Wickedly Cool FRM 29er Fork
by Rob Blue on April 24th, 2007
I got a great package from Italy a couple of days ago. The super trick FRM Airway Stable Platform 100 BiCarbon for my 29er. I wanted one of these as soon as I put the ultra trick Airway 85 SSV BiCarbon Ti on my Scott Scale. FRM makes some of the coolest carbon stuff out there. I wish it was easier to get here in the US. With the catalog of cutting edge products that they are currently offering I’m sure it won’t be long before someone steps up to distribute them here. Hey, I may even do it myself.
Being the weight weenie that I admittedly am, obviously one of the things that drew me to the FRM forks was their industry leading low weight. The 29er version comes in at a very nice 1580 grams.
For comparison, the also very trick Reba 29er weighs in at 1785 grams.
That is a savings of about half a pound not including the PopLoc remote which adds a few more grams. Honestly, you can’t go wrong with either fork but if you are shooting for the lowest possible weight, the FRM is the clear winner.
The addition of the FRM fork pushed my 29er below the magical 20 pound mark in full race ready trim.
The other thing that made me crave this fork was the super sexy lookng design.
Even though we have just about carbon everything available nowadays, I still don’t get tired of looking at it. As I have mentioned before, the Italians love the black and gold theme and it has really grown on me. With the matching FRM cranks and bar and stem combo, my 29er looks as fantastic as it rides.
So how do the Airway forks ride? Nice! After a quick trip to Helen’s Cycles to get the steerer tube cut to the proper length, I hit the dirt.
I am lucky to have a bunch of great riding accessible to me rolling right out of my garage. I have endless fireroads and a pretty good selection of technical single track within riding distance of my house. That is really a blessing since I hate to waste precious riding time having to drive to a trail head.
My initial impression of the FRM 29er fork is that it is really geared towards racing or a very aggressive rider. Why? Well, as it turns out, FRM is one of the only fork makers to actually make their 29er fork with an offset specifically designed for the unique geometry that the larger 29 inch wheels require. I won’t go into all of the details here but basically whether or not the steering feels “quick” depends on a couple of factors in the design of the bikes geometry. Check out this excerpt from Mountain Bike Action’s review for the technical details. In the real world this equates to my 29er’s steering becoming a lot quicker. Where it used to be a little slow to turn it now flicks into turns with zero effort. I must admit that my 29er is a lot of fun on the downhills rivialing my full suspension bike for pure confidence inspiring stabilty. I feel faster on this bike. Of course, there are always trade-offs and the quicker steering initially made no hands riding pretty scary and you must now really stay focused because just leaning slightly wil make the bike turn. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time to adapt to the new steering response but for now forget about just daydreaming away on a long training ride, if you space out you may end up off the trail. The other trait that makes me want to classify the FRM fork as race only is that it is not as plush as the Reba that it is replacing. That may be a matter of getting through the recommended break in period and playing with the settings. This is not an issue for me and I’m sure it’s not an issue for the rigid front end crew but it may be for someone coming from a 100-120 super soft and comfy all-mountain setup.
So far so good with my new setup.
Last but not least, I must give props to my friends at Stan’s NoTubes. I ran over something sharp on my shakedown ride that was big enough for me to hear the air escaping while I was cooking along. A quick stop, rotate the hole to the bottom to let the Stan’s do it’s magic and I was back riding in seconds and didn’t even need to add additional air. On top of that, this was a couple of days ago and I checked the tire this morning and it is still ready to roll with no more air loss than it usually has from just sitting there in the garage. The stuff just plain works.
I also ran across a film construction crew building a set out in the middle of nowhere while on the ride. Only in L.A.!
UPDATE: I rode the 29er again this morning and dropped the air pressure in the FRM forks by .5 Bar. Huge difference in the feel, much more compliant. This just goes to show you that it takes time to properly evaluate the complex gear that we all ride nowadays. I will post another update after the recommended break in period.
Here’s me huffing and puffing my way up a climb on the single speed 29er. You get an awesome upper body workout on a single speed. I don’t know if I mentioned this before but going from narrow flat bars to the wider FRM risers made a huge difference in my climbing ability on the single speed. More leverage = better climbing.
They are also making some progress on that remote movie set.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Hey Rob how do you think this fork will hold up to a bigger rider? I know that on my 26 inch bikes I gave up on “light� forks like a Sid in favor of the heavier Fox for the reliability and maintainability of it.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Clint,
The FRM stuff is definitely sturdier than a SID but not as beefy as a FOX. I have ridden both extensively over the years and the FRM sits right in the middle. The FRM does not deflect off of bumps like a SID so the tracking through the rough stuff is on par with the heavier forks like the Foxes or the Reba. Of course, these observations are based on my rider weight of 145 pounds so a heavier rider may feel a bigger difference. Maintenence seems to be very simple on the FRM with one or two oil changes a year and maybe a swap of the seals. I have not owned either of my FRM forks long enough to give an educated opinion on this though.
rob
April 26th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
I love how the Italians pair the black and gold colors - even in mountain biking. Looks cool for sure, although I know bryan would say just give it to me in gray or black.
May 10th, 2007 at 7:24 am
WE’RE VERY GLAD YOU LIKED THE FORK ROB! I MUST SAY THAT THE BIKE IS LOOKING GOOD WITH OUR STEM, AND CRANKSET ON THERE TOO! KEEP US INFORMED! WE’RE ALWAYS PLEASED TO HEAR ABOUT OUR PRODUCTS AND PEOPLE’S RESPONSES TO THEM.