my epic

sbd16v

Its with them been there since friday

EarlofBarnet

Looks a great bike, nice choice of upgrades too. Real shame about the frame. Specialized's warranty dept have a great reputation, I'm sure they'll get you sorted.

sbd16v

well had the verdict back on they dont think its cracked but has said just monitor to see if it gets worse well 4 quite hard rides and it seems fine so fingers crossed its nothing.

I ride with a local club called yogicycling, this saturday was the fun ride, which is aimed at beginners to expert but is fun and riden at the slowest pace of the slowest person.

I decided this weekend as we were going to haldon hill trail center to video it and make a quick video im quite happy with the result so decided to share it

http://youtu.be/yE90gXKQE48?hd=1

Ive started to ride into work again its 6 miles in and then 6 back but i decided to take the 22 mile long route yesterday home and take a couple of pictures on the way

leaflite

sbd16v wrote:

I decided this weekend as we were going to haldon hill trail center to video it and make a quick video im quite happy with the result so decided to share it

http://youtu.be/yE90gXKQE48?hd=1

Either some of the people in front have crazy pedalling cadences or you've sped the footage up

sbd16v

some places its sped up mostly to get a good amount of footage inside a 4 min song, we're not that epic LOL.

had the spanners out this afternoon, i started getting some weird feeling though the back end like at times it was not really following the bike :S:S

after a bit of an inspection i found the main chainstay bearings had alot of play in then prob a mm of movment, which equated to a few mm at the rear end.

i dont like paying for stuff that im perfictally capible of doing so tonight i set about removing the bearings.

not having the correct ''tool''s i had to improvise so out came the sockets, threaded bar and a few nuts and bolts.

2 surprises tonight they came out alot easier than i thought they would and also there are no blind bearings in this frame WOOHOO.

i got to this point with no hassle


thats where my only problem occurred one of the chainstay,seat stay bolts was very tight to the tune of 4!! snapped allen keys before i finally got it to move, its a little damaged now so thats going to need replacing aswell.



and all stripped


now to remove the bearings i started with the largest ones to get a feel for them



these were removed with a couple of different size sockets and some 8mm bar.

then onto the next ones



and finally the s bearings




findings were
1 seized main meaning, and one with alot of play
all s bearings moved but with grindy
and the chainstay seat stay again one siezed and one grindy.

should be off to get the bearings tommorow and get it built back up for my thursday ride, althou i think the forks a look at aswell as they have done a little notchy

everything seems to come at once lol

Anonymous

How much are you looking at for the set,
Also are there uprated bearing available on te market or just the stock oe available.

sbd16v

raceface gt wrote:

How much are you looking at for the set,
Also are there uprated bearing available on te market or just the stock oe available.

i know you can get a bearing called an enduromax but tbh ill just put oem ones in there this time, i belive there about £50 a set but i normally get atleast 10% discount so prob around 45

Anonymous

Happy days..
Any more plans for yours upgrades wise..
I'm looking to change my front mech for the xtr variant at sum point.

sbd16v

raceface gt wrote:

Happy days..
Any more plans for yours upgrades wise..
I'm looking to change my front mech for the xtr variant at sum point.

yeh a few things fork change is going to happen asoon as something comes up i want, i rode it for a few rides with 120mm and its soon nice, it slackens it off just enough to make the turn a little less twitchy on fast decents, i can see why they done it with the evo, which shares the same geometry

and its going to need the chain rings changing within the next 6 months, and ill do cassett chain and rings, and at that point i may retire the 3x9 for a 2x10 set up.

its all x0 atm and would not really want to downgrade the quality so its quite an expensive change lol

sbd16v

a little late as ive finished this and rode it already lol but this is where i left off last week

i decided i may as well strip clean and service the whole bike so i finished stripping it at this point



then a trip to certini to collect new bearings and bolts, they could only sell the bolts as a ''pack'' so i replaced them all



all the bearings, new bolts some new disk bolts and some new gear cables came to 67quid so was happy enough with that.

bearing replacment was as simple as removing using the same principal as the removal, correct size sockets and a vice.

used copper grease as an anti seize and help them go in place



then used the vice without a socket to locate them correctly



then switched to a socket to push them home



it was then time to drop the lowers on the forks they had gained a little stiction and i guessed they would be low on lube so what better time.

well the air leg had no lube bar a wet shaft which was mostly water :?



and the dampener had this in it



no marks on the stantions or bushes means i prob caught it just in time.



cleaned and then rebuilt the forks putting 25ml of oil in each lower leg, and there now very smooth again

and here she is bearings replaced, forks serviced



and all cleaned, ready to ride

Anonymous

We're those bearing kit purchased from your lbs.

njee20

You can certainly get them through your LBS, £40.

Looks like the hose on your dropper post needs shortening!

sbd16v

njee20 wrote:

You can certainly get them through your LBS, £40.

Looks like the hose on your dropper post needs shortening!

yes it does !! ive been meaning to do it for ages, but i thought i would do it when i bleed it and in 18 months it aint needed a bleed

think ill do it this week thou lol.

well my first job tonight was to put the epic forks onto my nearly built work commuter



which means yep a lad i ride with was selling some forks as he has now gone 29er soo one box



and one set of forks :D



my 2010 epic has a funny arrangment for the taper bearing forks where the race is actually higher in the frame



so requires a spacer to put the bearing in the correct place for a ''standard'' fit 1.5 taper fork



quick trip to my lbs (they must love me atm lol) and i had the spacer and a new crown race for £5

and here they are fitted



not been able to ride it yet as im waiting for my 15mm hope adaptors fingers crossed there here monday, but i did have the compulsary push up and down and wow they feel so nice cannot wait to ride them

sbd16v

raceface gt wrote:

We're those bearing kit purchased from your lbs.

yes my local bike shop is plymouth certini specialized concept store, quite handy really lol

chez_m356

sbd16v wrote:

very nice, think they suit it much better than the red ones, but then i just like white forks

MountainMonster

Lovely looking bike! Love the epics!

sbd16v

MountainMonster wrote:

Lovely looking bike! Love the epics!

i just love how it rides, the standard poss is quite racy but widen the bars and raise them a little, then a little more travel and they are such a fun bike that is also fast.

well it helps my lard arse anyway

Anonymous

MountainMonster wrote:

Lovely looking bike! Love the epics!

That's why I purchased one best bike I've owned. 8)

njee20

That's why I purchased one best bike I've owned

Does this mean you'll keep it for 2 months!? ;-)

You should try a carbon one, even nicer.

OP: White forks do look better!

sbd16v

njee20 wrote:

OP: White forks do look better!

im itching to get out on it and try them out, but with the kids off this week ive been to busy to get out in the day

night ride tommorow thou :D

Anonymous

njee20 wrote:

That's why I purchased one best bike I've owned

Does this mean you'll keep it for 2 months!? ;-)

You should try a carbon one, even nicer.

OP: White forks do look better!

Njee yep I've rode my mates carbon version there lush was thinking about it :roll:

sbd16v

well not done much with it recently apart from ride it and get it very dirty lol





i did enter the plymouth ''soggy bottom'' winter race series and i LOVED it



and to that end i have decided i actually like racing :D sooo next year im planning a few changes, the epic is going on a diet, and i will be building a new trail bike and retiring the epic to training/ racing duties.

looking foward to next year alot lol

MountainMonster

Sounds like a pretty good decision if you ask me. What trail rig you thinking of going with?

Briggo

sbd16v wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

Lovely looking bike! Love the epics!

i just love how it rides, the standard poss is quite racy but widen the bars and raise them a little, then a little more travel and they are such a fun bike that is also fast.

well it helps my lard ars* anyway

So basically you've made a camber/stumpjumper fsr.

sbd16v

MountainMonster wrote:

Sounds like a pretty good decision if you ask me. What trail rig you thinking of going with?

dont want to say to much on the next bike as i change my mind far to easy lol

Briggo wrote:

sbd16v wrote:

MountainMonster wrote:

Lovely looking bike! Love the epics!

i just love how it rides, the standard poss is quite racy but widen the bars and raise them a little, then a little more travel and they are such a fun bike that is also fast.

well it helps my lard ars* anyway

So basically you've made a camber/stumpjumper fsr.

Hi more like a epic/camber, basically the same as the epic evo same geo and everything with the 120 fork.

But i want something more like one epic and one stumpjumper fsr