New Bike Day.... the baby blue bouncer of travel !

[weeksy]

As you'll have seen in the other thread.... the boy is going DH racing.

So as you'd expect, within 24 hours i've got his bike listed for sale, along with buying the new.

We discussed the 27.5 and 29er debate of course and threw ideas on whether we go newer or cheaper and the difference isn't THAT much in price, well, unless you go completely bonkers that is.

So we settled on this.
Product 2018 GT Fury Pro Bike

Model Year 2018

Riding Type Downhill

Rider Unisex

Sizes and Geometry XS, S, M, L View Geometry

Wheel Size 27.5" (650b)

Frame Material Aluminum

Frame Material Details COR downhill design, 6069-T6 alloy, forged linkage

Rear Travel 210mm

Rear Shock RockShox Vivid Coil R2C with adjustable rebound and compression

Fork RockShox Boxxer Team with adjustable rebound, 20mm thru axle

Fork Travel 200mm

Head Tube Diameter 1.5"

Headset FSA Orbit Z, 1.5" to 1.25" reducer

Handlebar Race Face Respond, 785mm width

Stem Direct mount, 35mm length

Grips GT Statement Double, lock-on

Brakes SRAM Guide R with 203mm rotors front and rear

Brake Levers SRAM Guide R

Drivetrain 1x

Shifters SRAM GX DH

Front Derailleur N/A

Rear Derailleur SRAM GX DH, mid cage

ISCG Tabs ISCG 05

Chainguide e*thirteen LG1

Cranks Race Face Chester, 165mm

Chainrings 36 tooth

Bottom Bracket Race Face X-Type, 83mm

s-l1600 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (8) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (7) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (6) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (5) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (4) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (3) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (2) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

s-l1600 (1) by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[lostboy]

Nice.

[weeksy]

I hope he bloody appreciates it...

I'm not sure he'll like it right away.... but i damn sure hope he appreciates it.

[Mr Moofo]

I do like a bit of duck egg blue !

I assume you have bought him XL so he grows into it?
( can I be the first to say the saddle doesn't match)

[weeksy]

I do like a bit of duck egg blue !

I assume you have bought him XL so he grows into it?
( can I be the first to say the saddle doesn't match)

LOL there's growing and there's growing...

It's bigger than his current bike, but not so big it's unrideable.

[weeksy]

Was chatting with the seller regarding weight and spring as i think the 400 will be too firm for my lad. So jumped on TFTuned and Ebay and i can get a 300 spring for £25 posted... Which you can't really argue with, so that'll go in for now i think.

[MingtheMerciless]

At least the saddle isn't brown. Has he still got a bike for dicking about on as DH bikes are pretty single minded?

[weeksy]

At least the saddle isn't brown. Has he still got a bike for dicking about on as DH bikes are pretty single minded?

viewtopic.php?t=5041

Picking this up later today.

[weeksy]

2022-03-02_07-29-07 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr
Now living with @Couchy

[weeksy]

So we've got a new rear coil spring arriving in the next day or so, 300lb which should give him perfect travel and sag.

I've also ordered a new front spring for the Boxxer in extra soft which is good for 60kg, he's about that when kitted up so perfect for him.

[Mr Moofo]

so what happens when the wants to do a day round the North Downs and pedal stuff - that looks like it will not be good for that?

[weeksy]

viewtopic.php?t=5041

He rides his T-130 ?

[weeksy]

2022-03-04_01-44-48 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

new springs for front and rear.

[weeksy]

Waiting for the boy to wake and then hitting the road.

Well, technically I'll be waking him shortly or we'll be waiting till 9 and that's not happening

[weeksy]

2022-03-05_02-28-34 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Well that was a bit of a disaster lol.

First job, massive FAIL.

Removed the rear shock to fit the new spring, the pivot bolt/spacer was incredibly tight... it took, some persuasion.

It's this middle one in the pic, with the long 'top hat spacer' although that wouldn't be my description lol.
GTpivot by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

But anyway, i tried 3-4 times and it won't budge much at all. I can just about get it started but no more than that. So i think it's either a bearing issue or the wrong grease/lube.

Either way, i think i'll give it to Rotec to sort as they can check all the other bits. I don't have the right bearing here at the moment so makes sense to just drop it there as they'll be doing the front fork spring too.

Bit of an irritation but i don't expect it to be a game changer .

[weeksy]

Fixed it with 2 new bearings. Obviously as it's a bearing fit, it's still tight, but it's supposed to be I guess.

We'll set sag tomorrow.

[weeksy]

Interesting discussions with my techy mechanic who's got the bike and sorting the forks out for me.

It's arguably something i could have done and will do next time, but i wanted his feedback on the bike and to give it a once over from the perspective of more knowledge than me, he's a DH racer/rider and obviously spanners bikes all the time.

One thing he noticed was that the yokes were nearly 30mm higher in the forks than Rockshox recommend. They're 2018 Boxxers and the RS docs show the standard height etc... So we've put them back down to the correct height which will of course drop the front by 30mm. I think that'll now feel a little less alien to the lad.

We then moved onto the gearing... it's currently running a 7speed DH setup. Now what i didn't know until 5 minutes ago is that spacing and gearing ratios are different on DH bikes, so a 7sp DH cassette isn't like a 7sp MTB cassette. I was planning on fitting an 11-32 for the lad instead of the 11-25 that's currently on there.... But that seems to need more research i think as to compatibility and what can or cannot be done.

Other than that, the bike is sweet

[weeksy]

Oh yes, that feels a lot more appropriate for him.

Front end far bouncier now for sure.

[weeksy]

Well sadly/sensibly the lad has been told "NO" for this weekend. I almost agree, but agree enough that i think it's for the best to take at least this one as rest and come back for his debut the weekend after in Berwyn/Llangollen. Even that is arguably too early... but keeping him off that one, well that's going to end in him divorcing his parents