upper half of the stem.
--Front tire clearance vertically is really tight. With a normal 23mm clincher on the training wheels, just the small grit that the tire picks up will rub on the underside of the fork slightly.



--I've owned quite a few bikes over the years and don't generally care about toe overlap. This bike however has some serious toe overlap. With 170mm cranks the tire is only 25mm in front of the CRANK, not to mention the shoe beyond that. You really have to watch it starting from a stop.


Yes, the bar tape is dirty. I have been using tennis racket grip material the last couple years but in black. Figured I'd try white. The grip is great, the dirt isn't "pro".
Last edited by: wasfast: May 2, 14 14:10
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Re: FM086 TT frame [wasfast] [ In reply to ]
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@wasfast
Can you please provide some pictures/details of your bar set up and how you got the zipp pads onto the bars? I have the same bars and your set up has intrigued me. Thanks!

Awesome bike by the way!
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Oscar.S] [ In reply to ]
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The 25mm spacing of the Zipp Alumina pads is a direct fit, no modifications needed.

I'm also using the Zipp VukaAero pad extenders as I have pretty wide shoulders and it's the only solution that is comfortable for my neck/shoulderblades.

These are sold in the Zipp store:
VukaAero pad wing extension

Adjusts the width of your aerobar arm rests. Gives 3 additional horizontal positions. Bolt holes 25.0mm C-C. Fits VukaAero, Vu kaClip, Vuka Stealth
116618013000

25.00 USD
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Re: FM086 TT frame [wasfast] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for that! One more question if it's not too much trouble. Could the zipp spacers as you have under the pads fit between the basebar and where the extensions mount? I like you have one spacer there but did not get any more so wondering if they would fit to raise the extensions? Thanks agaim
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Re: FM086 TT frame [Oscar.S] [ In reply to ]
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Well, they do raise the armrests but only my the thickness of the plate which is 3-4mm. Not enough to make much difference.

I received 10mm, 20mm spacers and a bunch of bolts in lengths from 35-65mm. There's only 3 lengths possible so not sure why I got all those.
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