Hi guys and girls.
I’m having a little crisis here. I finding myself increasingly p’d off with my current bike. It’s a 2003 Aussie Carbon framed special called an EPX Terrashark. I fell in love with it a while back and then came across one languishing in my LBS after the manufacturing company bankruptcy.
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I’m currently wishing i had bought something much simpler as I don’t seem to be able to extract it from my garage for a ride without having do some sort of maintenance to it, perhaps it’s the fact that I keep cheaping out on things, e.g. buying second hand forks and shocks from the classifieds etc? Or perhaps that I just don’t have the skills to keep something this specialist in perfect nick?
I never seem to be able to get the feel of the rear set up properly (RS Ario). I’ve tried lowering the air pressure, however it just blows through all of its travel dropping of a curb. When I raise the pressure (in 1psi increments) it stops blowing through its travel, but in return it does something odd to the rebound damping- basically it’s like the first 50% of the shock travel is undamped. I’m just lost, I can’t figure it out at all.
The bike also seems very fussy, it needs almost constant maintenance, if it’s not one thing it’s something else- currently it’s giving off a lovely squeaking noise when I’m riding- coming from the running gear- which is probably the freehub. Last time I rode it was the brakes that were scrubbing, the time before that the shock mount had inexplicably stripped it’s threads. Oh, and the pace forks seem to have a lovely cracking noise coming from them- explained by the pace service dept as needing a bearing and a service.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing with the spanners as much as the next guy, however I spend as much time maintaining the bugger as I spend riding it. I don’t know if I’m being stupid and I’ve just fallen out of love with it, but I’m getting to the stage of frustration with nothing ever going right or working properly for longer than an hour.
Have I bought something that is just impractical for general commuting / trail riding or am I doing something dumb? Would I be better off getting something else?
I'm the last person to ask mate ([url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/manitou-swinger-full-service-help ]![/url] [url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/xc-riders-what-do-you-have-a-full-sus-for ]!![/url] , but if you have the money get a better shock front and back and that would seem to solve most of teh issues you list. Other things sound like the product of buying items that may be on the turn already.
Don't discount the idea that you bike is just a bastard that hates change though- I had a bike that wilfully resited every upgrade I tried to give it. It lives in my parents garage now- in disgrace and partially stripped.
Might be worth buying a cheap hardtail frame (Inbred perhaps?) and swapping the bits onto that. If nothing else it'd eliminate the frame & shock as being the cause of the problems.
Practical Matt- your comments about the bike willfully resisting change A) made me giggle like a girl, and b) might have some truth in it. It would seem like a fruitless errand at the moment.
I figure it's probably time for a change, the inbred idea seems like a plan- any ideas where one can be boguth from?
I had a bike like that once.
I stripped it, put the frame on ebay and bought an on-one + some coil sprung bombers. Ran it SS for a while, but now geared. Comes out of the shed more regularly than the old one.
There are usually 2nd hand Inbreds in the classifieds. If you get one used and don't like it you won't lose much (if anything) when you sell it on as the demand for them is pretty strong and they're cheap anyway.
Just a thought, but I know some single pivot bikes don't run well with shocks not set up with the correct compression ratios... I remember reading that Prophets suffer from this, if you change the shock. Could be something similar?
That would be a good bike for night rides.
Forget the psi on the gauge is the first thing, set the sag and whatever pressure gets the right sag is the right psi and no other...
Then if its blowing through the travel you can add grease into the air can to reduce the volume, this will let the shock ramp up faster and stop the blowing through the travel thing.
ps the rest of the running issus would be the same any BIKE, as its only a load of components from different sources, just like any other MTB..
The RS arios are meant to be very difficult to set up. What sort of travel is the bike? Look to see what other single pivot/similar travel bikes are running shock pressure wise and go for that as a starting point. You could be in for alot of trial and error though. Sounds like you are running the wrong shock though.
shock pressure will vary from bike to bike even if using the same shock.
SET THE SAG... then play with the air volume then set the sag agin until you got the right balance.