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  • BMC TrailFox owners – mid/long term reports?
  • groundskeeperwilly
    Free Member

    I know that a few folk on here have taken the plunge and gone for a TrailFox 29er. Just wondering how they are fairing over time?

    What’s standing out about the performance? Any weak points of note?

    I did read that there was an issue with the rear tyre rubbing the stays under severe force but that was just in one review and can’t seem to find any other mention of it……

    extremecarver
    Free Member

    Nope – not the rear tire. The Trailfox got the best tire clearance of any 29er out there – even a 65mm wide Minion DHF 2.5 on a 30mm interior width rim fits nicely (but close – wider=impossible, and you need to make sure your wheel is nicely centered). What does happen – but only if used with SRAM carbon cranks – is that the 175mm cranks flex and slightly rub on the chainstay (driveside only) – but this is only noticeable because of the color left… I fixed it by slightly filing away a tiny bit of the crank end… 170mm cranks would surely not touch either. Reportedly BMC fixed it for 2015 bikes – but I don’t know what they actually changed (maybe they ship it with 170mm XX1 cranks now?).

    Otherwise weak points are not the frame but the components of the 2014 versions (Fox 34 crap, crap Avic XX brakes, too lightweight DT Swiss 1501 XM wheels, and so on). But the frame is top notch..

    The TF02 X01 2015 was the best deal for this year. If you get it with proper discount – go for it (here in Austria they are sold now at one shop with 30% off – new, that’s a fair price I would say). It’s the only one without Fox 34 – and CCDB and Pike are really the better fit. Plus you can easily travel the fork to 160mm.. (highly recommended by me – also BMC trailcrew all use 160mm forks – albeit Fox 36). And 2015 it came with the wider DT Swiss EX wheels (25mm interior width instead of 22.5mm – so much better). Only the TF03 stuck with rubbish DT Swiss 1900 series wheels (in 2016 they seem to use the much better Spline Two instead).

    The float X is also not the best match – I hope it will be better with the Vosprung Corset. (note 2016 they use Float Evol/Inline on all models – Evol should be pretty similar to the Vorsprung Corset). Monarch Plus Debon Air with M/L tune would be another good option besides Bos Kirk and CCDB CS/Inline according to users.

    I’m running mine with an angleset – but I will get rid of that after the summer. 64.5 HA is too low for anything but DH riding… 66° with a 160mm fork will be spot on.

    Otherwise my Reverb creaks a bit when loading/unloading the saddle – and you need to watch out that the lower link bolt does not get loose (need to retighten/check it every 10-20 rides or so). Othwerwise it starts creaking too. Bearings look still okay though after about 16 months of use – I plan to replace them next spring…

    groundskeeperwilly
    Free Member

    Thanks for so much detail in the reply! I’ve been interested in these for a year or maybe even more and have struggled to find owners!

    It’s the 2015 TF02 that I am looking at….

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