2011 Specialized Camber Elite - Now Retired

alexthebear

And I'm back on a bike!!!!!!

After a few years out I decided life is to short not to be out in the p*ssing rain with freezing cold feet, bombing down a hill on 2 wheels so I mustered up £600 and found a bargain!!!! I was going to buy a new HT Cube from a mate in the trade but found myself ogling over the FS bike porn on fleebay and succumb to the power of travel at both ends of the bike . Found this 2011 Spesh Camber on Bumtree and it is immaculate, previous owner had it sent to him as a replacement for a stolen Scott and just never rode it so has been sat in his garage for 18months and means I picked it up for a tidy £550.

Full spec

Rear Shock: RockShox Ario RL, air spring, rebound adj. and LO

Fork: RockShox Recon Gold TK, TurnKey damper, 120mm travel

Stem: Specialized XC, 3D forged alloy

Speed: 27

Front Mech: Shimano SLX M660E

Rear Mech: Shimano Deore XT Shadow M772, long cage

Chainset: Shimano Hollowtech, Octalink spline

Bottom Bracket: Shimano, Octalink spline, cartridge bearing, 73mm

Front Brake: Custom Avid Elixir 3 R SL, tool-less reach adj., alloy backed organic pad, HS-1 rotor, S/M:180mm rotor, Others: 200mm rotor

Rear Brake: Custom Avid Elixir 3 R SL, tool-less reach adj., alloy backed organic pad, HS-1 rotor, S/M:160mm rotor, Others: 180mm rotor

Rims: Custom DT Swiss 445D

Front Hub: Specialized Hi Lo disc, loose ball

Rear Hub: Specialized Hi Lo disc

Tyres: Specialized The Captain Sport, 60 TPI, wire bead, 26x2.0




It's been heli tapped, lubed up and had the cow horns and bell removed and now I can't wait to get out and get some mud on it!!!!!

ryanincontrol

Wow, good buy that.

russyh

Nice bike but first job is to sort the front brake hose. Why is it so bloody long?

mcnultycop

Cracking bargain that.

alexthebear

Russyh wrote:

Nice bike but first job is to sort the front brake hose. Why is it so bloody long?

On the list of jobs to be done by my bike mechanic mate when he's down over Christmas lol he's picking me up an xt casset, some xt M770 shifters and were gonna chuck some new gear cables in because I can guarantee the grease in them dried up ages ago.

RockmonkeySC

That's an amazing bargain. I hope you checked it wasn't stolen?
Very nice bike. I like these bikes, nice ride.

Lewis A

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I hope you checked it wasn't stolen?

That occurred to me too...

James Q

Awesome buy! Now get it dirty.

Super Dee

Nice bike. As others have said, hope its above board.

They ride nice so enjoy. I have the expert version with a couple of mods (incl much shorter stem).

Make sure the helitape is also on the inside of the chainstay (non drivetrain side) as I've seen pretty bad wear on Cambers there, from the brake hose.

granny_ring

Oh I like that

alexthebear

Lewis A wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I hope you checked it wasn't stolen?

That occurred to me too...

Well without sounding to judgemental it did to me as well until I met the guy and he produced all the proper documentation with the bike and here's proof just to show I'm not the kind of chap who's happy to accept stolen gear

alexthebear

Super Dee wrote:

Nice bike. As others have said, hope its above board.

They ride nice so enjoy. I have the expert version with a couple of mods (incl much shorter stem).

Make sure the helitape is also on the inside of the chainstay (non drivetrain side) as I've seen pretty bad wear on Cambers there, from the brake hose.

Nice to see someone else who has one as they don't seem to popular, any reason for that?

Will be sure to tape up the chainstay thanks for pointing that out, how did you find doing the head tube where the cables look to rub as they hit bang on the welds on mine

I've already lined up half a dozen upgrades and I've barely done 5 road miles new xt shifters, xt cassette, better lighter tyres, lighter seat post and some superstar nano peddles but then they are all ESSENTIAL upgrades of corse

As it's been sat in a garage for 18months almost everything needs adjusting!!!! The front brakes are howling and the rear is gravely but both work well :? The chain's dragging on the front mech when on middle cog, low gear and changes seem to be slow and a bit clunky (put some of the blame on the alivio shifters) but mainly the straight through housing and old grease. Saying that both front and rear shock running really plush which they should after zero use

Got new helmet and gloves on way now just need to get these little niggles sorted then I can get MUDDY

Lewis A

alexthebear wrote:

Lewis A wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I hope you checked it wasn't stolen?

That occurred to me too...

Well without sounding to judgemental it did to me as well until I met the guy and he produced all the proper documentation with the bike and here's proof just to show I'm not the kind of chap who's happy to accept stolen gear

Great, it's a nice bike, which you got for a great price, enjoy it! Unless the previous owner stole the documents

JBA

Nice bike.
A mate has a Camber Expert that I have ridden a few times. They handle nicely and the travel on them works very well.

I believe the one you have is a 2011 model, not a 2012.

Lewis A

JBA wrote:

I believe the one you have is a 2011 model, not a 2012.

Documents all have May 2011 on them?

bigmitch41

Bargain!

Super Dee

I was also going to say it looked like a 2011 model - that colour scheme was used for the comp (model down) in 2012 and the Elite was black and green.

Not sure why they aren't as popular - what you have to remember I guess is that they only came in 26er for 2011 and 2012 so they are mainly seen in 29 form. I know some people liked them a lot and others felt they weren't hard hitting enough (like the Stumpy) but weren't as good xc as an Epic for example. For me, I liked that XC / Trail blend. Although admittedly, I ride my 29er HT more as it suits my riding style and terrain more. I have started making my Camber more of an 'Evo' type model with the 50mm stem, etc now though. Upping the Trail and lowring the XC content

I fitted the following to protect cable rub and the brake hose wear:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lizard-skins-ca ... protector/

Hope that helps.

alexthebear

JBA wrote:

I believe the one you have is a 2011 model, not a 2012.

Your absolutely right!!!! Did wonder why I could only find green ones when looking on tinternet, ah well a year older than I thought but still immaculate

chrisrobs

ryanincontrol wrote:

Wow, good buy that.

Bargain as you can upgrade as things wear out.

Nice bike mate.

alexthebear

chrisrobs wrote:

Bargain as you can upgrade as things wear out.

Nice bike mate.[/quote]

Yeah that's the plan although not sure I'll be able to wait until things wear out, I have an I uncontrollable need to upgrade bits already both shocks are perfect for me right now but pretty much everything else will be swapped in the coming months, going to order a 36t middle ring and a bash today, the avid juicy 3's will be off in place of some XT's as soon as I can afford them and a shorter stem and lighter bars will follow

alexthebear

So after what feels like a damn lifetime waiting for either Christmas stuff to be done or weather not to be life threatening I'm finally getting out on my maiden muddy voyage tomorrow found out there's a new trail near me and having got the new 36t ring and bash on I'm ready to go, absolutely buzzing!!!!!

Muddy pics to follow

Super Dee

Enjoy it!

BTW, the fs thread is coming on nicely, some good bikes so great idea!

alexthebear

Super Dee wrote:

Enjoy it!

BTW, the fs thread is coming on nicely, some good bikes so great idea!

Absolutely loved it!!!!!!!!!! The bike is amazing and more than I'm going to need for a while, need to change the bars, grips and tyres and it needs a quick service but it was so much fun to ride. I'd forgotten how exhilarating it is to miss a tree by mm with your bars and then catch 4/5 berms perfectly. Bloody loved it

BUT........ I'm so unfit it's not even funny, like I said found a nice little blue all gravel trail near me which I thought I'd do a couple times in the few hours I had until I reached the top of the first incline, this however was nothing compared to how I was at the top of the second :shock: I was so out of breath that I was seeing dark spots and had to sit down age and a general lack of leaving the pub has taken it's toll but that's made me want to push to get out every day until I can do the trail twice without stopping and the decents made all the pain worth while.

Oh and I seen the FS thread going strong some lurvely bikes on there already

Sorry for the iPhone pic forgot my digi cam

alexthebear

As it does need a service I'm getting shot of the white gear housing and swapping for black and I really don't like the seat so a black charge spoon is on order as it seems the whole MTB world has one now chatting to some lads in the car park ment I had a choice of 3 to sit on so at least I know I actually like it now

Super Dee

Nice one.

Great choice with the Spoon. The one on my Camber is now on its third bike!

morepower

Oh NICE bike... Its great when you get lucky.....

alexthebear

MUDDY

alexthebear

Nothing added to the camber this week but I have been out having a shed load of fun on it needs a couple of bits to get it feeling just right but apart from that she's a beauty!!!!

As mentioned in a different thread the misses has shown an interest in getting out with me and the kids so I saw this as an oppertunity to make a nice little HT up for us both to enjoy, seen a few frames come and go (one of which was a small Charge Duster that went for £70!!!! only missed that coz my little boy threw up 10mins before the end of the auction ) but not all was lost as I picked up this BRAND NEW 16" Voodoo Hoodoo complete with cranks for 50quid + delivery so all in for £65



Going to add the bars, stem, seat post, saddle and pedals off my camber as these are all about to be upgraded and I think I'm going rigid for a while until I can afford to upgrade my RS recon golds, wheels are about the only thing that will set me back what I'd call a real expense on the enitial build unless anyone has a set lying about??????

Also picked up this little beauty for under £20



Going to make it a 1x10, stick on a set of pikes, add some 800mm bars, set of ST minions and a charge spoon and she'll be good to go in all honesty it just needs a new rear inner tube coz matey had it up to 60psi and wondered why it kept popping the tyre off the rim :roll: (think he's egged it) other than that good little bike for my 11yr old daughter

alexthebear

Chopped 4" off my seat post today so I can drop it further when hitting the steeper sections, feels good

Dawesy92

The Camber looks awesome dude.. do they handle well? As I want to get my self a full sus trail bike that can do it all sort of speak.. they look really nice!!

Super Dee

alexthebear wrote:

Chopped 4" off my seat post today so I can drop it further when hitting the steeper sections, feels good

I chopped a bit off the end of my seat post for the same reason.

I did read that a good way of checking you've enough post in the frame is making sure there is post if you look through / tap through the small hole on the back of the seat tube. Not sure how accurate that is but it semed the accepted point of view on an american forum I read.