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Hi I've got the chance of buying the above bike anyone had one and could tell me if this would be a good buy or a dud? And what's this brain thing all about? Cheers, Mark
They were a good bike but the game has moved on a lot in the past 9years . As ever with buying second hand full sus you have the potential for some big bills and also have no warranty so if it's in great condition then it may be worth a hundred or 2 pounds . Now for the really bad news . Epics from that time had massive problems with the brain shock . I worked in a Specialized dealer at that time and the shocks kept on breaking . I know of 1 customer who had 5 replacements under warranty in less than a year . This bike will only work with this shock so you can,t just bung a different shock on it and servicing costs are well over £100 a time . I would only have one if I were given it, and that's without mentioning the obsolete wheel size .
26er xc race bikes, must be giving them away by now surely?
Cheers Neil think I will pass up the frame
If the shock has a yellow dot on it it is fine. I went through countless shocks on mine until I got the one with a yellow dot. Specialized finally got their act together and got a reliable shock built but by then, the damage was done to that shock's reputation so they went back to Fox.
This is the one with the shock running parallel to the seatstay isn't it. If so I had the S-Works version. They were good in their day but the offset shock did make it feel like it was twisting slightly on compression and they were quite flexible - lots of lateral flex round the BB. I'm only 65kg and not much power so usually I don't notice such things but this was pretty obvious.
I sold mine and bought the 2009 Epic Marathon which I still have. This is a huge step forward, and I love it, but compared to a more modern bike it feels pretty twitchy and flexy.
I wouldn't touch the 2007 version unless it was mega cheap, there was nothing else about and I didn't want to do anything more than fast XC (What it was designed for!)
Just bought a 2008 frame still with the brain thingy and spesh shock at the back. Replacing the bearings was easy, but the pivot bolts were a right pain to get out, needed drilling so a £40 bolt kit required. Looking forward to getting it built next week.
Thanks everyone but think I will look elsewhere may even go back to hardtail !!