my Enduro - a painful story

[Dead Rats]

Finally, finally my '03 Enduro is ready to roll!

Got it as a complete bike (and for what seemed like a good price) off eBay months ago... then the fun started. The guy who sold it to me clearly saw me coming (I knew there was something strange about the bike - it came with a Halfords ladies saddle on it - and about the whole transaction in general (we met half way, he had two lads 'from the darts team' with him and it took three attempts to process payment - is paypay actually psychic?), but I persevered as I was not going to let the following trifling niggles put me off:

First up, a 'clinging on for dear life' star nut pretty much died during first ride which led to using an Azonic Head Lock. Then, dog rough steering led to a nice new Hope headset and the Azonic passed onto another Retrobiker. Next came the fun and danger of completely chewed up BB shell (6mm of bald RH side!!!) which led my RH crank to practically fall off - luckily just rolling down my street at about 10mph. Cue expensive heli-coil repair by Dan & the super BETD team (and lots of good advice on the Retrobike forum!)

The main beneficiary of this has been my old Kili which has been passed down a modern 27 speed drivetrain c/w external BB cranks and after the upgrade it's deserves, the Enduro is finally ready! Some of the parts came off my old hardtail (wheels, brakes, controls), some are standard and some are new to my possession via eBay and our 'for sale' section (cranks, shifters) and the whole adventure has led me to some nice people, so thanks to all who helped me get this beastie back to match fitness!

Fox Float RL shock - came with bike (made shock flap out of an old mudguard)
Rock Shox Psylo U-Turn fork - ditto
Hope headset & Head Doctor - new
Enduro ceramic bottom bracket - BETD
XT drivetrain - Retrobike mainly
Hayes Stroker brakes - from my old hardtail
DMR V8 pedals - ditto
Tioga Factory DH tyres - from Retrobike
Hope Pro 2 hubs - from old hardtail
Mavic 317 rims - ditto
Truvativ stem - new
Felt riser bars - new - EDIT replaced by Truvativ
Lizard Skins lock-on grips - new
Hope Grip Doctors - new

 

[lewis1641]

Looks like it was worth it in the end

 

[Sithlord]

I used to have a S-Works version of this frame, unfortunately it cracked on the seat tower, really liked it the only thing I did not like was the position of the lockout switch on the shock (this could have been replaced thought with a handlebar mounted one) .and the overall climbing ability, although I would still have another.. really nice bike.. hope you enjoy it,, I would stick a lighter set of forks on though..

 

[Dead Rats]

I used to have a S-Works version of this frame, unfortunately it cracked on the seat tower, really liked it the only thing I did not like was the position of the lockout switch on the shock (this could have been replaced thought with a handlebar mounted one) .and the overall climbing ability, although I would still have another.. really nice bike.. hope you enjoy it,, I would stick a lighter set of forks on though..

cheers, any recom's for forks? they ain't too bad but def not light, bit too soft as well. it does feel a bit odd groping down between your legs for the lock-out, but it's still reet handy tho! at the mo, the only things on wish list are a 700mm lower rise bar (the big Felt thing on it is ok for now, but bit too heavy) and a front 180mm disc. I have tried 203mm but they just "chinged" too much, even from new! And I may chop the fork down by 20mm, not sure :?:

 

[Sithlord]

I ran a set of pace 38s on mine and it felt really nice, only use to run 160 rotors too , hopes with goodrich cables were spot on , changing the bar did make a lot of difference too, iirc I settled on some low rise eastern monkeylites, with a 90mm stem , the pikes , having owned a set , I would say are a bit overkill for this frame,, , build it light, made so much of a difference to the overall feel of the bike..

 

[Dead Rats]

the forks are not Pikes, they are Psylo 85-125 travel - is that the same as a Pike?

anyhoo, yeah, my stem is 90mm too, ran a nice Race Face 70mm but it was too short (although I'm 6'3"ish I have a whopping 6'7" arm span!!)

180mm as mine is prolly a few pounds heavier than an S-Works!?

 

[daj]

Here was my girl

Worked very well with the Fox Talas

 

[Sithlord]

Have got a few of mine tucked away somewhere .. but found these ones ..

 

[Archangel]

This was my '04 S-Works version - the last S-Works with this frame type.
Before that I had a base '02 model of the same frame.

They are really awesome bikes. Loved the handling and suspension capabilities. You shouldn't be disappointed with the bike.

Mine weighed only 12kg, even with big 2.4" wide tyres.
However, I wanted something with more travel and switched it to a Scott Ransom.

About the fork: I had a Fox F130 XTT with Terralogic system to match the Brain rear shock.
I'd replace the Psylos with Fox Float 32 series fork or with the new RockShox Revelation, which should be really good too.

 

[Dead Rats]

This was my '04 S-Works version - the last S-Works with this frame type.
Before that I had a base '02 model of the same frame.

They are really awesome bikes. Loved the handling and suspension capabilities. You shouldn't be disappointed with the bike.

Mine weighed only 12kg, even with big 2.4" wide tyres.
However, I wanted something with more travel and switched it to a Scott Ransom.

About the fork: I had a Fox F130 XTT with Terralogic system to match the Brain rear shock.
I'd replace the Psylos with Fox Float 32 series fork or with the new RockShox Revelation, which should be really good too.

that's cruel looking bike (in a good way), FF32s are on my wish list but out of range right now after all the repairs... was it '05 when Spesh brought out the new design? I read up a lot about the '02-'04 design and plenty seem to prefer it to the '05+ one it seems. The only thing I have to compare it to in my group of friends is an '09 Stumpy FSR which is a good bit nippier (and quieter given it doesn't have my noisy freehub)! I'm still getting used to mine tho (ie still getting used to fact that I can rag it as hard as I like!!)