Hans Christoph Timm
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(special "Testbike" spec)
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suspension upgrade kits
I had been toying with the idea of buying a new mountain bike for quite some time. I had been dreaming of owning a full-suspension bike ever since I had been able to take a ProFlex (now K2) 855, one of the first off-the-shelf FS bikes that was ready for XC races, for an extended test-ride in early 1996 (the 1996 856 was almost the same bike). Over the years, I have been looking at various alternatives: Arrow Spyce, ProFlex 957, the Rocky Mountain Element-series, Centurion NoPogo Eurofighter, Votec C9, Focus Thunder, Wiesmann Koxinga and a few others. However, test rides convinced me that despite the recent improvements in shock technology I wanted a bike with a truely active rear end featuring a "Horst-link". The FSR design has appealed to me for quite a while, and when I saw an unused, straight-from-the-box FSR test bike at a good closeout price at Geco's in Freiburg, I went for it after only a weekend of thinking about it. This bike is light enough for long uphill stretches and the four-bar linkage design is one of the most efficient around. I also view this purchase as paying tribute to the whole Specialized 'Stumpjumper' lineup. In 1981, Specialized was the first company to introduce a mass-produced mountain bike, the original 'Stumpjumper', and the name has been standing for excellent mountain bikes ever since. See Specialized's history page for more (and a pic of the original Stumpjumper).
The bike I bought has a modified component spec. Specialized specs testbikes slightly differently from the regular FSR XC, FSR XC Comp and FSR XC Pro versions. Thus, my bike has alloy nipples and an XTR/XT shift combo. Suspension duties are handled by a Fox Vanilla Float air shock in the rear and a Manitou SX fork up front. The rear shock does not feature adjustable rebound damping. However, since I am neither very heavy nor too light I expect to get by with the standard setting. I was told that the Fox shock does not have the best of reputations (which air shock does?), but I intend to use the bike enough to be able to blow the shock while it is still covered by warranty if it should really be a poor design.
Modifications I have made to the bike include adding bar ends, cutting down the bars, swapping the grips for a pair of Biogrip 'Race' and changing the stem to a 135mm unit flopped upside down. I also added Centurion NoPogo bottle cages because they open to the side. The Specialized frame is to small to make reaching the bottle easy with a normal cage. I used a left-handed cage for the upside down mounting position under the downtube.
Update (spring
2002):
After the rear section developed
a lot of play in the bushings, I exchanged them for a needle bearing kit
from ShockTherapy. The kit does not contain bearings for the lower end
of the shock, however, which incidentally is where most of the play is,
so it is really a waste of money!
Update (summer
2002):
I'm thinking about transforming
this into more of an 'Enduro'-type bike, with a longer fork and more rear
travel. I might get the BETD bearing kit pretty soon, and possible a Psylo
XC-fork to give me the best of both worlds: Less travel going up and lotsa
travel coming back down.
Upgrade
kits:
The FSR XC comes stock with 76 mm
(2.96") of rear wheel travel. Until 2000 it also came with cheap bushings
instead of needle bearings in all pivots except the main one (near the
bottom bracket). These bushing develop a lot of play very soon, thus an
upgrade to needle bearings is not a bad idea. These are your options (in
order of increasing prices):
(For up-to-date currency conversion rates see the XE.com Personal Currency Assistant)
Needle bearing kits:
New linkage plates for increased travel:Mountain Speed Drop-out Bearing Kit - $24.99; Horst-link bearings only BETD "A" link bearing kit - £30; Horst-link bearings only PEAK Racing bearing kit - €102; includes Horst-link and linkage plate bearings. The bearings for the lower end of the linkage plate only work with the PEAK linkage plate; the kit is way overpriced!
- PEAK Racing Linkage - €102; increases travel to 100 mm (3,9")
- Mountain Speed X-rated Link Kit - $149.99; increases travel to 90 mm (3.5")
- BETD FSR XC Linkage - £90; three travel settings and two ride height options!