My 2013 is going to include a Euro road-trip involving lots of alpine uplifting and I need a big bike. I love the look of Morewood bikes with Bos suspension and by all accounts they are incredibly fast and grippy.

The press reviews rave about the performance and reliability etc. and there’s some nice stuff for sale. Can’t decide whether to go for a Makulu or a Kalula. A proper DH bike in the right environment is amazing but the Kalula will possibly be 90% of the performance and a lot more useful in the UK.

Some current examples;
http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1233693/

http://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/1196953/

Does anyone have any real world experience of any of the forks or shocks pictured here? I just know that the whole importer/servicing/tuning thing is still up in the air. Is this a problem or will the reliability see me through?

Also, the Bos Stoy shock seems to make a weird squeaking/chirping sound that is evident in a few videos, not sure if I could put up with that.

Or should I stick with Fox? I know they’re not perfect but I like the fact that I can send them to Mojo and have them come back feeling brand new.

Any opinions welcomed, I just need swaying one way or the other.

There is a place in Ireland that does BOS servicing, mad elk cycles iirc?
I have a deville, not many miles on it though. I like it however. Very plush, not much bob, I don’t bother with the TRC switch.
I like that makulu, very nice. It was on eBay but I assume the seller pulled it as it was nowhere the pinkbike price.

The new uk importer is surf sales (transition bikes uk). They will also be carrying out the servicing. I have had devilles/VIPr for a while now and they awesome!! I just purchased a new covert frame but have a VIPr on order as my last one went with my previous frame.

My main issue with buying something reasonably obscure is that if you are road tripping for a decent length of time, things inevitably go wrong. If your bos suspension fails in a resort, you are goosed, whereas someone will probably be able to sort rockshox.

I like that makulu, very nice. It was on eBay but I assume the seller pulled it as it was nowhere the pinkbike price.

I was the highest bidder on ebay when it got pulled. Not paying 3 grand for a used bike. I’d rather buy a Canyon or wait for the new YT Tues

The new uk importer is surf sales (transition bikes uk). They will also be carrying out the servicing.

That’s good news, I was not aware of that.

If your bos suspension fails in a resort, you are goosed

Nail-on-Head. This is my main reservation.

I’m just not really seeing anything else I fancy. I think I’ll get back in touch with my local DH mates and hang around blagging test rides for a day and see if I like anything.

There seems to be a real gap in the second hand market for reasonably priced, decent, workhorse, bikes. Lots of ugly, ageing and well used stuff for under £1500 then £3000 and over for super posh boutique builds with not much in between.

How about a nukeproof scalp, kona operator, and saracen myst? Quite a few scalps out there And the kona and saracen are good money new. I would imagine YT being better specced though. Any news on the tues 3.0? I haven’t heard anything other than that there will be one….

Do it. The suspension is now supported by an importer so I can’t see a real problem. The performance is bang on.

Do it. The suspension is now supported by an importer so I can’t see a real problem. The performance is bang on.

I can’t help you with the question about the Morewood as I haven’t ridden one. I do have some experience of the BOS units. I would be surprised if you had a problem with either the fork or the damper but even if you did, I am not sure that a similar problem with Fox or RS would necessarily be so easily fixed while you’re out in a resort.

From experience, the resort shops tend to direct you to main service centres for suspension problems. That of course depends on where you are and what shop you’re in, but even if the shop can fix it, the chances of them being able to do it inside of 24 hours notice usually means that the most reliable way of getting you up an running again is a hire bike.

Either way, you’d be terribly unlucky to have a terminal problem with your forks or damper in the small window you’re away using them. I think in 12 years of riding bikes with some form of suspension, I’ve only had a pair of forks go wrong twice – once was a pair of Pace RC40s and the other was a pair of Rock Shox Boxxers, where the end of the damping tube snapped, and I’ve never had any issue with any rear damper of any kind.

I’ve been in touch already with Surf Sales about my own BOS forks. Wierdly it seems that the steerer tube is very slightly undersize; it’s not been a problem until now but I’ve changed head set and frame reecntly and suddenly it is so they’re helping me out and they’re being very good about it. I know that contradicts what I’ve just written above, but it’s not a typical mechanical issue that is likely to cause you a probelm out in France.

As for what kind of bike, 160mm+ AM bikes are so good these days that unless you’re riding dedicated DH tracks 100% of the time, I think they are the better choice. A traditional DH track will be more fun and less demanding on a DH bike but for everything else, the AM bike will be as much fun and most likely as fast.

I rode my Nicolai Helius AM in Verbier last year and followed a few guys on Orange 224s down a lot of trails. The AM was more than up to keeping up with the dedicated DH bikes (although it was set up with a CCDB and Fox 36s). I’ve also ridden the AM back to back with a full on DH bike at Gawton and on the harder tracks there, you can definitely feel that the AM bike is harder work and requires you to be much more on your game than the DH bike. Then over at Tavi Woods, the AM was more fun than the DH bike.

I hear what you’re saying about bike choice but my AM needs are already covered. I am specifically going to Europe to ride the fastest, ugliest, DH tracks I can get my hands on. I doesn’t happen very often so I intend to get my fix! I will be riding with other people on DH bikes and I don’t want to be tagging along at the back.

Also I see what you mean about actual ‘holiday ending’ mechanical problems are extremely rare. It would probably be just as awkward to deal with any fork or shock if it truly shitted itself.

Do it. The suspension is now supported by an importer so I can’t see a real problem. The performance is bang on.

I hope it is this simple. They did have an importer before but didn’t they pull out due to Bos being very difficult about supplying spare parts? I hope surf sales are a little easier to deal with as I can really see myself on a Makulu right now!

I think you’ve answered you’re own question – you need a DH bike, no question. But if it doesn’t happen very often, maybe you could borrow one? Sounds a bit far fetched I know but not entirely out of the question (unless of course you’re going to use this purchase as a damn good reason to ride more DH in the UK!)

I actually bought my BOS units from R53 directly and thought they were great to deal with. Surf Sales seem as good and helpful as well; like you say, the issue isn’t the UK distributor/service centre, it’s the way BOS end up trying to run the relationship. I talked to Roger about what had happened and it sounded like a familiar story; BOS wanting to control the relationship and treat R53 like a subsidiary run entirely for BOS’s benefit and not Roger’s. They were making crazy demands on them to buy huge amounts of stock and guarantee commitments to warranty services etc.

unless of course you’re going to use this purchase as a damn good reason to ride more DH in the UK!

This is where a mini-DH bike comes in. My closest trails are Hamsterley and Innerleithen. Hardly Alpine in stature so the smaller, steeper bike might get even be better on the tight and twisty stuff we have here. I have a lot of mates who ride just DH so plenty of opportunity to get out and about.

As a former BOS owner, I would suggest the sensible thing to do would be to save yourself the potential hassle of problems happening at the most inconvenient of time.

Fox & RS stuff is well serviced in the Alps. The marginal differences in performance between all 3 big, main brands negates any benefit of having BOS stuff Vs potential downfalls.

I went for the 2012 Makulu frame only package and fitted my own choice of shock so it cost me £1500. After discussing it with TF Tuned I decided the best option for me was the Cane Creek DB Coil. TF advised me that the BOS stuff is tricky to source spares for and as such they don’t stock it any more. I am very happy with the choice I made and whilst I don’t doubt that the BOS has fantastic performance, I know several people that believed the BOS reliability claims and service intervals only to find the forks and shocks failing. Add to that how long it takes to get a BOS warranty turned around and it was no contest for me.

So I ended up with my 3 year old Boxxer Teams (faultless) and a 2012 CCDB and the Morewood feels utterly fantastic. The CCDB took a lot of tuning (months) to get good settings but has been completely reliable.

As for Makulu or Kalula hard to say. I went for Makulu specifically to ride Fort William and other Scottish DH courses. Away from that stuff it’s far too much bike and is really only useful as a full on DH course bike.

I found the online UK shop I bought it from were extremely helpful…….until they had my money. After that they were nothing short of disgraceful with their backup as my Morewood had been fitted with a tiny wrong part in the linkage that had to be changed. After several months I gave up calling and emailing them and went direct to the German distributor who resolved the issue free of charge within 3 days and were brilliant. I believe there are much better UK Morewood dealers and buying from a crap shop was my only Morewood regret.

Other than that the Morewood has been faultless.

All comments taken on board. There’s no hurry to buy one, I’m going to wait until the festive season is behind us and there’s more stuff up for sale. There is quite a few Nukeproof Scalps for sale at very reasonable prices. I imagine there will be even more when CRC stock up on the new one. Lots of them have CCDB’s as well which I would prefer to a Stoy. Very rare to find a CCDB fitted to a Morewood but I could live with a Scalp.

Still having my head turned by stuff like this;
(same seller as the Makulu above)

They just look like so much fun! I do catch myself fantasizing about using a mini-DH bike to ‘shred the gnar’ and hit all those massive bike park jump lines that don’t exist in the UK though. I imagine that they would be great on British DH stuff as well where the average speed is quite low.