Specialized Pitch Elite - £1500 (pics)

yoohoo999

OK, maybe the title was a little bit misleading, but I thought I would use it to describe the project I have just finished with a Specialized Pitch Comp.

I hope this thread will give some people who love the Pitch, but want to upgrade, some ideas as to how it can be done, and more importantly - cheaply but using premium parts.

The Aim

I rode a Pitch Comp and while back and absolutely loved it, just an absolute buzz...........but the majority of the parts were a bit sub-par for the kind of riding I do.

With the Pitch Pro in such short supply, I came up with the idea of building up a "factory" Pitch Comp (like many other people I'm sure have).

My riding incorporates the true essence of all mountain riding - a little bit of everything! But I wanted parts that were strong, proven........and pretty!

I mainly stuck the the parts that I know and love.

The upgrades

I bought the bike from a store that I trust, Noah's Ark. They kindly offered to take off the factory parts from the bike, keep them and then give me cracking discounts on all the new parts I needed. This is how I manged to stay in budget.

Everything came from Noah's Ark, except the grips and saddle.



So the spec of my bike is now:

The M4 Pitch frame Fox Racing Shox Float RP23 2009 Fox 36 Van's Hope Headset (black) Hope 50mm (0 degree rise) DH stem Easton EA70 Monkey Bars (low rise) Charge Grips Hope Tech M4 + braided hose + 203mm floating rotor front brake Hope Tech M4 + braided hose + 185mm floating rotor rear brake Hope Tech M4 brake levers Shimano XT double front mech Shimano XT Shadow rear mech Shimano XT shifters Shimano XT, 9-speed, 11-32t cassette Shimano SLX crankset Shimano XT 22/36 chainrings e.thirteen DRSchainguide (including bashguard) DMR V8 pedals DT 5.1 rims Hope Pro 2 Disc rear hub Hope Pro 2 Disc front hub DT Swiss Spokes Champion Maxxis High Roller Super Tacky tyres Charge Spoon saddle

Total weight: 30.8lb

I will probably go a little over budget as of tomorrow since i'm going to pick up some new bars and a stem

So, for not much more than a Pitch Pro, I've managed to spec a bike that completely fits my riding style and component preferences. I'm happy!

Obviously, upgrading the forks at this stage was not an option, but to be honest, I only weight 11st so the Pikes are pretty much spot on right now.

I owe a massive thanks to Matt at Noah's Ark, he really was an absolute legend throughout the whole process.

I hope this thread gives some people some ideas as to how to play around with their Pitch!

I'm going to take it's viginity tomorrow! Will let you know how I get on.













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Anderzz

Fantastic bike mate, Looks gorgeous, and good work on your little project.

well done

Zaskar20

Have you ridden it yet? - EDIT Sorry, so busy studying pics that I missed your last line.

You're right about Matt at Noah's Ark. Really helpfull. I purchased my F+R Fox shocks and had them put on my Pitch there.
Gave mine the first ride in the Forest last weekend. Well chuffed. I would have chosen to get the bike from there also, but I had to get it on the cycle to work scheme from Halfords.

smf_12

loving them calipers! remind me of the ISR's i want when i build my motorbike 8)

Anonymous

very very cool.

that blue frame is much nicer than he brown would have ben if you had bought the more expensive pro version (which also would have been lower spec!!)

The Big Cheese

That is one very tasty ride.... I enjoyed your project story as well..... very nice, very nice!

Enjoy as I am sure you did!

RhysD

nice bike, and nice plan too. that will smoke anything else you could get for the money.

I think you can drop a motion control unit in the comp forks for not much money - might well be worth it? I was going to do that when I was considering the comp, but managed to find a Pitch Pro so did that instead

Now stop taking pics and go out and RIDE!

Duffer

an inspiration

the blue frame looks so much nicer than the brown one. an i ask what size frame you have? it looks quite small. how tall are you?

i'm currently looking into buying a Pitch, but have been stumped by the supply issues of the pro. i hadn't considered a comp, due to a large shortfall in specification and not a great difference in price. this has changed my mind! great bike!

yoohoo999

thanks for all the kind comments guys, means a lot!

duffer - it's a size medium.

everyone kept telling me to go for a small (i'm about 5' 9") but if you look at the specs on the specialized website, there is not that much difference between a small and medium, there is however quite a big jump from medium to large.

The standover height is more or less the same with the small and medium, with the only noticable difference being the wheelbase and therefore the reach of the bike.

But like I said, there's not much in it at all.

I took the bike out for a few hours this morning and i'm glad i picked the medium, i think the small might have been a little bit too cramped up front once my 50mm hope stem goes on.

If you want a more jump/dh styled ride (which isn't really the purpose of it anyway) then go for the small. But the head angle is so slack for an AM bike anyway that the medium is equallly as chuckable, but feels much more stable at speed and blasts through rocky sections.

I'm just about to fit some new bars and stem then take it out to some more techy terrain (if this awful rain lets up for 10 mins!!!!!)

I'll give a full ride report when I get the thing under a bit of pressure!

Steve_b77

Looks good.

Zaskar20

Could you give us a price breakdown of the parts?

I'm looking to upgrade further starting with brakes and then drivetrain, probably from Noah's, so it would be really helpfull.

clarkson

mate that looks nice!! brilliant build and sorted bike.

how are the hopetch M4's? im looking for some for my spesh but not sure how powerful they are or how much control they have.

yoohoo999

Zaskar20 wrote:

Could you give us a price breakdown of the parts?

I'm looking to upgrade further starting with brakes and then drivetrain, probably from Noah's, so it would be really helpfull.

i would love to put up the prices I got from Noah's, but I'm not really sure if I ought to.

I think I got pretty good prices on the components because I spent £1,000 on the bike (well, cyclescheme did anyway!), then I racked up a bill somewhere in the region of £800ish in the discounted parts.

I think the deals that they do are dependent on how much you end up spending, although I could be wrong!

Basically, I don't want to put Noah's (in particular Matt) in a sticky situation if people end up holding them to specific prices that they know others have managed to get.


Drop them an email and just tell them the parts you want, explaining that you want them to keep the original parts and are therefore looking for a discount on the new parts, then they will email back with a quote. I think you will be very surprised by how much you get off the new parts.

That's how I started off, mechs and brakes, then I just got a bit carried away!

yoohoo999

clarkson wrote:

mate that looks nice!! brilliant build and sorted bike.

how are the hopetch M4's? im looking for some for my spesh but not sure how powerful they are or how much control they have.

i've been a massive fan of Hopes for many years now. been through some juicy's too, but ended up back with hopes.

The Tech M4s are great for a bike like this in my opinion. Weight isn't a massive issue with the Pitch, so you can afford the luxury of a bit of extra stopping power and smoother modulation. At the same time, the V's would just be overkill.

I've got a scarily big rotor on the front (203mm) and I can safely say that I have more stopping power then I will ever need. But the up side of that is that I have loads of single finger modulation.

I've never had to service 4 pots mind you, so I'll reserve final judgment until after my first bleed!

Bottom line: best AM/FR brakes I've used.

yoohoo999

I've stuck a set of Easton Ea70 low rise Monkey Bars and a Hope DH 50mm (0 degree rise) stem and therefore the bike is complete for the moment.

I spent the Easter weekend close to home, tearing around the various trail around and nearby Roundhay Park in Leeds.

I'm utterly astounded at how well the bike handles.

It's first test was a very wet, loose and incredibly rooty uphill. Pretty steep too. I barely carried any speed on the way in and with a fair bit if effort on my part the bike clawed its way up, without skipping too much or wandering off my line. I reckon the Super Tacky's were worth the drag on the tarmac for their cracking offroad grip! The RP23 obviously came into its own here.

Actually picking lines across high ridges though trees, over rooted and rocky paths, was great. The bike tracks very well indeed. Again, the plush suspension and nice wheelbase helped here, as did the short and snappy handling up front with the superwide bars and tiny stem.

The downhills were just a breeze! Off camber, between trees, slippy roots........it didn't matter, the Pitch just kept its line and bombed all the way through.

I know understand what everyone meant about the Pitch being confidence inspiring, it's a very predictable handling bike, but constantly asks for more, if you have any left that is!

I was even surpirised at how well it handled in the air after landing a few drops (about 6ft onto decent run outs) and a couple of 4-5 flats, along with popping out of a few bombholes.

The RP23 and Pikes did their job down the long and uneven staircase down from the ruined castle (although I wasn't far off getting pinged over the bars there!).

The brakes were........well, they were Hope Tech M4s........you know exactly what you are getting - predicatable and powerful braking, all with one finger.

The best bit was, I was biking up all the technical, steep uphills that I had once only ever ridden down!

If anyone knows Roundhay park, then you will know the huge grassy downhill from the far end of the bottom lake down to the car park. What a blast!!!! My eyes have never watered so much!

I can't wait to take it on a proper blast.

It truly is an all mountain bike.


The only downside? Those super tacky tyres on the road are like riding on glue!!!!! Really saps your speed. But who the hell wants to ride on the road anyway??

Daz555

I would have gone for the Pitch Comp on my C2W but at the time I had to place my order, the RRP of the Comp was still over my £1000 limit, so instead I 'stepped down' to the 5in trail bikes of which there were plenty under a grand. Bit of a shame really cos from my perspective it only needed a rear shock with lockout to complete the package.

yoohoo999

I'm considering having my frame professionally sprayed black, and the suspension rocker white, just to customise the bike even more.

There's a really good bike builder/sprayer near me:

http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/factory.htm

It's not that expensive and i'm hoping would make the bike look sleek and stealthy and give it a bit more uniqueness.

What do you think?

Whytepeak

Whilst I rate BJCycles very highly, I rather like the blue frame - in fact I think it looks ace. Then again it probably would in any colour - hmmmm , it is already fairly unique y'know

Zaskar20

Would spraying the frame cause problems with the warranty?

Duffer

Ordered my Pitch! Pick it up on thursday (payday)!!! can't wait!

no fancy groupsets and fox suspension for me i'm afraid - it'll be factory fresh for the forseeable future (until the boss agrees to me spending some more money it!!)

thanks again for the inspiration, and i hope i'll enjoy my Pitch as much as i'm sure you enjoy yours

yoohoo999

i've just realised that the only part that I haven't upgraded on this bike is the forks!!!

I was playing around on a mates bike at the weekend which had some Fox 36 Vans on it. They were lovely. I'm considering swapping the Pikes for the 36's now to be honest.

Makes more sense to sell the forks now, considering I've only been out on the bike 3 times due to work committments, rather than 2 months down the line when they have scratches on them. They've had less than 10 hours use and are immaculate, will prob stick them on ebay

Whytepeak

Put them in the classifieds.

yoohoo999

there's a pair for sale on ebay with 4 days left, i'm going to wait and see how much they go for........no idea how much to ask for them given that you can't get them in the shops.

a "proper" set of pikes are around £400-£500, so I think the 327s will probably go for around £250 on ebay in perfect condition.

we shall see!

yoohoo999

Duffer wrote:

Ordered my Pitch! Pick it up on thursday (payday)!!! can't wait!

You excited about tomorrow Duffer??

Nothing better than "new bike day"

Duffer

well excited! the shop opens at 9, so i'll be there! i was going to get the bus to town, and ride it back through my local trails. Alas, i'm going to work at 11, so i've not got time :roll:

sunday, however, is looking like a trip to Afan! :P