Hi
Thinking of building an FF29 up in the blue and black.
What fork works best? 100mm or 120mm
Will be using it as a do it all bike.
Or is there a better frame, like the XTC 29er.
Many thanks

120mm for definite, that’s what it was designed around. Will work with a 100mm but the steering is sharper, and ok up to 130mm.

Thanks.

I ran mine with a 100mm Reba up front, great bike and I really liked how it rode. I reckon the front would be too high with a 120mm fork considering I had flat bars and a zero rise stem

Seen a few rigid builds on here, nice bike.

120mm defineietly – the Kinesis rigid fork has a longer a-to-c than most rigid forks (490mm v 470mm).

120mm it is then.
Going to run 1 by 10 with stans crests hope pro 2 straight pulls.
xt/xtr Groupset with 42t one up.
Carbon flat bar with Carbon stem and seat post.
Hope race brakes.
Dropper??
Any one got a similar build with approx weight?
Are they fast, do they make a good race bike.
They seem a bargain frame.

I recently built one in Sick Green with 120mm Rebas. I am loving it. Have not ridden the FS since. Did the Red and Black at Brechfa as one loop and it was great fun. Done loads of natural stuff around the Black Mountains and it eats up the miles and is also great on the rocky stuff and steep descents. I tried to build it light but strong. Came in a near as damn it 11 kilos as a 2×10 in Large.

My build was as follows (all in grams)
Frame (L)1999
Forks-rebas 1710
Spacers-5
Front wheel 750 -crossmax SLR
Rear wheel 950 -crossmax SLR
front tyre 720 – Conti Mountain King 2
rear tyre 670 – Maxxis Ikon
front disc 93
rear disc 69
brake bolts 25
bars 164 – Mount Vision carbon 740
stem 90 – KCNC 70mm
rear shifter 130 Sram X0
front shifter 130 Sram X0
front mech 155 XT
rear mech 230 sram X0
cables 40
chainset (XT2x10) 750
BB 91
headset 116
chain 240
cassette 338 11/36
pedals 306 XTR SPD
seatpost 600 Reverb
saddle 258 Fabric spoon
grips 60 EZI chunkys
front brakes 300 XT
rear brakes 300 XT
Sealant 80
seat clamp 5 KCNC

total in grams 11374

If I lose the dropper and run lighter tyres I could save almost a kilo but not an option for my type of riding/terrain. The build you are looking at wo dropper should come in around 10 kgs (perhaps a shade under)

definitely feel fast and my Strava times have gone up in many places. Planning on using it for competitve MTB orienteering events next year so will report back then on whether it is a good race bike.

Frame from Winstanleys is £375 – a bargain

BTW, I am now running a Beaver on the rear as the Ikon could not cope with a welsh winter 🙂

Nice build and thanks for weight.
I am thinking of black blue frame.
They are a bargain.
I was hoping for a Reba with black stantions and remote lock out.
Carbon cranks could come into the build also with ceramic bb.

I would have liked the blue/black frame but my FS trail bike is that colour som wanted something different. 🙂

Yep, the black stanchions would have been nice but these were on sale and I was working to a budget. I would have preferred to have the details in blue not red but the headset only came in one colour (and there are not many out there off the peg that fit) so I had to go with it!!

I’ve never weighed mine, and didn’t build it with weight in mind really, but have run it with both 100 and 120mm forks. It’s fine either way, no real preference from me, other than I ‘feel’ as though I should be running it at 100 when I’m doing more ‘racey/endurance’ stuff. Daft really.

Cheers chaps, some great advice.

Not an FF29, but a very similar build and you get the picture…

I’ll stand by my 120mm fork recommendation. With Flat bars, a negative 10 degree stem, and a low stack headset the bars are just about manageable height wise with a 120mm fork IMO.

The FF part of FF29 stands for “expletive fast”… It may not be as light as a carbon frame, but the FF29 is a quick bike. More importantly too, the handling is spot on and lends itself well to being raced on.

120 here.
Rocks hugely.
Not tried it with shorter forks and unlikely too.

Mboy, nice build.
I will post pics in the coming month of my build.

Just stared my budget build tonight.

Frame cheap off the classifieds
Reba rlt 100mm cheap off here again as they needed the brake bosses helicoiled
C29ssmax robbed from bike I bought off eBay for a mate who already had wheels
Thomson bits and kinesis strut bar off eBay
XT group set bought second hand but unused
brake should be here tomorrow to complete (crc black Friday offer code on already cheap xt)

this might work

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pk4FQ1]20141203_000641[/url] by simon gardiner, on Flickr