Ask the experts

[rideit]

That could happen...maybe some MOM Thursday?

[J. Barron DeJong]

But make no mistake, Special-ed didn't ask engineers that knew kinematics or vehicle dynamics. I don't know if that's because they didn't hire any

To be fair, engineering doesn’t always get the final say.

To give a non-bike example, the Porsche 911 used a semi-trailing arm rear suspension until the the 993 generation came out in the 90’s, and that’s a crappy design for a performance car. Engineers at Porsche certainly new that there were better options available - they were using them on cars like the 917 in the 70’s. For whatever reason - development cost, history, etc. - they didn’t make the change to the 911 for a long time.

it’s entirely possible that some engineers at Specialized thought that it would be better to change the linkage arrangement to get higher anti-squat, but we’re kept from doing it. Maybe low anti-squat provided the correct ‘FSR Ride’ in some managers view.

[toast2266]

Also to be fair to specialized, they were hardly the only ones making low anti-squat bikes in the 2010 timeframe. Ellsworth built their whole brand around a bike with crazy low anti-squat numbers (far lower than anything specialized ever produced). And if they hadn't had the worst customer service in the industry, they'd probably still be doing the same thing today.

[shirk]

Trans-Provence is the best format I've ever done, huge days, hike a bikes, liaisons as burly as the stages, and all fucking blind. Close second would be Pemberton Enduro a couple years ago which was also blind, so much so that even the stage start timers didn't know where the finish was, but even though I generally knew the terrain I didn't pre practice lots. This trend of many days, and weeks for some events, of announcing the courses and pre-practice is total horseshit. Crankzilla was probably my favourite Whistler EWS, well except for 2015 when I finally won my masters class, but too many sissies whined about big hard days with tight transitions, so now it's basically a lift served event.

Crankzilla was awesome. Glad to be able to say I did that one. And yes f the whiners that complained.

The Gargamel stage for the S2S series was pretty epic.

[shirk]

Your Ripmo can be recreated in horst and split pivot soooo close nobody is going to tell the difference. The clone can also have arguably better anti-rise.

[jono]

Also to be fair to specialized, they were hardly the only ones making low anti-squat bikes in the 2010 timeframe. Ellsworth built their whole brand around a bike with crazy low anti-squat numbers (far lower than anything specialized ever produced). And if they hadn't had the worst customer service in the industry, they'd probably still be doing the same thing today.

Ellsworths are fun to watch on a climb. The first full suspension bike I ever rode is a little over 30 now and was designed by a car guy who should have known better on a couple of points, but had more on his mind: Alex Moulton's 17"-wheeled bikes would have been crazy quick to accelerate, but you couldn't put any power down for all the bobbing. They provided inoculation against bob in one test ride, though.

The Special marketing of bobbing as "active" was a smart move, but to legitimize it you kind of have to forget that "inactive" was originally the term for bikes that avoided bobbing by living at top out when pedaled. Which was slightly better than a hardtail. So Special-ed set a pretty low bar for themselves, but what they lacked in innovation they made up for in perseverance.

[XtrPickels]

The older Stumpy's had a ~75% anti-squat, which stayed super active over small bumps, but pedaled fairly terribly. The older Pivots (to name a DW example) had much higher anti-squat numbers but weren't nearly as active.

Mostly, Specialized got ahead of themselves with trying to solve kinematic issues with shock valving. They thought they could get away with low anti-squat numbers if they valved their shocks for additional support.

For small bumps, I liked my Epic with a Brain better than my Epic Evo without a Brain.
Once you got the Brain open, the complete lack of compression damping felt much smoother.
It was very much like a light-switch, when it was open, it was OPEN.

[joetron]

The Super D at Keystone for the old G3 race series was pretty perfect.

I don’t think the Moab Super Ds were ever mass start, just long cool DH runs in the BE times (Before Enduro)


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[LeeLau]

Also to be fair to specialized, they were hardly the only ones making low anti-squat bikes in the 2010 timeframe. Ellsworth built their whole brand around a bike with crazy low anti-squat numbers (far lower than anything specialized ever produced). And if they hadn't had the worst customer service in the industry, they'd probably still be doing the same thing today.

Norco also. Add Knolly to that list too

[toast2266]

Norco also. Add Knolly to that list too

Trek too. Fuel EX had similar anti squat numbers as the stumpy.

[rideit]

Anyone know what the anti-squat numbers were on the Giant NRS?
300%?
(Kidding...sorta)
That bike was actually amazing for a “4” hardtail” on certain trails.
But one of my ‘spiciest’ porcs was on an NRS with a blown rebound circuit.
“Well, Buck me sideways!”

[XXX-er]

It was actulay < 4" but Giant didn't waste any travel on sag and 5" was a lot of travel back then

i had a custom built one with XTR, great bike

[rideit]

Yup, 85mm rear travel, but you could get aftermarket rocker arms for 100mm.
I sold a shitload of those bikes!

[t.odd]

Crankzilla was awesome. Glad to be able to say I did that one. And yes f the whiners that complained.

The Gargamel stage for the S2S series was pretty epic.

I can't believe I forgot about The Beast! Or Flankworx! haha

[XXX-er]

wouldn't that mess with the NRS action ?

I think Giant changed it up in the last year of production as i remember, I don't know how that went ?

i think it was > 85mm cuz I remember the spec sheet reading just a hair under 4" which is 100mm

[rideit]

It was 85mm stock for ‘most’ models, for sure. The 100mm rocker arms did actually soften the initial stroke/breakaway a tad. I had access to a few test mules from Giant with various rocker arms. Some even had multiple mount positions for different ratios.

[XXX-er]

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/...spx?item=38830

they ^^ say 3.75 which is 95.25

[rideit]

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/62...04.html?page=7 (2005)
There were a few iterations, for sure.



https://www.mtbr.com/threads/the-ete...t-nrs.1103556/

[Boissal]

Cross- post from the Wasatch dirt thread + questions:
My OneUp V2 dropper shat the bed this morning, took the bike out to load it in the car and notice that I could push the dropper down by hand without actuating it. I took it out of the frame and disconnected if from the cable and sure enough, I can compress it by hand and it returns on its own at about the usual speed. Pressure is 260 psi so no problem on that front.
I took the fucker apart, cleaned everything, regreased, reassembled, it made no difference. I isolated the cartridge, pumped it back up, and I can manually compress it with the same amount of force with or without pushing on the actuator rod. There's some oil gurgling sound in there, not sure if that's abnormal.

Blown cartridge, replace? Those things are serviceable if you're Crafty MacCraftenstein and can 3D print a tool to open the sealed upper but for $60 it's not worth the effort (maybe as a winter project).
Anyone know of a shop in SLC area that would stock OneUp parts before I pull the trigger online? Suspension Syndicate doesn't have any...

Edit - resolved, blown cartridge confirmed, none in stock locally (surprise), getting one shipped from OneUp.

[bennymac]

Trans-Provence is the best format I've ever done, huge days, hike a bikes, liaisons as burly as the stages, and all fucking blind. Close second would be Pemberton Enduro a couple years ago which was also blind, so much so that even the stage start timers didn't know where the finish was, but even though I generally knew the terrain I didn't pre practice lots. This trend of many days, and weeks for some events, of announcing the courses and pre-practice is total horseshit. Crankzilla was probably my favourite Whistler EWS, well except for 2015 when I finally won my masters class, but too many sissies whined about big hard days with tight transitions, so now it's basically a lift served event.

Was year did you do Trans Provence? I went in 2013. Fuck me that was a fun time.

[robnow]

Crankzilla was awesome. Glad to be able to say I did that one. And yes f the whiners that complained.

The Gargamel stage for the S2S series was pretty epic.

+2...because I was feeling left out? We even had enough time to strip down at Creekside for a dip on the way to Stage 4 while riders were coming back down the climb from missing their cutoff times. Miss you two!!!

[toast2266]

Anyone know what the anti-squat numbers were on the Giant NRS?
300%?
(Kidding...sorta)
That bike was actually amazing for a “4” hardtail” on certain trails.
But one of my ‘spiciest’ porcs was on an NRS with a blown rebound circuit.
“Well, Buck me sideways!”

Actually...

Just going off of the Spanish linkage design blog, it did get over 300% in a few gear combinations.

https://linkagedesign.blogspot.com/2...chool.html?m=1

[XtrPickels]

I've killed my last pair of now discontinued PEARL iZUMi X-Projects.
I like these on the trail bike because they were fairly efficient and fairly good hiking while being fairly low-profile.
I run S-Phyres on my XC bike, but these are obviously not so hot off-bike and wouldn't protect my toes in the least if and when I smoke a rock.

What'll fill the place of the X-Projects?

Also, What's then benefit of the small platform on clip-in "trail" pedals.
Let you run a less-stiff shoe more comfortably?
I tried some more flat-pedal styled, clipless, shoes and found them to be flexy and uncomfortable under my regular pedals.

[scrublover]

I've killed my last pair of now discontinued PEARL iZUMi X-Projects.
I like these on the trail bike because they were fairly efficient and fairly good hiking while being fairly low-profile.
I run S-Phyres on my XC bike, but these are obviously not so hot off-bike and wouldn't protect my toes in the least if and when I smoke a rock.

What'll fill the place of the X-Projects?

Also, What's then benefit of the small platform on clip-in "trail" pedals.
Let you run a less-stiff shoe more comfortably?
I tried some more flat-pedal styled, clipless, shoes and found them to be flexy and uncomfortable under my regular pedals.

Giro Terraduro?

[simple]

Personally I haven't found a suitable substitute for the X projects. PI are stupid for getting rid of them. I hate carbon slippers but a nice stiff shoe you can actually walk on slickrock with is pretty sweet.