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For the last 8 months I've hated my bike. It's just breaking down relentlessly and I'm wasting *all* my spare time *trying* (always unsuccessfully, I never learn) to fix it and paying repair bills to the mechanic.
It breaks all the time and I'm always unable to fix it. The mechanics do "bodge jobs" to fix it, it will work for a short while then the same thing will fail again. I feel like I'm throwing thousands of pounds away at junk.
Can anyone recommend a replacement ? I'd get the same type of bike (29er full suspension) as when it worked it was good to ride but it was just dogged with never-ending reliability issues.
I'm just after something that's a lot more reliable ? Not from Specialized again though.
I can't stand the thought of wasting any more days with decent weather with no bike to ride and desperately trying to fix junk.
Whats actually gone wrong with it? is it the frame or just components?
It has just been a constant stream of never-ending problems over the last 8 months with brakes, suspension & drive train and it has been constantly worked on by myself and 3X different mechanics over the last 8 months and the same problems have repeated countless times.
I've a 2014 Camber carbon 29er.
Gets ridden 2-4 times per week on hard/rocky trails. All works well, if maintained.
What is actually wrong with yours?
with brakes, suspension & drive train
So none of the bits that have anything to do with specialized then? What makes you think another brand will be any different?
So nothing made by specialized has gone wrong then?
id be more concerned with the parts manufactures of the next bike not the ones that make the frame. Still you could likely replace pretty much everything on it for less than a new bike.
XT brakes?
Might get a new bike but keep the specialized as a backup. It sucks when it's the weekend and I want to ride but the bike broke on Friday afternoon and the mechanic is off until Monday.
SRAM. I'd put money on it.
Deore
You can have a bike for each of your logins then 🙂
There's a brand-new Pivot Mach 429c on eBay at the moment for £2750, on a bike shop's page. The only thing I'd swap on it would be the brakes.
Full deore groupset?
Normally pretty reliable IME. Had much more problems with SRAM stuff over the years.
Has stuff actually broken? Or is it just routine things like brake pads/bleed gear cables chain etc.
As it just seems like you had a bike for a while and now it needs maintenance you want a new one (which is fine, I've used much worse excuses for new bikes) but sounds like 12-18 months down the line you will be back to the same point
When I spent £1.6k in maintenance in the last 12 months (plus MEGA pain in the arse) then I see a new Whyte T130 S for that same price which has a dropper post (something my bike doesn't even have)
Also I don't know why I got 2 log ins it just comes up as this when I'm on my mobile and grannyjone when I'm on the PC. I'll have to find out why when I've got the time (something I don't have much of)
So are there 1 or 2 guys with broken down Specialiseds?
1
Ease up on the jet washing after every ride. Even if your bike is muddy you can hand wash it. Jet washing can bugger up your forks, frame bearings, bottom bracket and headset bearings and possibly even brakes if you are forcing the water past the seals.
With regards to new bike I'd check out the direct sales websites from Germany - YT, Canyon, ROSE.
Not sure it's the bike's fault....
If you're keeping your existing 29er why. Or get a 27.5 trail bike - for value it's hard to look past the Boardman Pro Fs. Pikes, 1x11 Sram GX, Guide R brakes etc.
Think they're £1500 at the moment - and have routing for a stealth dropper so just add one and it should be good. I've got the version before which is fun, but the new one has slightly more laid back geometry so assume more fun.
How do folks constantly break bikes? Even when I was riding alot nothing ever broke and stuff rarely wore out. I got a full seasons riding out of my slx equipped anthem without even having to replace the chain.
as for the ops question. Id have a look for a 2016 model on pauls. Usually have a good few 3k bikes for well under 2k...
How do people not break bikes? It is a constant battle against the elements. Smashed rear mech, goosed drive trains, snapped bars, rusty bearings, wobbly pivot bearings, shagged pedals, sticky pistons, reluctant cables, lazy free hubs, sponges brakes, snapped spokes, smashed chain devices, battered mech hangers, ninja throwing stars for jockey wheels, stiction in your clutch mech, cracked sest rails etc...
If you can'take spanner your way out of such dilemmas then it is a lot of workshop time with no bike.
How about a Jeffsy or a Spectral 29er?
I ride all year round. In Winter the bike sometimes comes back with so much mud on it after a massive 30-40 mile loop that you can hardly even see the colour of any of the bike under all that mud. It's absolutely caked in it sometimes. Plus its not just Winter. Late Autumn and Early Spring can be just as bad.
Plus some of that time was spent doing hike-a-bike through boggy shite for hours on end, and walking through farm land and climbing over fences for miles to get back on-track. So it shouldn't be getting that worn out if there was that much hike-a-bike.
If you're riding in conditions like that no bike or component will last long. Ever thought of going rigid/hardtail single-speed to keep the maintenance cost down on winter rider?
Having the SS would add more costs (with the initial purchase) even if it would save money in the long run on components. But the main thing is I don't think I'd get very far on a rigid or hardtail singlespeed. I'd take a beating on the rocky stuff and the lack of a granny gear would mean legs are destroyed in no time.
The other alternatives is to not ride in Winter or pay the massive bills. Perhaps go abroad instead and ride in dry dusty conditions, probably wouldn't cost that much more than replacing all my components from riding in the mud.
I reckon what you need is a course in bike maintenance - assuming that sort of thing exists
[I]How do folks constantly break bikes? Even when I was riding alot nothing ever broke and stuff rarely wore out. I got a full seasons riding out of my slx equipped anthem without even having to replace the chain.[/I]
Only need a chain a year? You ain't riding enough 😉
Ease up on the jet washing after every ride. Even if your bike is muddy you can hand wash it. Jet washing can bugger up your forks, frame bearings, bottom bracket and headset bearings and possibly even brakes if you are forcing the water past the seals.
What about low-powered washers such as the Mobi V17 Jet Washer which has roughly the same power output as a hosepipe and is sold & highly sought-after on Chain Reaction ? I've enquired about this several times and most people seemed to think that it wasn't powerful enough to break anything ? Unless you pointed it very close to something on full power for a long time, most say it won't break anything. It's barely powerful enough to get the mud off the bike unless its really wet or you spray Muc-Off on it.
How do folks constantly break bikes? Even when I was riding alot nothing ever broke and stuff rarely wore out. I got a full seasons riding out of my slx equipped anthem without even having to replace the chain.
I'd like to know what mileage your doing per year and whether you regularly ride in wet conditions where the bike ends the ride absolutely caked in mud ?
If you want to have a bomb proof full susser to put miles on, all year round - with few breakdowns then:
1) Coil suspension, I don't care what the mags say - it goes wrong less often and is less reliant on good seals.
2) Hope brakes, I've had two sets of Shimanos with moving bite points now - and one set outright died, the last set of brakes that did that to me were some old Formula Oros. Conversely, we have 15 year old Hope brakes on hack bikes that work perfectly still for what they are intended and were probably bled a decade ago.
3) Cheap Shimano drivetrain you can afford to replace regularly
4) Make sure the bearings are properly packed with grease
Sounds like a 29er, rigid, single or 1x9 HT for the winter would pay dividends.
So is it completely uneconomical to run any FS in Winter in the UK ? (Unless you stick to the drier Trail Centres) ?
Looks like the cost/per mile in the mud on the FS is horrendous! Makes a car look cheap to run (all costs included)!
It looks like the Pivot Bearings are always going to add about £90 a year onto the maintenance costs on an FS. (£45 for the Bearings and £45 in Labour - or a few hours work if your skilled enough to do it yourself)
I'd like to know what mileage your doing per year and whether you regularly ride in wet conditions where the bike ends the ride absolutely caked in mud ?
I have a few bikes so prob about a thousand a year on that one, not huge amounts by some foks standards.. Various conditions but in scotland its usually wet! I never washed it, just lube chain every time I went out
Go single pivot to save on bearings if you need a full suss. And as above deore cassetes and chains can be had for about 30 quid.
1000 miles is very low. Plus if I never washed my bike in 1000 miles, it would be so caked in mud that you wouldn't be able to see much of it.I've been on some rides where its covered in mud after just 20 miles!
Do Whyte have a lifetime warranty on frame bearings ? Does this mean that if I got a Whyte FS, every time the frame bearings wear out they will replace them and I wouldn't have to pay the bill for the bearings?
This could possibly help allow me to afford to run an FS all year round if true.
Give up.
I've tried giving up and going Hiking instead and found it so tedious, boring and required a lot more travelling to get to places. The lack of mechanics was ace, but that's about it.
I've been mountain biking for 3 years now and I'm NOT going to end it here and let the mechanical issues beat me.
I have not much life outside mountain biking, even though I'm still really really crap (at both riding and mech) after riding (or *attempted rides*) 2-4 times a week for 3 years. The mechanical issues are robbing me of enjoyment and money relentlessly though and I've not no riding mates at all anymore as they're all pissed off with me braking down on rides and/or moaning about my bike.
I get really stressed and overwhelmed if the bike isn't working before a big planned ride and the stress is literally feeling like its killing me.
I also hate working and the money I have to spend on repairs is soul destroying.
Seriously, go coil and make sure you pack the bearings with plenty of grease.
I'll look for Coil if I buy a new bike
Learn to do more spannering as well - carrying out a lower fork leg service every 50 hours of riding will mean they stay nicer for longer, wiping the dirt off seals and applying a bit of lube to the stanchions even helps.
A wolftooth stainless steel narrow-wide chainring if you're running a 1x setup will last much much longer than a standard aluminium one.
Hope brakes are bombproof compared to the rest of the market at the moment - and Hope will even send you some parts for free - so servicing costs may be reduced. Sure, they're a bit more of an initial outlay - but as long as you're happy not having the latest gear, they'll last you a decade.
Run a small fender on the forks all year round, that will save a lot of shit from being thrown onto the stanchions and thus the seals.
Buy deore everything for the drivetrain, except for the shifters if you want it to still feel good quality - I'd say go with XT shifters. For something a bit nicer but on a budget, I'd say deore cassettes, SLX mech and XT/XTR shifters.
Run heavier duty rims if you kill wheels....
Never use alumnium nipples, use brass ones...they last a lot ****ing longer..
Lots of little things go along way towards making a bike easier to live with. I've got over 20 years of mountain biking experience (been doing it since I was very young), most of the costly maintenance comes from people running things that are too lightweight for their intended use - 160mm discs...boiled their brakefluid and destroyed their brakes seals....aluminium nipples used in carbon rims and then people wonder why they get galvanic corrosion....200lb hippos riding on Stans Crest rims for aggressive trail riding and then wondering why they folded a wheel...etc etc
Stuff breaks.
I have one bike, a carbon 5010. In the past month I've replaced:
Entire drivetrain (everything)
Front tyre
Rear hub bearings
Frame bearings (8)
Fork seals
Rear shock serviced and stanchion replaced.
Its frustrating, but that's mountain biking sometimes. Before this got done I'd not spent much money or time on it other than cleaning, a tyre abd brake bleed in about 18-24 months.
Do the maintenance yourself. I started riding 8 years ago, first thing I did was replace a gear cable and I even got that wrong! Now I can replace bearings, do lower leg and damper services on my Marzocchi forks and build wheelsets.
You've either got to be prepared to spend a bit of money, or spend time in learning the maintenance.
I would 2nd the suggestions on coil, hope brakes, packing beatings with grease. Look at an Orange Five if you want minimal frame bearing issues.
I think what you need is a single pivot Orange 29er with a coil shock, Marzocchi coil forks, cheap 1x drivetrain with a SRAM steel NW chainring and the all-steel Sunrace wide range 10sp cassette. MudHugger guards front and rear and you're done. Should be able to put that together for your budget I'd say.