Anyone else reminded of Zoolander?

No, what makes you think of that?

Looks green in the pic, but is it the special Blue Steel edition?

it’s Hansel

it’s Hansel

He’s so hot right now, hence the holes.

😀

It doesn’t need a nok-blok or whatever the proprietary crap is called with that many stem spacers!!!!!!!

I have to ask, was the bike mail order, with the bars turned when it arrived? I’m struggling to see how a shop could set it up that way as the knockblock is keyed to the spacers and stem, so they really shouldn’t be able to set it up wrongly.

Ripping head tubes out of frames is common with dual crown forks, I’ve had two friends do it, never seen it happen with single crown forks.

Do you not ride with others or something ? Single crown or double. The frame doesn’t care much. Seen both ripped off. Usually landing off big jumps mind. Rarely/nee never from crashing and bars spinning and tearing it off.

I have to ask, was the bike mail order, with the bars turned when it arrived? I’m struggling to see how a shop could set it up that way as the knockblock is keyed to the spacers and stem, so they really shouldn’t be able to set it up wrongly.

Yep, posted from Balfes Bikes in London.
Agree that the stem and three spacers are keyed and can indeed only fit one way ( well two if you count arse backward as an option!).
But the knockblock ringthing can fit in at least three orientations: correct, way too right, way too left. Can’t be bothered googling again but iirc it has a groove that runs 170 degrees of a circle which the little tab thing locks into. But it also has another groove describing a different arc, and the tab was oriented in this groove instead.
Sorry, crap explanation,

Shockingly poor PDI, lucky it wasn’t the older frame version, would’ve been a different story a few years ago. Thankfully Knockblock is no longer needed on current models.
I’ve heard of the naughty step before but not a naughty cupboard.

That’s painful assembly fore sure.

FWIW on the current Slash, you can just ditch the Knock Block gubbins and install a compatible headset top cap. It’s the first thing I did (well…I got it out of the box first…) when I bought mine.

@walleater do you have a link to the top cap you replaced the knock block one with? I’ve ground off the tabs on one of the spacers so I can use a normal stem but I’m getting quite a bit of creaking from the headset so wouldn’t mind replacing the whole lot to see if that helps…
What did you do with the little tab that screws into the frame? I have to say my top bearing fit doesn’t seem too precise, am wondering if that’s where the creak is coming from.

@rstephenson, if you’re after a spacer without the knockblock i may have one. I bought when i had the EX9.8 but never fitted. I think it was £20 but i’m happy for you to have it FoC.

Thanks Weeksy, is that the one with the little cinch bolt on it? I could give that a go if you don’t need it anymore, cheers. My suspicion is that it won’t cure the creak though, that’s why I’m thinking of replacing the whole headset assembly. If the creak is happening as a result of poor bearing fit and so the bearing moves under load would people consider that a warranty issue? If I endo it creaks very loud and doesn’t inspire much confidence! Pretty sure it’s not the forks as they came off another bike and never has a squeak out of them. I have to say I’m not a fan of drop in bearings in a carbon frame.

Thanks Weeksy, is that the one with the little cinch bolt on it? I could give that a go if you don’t need it anymore, cheers.

I’ll check mate and post up a pic if i can find it. it should be in ‘headset’ drawer…

how you finding the new bike @thegeneralist

ridden mine for a good 10 hours now and love it, so lively, boltby last weekend getting used to it,
it pedals extremely well uphill for a big travel rig, and I took it to the peaks and boulder fields around curber edge / froggat edge yesterday, very agile and pedals well over and between all the rock piles. a beats downhill
pmba this weekend another test

Never seen the knock block cause frame damage – and trek sell thousands of bikes with the system installed.
I suspect they’ve probably done a fair bit of testing on it and stress analysis!

how you finding the new bike

snodactually mine, its my son’s. He loves it, and I’m inclined to agree. Really lively as you say.
The thing that surprises me is that it seems more lively and snappier than my Occam. Possibly even lighter, which is crazy. It may just be the XR5 tyres are faster than my Minnions.
The worry is that I’m sorely tempted to buy one myself. But that would be stupid as I have a bike.
Only ridden it on the local jumps park so far due to GCSE stress but hoping to find some gnar to do in the Lakes this weekend.

:0) @thegeneralist, i thought you had an occam ..

i also have an occam, bought as a stop gap (covid supply problems, and awaiting a payout, still waiting)
occam – fox factory 36 / XTR / hope brakes / carbon wheels circa 13KG, my trek 9.7 with the same wheels assegai/dhr must be around 14.5kg, but rides so much better.

my occam always felt at its limit for ardrock/moors lakes / bpw et al, I’ve had nothnig but problems with the back end, bearings around rear axle and mainstay and upper bearings, play and movement all over.

i demo’d the alu slash at bpw a few months ago when my main pivot bearing on the occam collapsed. loved it then.
got a great deal i couldnt pass up.

occam – fox factory 36 / XTR / hope brakes / carbon wheels circa 13KG,

Sounds lush

my trek 9.7 with the same wheels assegai/dhr must be around 14.5kg, but rides so much better.

No it doesn’t, you’re wrong.

my occam always felt at its limit for ardrock/moors lakes / bpw et al,

No it didn’t.

I’ve had nothnig but problems with the back end, bearings around rear axle and mainstay and upper bearings, play and movement all over.

No you haven’t.

i demo’d the alu slash at bpw a few months ago when my main pivot bearing on the occam collapsed. loved it then.
got a great deal i couldnt pass up.

I’m not listening. The Occam is amazing. Yours didn’t fall apart. I don’t need a new bike. I’m not listening.

I cannot hear you.😀

👋🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️🚴

Goes off to check bank balance……

:0), lifes too short

I’m taking my orbea into a dealer next week, my regular mechanic says he’s fed up of changing the bearings and he beleives the swing arm and rear axle all have play, “needs a new rear triangle” just need to change bearings on my microspline freehub to rule that out when i go see them.

Some years ago I made an impulse buy of an Intense 5.5 ‘custom build’ from a LBS. They’d put some Fox 36 forks on which
a)had too much travel for the frame warranty
b) The adjusters on top of the crown would have put a nasty dent in the down tube if I ever came off.

There were other issues with the build. Words were had, was messed around lots but eventually got a full refund.

I decapitated a lovely Kona Caldera by fitting some old old old-school Marzocchi Z3s with a top cap that dinged the downtube and caused a nice wee stress riser. Rode around for a while with a big hunk of rubber zip ties to the downtube (prototype knock-blok 😎) but no frame is immune to endlessly flat landing drops (as was the style at the time 😂).

Same thing looked likely to occur with the Bianchi that replaced it although it was a set of Rebas this time. Had a custom 15mm deep crown race machined for it, weighed a tonne!