Epic lobotomy

[LeeMcGough]

I hope someone can help me out here. I own an Epic (bought the first year they came out), and have since moved to an area that has tons of roots, and almost no smooth sections to the trails, making the Brain an unnecessary weight on the back end of my bike. I would like to get rid of it if possible, or failing that, find a way to disable the "lock-out" so the rear shock is always active. When I contacted the evil empire I originally purchased said bike from, they offered to sell me another Brain-equipped shock, but a newer version, with the brain-fade. Since I would just end up setting the new shock to fully open, it doesn't really make sense to spend $500 on this option. Any ideas anyone? Can I just lop the Brain off the shock and plug the hole? Should I buy another Fox shock, and use the two shocks to make one that will fit?

[Cyclenaut]

I can't answer your question outright, but the word on the street (read: bike shops) is that the Brain-Fade is problematic right now.

[rockyrider]

Try contacting Push Industries (http://www.pushindustries.com/services.php?serv_page=fox%20air%20shock s&title=Fox%20Air%20Shocks) and see if they can remove the brain from shock, they are hot rodding the Specialized Triads and Septunes.

[primitivengine]

hey cyclenaut, what is the word on the street? the only problems i have heard of about the epic shocks lately is that the higher end models bottom out at low pressure. however, specialized is sending out a spacer set that takes about 5 minutes to install to fix the situation. are there more problems than that?

[LeeMcGough]

Thanks for the advice rockyrider. No response from push yet, but at least its a start. All of the shock manufacturers I contacted previously said I was s.o.l. BTW, what kind of Rocky are you riding?

[Cyclenaut]

PE: I didn't want to ask too much about it since it wouldn't look quite right. The issues seem to be that the platform is not really working very well. That's all I know, and in the interest of full disclosure, it's unsubstantiated. It was a couple of comments that some shop guys made (in a shop that does carry Specialized, FWIW).

[rockyrider]

Thanks for the advice rockyrider. No response from push yet, but at least its a start. All of the shock manufacturers I contacted previously said I was s.o.l. BTW, what kind of Rocky are you riding?I currently have 3, a Vertex, an ETSX70 and a Slayer 70. Here's the family photo.

[Cyclenaut]

Those bikes are far too clean.

[LeeMcGough]

Rockyrider, I am 3 shades of green right now. I have 3 mtn bike frames (Epic, Norco 4by, and an old cro-mo GT), but I have to rob parts in order to ride. When one frame is in use, the others are relegated to hanging off hooks in my basement, with my 24" bmx and old steel road bike. My brother rides a Hammer though, that I bought for him in order to have someone to ride with. I steal that occasionally, and wish it was mine.

[rockyrider]

Those bikes are far too clean.They had to clean up and put on their best appearances for the family picture 'cause they were on the carpet. They're banished to the store room when they're muddy.

We all have our addictions, mine happens to be bikes, Rocky's in particular. :cool: I just sold my '05 Blizzard otherwise there'd be 4 packed in for the family photo. Different horses for different courses, each one has an application in my neighbourhood. :D

[rockyrider]

Those bikes are far too clean.Here ya go, fresh mud and gunk from today's ride. They really do get muddy on a regular basis. :D

[Cyclenaut]

Now that's what I'm talkin'bout. Much better, Rock.

[rockhound]

I currently have 3...

...and not one of them is steel? ROCKY!

[rockyrider]

...and not one of them is steel? ROCKY!Yeah well.... one of them was steel, now it's gone. Reynolds 853 steel frames still weigh a pound more than Easton Ultralight alooniemum frames. Alooniemum is real too, it just doesn't rhyme. The next bike will be made of double butted unobtanium.

[tryandgetme]

oh no, a pound!!!

[rockyrider]

or more specifically, the steel frame weighed 1/3 more than the aluminium frame.

[LeeMcGough]

My brother owns a Hammer, and a friend of mine has an aluminum Rocky Mountain; same size and geometry, similarly equipped. I have ridden both of them on the exact same trail, in the same conditions, and the aluminum version beat the hell out of my back, whereas the Hammer didn't. I would take the extra pound instead of the spine pounding.
But maybe I'm just getting old.

[rockyrider]

I'd agree on that observation, the Blizzard was equipped with the same seatpost, saddle, tires and bars/stem as the Vertex and things like tire knob buzz on hardpack/pavement was much less annoying on the Blizzard and it was flexier/comfier on medium rough stuff.

But I have the 4x4 bike for comfy on rough stuff, so I prefer the hardtail to be light, stiff and responsive (22.8 pounds for a geared hardtail). The Vertex does beat me up, but there's times I like that, and times I don't. :D I just take the 4x4 on those days when I don't want the beating. And it's because I'm getting older.

I am considering a Ti hardtail...

[rockyrider]

To steer this hijack back to the topic at hand... did you hear from Push on the de-Brainifying your shock?

[LeeMcGough]

No, I didn't hear from them. I am going to talk to a guy who goes to my LBS a lot, because he is always doing odd things with his bikes, and see if he knows anyone who could do some custom work for me. I think that if I buy another Fox shock, provided the body is the right size, I might be able to cobble the two shocks together and using the mounting parts of the old shock to put a normal Pro Pedal in its place. My Norco has a basic Fox shock w/ Pro pedal, but the mounting eyelets are completely different. Maybe I can just get the hole enlarged in order to fit the epic's bearing mount parts in there. I am tempted to bring my bikes in to work and have a buddy take 3D measurements of everything on the QA dep't's CMM table first, so I don't end up destroying the bike. The guy says he has everything he needs there in order to reverse engineer and customize, but I doubt I could find him another $28/hr job if he got caught doing something so clearly unrelated to the work he is being paid to do. Still though, maybe I will give it a shot. I guess we could always try saying that he was showing me how to use the equipment in case I get the QA job I posted for.;)

[LeeMcGough]

Well, I heard back from push industries. I am S.O.L., so for the meantime, I have reassembled my 40+lb Norco , and will try to come up with a way to get an RP23 on the Specialized.