“I just don’t like the ride, the forks are too short at 420mm”
Are the forks too short, or are the handlebars too low? (because of the short fork)

“butt fender is a waste if time! “
I thought mine was okay (ie It did slightly more than nothing) when sat down, but in the real world I ride out the saddle (with the saddle down) some of the time, at which point it doesn’t stop spray from hitting my shorts

In the end it developed a small split, and not long after it fell off somewhere in Calderdale. It did get in the way a little when moving about behind the saddle, but not so much that it was a problem, well apart from that’s probably why it fell off

also see the boxxered canyon torque for about £1900 and the new £1900 rose. No idea how the rose reviews, but the canyon is also dirt 100

.+1 underwhelmed by altura
Last and only pair I bought were about the worst fitting trousers I’ve ever worn

Hmm, I opened this thread thinking the o/p might have been asking how durable a rohloff was for hucking …

“like the Kona Honzo for example”
I could be misremembering/making this up, but I thought the honzo was single ring specific, ie you cant fit a front mech? I’m not sure

Looks like there’d be room for a front mech on this

Fox 32 26″ @ 150mm and QR15 A-C I think is 525mm
RS Pike 26″ @ 160mm I think are 542mm
So add another 17mm

Can you get a 26″ Pike with 150mm travel?

*I’ve a few ifs buts and maybes however
Size Large/19.5″ frame. V3
Full compression of a 215/64mm shock so ought to bottom out further (been through 2 leaking** 216x63mm monarchs now, got an rp23 cheap now)
It is however VERY tight with a 2.4″ Schwalbe. I think it’ll catch once its rattling about.
A 2.25″ maxxis is tight been seems to have enough clearance
A 2.0″ Spesh storm has plenty of room

I have however attacked it with a file or two
A half round file I’ve worked in an indent at the front so it can bottom further toward the seattube. Have gone almost right through the plastic, but not quite. That helps quite a bit
I’ve chopped the molding pip thing out from the underside and filed some material out around the underside edge where the tyre catches
I’ve used the frame tape supplied in a few layers to pad the guard up from the frame a little
What I shouldn’t have done is to chop a chunk from the guard where the 5th hole back was on the left side to accomadate the brake hose cable-tie guide
I reckon if I’d sat the guard onto the further back of the brake hose mounts on the left side and built it up the same on the right, then it’d get the guard plenty out the way enough
The other ‘minor’ thing would be that I haven’t actually ridden it yet … just full compression tinkering to fit it.
Also, come to think of it I’ve only tried it in the progressive rocker link position, not the coil position

erm mine does?

With a 2.4″ Schwalbe Fat Albert in the back of my Guapo, the tyre rubs where the guard straights to straighten out.
I’ve filed the top of the guard to make it fit ‘into’ the seattube under full compression a bit more but not ideal with big tyres. A 2.25″ maxxis seems fine. A 2.0″ Spesh storm in now is much better

Ignore my manual references then. they’re for 08/09

So this one? in the specialized archive:
http://www.specialized.com/gb/gb/bikes/archive/2007/stumpjumperfsr/stumpjumperfsrpro

Stumpy FSR Pro and nor Stumpy FSR Pro Carbon?

Either way spesh have pulled the 2007 manuals from the online archive

Only the specialized AFR shock manual is still up there:
http://service.specialized.com/collateral/ownersguide/new/assets/pdf/Shock—2007-Epic-SJ-Enduro–ENG–Instruction-Guide.pdf?Shock—2007-Epic-SJ-Enduro–ENG–Instruction-Guide.pdf
pg8 for stumpy FSR
The bizarre shock dimensions are up there too. So bizarre that a replacement shock close to the originals are near impossible (at least with the one for the carbon frame). Internal travel shimming of the shock and shock bushes won’t get you close enough as far as I could work out, so ended up paying out over £200 last time to have it serviced by spesh

2010, 2011 (can’t rememeber what happened by 2012) were 140/140mm
2008 and 2009 were the same 120max/120mm frame with a vertically mounted shock
2007 and 2006* were the same 140max/120mm frame with the shock mounted nearly horizontally and cutting through the seattube
*at least I think they were? the carbon one in 2006 was also? available with a 130mm back end as a frame only?
2005 I think (and maybe 2004?) was 120mm back end but not quite the same frame I think? Still shock nearly horizontal

that said, page 16 of the manual suggests its bushed on both ends:
http://service.specialized.com/collateral/ownersguide/new/assets/pdf/FSR—2008-SJ-Safire-FSR-Manual.pdf?FSR—2008-SJ-Safire-FSR-Manual.pdf

My 2007 Stumpjumper FSR (completely different frame I realise) had no shock bushing on the bottom end so its not uncommon for specialized to not use shock bushes.
The axle is as big as the hole in the shock and the axle rotates on two bearings the same size as the one the rocker and chainstay rotate on

If there was meant to be a bush in there and there isn’t it’d be more than a little play, it’d be a big clunking knocking I reckon

a weld from the ISCG tab appeared to have crept too far onto the sharp edged shaped bit where the chainstay mount on the back of the seattube/BB is. Where the weld ended it immediately became the sharp edge, and a small crack appeared about 18 months in. It may have been there a while though, I only found it because it got a proper clean prior to flying with it and trying to hit 32kg. Not somewhere the hosepipe and a rag make much of job of cleaning below the front mech

On the replacement V3 (I had a V2 (first one on-one tweaked very slightly*)) the ISCG tab weld is nowhere near the sharp edge bit

*cable guides, taper headtube and full orange colourscheme is all I think

Echo above, but the day after for me rather than same day
Took Guapo into on-one on Monday, picked up replacement on Tuesday, I built up on Wednesday before flying first thing to the alps on Thursday
Couldn’t have been much more in the nick of time
*weld crept further than should have done I think, rather than a design flaw

It depends on how well the new do-it-all/compromise bike covers what the two others did.
Also, how much time/expense it’ll set you back tidying the others up to sell, selling/posting and how much to buy the new bike
How are the current bikes insured? Is it costing you much more to keep those two than one new one?

I’ve 5 mtbs, most of which don’t get used, but all bar one of them aren’t worth a great deal, mostly made up of parts that I no longer consider are upto/reliable enough to use on the main MTB, that scuffed/worn that they’d not be worth very much to sell.
Having bikes with appropriate tyres/cockpit setups ready to go I quite like too rather than swapping tyres/stems/whatnot all the time

Got to be mid teens I’d guess

When most of them are pinches that’s 2 a time and sometimes when they’re a pinch at speed before I can come to a stop its pinched upto twice more making 6 holes before
Don’t think I’ll forget getting a pinch and 2 more before I could stop, getting attacked by midges, realising the valve on my (old) spare tube was coming away from the tube, then releasing I only had 2 patches. Que splitting the patches into 3 and a load more midge bites while I set about waiting for the vulcanising solution to dry …

I’m moving to tubeless now though, first stans which works well, save any splits in the tyre, now ghetto, I’ll see how well that goes down
When its downhill/freeride tubes at £7-11 a pop you’ve a bit more incentive to keep on fixing them tbf

I guess you’re going to try and conclude that exposed mechs/tensioners/chain/sprocket tyre drivetrains aren’t suited to MTB use
I think most (all?) of mine have been related to not good enough setup, excess slop in the bushes and/or bent mech hangers, bent mech lower cages and dropped chains behind the cassette coupled with not knowing how/when to back of the power when these kind of issues raise their ugly head make for death to mechs ime
Read those shimano instructions properly and back of the power at the slightest hint of a problem and imo it’ll cut the risk of killing your mech/etc

Piece of stick spacing out the mech to act as tensioner with its one remaining jockey wheel. Mech in spokes = snapped spokes and snapped mech spring

Standard shorten chain to go singlespeed after snapped hanger

Rode a standard mech into a big log. Bought a shadow mech, gone from destroying 3 mechs in the space of a year to none for years, apart from wearing the bushes out so they go too sloppy to shift properly

Spotted after a ride, couldn’t tell while riding

seemingly sram mechs are sprung suh that they can spring into the wheel under hard landings (mates conclusion) as this has happened two or three times. Stripped mech hanger threads, tie-wraps holding mech to hanger. Managed to get from dixons hollow, round most of the black and finish the red at dalby alright

Not compatible with freshly fluffed up hay

Not drivetrain related but this has happened at least 3 times now. after the first time having been loctited (with stronger Loctite each time) in, it just wants to break free

I’ve a couple of pics of smashed up bashrings, sort of drivetrain related. On going back through my pics, I was reminded of a lot more inner tubes bursting out of tyres (and not puncturing) than I remember. A particular problem with mavic rims and panaracer folding tyres it seems

Damascus, seized BB bearing(s)?

I think my specialized large helmet is 59-63cm, not 56-63cm, so if there are differing sizes in specialized, I’d have a look into one that fits the larger head size (narrower range) a bit better

I found after my Giro E2 blew away in the wind off skiddaw, that a specialized Tactic mk1, which sits much lower and better on my forehead. The Giro sat far too high

“Peaks with all the rocky descents that entails, so I don’t think Stan’s Arches (sp?) will be enough plus I’m also used to slightly wider rims, with the increased tyre footprint that gives.”

Reme,ber the BST2 of a Stans EX/crest etc pinches very little of the tyre so the tyre will sit wide, much wider than eg a mavic. I think Stans claim the ‘effective’ internal width of the 21mm internal Arch EX is more like 25mm effective
Also being BST2 the flowEX will have an ‘effective’ width wider than actual too

IME Arch EX’s are great until you ding them. Pinching the tyre with them takes a bit of doing because of the way they hold the tyre. I only managed it when running temporarily running a tube, pinched the tube after landing in a lakes rock garden (jumping seem like a good idea at the time), but before I could stop the tube had completely deflated resulting in this:

I’ve yet to try straightening it out, but I suspect its not going to seat tubeless again. I should have run them tubeless all along
Also with BST2 Stans, don’t try using 2012ish Schwalbe Tubeless Ready tyres, they don’t fit. Newer ones do, but at least the Fat Alberts On-one are selling cheap (must be the older) are the tight not fitting ones

“don’t even look at the Arch EX. Only 15g per rim lighter than the flow ex”
Where on earth did you get that from?
They’re 90-95g lighter per rim, 180-190g per wheelset. [At least they are in 26″ in black and according to stans]

“Spank Ozzy’s wheelset currently on sale at CRC. Much wider than my Stans Crest”
How? I thought they’re both 21mm internal width?

If you were to unscrew the air can off from the shock, and also the valve then it can’t hold air and therefore not an air cyclinder?

I know this falls down when you consider the nitrogen in the damping circuitary but to the ‘untrained’ post office package inspector it wouldn’t be an air cyclinder? Maybe some stickers saying the valve (taped to the side) is not in and the air can unscrewed so cannot hold air or something?

I suspect tyring to push a lever which pulls 3 cables all at once might be too high a load for some peoples thumbs, especially once mud/grit starts to ingress into it

Yet another reason to hold off 650b then until its actually the standard then

No Storm or Bontager MudX I’m guessing?
Trek and Specialized don’t (yet?) do 650b bikes I think?

My original/crappy sealed i900r did this
My i950 (updated seals) also does this, but I’d say its harder to ‘arse-bump’ it when its been down for a good while than the i900

“Stan recommends the flow ex for DH and the Arch he doesn’t… “
However:
“I have a Anthem x 2009”
Which is the other end of the giant spectrum of full sus bikes to a DH bike?

“Anthem x 2009”
If it were me (about the same weight) I’d be deciding between crest or arch EX, just depends if you really want the stiffness. If you’re on QR forks for eg I’d be looking at crests

“seriously. theres only a few grams in it”
790-800g/pair or 980g/pair? rotating weight as well, so its hardly just a few grams

Stans Claim the BST2 make the 21mm internal arch EX (and crest) make it equivalent to about 25mm with a standard rim wall

“flows aren’t the toughest rims as it is! can’t see the Arch’s holding up to too many cases”

Going from XM719’s to Arch EX’s one of the most noticeable things for me is how I’ve gone from a serial rim dinger and pinchflatter even with DH tubes and 30psi+ on the tall-rim-walled mavic’s to virtually never rim dinging on the ArchEX’s. The BST2 means its not pinching the tyre the same, so my rim walls are still good where the tougher mavics have had to have the adjustable spanner treatment a good many times

“Which out of the arch or flow ex is comparable to XM719’s?”
Neither, I think all stans rims right down to the XC race ones are wider than 719’s. Flow and FlowEX are similar weights. Not sure on toughness to rim ding’s though

“non-tubeless maxxis seat ok then explode dramatically on the smallest drop”
With the Arch EX with the BST2 they might be awful to seat (compressor job for me) I never had them burp in the alps.

Also a cursory skim-read of that pinkbike article has me thinking their ‘theories’ (okay I only really looked at the pictures), don’t apply the same to Stans, the low rim wall height on a stans mean it doesn’t pinch the tyre quite the same as the pinkbike diagrams

“but do you need to add rim strips to the Stan’s so might not be too much in it”
Only on older Stans Rims? Flow, Arch, 355 etc
Newer Crest, ArchEX, FlowEX just need tape (lighter than a rim strip for tubes) and a valve

Bonty mud X 2.0″ for me for all round winter usability. Make a decent job at clay, but as a clay only tyre I’d want to try the 1.8″ or for out and out clay filth it’d be 1.5″ Schwalbe Black Sharks

My original i900 was stiff (to drop the post) from new for a bit, but i950 wasn’t as bad

tread wise on the red routes the RR’s I should think will be fine. I’ve had Michelin Dry2’s round dalbeattie and kirroughtree red/black in the wet. Not perfect tyre in the wet but they’ll do it

tbh Id think the bigger issue with the RR’s would be whether the skakeskin model or not. Same issue applies for the NN’s. From experience non snakeskin Schwalbes don’t get on well with rocks, and I can’t see tubeless fixing some of the bigger splits/gashes

“Maybe a more expensive stiffer shoe will help, unless your doing lots of hike a bike”
I broke a set of carbon soled experts in 1.5years. Got them as warranty replacements for bg trail 110’s as they’d no stock left. Nice shoes but not ideal when the cleat and part of the shoe sole stayed clipped into the pedal and I had a hole in the bottom of the shoe …

Not loads of hike a bike, but enough that some tread is worthwhile
When I hike a biked with sports/bg trails/experts I found on top of it being harder to walk, the hard nylon? tread wore down quite quickly compared to rubber? soled tahoes

I thought the specialized range was tricky to decifer. The shimano range has me positively baffled. All I know is the AM45 is out on grounds of the waffle type sole
Not many sizes listed either (on shimano Europe site, cant see a UK one?)

Are all SIDI’s ‘race’ style shoes?
I see some have the option to fit toe spikes presumably for CX use, anyone know if like Specialized Experts they have a flexible toe part of the sole?

mine developed wobble quickly, maybe not quite as quick as yours, but wobbling by hand you could feel it
It got noticeable while riding, My laziness put off ordering/fitting some others until 6months into using them. £2 ebay bearings going strong

EDIT: running on 20mm, which come up a touch wide (rather than a touch narrow) for 20mm Rev’s, so not a play issue from the dropouts

I’d look to the source of the problem. ime chances are the top bush will be worn down to the metal. Get that replaced, top up the lowers with a bit more oil than recommended as they ought to run okay

disappointed at 1min in, no footage of the best bit? and then went past the gate on the RHS.
3mins has me stumped, seems out of sequence?

Good vid though, I’ve some ideas to refresh the bash for me there

“an SLX 12-36”
Is there?

I’ve seen a deore HG61 12-36 before, but not SLX or higher

“Also going to have to get a bigger seatpost”
Bigger as in fatter or longer?

If just fatter you can get a 27.2 – 31.6mm shim to fit for about £6

Looking at the pic I’d guess you’d have to use a high clamp/low swing mech

the page on the sheldon brown site is interesting. So many that are so close to one another
Also interesting that 31.8mm-22.2mm (ie 31.8mm MTB bars) and less so the easton 35mm-22.2mm sizes aren’t on there. Content getting dated on therE?