Hiya folks, new to the forum so I thought I would put something up! Got myself back out on a bike this year after a few years off, got myself a hard tail specialized just for xc trails etc. I got the bug again and started upgrading a few bits……then a few bits ended up being a complete new build from the ground up :-/ most parts got changed again even though the bike wasn’t complete because I was figuring out what it needed as I went along.
The bike itself is specifically DH mainly because I like the look of them lol but it is something I want to have a go at so hopefully I have not done too bad as a first attempt!
Here is the bike ( still need to fit the rear mech cable / x0 chain guide / front caliper adaptor )

Opinions please 🙂

The spec is as follows ;

Frame – 2004/5 specialized enduro s works fresh powder coat and new bearings
Forks – 2005 marzocchi bomber 888rc re-painted & decals
shock – fox dhx rc4 with nukeproof ti 550 spring
rims – richie pro ( deemax decals tho )
Head set – new cane creek
Bars – renthal fatbar
shifter – sram x0 carbon 9sp
rear mech -sram xo carbon cage hope jockey wheels
seat post – carbon sram truvativ
Brakes – formula t1 – 203mm rotors
Crank – raceface evolve dh single speed 39 ac chainring / truvativ x0 chain guide
bb – shimano
pedals – ally platform unknown brand
cassette – shimano altus 9 sp + hg53 chain
tyres – continental diesel 26 x 2.5 continental tubes
saddle – Chinese ebay special for the colour coding 🙂

Still not had chance to take it out yet but will hopefully be out over the christmas break at sherwood pines.

Cheers

Jay

Opinions please

I’m glad you managed to turn the garden through 90 degrees after taking that first picture.

[edit]

that ‘saw as sprung prop to keep the washing machine door shut’ is genius 🙂

bike looks tidy too!

took some doing…

Thats the missus’s engineering skills to overcome the tumble dryer latch snapping off 😉

Your gears won’t work without a cable 😉 Bike looks fun..

Not bad that, though I suspect you’ll find those tyres are terrible, some High Roller II’s will sort that out cheaply enough though.

It’s very yellow, isn’t it.

And you’ve committed the cardinal error of not lining the valves & logos on the tyres.

Looks like fun though.

have you checked the shock doesn’t foul at full compression?

has the chainstay snapped yet?

Enjoy. Your front rotor is on wrong, so fix that first!

Watch you don’t stand on the rake.

Sort out the levers too please 😉

Nice rig now get out and get it dirty !!!!

Cant imagine the rotor direction makes any difference but yeah well spotted 😉

Not tried it yet so not sure about the shock

Just changed the grips so the levers need sliding out, nothing is set yet anyway, needs a going over once this daft day tomorrow has passed, then its out to get dirty 🙂

Cant imagine the rotor direction makes any difference

it does. I’d change it before bends.

And yeah you will be right about the tyres, im looking at replacements at the minute

Surprised
a) it’s not snapped at the seat mast (loads did)
b) you haven’t died using conti diesels as they have almost no grip

Can you explain why???

You can tell those tyres are shit by just looking at the tread pattern who could possibly think that was a good idea. ..

I see now about the rotor, with the type of riding ill be doing I doubt very much i would stress any of it that much, but yeh theres a few bits need sorting, thats why I am asking opinions 😉

^^^ i was on ebay and looked for something wide, read the reviews afterwards :-/ my bad

Position from grip is fine, it’s high angle that’s odd.

Does it not feel a bit unbalanced with that fork on the front? Quite a difference in travel.

Needs more logos and stickers imo

Like I said ive not been out on it yet, it could quite easily ride like a pig, I have another fox shock with loads more travel but i2i is too much and was worried about jacking up too much at the rear

I’m not sure that’s a DH bike… I used to have one and I’m jey as can be 🙂

What length shock? 200mm works much better than the 190mm length they came with – raises the BB just the right amount IMO. Mine was a 57mm travel one too which gave some extra travel (50mm standard)

are michelin drip’r descent any good?

Worth seeing if you can find a set of flat crowns for the fork. The drop crowns made it ridiculously long, can only imagine that your bars (and bb height) are in the clouds!

if you stick a wanted ad up here or Pinkbike (probably more likely there) you should be about to get them for peanuts.

By downhill I mean its closer to that than a bike I would use for xc, new territory for me, this shock is 190 which isnt ideal with the front end its got on, i was going to flip the link though for a bit extra, the other shock I have is 240 which is waaay to big

Yeah it is very high up front :-/

Well those forks are probably a fair bit longer than the forks it was designed for so the shorter shock will probably be fine for you (since they’ll raise the BB anyway) and will also mean slightly slacker angles.

Nice bike – a bit wallowy in mid travel for me – but probably fine for ‘DH’.

I think that the term is ‘enduro’ now though and really it should be enduro-specific blue so I would suggest a new paintjob asap to avoid being laughed at…

😉

Ive got a bit of adjustment though up front by just lowering the crowns down the stanchions, think I can safely drop 15mm ish

The paint was done before I got it so it would be a shame to strip it now lol bear in mind this is a first attempt, if I enjoy any form of dh then the frame will be upgraded, apart from my wheels I am assuming most of my other components arent too shoddy??

They’re fine – this is just STW-style bike commentary 🙂

I like the yellow BTW.

Don’t go messing with the rear link, it’ll just ride like a pig. You want to slacken off ideally to compensate for the huge fork, otherwise when you bottom out you’ll be over the bars potentially.

Be careful dropping the crowns. Just because there seems space doesn’t mean there is. You need to remove the spring and fully compress the fork to check clearance between the fork seal and crown on the tyre. Otherwise it could be a dangerous or expensive error.

Didn’t this frame come with a 130mm fork so I assume that is the 170 888

pitchy – Member

Ive got a bit of adjustment though up front by just lowering the crowns down the stanchions, think I can safely drop 15mm ish

Still a very long axle-crown height i’m afraid. Even with the flat-crowns it’s still a long fork compared to Boxxers, 40s, etc

No reason not to give it a go and have a laugh though, then switch the crowns if/when you find a set

fr0sty125 – Member

Didn’t this frame come with a 130mm fork so I assume that is the 170 888

Even at 7″ they were still longer than other 8″ forks

Very long compared to the 130mm travel single-crown forks the frame is designed for…

This was mine. yours looks better.

If im completely honest the build has been asthetics in mind, ive never riden down hill or ever needed the components ive cobbled together, but ive enjoyed building it, and its trial and error, as long as I can get the basics sorted then I can continue upgrading as I go along 🙂

Cheap set of second hand pikes or similar would be better for actually riding I reckon…

Ive got some old boxxers and some manitou x verts but they seem very dated, even though these 888’s arent spanking they appear to be a lot more stable, although I think the height is gona be a problem.

Dropping the crowns is safe if I stay in the guide lines, theres a min / max so I could use them.

I doubt either that i will bottom anything out as I wont be attempting any big drops or owt