Incoming... small boys bike, Specialized enduro S-Works.

[Mr Moofo]

Obviously - all depends on the sag being set right. If the sag is correct and it still bottoms out then it needs volume reducers - of revolving (or compression damping looked at). But adding a bit of air isn't a stupid suggestion. what sag are you running?

30-33% sag.

Sound right.

I would add more volume reducers

[weeksy]

I would add more volume reducers

Good plan sir... i'll go with it.

[G.P]

Are you teaching James to spanner the bike too? He's the perfect age to get into it.

Me and a mate at school used to make good money spannering bikes for other kids, buying bikes, doing them up and selling on

[weeksy]

Are you teaching James to spanner the bike too? He's the perfect age to get into it.

Me and a mate at school used to make good money spannering bikes for other kids, buying bikes, doing them up and selling on

Very much so, although how much it goes in or doesn't i wouldn't like to say. Todays shock spacers though we sat and watched the install video together this morning but i did the work myself while he's at school as i wanted the bike ready so he can rock up and get riding later. But again, i'll show him it in person. We did the wheel bearings together and last week when replacing the forks in his mates bike i made sure they were both there, passing me tools etc.
On Sunday last week i got him to bleed his own back brake with both of us doing the tooling/bleed so he can work out the how and why and get 'feel' of what i mean.

[G.P]

Are you teaching James to spanner the bike too? He's the perfect age to get into it.

Me and a mate at school used to make good money spannering bikes for other kids, buying bikes, doing them up and selling on

Very much so, although how much it goes in or doesn't i wouldn't like to say. Todays shock spacers though we sat and watched the install video together this morning but i did the work myself while he's at school as i wanted the bike ready so he can rock up and get riding later. But again, i'll show him it in person. We did the wheel bearings together and last week when replacing the forks in his mates bike i made sure they were both there, passing me tools etc.
On Sunday last week i got him to bleed his own back brake with both of us doing the tooling/bleed so he can work out the how and why and get 'feel' of what i mean.

Excellent

[weeksy]

Well that lad was impressed with his shock and informs me it rides better now. Once upon a time i'd have thought he was just saying it, but nowdays i'm pretty sure he can actually tell the difference when i make changes, so we'll accept it as better

[weeksy]

Just ordered a big pile of bearings... We don't actually need them yet, but i had some money in Paypal and it's nice to have them just in case.

6 * 6802s and 2 * 6801s.

[MingtheMerciless]

What tool have you got/use for doing the pivot bearings ?

[weeksy]

Removing them with the hammering tool can be slightly scary ! That's for sure, you hit it, it doesn't move... so you hit it again, still doesn't move.... Then you start questioning just how hard can you hit these things without it exploding !

This

the alternative seems to pay someone to do it for me ( and there is someone local) - but it seem s bit of a kop out. I have always worked on the basis of is a bike technician can do it, then so should I !

I'd agree mate, that's why i've done all of mine But i do have a rather expensive removal and press kit

[weeksy]

Interesting day today, I decided to fit the Fix DPX2 to the specialized.

Set pressures etc and we went jumping at Swinley Summit.

"Feels the same" was his report. I then sent him out again and report was "no different at all" which considering the way these shocks feel to me is an incredible statement from him. My plan was to potentially buy a 2nd dpx2 and we'd both have them. But I'm not so sure now.
So what we've got is a day of testing for him tomorrow

1. Fox dpx2
2. Monarch RT with 1 spacer
3. Monarch RT with 3 spacers.

If he can't differentiate between the 3 and have a preference then I'll keep my hand in my pocket and wallet safely secured. I'll the fit any to his and the dpx2 goes into my Bird Aether7.

We'll see what comes tomorrow.

[weeksy]

Spent some time with my lad today, he was riding one of the local jump areas. My Shockwiz is currently out in loan so we tried a few variations from where it was. Taking the start point as point 0 we added 3 clicks if tortoise and he did 6-7 runs, he loved it. We then set back to 0 for a few baseline runs then set it to 3 clicks of hare. He didn't like that at all and went back to 0. Finally after more testing he's settled in 3 tortoise as being his new baseline, apparently it pops off the jumps better.

He's now taken his ramp (well I did in the car) to the local woods with a bunch of mates to go crazy.

[weeksy]

2021-06-07_08-27-37 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr


The boy messing about with his mate yesterday.

[weeksy]

The lads Sworks Enduro comes with these

In the frame end of the mountings.

Any reason i can't use this type instead ?



The overall width is 21.8mm which they make a kit in at TFTuned... So i can't think of any logical reason why not ?

There is a reason/logic behind this... As you may have seen in other threads, we do a fair bit of shock swapping, changing, fiddling and trying etc. The spacers at the top are VERY VERY hard to remove and the only technique i've got is a pair of pliers/grips, which have not exactly been kind to them. We're debating which shock to run in his bike for upcoming races we've got and would be nice if i can take the 3 shocks out and run them back to back, if i've got spacers/eyelet stuff sorted i can swap the shock in less than 2 mins. But with needing to swap the mounting hardware you're looking at 10 mins and the potential for dropping a part on the trail and losing it.

So, can i run the usual shock mounting instead of the metal spacers ?

[crust]

I've had the TF tuned ones on the Whyte for a while now. Very happy with them.

[Mr Moofo]

Providing everything mates up and fits snuggly , then I would have thought it is fine …
Or ask Bird?

[weeksy]

Providing everything mates up and fits snuggly , then I would have thought it is fine …
Or ask Bird?

This isn't for the Bird, this is the Sworks. I just wasn't sure if the bottom type is OK or the top type is specific to the Sworks. It seems from further reading that the spacer type that slots in is older technology and it's perfectly find to swap for the newer style (which is the type we usually see nowdays).

I've fitted it and it's working fine. I've also ordered a second set for spares

[Mr Moofo]

Specialized seem to do a lot of the "special fit " stuff on their bikes.

[weeksy]

Specialized seem to do a lot of the "special fit " stuff on their bikes.

Indeedy, we've moved away from all of them now though with the Bikeyoke fitted allowing standard metric shocks plus the bushings/spacers, everything else is stock now. Of course the bearing/pivot bolts are Spencialized specific, but that's the case with all bikes that their pivot stuff is specific to them rather than generic.

He still loves this thing and while it fits him we're keeping it long term. I do see in 18m-2y it'll be sold on for a larger framed bike, possibly something with more bounce and more modern geometry, but at the moment he's a happy boy each and every time he rides it

[weeksy]

Brake bleeding and new pads in the sworks today.

My lad was giving his bike a check after he went to the woods and noticed his front pads looked rubbish, along with the fact his levers were a bit too soft, so 20 mins in the garage gets him new pads and both ends bled.

[weeksy]

The boys bike had a bit of a creak the other day and we thought we'd got rid of it, but then it came back yesterday.

So last night i stripped the chainstay pivots, bearings and spacers, cleaned, greased, checked and sorted. This morning i moved onto the linkages and gave them all a clean/check and sort. Re-torqued and marked.

2021-07-25_10-15-36 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

2021-07-25_10-15-27 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr