Bike Setup: Shimano XTR Groupset, Pilot Race forks, Magura HS33's, Hyperlite bars, Carbonlite post, Shimano 959 pedals, Fox rear shock (& a new sid waiting in a bag), Mavic 590 rims with XT hubs & sprocket.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Doug
a Cross Country Rider
from Mansfield, Ct U.S.A..
Date Reviewed: August 22, 2003
Strengths: Great climber being a fairly light bike. Very strong frame can do a 3 foot drop off pritty easily.
Weaknesses: Not enough travel on the fork and dident really like the stock rear shock so i put on a Rock Shox Delux
Bottom Line:
Great bike for a cross country rider but dont get to crazy on the downhills with only 3 inches of travel.
Bike Setup: Magura HS-33 rim brakes, raceface cranks, kenda tires, bontrager wheels, bar ends, rockshox delux with dampining.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
David
a Weekend Warrior
from Boulder, CO
Date Reviewed: October 16, 2001
Strengths: Cheap Price, so ugly no one will steal it. Good rims.
Weaknesses: Geometry, SID shock, Rider Position, Short stem, Dated design
Bottom Line:
This bike is horrible when it comes to climbing. In Colorado, you can't find any trails without huge vertical. It is like riding a pogostick when you are climbing in the little chain ring and makes so much shock noise on downhills it isn't even funny. The rider position is too crunched, which further ruins the climbing. Riser bars and a longer stem help somewhat, but not enough. The SID shock has fallen apart and no longer locks-out. Very disappointed with the feel and performance of this bike. If anyone wants it, I will make you a sweet deal!
Similar Products Used: Stump Jumper, Intense Tracer
Bike Setup: Stock except for tires, handlebars and grips
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Troy Stoneman
a
from Stoughton, WI. USA
Date Reviewed: July 28, 2001
Strengths: The Joshua F2 is a full suspention bike with strong construction and a nice smooth ride either on the hardest trails or the roads. Nice welding done on all the joints and in my opinion for the strength of the frame its surprisingly light.
Weaknesses: The placement of the water bottle could be a problem but I use a cammel-pack and it solves that problem.
Bottom Line:
I would recomend this bike to any serious biker. It's a great all-around full suspention bike. Gary Fisher has put together a great bike that will definatly make billions of your neurons screaming in unison, We're gonna DIE!
Strengths: it's fully sick and handles really well where ever you take it the suspension is plush and the bike itself is nice and light
Weaknesses: none really maybe just the front suspension is a little bit poor i would prefer some boxxers
Bottom Line:
this bike is awesome and can handle anything you throw at it, the componants are excellant and this bike is definately classy for a mountaniering man such as my self i find it numero uno, number one and would recomend it for any one looking to go cross-country or from top to bottom in the shortest amount of time possible ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Submitted by
Bill
a Cross Country Rider
from San Antonio
Date Reviewed: January 9, 2001
Strengths: Plush ride
Weaknesses: Heavy! Spec'ed out cheaply. Heavy!
Bottom Line:
I've owned 3 Joshua frames since '96(all warrantied). The bike had a good ride, but was always a workout and a pig to lug over obstacles. Great descender. Because of POOR shop support, I changed where I buy stuff, and dumped the Josh in favor of a Trek y33(got the y33 frame in a warranty deal too!!) Good concept back in '96, but it's time to put it out to pasture. Sorry, no offense to my brother riders, but that's how I feel about this design. Bikeshop owners; don't burn your customers, they're your bread and butter. Long Live Bikeworld!!!!!!
I've been pretty abusive with this bike, and it's held up to everything I've managed to dish out. I have maintained it very well though. It's very responsive and confidence- building. Going through rock gardens at any speed is a piece of cake compared to my hardtail. Most of all, the lockout for the rear suspension is brilliant. It climbs like a hardtail with no apparent biopace. Deep mud, water, sand, rocks - it conquers all with grace to spare. The air valves on the rear shock have failed a couple of times. They're made of soft aluminum and have to hold very high pressure. Rockshox is in no hurry to send spares, or to modify the design (stainless steel?).
Similar Products Used: this is the 1st FS bike I've owned.
Bike Setup: SID front shock, Chris King Discotech hubs, Mavic rims, Hayes hydraulic disc brakes, Selle Italia Flite trans am saddle (highly recommended), Speedplay frogs, Bontrager Jones tires.
Weaknesses: arm came loose.....once. no unusuall problems,
Bottom Line:
a perfect smooth ride,plush susp.great geom' once everthing is set up and adjusted right, you will love it. Do not pass up any oppertunity on a good deal.found to perform better than xo and f1 in many occasions...many. ususally easy to find one as oppose to f1.ect Components of course can be upgraded w/ enough many as any other bike. Recomended to anyone who likes to race xc (light frame) and also loves the whole long travel series(its the best in the series)
Bike Setup: everything is now full xtr(both deraulers,shifters&brakes too),2 discs,2000 sid 100's,upgraded rims,
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Don Milner
a Cross Country Rider
from Vancouver, BC, Canada
Date Reviewed: June 10, 2000
Strengths: Genesis geometry design, Weight, Price! (Bought it at the end of last year and got a great deal on it)
Weaknesses: Cable routing to SID Lockout (Seized it and broken it a couple times), Would really have liked it if Gary gave us the pump for the back shock. Water bottle placement (I guess there's nowhere else to put it, so I just use it for my lights)
Bottom Line:
Outside of the brakes, the setup is great. I've had to work on the lockout on the Back shock a couple of times. I now have a rollamijig feeding into the shock (that seems to have cured my problems). My next step is to go Discs. The Avid brakes+levers that came with it are crap.
Awesome bike. I'm starting to use it for racing, and it is withstanding my abuse just great.
Bike Setup: XT Cranks, pedals and shifters. Other than that, stock.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Chris
a Weekend Warrior
from Lincoln NE
Date Reviewed: June 5, 2000
Strengths: SID lockout rear shock, genesis geometry, light weight(for a full suspension bike),decent components
Weaknesses: racing slick rear tire, no air shock pump included with bike of this price,could do without the flames in the paint scheme
Bottom Line:
This is a good bike for the money. I went well over my $1000 budget to get this bike after a test ride. Best $1702 I've probably ever spent. Rides almost like a hardtail with rear shock locked out but with the flip of a lever theres plenty of travel for rough trails. I dont think that I would do too many insane wheelie drops or huge jumps with this bike though-it's just not designed for that
Bike Setup: completely stock except for a Specialized team control rear tire
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Alexandre Ouellet
a Downhiller
from Cowansville, Quebec
Date Reviewed: October 23, 1999
Strengths: The geometry
Weaknesses: Those frames are very very weak!
Bottom Line:
The first bike I got was a Joshua X1 1998, the chromo swing arm cracked. I got an FH2 1998 from the warranty, the weld on the head tube cracked, the bracket of the shock(weld on the frame)cracked, and the swing arm cracked where you put the housing for the front derailleur. This year on my Joshua F2 the pivot break two times, the frame cracked near the head tube, on the shock bracket's and the swing cracked too.
Submitted by
Guido
a Weekend Warrior
from Wilmington, DE
Date Reviewed: September 23, 1999
Strengths: Simplicity of design Price to value ratio
Weaknesses: Stock weight
Bottom Line:
I really love this bike. Very simple yet effective design. For all you Joshua lovers who are tired of the think-they-know-it-all critics, point them to this web site: www.specialized.com/main.ehtml?tech/tech.ehtml. The Joshua came in second in an independant test by the University of Hamburg-Germany (?)for BEST Cross Country design. Losing out only to the Specialized design. Several big name bikes couldn't even come close. It also did very well in the down hill category against other non-URT designs, beating several big names also! Way to go Joshua !!! Please post this information on the other Joshua sites to quite those pesky nay sayers.
Bike Setup: Air shocks front and back. Race Face front drive, Carbon fiber bar. Otherwise stock
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Nico
a Cross-Country Rider
from Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date Reviewed: August 30, 1999
Strengths: Genisses Geometry Judy SL SID Rear with lock-out $ Value $
Weaknesses: Water Bottle Placement Decals Finish
Bottom Line:
I must agree that this is the best buy for the money. Everything I expected and more. The lockout is awesome. I went to Bikes USA due to previous review. Got an unbeliveable deal and CAP plan has replaced 2 chains and XTR rear derailleur in three months. No questions. Can't beat that deal. Get this bike.
