I received my FM066SL frameset (size 60cm) last Saturday and had to wait a couple of days for my build components to arrive later this past week. I had read a number of threads regarding expected shipping times and thought that it might take as long as 3 weeks to get to my house. Once I placed my order, I was informed that the frameset was in stock at Miracle Bikes. I thought that the frame would actually come by boat to the US west coast and then across land to Eastern US from there. Well, I ordered the frame on Saturday, February 16, and it arrived at my door 7 days later! I was very impressed with this ship time and don't know if it us unusual, but this was the case for me.
I took all day yesterday to build it up and took it for it's initial shakeout ride today. I had planned on only 15-20 miles, but 48 miles and 2,500ft of climbing later, I can say it passed the test with flying colors. I had a couple loose bolts and the seat post slipped a few times, but these were easy fixes. My only real concern in this whole process was how stiff this frame would be or, conversely, would it lack the stiffness, particularly in the Bottom Bracket area that I need as a heavier rider and one who likes to climb. My questions were answered today. I currently weigh 185lbs (83.9 kilos) and felt little to no flex on any of my sprints or hard out of the saddle climbs today over very hilly terrain. I know BB stiffness is relative but I thought I would post my thoughts on this frame's stiffness (although this is based on just one ride).
I feel like many builds have been documented very well on this site and over the next couple of days I plan on showing you with pictures or writing about the parts that proved most difficult for me and hopefully that will help others with their future builds.
Now for the final (almost) product. I had initially planned on painting this bike myself once it arrived and then building it. I'm not generally a huge fan of all black bikes, but I must say that I was stunned at the finish and quality of this frame. So much so, that I have decided not to paint it, but to actually design a set of small gray and black stickers to go in key places on the frame. This could take a while as I'll take my time to design the decorations. Once I have the decals cut and applied, I'll post some follow up pictures of the finished frame in the future.


Build details:
Frame: FM066SL BB30 size 60cm including factory seatpost and seat clamp
Shifters: SRAM Force
FD: SRAM Red
RD: SRAM Force
Brakes: SRAM Force
Seat: Fizik Arione (kium rails)
Stem: 3T ARX Team black
Bars: Ritchey WCS Logic II
Headset: Neco (from the factory)
Wheels: Zipp 404 (non Firecrest)
Cables: Gore Ride On w/SRAM Stainless Steel cables
Crankset:SRAM Red Black Edition
Chain: SRAM PC 1091

Weight: ? 16lb area

Pictures taken after the first ride this afternoon.

Very nice build, glad to hear everything went so well. I ordered my this past saturday and hope it arrive in such a short time.I hate to wait. Looking forward to more ride reports

Looks Great!! its the first 60cm frame i have seen, i ordered one 2weeks ago. i was worried that it would look out of proportion, but it looks great i am in South Africa, so it will probably take some time to get here.

if i may ask, what shipping confirmation, etc, did you get after ordering it? i have not gotten anything other than "Your order XXX has been confirmed".

Slik we got your email and have asked for updates on these orders. Make sure to check your spam folders also. Keep us updated. Thank you!
Slik wrote:

Carbonhead - Thank you. Another 26 miles at lunch today. Didn't need any other adjustments. Two comments though: My seatpost collar apparently has cracked - most likely on the first ride yesterday. It looks to be made mostly or entirely of carbon except for the screw. and says tighten to 6nm. I mentioned above that the seat kept slipping on that ride and so I'm may have overtightened it at some point. It's holding just fine at the moment, but I will most likely replace it with a metal collar of some sort.

Slik - Thank you. I wasn't sure about the proportion either when I ordered, but I saw a thread put up by JHill on his build and he built up a 58cm frame which looked really good. I didn't think the 60cm would be too far out of proportion to the 58 and it' s not. I got an email from Season Lan at Miracle Bike a day or two after my order (I'm sure this was facilitated by Killerbee- thanks Killerbee!). It included and EMS tracking number. I checked it a couple times and once it was at the main China sort facility I didn't see an update for a few days, so I really just stopped checking for about a week, and to my surprise, it showed up earlier than planned. Here's hoping you get yours soon.

In your build did you use carbon paste on the seat post, stem and handlebars to help with torque. I'm sure your generating more watts than I am being I bought a 50cm frame. A little difference is size. Just as long as the frame is in good shape. Keep use updated as you rack up the miles. As far as the shipping goes, I'll give it a few days before asking too many questions. Best of luck. Steve

You know I was talking to my buddy about carbon paste yesterday. I don't know exactly what it is, but as the seatpost has been creaking and sliding, I thought that would do the trick. I'm guessing it would provide a lubricating property? Could you clarify for me what carbon paste is/does. I would probably use it in the seatpost to seat connection and maybe in the steerer to stem connection as well. My stem and bars are both metal and I've never had any creaking problems on any of my bikes there, so I wouldn't assume any would be necessary at that junction.

On a seperate note, I wanted to post this tonight before I've done too many rides without an answer to this. Below is a picture of my cut steerer tube for final fitment of the stem and spacers. Notice how on the right and left sides of the tube there appears to be either seperation of the carbon layers or not enough resin to fill the layup together. Has anyone else seen this before? Do you think it could pose and issue? I wasn't sure whether I need to request another fork or if this issue is normal?

FIRST OFF, Tell me that wasn't like that the day you first cut that! That is not good. I have ridden 2yrs with a steerer tube that had 1/4 that damage with no problem. But that, with your size, just don't add up. Make sure killerbee see's that. As for carbon paste, it creates friction between two objects so you use less torque on the bolts too hopefully avoid damage to delicate carbon.

BB30 bearing insertion. The right way and the wrong way:

I had a couple of issues building this frame up from past builds and this is my first foray into the BB30 standard. About 1/3 way into this build I was cursing it and wishing I had just ordered a BSA bottom bracket. Now that it's done, I'm glad I have a new standard to try out and I'm sure I will grow to really like it - it's very stiff by the way and was one of the reasons I wanted to go with BB30 on this build.

Ok, let me start by saying that I did at one point take it to a shop because of multiple trys at pressing the bearings in , but not getting proper insertion. I wanted to at least try and do everything myself on this build, knowing that if I had to , I could get help at a shop. I think my problem really lies in the fact that I could not get washers with a large enough outside diameter locally to really help guide the bearings into the bearing shell. No pics of the original press, but in a pic below you'll see it with bearing cup presses I later ordered. So, with the bearings being steel and the shell being aluminum, it's just a mild interference press with the bearing being slightly larger in overall diameter larger than the shell. I inserted the C clips into the shell to create bearing stops and then put my press together and slowly cranked/pressed the bearings in. My issues was that they would not press in flush into the housing. The picture below is representative of what was going on here. This is the wrong way, obviously!




After removal and the second attempt at pressing, the drive side bearing became stuck and I didn't want to wail on it with hammer or other implement and wreck the bearing. I also noticed that there was a small groove or notch forming on the non drive side, inside the shell, from the steel pressing at a non ideal angle into the BB shell. This made me a bit nervous and I didn't want to wreck my new frame before it was even built, so . . enter the bike shop. I took it in and they were able to free the bearing and repress the bearings flush with the BB shell. However, this was incorrect as well. Why the mechanic didn't know this, I don't know, but the bearings should be pressed into the shell until they touch the stop clips. This allows the dust rings to fit into the shell as well and seat up flush against the outer edge of the BB shell. I had to read this on a couple websites and I believe I confirmed it in a SRAM technical manual too.

Luckily I had already ordered a Park Tool bottom bracket tool online for the insertion and removal of BB30 bearings and it arrived the next day, so I was able to use my homemade press and press the bearings in another few millimeters on each side to the clips and then apply grease and the dust covers. See photos below:

Park Tool BBT-30.3






Pressing the bearings in to seat against the retaining clips:





Non drive bearing properly seated against the retaining clip in the BB30 shell:



That's it. Once this was done, I was able to grease the crank spindle and the inner races of the bearings and the crank went in with hard hand pressure and a couple knocks from the butt of my palm - no mallet or other tool required for crank insertion.





Make sure you grease the shell and outer races of the bearings before pressing them in. Good luck.

Carbonhead, this was taken about 5 minutes after the cut was made and directly after fitting it back into the headset. Maybe I have a problem here that needs some attention.

What did you use to cut it? I've always wrapped several layer of masking tape around the area I will be cutting, right down the middle of the tape. as for cutting, a good band saw at work with a good blade. Key being, go painfully slow. Last time with my chop saw and a abrasive blade. Super clean cut. Like I said, I don't know if I would trust it, Make sure killerbee see's it.

I used a metal pipe about 4 inches long to sleeve over the steerer tube to give me a better guide to cut the tube with. I've seen threads of people using just some type of masking tape, but I wanted a guide that wouldn't easily allow me to cut through the guide, and would keep the blade on a straight course. I just went very slowly with a sharp hacksaw blade. It made a very nice cut and then I took a fine sandpaper and ran it over the top a couple times to smooth out any rough edges.

It is a clean straight cut. You just don't want to see voids IN the material. Take a good look inside the frame in self.Head tube,seat tube, inside the cable mounts. Take good long hard look. Also, tap every square inch of the frame and fork with a quarter. Get real familiar with the sounds it make. You want a "ting", not a "thud" sound. In the future when you do it again, if the sound changes, a problem maybe coming. Carbons like a women, needs more attention. Doesn't mean you still can't ride her hard though.

pjohns88, I had the same issues installing my bottom bracket. If you look at my build you will see the process I used. The main problem I had was that the bearings were pressed flush with the frame and they are supposed to be seated recessed a little bit for the dust shield to fit. I ended up just putting both dust shields on each side and then pressing it in so the inner dust shield was flush. Then used both on the other side to get the other side flush. Check my build for photos.

What i did i put mine the bearings in the freezer for 2 hours and they nearly sliiped in the frame.

I've done that in the past and it works very well. Thanks for reminding me of that one.

Hi, apologizes for not getting back sooner, I have been preoccupied with training
I have received my frame and wheels

Fm066sl
Ordered: 18/02
Shipped: 07/03
Received: 05/04

Far Sports FSC-CM 38mm Clincher
Ordered: 19/02
Shipped: 11/03
Received: 19/03

Thankfully they arrived in good order. I want give a big thanks to Killer Bee, velo crew, Far sports and Miracle bike. They all doing a great job!!

I have only ridden the wheels once, and they run beautifully so far.

I am still waiting for the group $$$$ So unfortunately I cant test the frame. Hopefully I will get it in the next week or two, then I can build it up. My goal is to get it to get it as close to 6.8kg as i can, stupid UCI

As soon as I can, I will document my build and write a review for the wheels and frame.

You need to use a carbon specific hacksaw blade, that might be the reason for the damage. Carbon blades feel like they have very coarse sandpaper material on the blade teeth compared to a normal hacksaw blade.

I am building up my first FM066, Can you let me know what is the length of you cable housing? I am having a lot trouble getting them together.

THanks!