My son wants to buy a Stumpjumper and I would like to know if anyone has the sp on the pros and cons of getting one with the “Brain” unit versus a normally suspended rear end. Thanks in anticipation.

I have a stumpy pro,i haven’t a clue wether the brain works or not!

The pedal bob on the road is terrible though.

I have owned a SJ 2008 comp with Fox Triad, 2008 with Brain, 2010 with Triad and now on an Epic with Brain.

Triad vs Brain, Brain wins all the time much smoother, doesn’t bob for me at all, stiff when climbing and soaks up the bigger hits on downhill, some people complain they get knocking from the Brain, but this is just the shock working on bigger hits and the inertia valve opening.

However the Triad was a bit of a rubbish shock compared to other Fox offerings, they might have improved on it.

My OH’s brother has a 09 epic with a brain shock. Everything was fine until the shock started to leak oil from where the hose from the brain unit connects to the shock body. One thing for sure, repair was not cheap. He bought a new shock and got a disciunt for trading in the old leaking one. I think spesh shocks from 08/09 had some quality problems. Untill the shock started to leak he was very happy with how the brain performed on his Epic.

I switched from a Brained spesh shock to an RP23 on my stumpy – much better. But I’m a bit… heavy…

Did your son pose this question himself a day or 2 ago?

The New ones seem to be solid! I have ridden loads with the brain, i find it’s down to set up most of the time! on the stumpy (especially) you can soften it right up so the shock is fully open if your doing some more heavy stuff. remember, on the stumpy the threshold for the brain will be different compared to say a epics. due to the different experience of the bike. also a big preference thing i also find from customers.