Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

http://vimeo.com/91496760

 

Just put a deposit down on a 2014 Giant Trance 27.5 3. I'll be picking it up in a few weeks. I need to sell my Cannondale first.

 

Congrats and GLWS!

 

Yeah, it's 5cc of Float Fluid (or just enough to cover the sealhead). If I ever remember to bug Fox about that I'll let you know what I hear. It's a way different feeling! On some forks that excessive fluid volume in the air chamber can limit the travel, it also makes for an extremely rampy spring rate.

The Revelation is a good one if you're looking for an XC fork, if you want a bit more of an all-mountain fork, check out the Pike.

 

Sick!

 

That is exactly what I was seeing, which is why I checked it (and I was going to service the fork anyway). Spring rate ramped up super fast, and it would never go into it's last 1.5 - 2 inches of travel, just seemed to bottom out. Which makes sense since the air chamber is made significantly smaller with an inch or so of fluid in it.

I went for a ride yesterday on the newly (and properly) rebuilt fork, and it was awesome, so I may have changed my mind. Went to the roughest trail around that finishes with a fast and rough/sketchy downhill, and it was a completely different feeling. Soaked everything up and provided way better steering control on the fast choppy stuff (which was a little freaky at first). It was almost as smooth as my old 7-inch travel bike.

Pisses me off that I rode 2 seasons on it like that. I think I am going to hold onto the bike for at least this season and look at the Remedy 650b next year.

 

I've always known Specialized was hard on their dealers. Today, I think it really sunk in. I was looking for a saddle and went to the place I bought my Nomad. They still have a few Santa Cruz bikes. Nothing "new" other than what Specialized has to offer. Same with their saddle selection. I hit another of the better stores in town-they carry a load more bike brands...same deal. Three rows worth of Specialized and one and a half of their other stuff. Same deal with saddles-Specialized only.

Just bums me out that Specialized carries such a big stick and and while some see that as success, I see it as a huge loss for LBS customers (I know a saddle isn't big money but I walked out of two places with nothing-and in one shop, a guy looking for a v2 Nomad left cause they didn't have one) and a big win for the online retailers and non-Specialized LBS who can carry more of a selection.

I'm curious what others think.

 

I haven't experienced that but I also don't shop at specialized dealers. Thinking back on it though, the 2 specialized shops really are "specialized" like you say. I don't like hearing that at all. You definitely nailed it as a win for online/ other LBS but in the long run it could possibly be a negative for people like a lot of us on here who actually enjoy going into a shop, seeing options and opinions of the people. But from a large company like Specialized it comes down to market share as much as I hate to say it. They get all the new customers who don't know the difference which really hurts our side of the industry.

edit: I'm gonna add that trek is probably guilty of this as well thinking of the trek dealer back home, although they still sell a good number of felt road bikes. probably mostly bontrager gear though.

 

Yeah dude, Specialized requires a certain percentage of a shop's floor space, merch/accessory inventory, and X quantity of banners sporting their logo. Similar deal with Trek and Cannondale. If you fail to uphold that (like, by trying to sell a smaller brand like Santa Cruz) and that inhibits your ability to stock the required amount of Specialized products, they'll drop your dealer level drastically, or drop you completely.

 

My shop carries spesh at the highest dealer level, we also carry intense, santa cruz, and canondale. The biggest thing for us with spesh is that there bikes and majority of there components/apperal they dont allow to be sold online

 

Once you sign, they have you by the short hairs.

 

for anyone who didn't get to see. a rider fell at this weekends WC and got pretty badly injured, and then a spectator with no helmet rode his bike down the trail and this is what happened...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7YzA0B2-7M

 

.

 

glad to know he's not hurt! rumors were going around he stole it but i read earlier the pinkbike story on it glad it was just an accident and he's alright. cuz that crash was brutal

 

It sure was. He just went down like a rag doll!

 

my poor (circa 2002) Trek just sits there because the rear brake is seized. I don't even know if I can get a caliper rebuild kit for Hayes 9s.

 

I don't see why not.

 

I thought the nines were different from the HFX-9 but maybe they are the same. If this is the case I agree with you. I guess I'll get a kit for the HFX-9 and try it out. the caliper is all pushed out and chewed up to shit.

 

Funny story right quick. I just put a deposit down on a new Giant Trance 27.5 3 (I've made a few posts in this thread about it). Anyway, I bought the bike from a shop a city over from where I live that a friend of mine goes to often. We'll call this Shop A. The owner is a really nice guy and runs the shop well. He made me a smoking deal on the Trance. I got it for just under $2k out the door.

One of the shops in the city where I live (also a Giant dealer), Shop B, caught wind of the deal he made me and actually called Giant and whined/complained to Giant that he was giving me too good of a deal. Hahaha! Giant called Shop A and asked him what was up. He told Giant that he was helping a friend out and making a repeat customer in the process. Lol!

I've done business with Shop B once; I had a poor experience and never went back. Maybe if that never happened I would've gone through them and they wouldn't have need to called Giant and tattle.

I just think it's kinda funny and wanted to share.

 

If I was an lbs owner and could afford to drop a line if they tried to pull strong arm tactics like that I would tell them to go f themselves.