Carbonda FM1003 "Super Enduro"

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Nice. I almost bought one too but then Banshee had 25% off.

I do wonder about the accuracy of that graph.
There's a bloke on the Chinertown forums that used the frame drawings to plot the suspension in Linkage, and came up with the following graphs. It's always impossible to get the exact same readings when copying from a drawing as even fractions of a millimeter can alter the graphs, but it certainly suggests Carbonda's graph is accurate.
FM 1003 leverage ratio.png


FM 1003 anti squat 32t.png


FM 1003 anti rise.png


I have no reason to doubt them to be honest. I was wondering about shock clearance on the FM1002 so they sent me the bikeCAD tech drawing for it (and the FM1003 for some reason...), and in the past I've asked them what bearings the FM1001 used, and they sent me a full breakdown of the suspension pivot hardware and bearing sizes (that was after I'd already received the frame, so it wasn't just them trying to push the sale along). They're really pretty helpful, and I haven't struck anything that would suggest any dodginess in my dealings with them.
 

zooks

Likes Dirt
Does it have 180mm of travel?
Yep front and rear :D
It's just a graph of how much leverage the swingarm has over the shock as it progresses through its travel. Starts off with a fairly high ratio (lots of mechanical advantage over the shock, ie: softer feel), and ramps up smoothly to a relatively firm ratio. It's what's referred to as a "progressive" linkage design, and thanks to the consistent rate of change the shock's not having to try and mask any weird changes it ratio throughout the travel. (Some suspension design have various parts of the travel progressive, linear (ie: not increasing or decreasing), or regressive (ie: the suspension actually gains more leverage over the shock as it goes through its travel). Fortunately this design ramps up consistently (sometimes confusingly dubbed "linearly progressive") throughout the travel, so there's no weird midstroke dead spots where the suspension would be doughy, or too rough whatever like you can see with some dual-link systems with funky U or S shaped curves. Theoretical downside with this design and an airshock is it might be hard to use all the travel as an air shock typically ramps up towards the end of travel due to the rising spring rate that occurs when compressing air, though you're running the MegNeg aircan anyway so it's probably fairly linear as far as air shocks go. Coil might offer a smidge more midstroke support, and less bottom out resistance. On the flipside, you might like the midstroke feel of your airshock, and want to have more deepstroke resistance in case of "Oh shit!" moments or preventing the BB getting too low on bigger hits. It's a pretty forgiving suspension design.

In a few weeks I'll be able to see how it plays with a coil for myself. ;)
Amazing, thank you! Yes please VERY interested in coil
 
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beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Fm1003? @beeb
Doesn't seem to be on there site.
Yeah, it's a bit weird that. They announced it, but never loaded the full model page. The Size M frames became available initially, then Size L's after 6 months or so. Not sure whether the XL frames are available yet. I was between sizes, and chanced sizing down a smidge with an L.

More details can be found here:
Carbonda FM1003

Probably going to be overkill for my needs, but should be good for a laugh and more than cover more than anyhting I can throw at it. I originally wanted the FM1002, but not enough clearance for the shock I wanted (and probably not enough progression in the linkage for a coil shock either...).
 
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