Retro-ish DH bike - 06 Specialized Demo 8

Having sold my Rune and steel Switchback to buy a Ti hardtail as my only bike, I decided that I quite fancied an oldish DH bike for trips to Stile Cop and the odd uplift day.

Initially I bought a Morewwod Shova LT which is a tad tatty (need to sell it now) but I came across a Demo 8 frame with a pair of Mazocchi 888's and a few other bits. It was fairly cheap because it's been repainted in Ford asbo orange used on the Focus ST. It looked so so in the pics but was actually much better than I was expecting as most older DH bikes are pretty ropey these days. Not only that but the forks are 888 RV2's not the RV's which have no compression adjustment.

http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr18/Mindmap3/Spesh%20Demo%208/df1a25b4b351ecd356dee5169607819b_zpsf3kkmyub.jpg[/[IMG]

[img]http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr18/Mindmap3/Spesh%20Demo%208/896c4b8de8232c07f278a238e1a58138_zpsns6yw8uv.jpg



Plans are to use as many parts left over from the Rune - Easton wheels, Zee brakes, Saint shifter, Zee rear mech, Atlas cranks, Answer bars and Superstar pedals. I also had an I Fly saddle and I Beam post in the garage.

I've already bought an E13 chain device and a new Sunline stem.

The green decals will be getting removed too and replaced with black and white ones. I've already removed some stickers.

All I need now are a BB, ultegra cassette, chain and some tubeless DH tyres so it should be ready for March. The forks need a service be sus the seals are leaking which I knew about. Luckily I have a spare set in the garage from the days when I had Shivers and 888's on my old DH bikes. To top off all the good news, the rear sping is the right weight for me.

I use to have a Demo 9 way back which I really liked so it'll be interesting to see what I think of this. It shouldn't feel too bad because the HA is 64 degrees (measured) so isn't too far off modern bikes. I'm going to fit an offset shock bush to reduce this to 63 degrees. Think the only place that it'll feel old is in reach which will be much shorter than modern bikes. Plus the lack of a bolt through rear end - Spesh for some reason designed the bike with a QR rear end!

Re:

I quite like the green decals as well as tbe orange.

Re:

Love the colour. I think the new decals will suit better than the green ones.

Looking forward to updates

I'm sure the white and black will look better too.

I have a Hope headset in the way so hopefully I'll get the fork seals done this weekend and will do the decals once it's in more bits. I've ordered a BB today. All that's left then is a chain, cassette and gear cable.

I might need to do something about the rear wheel too...it looks a bit dead. The rim is mega flat spotted, buckled and dinged to hell. I'd also forgotten that the Demo's ran a dish less rear wheel too. I either need to get it rerimmed but the rims are pricey or buy some off the peg Superstar wheels and try and redish the rear.

Very nice. Must admit despite going to a few DH courses over the years I've never ridden a full on DH bike.
I'd be up for a session at Stile cop sometime BTW, rode it last year on my slackline in the afternoon after doing the FTD trail in the morning and loved it.

stevet1":1oles11k said:

Very nice. Must admit despite going to a few DH courses over the years I've never ridden a full on DH bike.
I'd be up for a session at Stile cop sometime BTW, rode it last year on my slackline in the afternoon after doing the FTD trail in the morning and loved it.

Click to expand...

I've had a couple - 03 Spesh Big Hit and an 04 Demo 9. The first few times I rode the Big Hit, it felt so wrong compared to my short travel Kina Stinky. It felt so squishy. You soon get used to it and enjoy blasting through stuff.

I've not had a big bike for ages so am expecting it to feel very strange.

Forgot to say that Ive ordered an offset suck bushing which should get my head angle to 63 degrees and lower the BB a tad. I can't run two because of Specialized's funny little washers and bearings they run at one end instead of a DU bush.

I like Stile Cop and had some fun up there on my little Slackline. Wonderland was fun; hanging on for dear life through the bottom rocky section.

Nice. I like that. The Hi Viz Asbo I like too and cant be a bad thing on the dark trails and link roads too. The M0NSTER green decals look alright too. Plenty of good bits on there.

Once you've ridden a DH sled there is no going back!

The green decals are most definitely going in the bin this week! The headset arrived today so hopefully be next weekend it'll have new decals, headset fitted, forks serviced, BB, chain device, cranks and brakes fitted! Almost good to go.

Managed to get a fair bit done on the Demo today; it's not too far off now.

I managed to get through the following:

Install Hope headset
Install XTR BB
Install E13 chain device
Install Atlas cranks
Install Goldtec chain ring
Install pedals
Fitted new decals

I also stripped the forks down, replaced the seals and changed the oil (what was in there as very black). The downside is since dong it, I've noticed some light scoring on the stanchions. I'm not sure if this was there before or not, so I'll break them diwn again and make sure there is no grit etc in the seals. There should be because I was pretty careful but you never even know. I reckon I'll ride them until they give me any issues then track down some better stanchions or buy new forks. Given that the seals were dead, I think it was probably there before.

Anyway, enough waffling, here are some pics:











Just need to wait for the offset shock bush to arrive then I can fit my Zee breaks and rear mech. I'm not putting hoses on yet because getting the shock in and out is a pain in the bum. A real pain, made worse by the silly spacers at one end of the
shock.