5Spot Fork#3
After a short (too short) holiday it became crystal clear that my 5Spot has been hanging in the rafters for far too long. After wrestling with suppiers (a whole different story) I'm pleased to report that my Nixon induced lay-off is about to end and that my knobbiles will once again roll.
I'm in the process of hanging a beefy Rockshox up front with a hoop courtesy of our pet wheel-miester, Rob - thanks pal don't drink it all at once;) To be wielding a spanner that's creating rather than repairing something feels soooo much better, although I do intend to fix the Nixon later on. Although it initially gave me some bother it has managed to cover 2k miles+ so I've grown fond of it's oddities. Besides it'll be handy to have as a spare.
It's not all be plain sailing tho as I found I didn't have many headset spacers, whilst chopping down the steerer found it's made from a thick, resistant alloy and the chunky steerer also had me wrestlin' the star nut into position. I've never had any bother with these before but the narrow tube had it twisting to all sorts of dodgy angles. As the numerous bent bolts will testify. It's still not perfect but it'll do and one thing is certain, it ain't going anywhere !
So my 5Spot is to morph for a 3rd time, into a full on all-mountain/Dozer muchin' rig :lol For those suffering "concussion" (Sicknote) I also ran a shorter Pace bouncer which is now more appropriately mounted on Rob's slender Flux.
I don't suppose that my replacement will appeal to DDave's RS aversion but if he disappears to Alpine mud fests, leaving us to fend for ourselves, then crazy thangs are bound to happen :p
I'm in the process of hanging a beefy Rockshox up front with a hoop courtesy of our pet wheel-miester, Rob - thanks pal don't drink it all at once;) To be wielding a spanner that's creating rather than repairing something feels soooo much better, although I do intend to fix the Nixon later on. Although it initially gave me some bother it has managed to cover 2k miles+ so I've grown fond of it's oddities. Besides it'll be handy to have as a spare.
It's not all be plain sailing tho as I found I didn't have many headset spacers, whilst chopping down the steerer found it's made from a thick, resistant alloy and the chunky steerer also had me wrestlin' the star nut into position. I've never had any bother with these before but the narrow tube had it twisting to all sorts of dodgy angles. As the numerous bent bolts will testify. It's still not perfect but it'll do and one thing is certain, it ain't going anywhere !
So my 5Spot is to morph for a 3rd time, into a full on all-mountain/Dozer muchin' rig :lol For those suffering "concussion" (Sicknote) I also ran a shorter Pace bouncer which is now more appropriately mounted on Rob's slender Flux.
I don't suppose that my replacement will appeal to DDave's RS aversion but if he disappears to Alpine mud fests, leaving us to fend for ourselves, then crazy thangs are bound to happen :p
6 Comments:
Farqui said...
After two of us wrestled a new Bonty ACX on :o we took the modified rig on a quick UST swillin' loop around the local lake.
The most significant change goes to the higher bars, with loads a spacers wedged in. I expected a slight change but nothing this dramatic, I felt very "royal" :p Stomping up hill, over the bars is easier and lends itself to a more natural position. Seated climbs might be another thing but DH's should be easier, so I'll trade something somewhere. Fine tuning and "dramatic" angle testing to follow.
The new bouncer was set on the soft side (to aide bedding-in) and even then it appeared to be well controlled. There's loads of fiddlin' potential so I'll keep stung for the mo until I've got my bonce around it all.
Maxle ? It holds that round thing in place and has a nice action, but pavement isn't going to test it.
Dangerous Dave said...
Good purchase. I see you have gone for the Air ones. I found with Anna's Reba putting more pressure in the neg (bottom) than the pos (top) helped small bump. Don't over do it tho, or it'll pull the sucker down!
What hub did you go for, or can you swap out the internals on that Blingtastic hub of yours?
I have nothing against new RS - just 05 and older. The HC2 damper had a big flimsy plastic rod running through the rebound cartridge, and shattered easily if pushing hard (eg riding through braking bump infested courses at mach10).
I have just upgraded to MoControl on my Boxxers so I shouldn't have any further issues with reliability. Might post a blog on that later.
Only thing that I have found with MoCo damped forks is that they are liable to spiking under quick succesive big hits, it chokes it and the thing becomes iratic. That's why I opted for the Marz All Mountain, completely spike free and plush as you like.
Maxle: I have a bolt up version of it on the Boxxer and it's never, EVER come loose.
Farqui said...
I've been trying to id what my preferred +ive/-ive pressure might be and with all the adjustments, it looks like it may take a while to hit the sweet spot.
The versatile (and cheap) Hope Pro II has been the hub of choice. Even though it's gone against my recent anti-Hope diet. Unfortunately my Chris King hub isn't interchangeable and a 20mm CK replacement pushed the budget too far. However, I could easily justify another super slick CK rear. We'll have to see how well sealed the British kit is, I know the bearings won't compare.
Dangerous Dave said...
You'll be surprised by the Hope stuff, their brakes are still not quite their but I have relied on their hubs for the past 5 years... and I have ABUSED them. Dragged them through crap you can only imagine and each hub is still going strong.
I often think I should really get "better" hubs but can't really justify it.
If anything, CK's sieze more!
You're best off balancing the +/- until your sag is right, then playing with the "-" to get small bump - if you find it bottoms too easy, dial the blue dial on a bit. Acts as a bit of a high speed compression adjuster!
Farqui said...
Righto, I'll test your advice over the wkend and let you know how I get on. Thanx.
Farqui said...
A slightly damp Woburn was visited yesterday and I started to explore how capable the new bouncer is. It certainly seems to track nicely in the rough. I found more correctional tiler was necessary, although the higher bar may have contributed here. One thing is for certain, the bike clearly feels more stable in technical descent's...bring on Afan. I'm still getting used to an elevated climbing position but I'm sure it'll all slot into place by September.
The heavens well and truly opened on route home but I'm pleased to report that my eVent jacket kept the damp at bay. Oh yeah, after getting thoroughly caked in sand on the rivery DH out of Woburn (sans guards), I'll be permanently install'g mudguards from now on ! Actually, it rained so hard that the sand had all but gone by the time I got home :p
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