FYI, I say 115mm of rear suspension travel several times in this video, but I mean to be saying 110mm. The bike takes up to 115mm travel (165x45mm shock), but my 165x42.5mm shock comes out to real-world wheel travel of roughly 110mm.

For someone starting to look at building a Chinese bike like this, this was super valuable information. Thanks.

It’s litterally a Scott spark with a different brand

Great job on this James! I hope to be riding mine this weekend 👍

7:39 Glad its not just me! My pedals take a beating. I really noticed it out at Otis where its a little chunkier than most of the Cape Cod trails I ride. Thank you for doing this review. I have been looking at this frame for a while, It's great to see someone from the same(ish) area as me give it an in depth review!

Love this kind of review specially how expensive these bikes would you try a carbon hardtail?

Great videos James. Greetings from Puerto Rico. I just wanted to ask you about installing the rear shock, in terms of hardware needed and what not, because in the website it says that the frame comes with screws for trunnion and regular, but beyond that, is there anything else that need to be sourced?

Good choice of components you don't need anything else if you're on a budget then it's just a matter of skill and fitness who stands on the podium or gets bragging rights at the top of the climb

14:32 1 deg slacker and seat tube steeper vs the specs you said for the Blur I think you meant to say :)

@Jamesthebikeguy, my I ask what model rear shock you used and where you purchased the mounting hardware? I am trying to build my frame with a 165x40 Fox Float DPS Trunnion and I can’t figure out what I need for the rear shock mounting hardware … :-( Thx!!!

This bike looks so sick 🔥

Hey , not sure if you had mentioned already but I’ll be using same shock and frame. Wondering if you can recommend where to find and what size shock bushing kit and trunnion hardware kit. Thanks!

Good vidio and thanks sher like👍👍

Hey James, do you remember the bushing size/width you used on the rear shock?

Hi James! How about the export duties? How much did you paid for it?

*Effective* seat tube angle needs to be measured with the dropper post fully extended in frames like this one.

How tall are you James? Does the 19” size fit well?

that big orange "C" up inside the top of the shock was the volume spacer.

Nice review brother. How is the frame now after months of use? Planning to buy one😊

You said they provided you the frame. I'd like to know if you asked them about their QC process, carbon testing. I think the idea of having a Chinese carbon frame scares a lot of people as we don't know how reliable they are.

Hi, I’m in MA too what XC trails do you recommend for an easy float ride. So far all I’ve found were tooth trails in the south and some jump tracks

total build cost?

If you get an angle headset of 2 degrees you can keep the 120 up front and drop the bottom bracket and make the seat tube steeper

Creo el travel que usas es demasiado armaste una trial bike en una xc full suspension

Evidently those tires are delicious too 4:22

18:30 Isn't it a token (volume spacer) there, the red one in upper body of shock ??..

Sounds like it would benefit from an offset bushing to lower the bb a bit.

What's the offset of the fork? I am riding the frame in 130 front (RS pike) and 115 (Fox Trunnion) and I am loving the bike for pretty much everything flatcountry and downcountry. It's not meant to fly through the air. Modern 29 geometry goes by slacker HT but less offset. It makes the bike more responsive. 44mm or 42mm would probably give you what dropping to 100mm travel would do. When RS Pike ultimates drop in second hand market to 300 eur I am in for a fork swap.

U mean the frame is actually designed for a 100mm rear & 120mm front & not more than that? Ty

hey james! can i use a standard eyelet shock measuring at 165mm for this bike?

I could so tell that was New England trails ;)

Do you think the pivots and bearings in the frame are the same size as a spark. I’d like to order one of these frames but I’m not sure what I’d do if the pivots were to wear out. I don’t see replacements on the trifox website

Im buying one no doubt, no more crappy expensive Scott

My Chinese FM038 frame feels literally more solid and robust than my other not so cheap frame. The paint job is bad at the corners and drill holes but who cares, it is made to be punished anyway.

Lowers are not always the same as head tube angle.

@jamesthebikeguy, I have a question about sizing and fit. Can I can you how tall are you? I'm 5'-9" and looks like I'm in between size. Thx!

Did you try also the handlebar by trifox?

What size would u recommend for a 5’5 “ and 63 kg? Would like a Mullet built, thank you

Qual o tamanho desse seu quadro?

BB stumpjumper is 340mm and epic EVO 336mm no big drama thats without sitting on it if you want slacker down country style 5mm is nothing but 20mm extra travel is nice 5mm BB can be clip race pedals and shoes with lower profile and some people have thick shoes and flats

Seat tube angle will have no effect on downhill handling, only seated position changes. Reducing shock stroke to 40mm will only reduce travel but not lower BB, you would need offset bushings and/or a shorter shock (custom). The shock also is probably not the correct tune for the bike.

there is a volume spacer right there!! hhaha

What about lowering the rear shock travel to 100 and keeping the 120 up front, that way slackening the head tube angle and seat tube angle, and lowering the bottom bracket? Now, BB drop is more important than bbheight in terms of stability, thats what I would've measured, since you have enough pedal clearance. Besides, since the rear triangle will seat a tad lower, you will get better rear tire clearance and you will feel like the bike has a taller stack height...

Do these frames have provisions for a lockout cable for the shock?

18:11 sound good

For me it feels like a down country bike, I run my shock stiffer (more pressure, as I ride a little more aggressive) and I don't want to bottom out my shocks, the bike feels a little odd but the more I ride it, the better it gets.

I think you said opposite of what you meant on the angles. The seat post is steeper and the fork is slacker.

How about making into a Mullet with 27.5 in the back, should drop the bb height nicely and make it slacker up front 🤔

For the effective seat tube angle your I think your dropper should have been extended

If the eye to eye of the shock is 165 mm regardless of stroke length how will reducing the rear shock travel lower bottom bracket height?

I'm interested in ur opinion on the brakes.

In the video it was hard to see where you were measuring seat tube angle from but shouldn't the effective seat tube angle be measured from where the seat attaches to the seat post?

So if I normally ride medium I should buy the large on trifox right

13:18 little bit of damage to the paint on the frame where the bolt is

You should mullet it.Just put a 27.5x2.4 rear wheel on you will get a perfect 120/110 down country bike.

WOW... at first i'm thinking you just didn't read the frame specs for shock length correctly...then you go thru the step of pulling the shock can and that just confirmed you haven't a clue at all (watching how you measured the effectove seat tube angle was bad enough). The MFM100 frame specs has two shock travel options of the same overall length. 165x40 with a regular eyelet to eyelet shock, and 165x45 if you use a trunion design. That's the principal advantage to a trunion shock, a slightly longer stroke for the same overall length. They're the SAME 165 length though so there's no change in the geometry. Modifying the shock to reduce the rear wheel travel won't do anything about the BB height.

Not sure why so many moan about ‘Scott spark knock-off’. The geometry is clearly different, so it’s not a knock off. Just because they both have 2 wheels and a vertical rear shock does not make it a copy.

HOW MUCH IS THIS BIKE ?????

Bad geo is just bad geo. I suspect if it has a wide range “in spec” it’s not actually designed for any of them. Fork AC is as important as fork travel anyway for geo and the internal headset removes a mode of correction. The shock and linkage should be designed for a shock tune ... again I’d suspect it’s not actually designed. Seems to me there are more choices than ‘buy this frame’ or a full ‘holistically designed’ complete bike and one is to buy a frame that has been designed, tested and refined. For my 11yr olds race bike I talk to the frame designer who has provided spot on Information as he’s gone from 65 pounds to 80 pounds... and we adjusted travel and shock tune. I also know some bigger guys that have had linkages modified for them at the other end of the scales. The point isn’t getting linkages modified, rather that the frame designer has modelled and tested the frame so they know every aspect back to front. Equally they sell frame only or complete bike. Buying complete bike you get a choice of shocks and forks for any model and how that will feel on the bike or you can go for a recommended build. This is a smaller local (UK) company, I’m not advertising the real point is that frames, especially full suss are more holistic than the complete bike. When you buy a Giant or Trek or Santa Cruz (etc) you are buying a frame with specifically designed kinematics you as a rider can alter.

Any word if this will take 27.5 plus tires? Thanks

Whoah, wheel reflectors?

The frame looks so much like the American eagle flow xc

How much more would a named brand bike built with similar spec parts cost? I suspect I'd pay the additional money, within reason, to get a properly tuned bike ready to ride. This is especially true if the named brand bike had a lighter frame than this Trifox frame which I believe was on the heavy side.

That saddle is a little nose high?

Has someone already provided a STA primer?

Are you using xoss gps?

That's not how you measure the effective seat tube angle.. Your level was wayyy more forward than it's supposed to be. I'd guess the real angle would be about 72-74 range. No way it's 78. Also this is mainly for climbing. When going down you mostly stand anyway so seat angle wouldn't affect that. Wouldn't be surprised even with exact same geo for bike to feel bad due to carbon layup and suspension tune and kinematics alone. You also make mistake saying trifox head angle is steeper, but it's the other way around, it's slacker. Slacker is better for going over rough, so if anything this should've helped in comparison. But as you can see - not everything is as easy as numbers on paper. Also mistake was done on the fiber. You referred initially to carbon t800 as the material. But that's simply not possible (they are lying, even if they say it's full t800 because people think higher number is better). It's too brittle, you wouldn't be able to even sit on it without breaking. It's always a combination. At max it's 20-30% of t800. And most of it is t700, or worse - it could easily be 95% cheaper t700 or t300 with bad preg, bad qc, bad layup, bad cutup, AND bad cutup + layup orientation design, etc. You simply wouldn't know. The only way is to do full stress test, x-ray, and test it with a pro rider on its feel. Heck, even the model name is mfm100, that's pretty obvious what it was designed for from just the name. Then the marketing department "massaged the numbers" to fit new trends like downcountry - handling, kinematics, and pedaling efficiency be damned. These frames are 200-300$ to build. And from what I see another 2700$ to design and QC (not literally I mean). To leave profit to make sure you can pay engineers that actually know the f they are doing. 90% of what you're paying in this is the engineer knowing what stuff to enter into a program and have a guy at the end of qc take out the bladers, but it turns out to be pretty important in real life.

Crank arm length?

Will the frame clear a 36t or 38t?

Never ever heard of someone actually liking the bontrager dropper leaver

Mmmm dayore crank set

Brother price plse???

This is a clear rip off of a Scott Spark

Get a cheep dnm air spring for 100$ I like mine a lot on my city crap bike

Trinx + Foxter = TriFox 🤣

trek is a trail vs a XC i think that's what the issue is

rip offs that are 80% quality of the original anD 80% reduction in price.... yea I'll buy that.

It is good its just that other mabufacturer need a smear attack to protect their pricing its simple as that

go for a 100mm front and rear suspension

Scott spark clone...

Geometry is to messed up for me personally

Most of your bikes these days are made in Asia

For those saying it looks like a Scott Spark, I am inclined to say that the factory hired by Scott to make the Spark most probably made this Trifox frame. Everything is made in China these days. I won't be surprised if the factory made extra frames using their own carbon fiber at a lower price. If your factory knows how to make a Scott Spark, why not make a replica and make some money

Trail bike

When chinese products are good ,western people don't mention that they are chinese products but when they are not so good, ''chinese'' will be in the title. It's funny when I noticed this.

I'm sorry, but it's not a Chinese bike, just a frame.

Your dog is a size too small. You need a bigger dog !

be careful buying a copy frame, its a scott spark copy. scott must sue this trifox company

So, you bought a chinese bike and replaced all the parts before doing a review... big brain.

Trail dogs don't need suspension

throw it away , dont use that frame, they're untested liabilities that WILL result in injuries . please don't use that shitty frame

Chinese food is rubbish what makes people think they could actually make a MTB. After you eat Chinese food you regret it, which will be the same as owning this bike you’re gonna regret it. Every they make is a cheap knockoff the real item. I wouldn’t and couldn’t own it purely out of principle!