Bike Setup: Race face cranks, Shimano XT brakes, derailer, shifters, bontranger inner tubes, Slime shield, Maxis tires, Fox shocks, too many more
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Submitted by
Cheetah
a Downhiller
from Joinville, Brazil
Date Reviewed: December 29, 2003
Strengths: Great geometry for XCountry Confortable Light
Weaknesses: Bushing links No good for Free Riding
Bottom Line:
Ok, almost 3 years since the first review my free ride skills are much better. So definetely I rate the FSC Comp as a "First Free ride" or "Begginner freeride" bicycle. Nowadays it's impossible to go through drop offs, jumps and rocky gardens with this setup. Go for it if you need a kind of light full susp xcountry.
Submitted by
Stevie
a Weekend Warrior
from San Jose, CA USA
Date Reviewed: November 13, 2002
Strengths: The Suspension...The Ride...I can get up to 27mph on flat terrain...
Weaknesses: The Drivetrain needed upgrading. Suggest Shimano XT or XTR. I have XTR.
Bottom Line:
I love this bike, even though I dumped it riding it home from the bike shop. I wasn't used to the suspension. Now, three years later, I'm still throwing money at it. It's been a great ride, even after falling down muliple embankments, through poison oak, and underneath an SUV once! I'm Specialized forever!
Bike Setup: Still upgrading various components. Now has XTR front and rear derailleurs, XTR chainrings and crankset, the JudyXLC forks, Ritchey bar and post, Shimano M545 pedals, Comp non-disk brakes
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Submitted by
daniel cooper
a Cross Country Rider
from portland, OR
Date Reviewed: January 20, 2002
Strengths: Lightweight for a full suspension, great geometry and travel for heavy XC riding or even light downhilling. Just has a good feel for all-around riding.
Weaknesses: chainrings are weak, cheesy stem, and the judy T2 fork that i got with it is pretty much a pogo stick.. nothing weak about the frame though.
Bottom Line:
I am glad as hell that i got this bike! It has been with me through mud, over small cliffs (well, ok.. nothing more than 3 feet), long extended rides, steep and brutal assaults, and has never let me down. As noted earlier, the only complaints i have with this bike are the chainrings--they are pretty weak and wear out quickly, the fork ('98 Judy T2), and the super long and heavy stem. Once i upgraded the appropriate parts, i found myself with the bike of my dreams--lightweight, maneuverable, tough, AND affordable. 'nuff said
Bike Setup: XTR shifter/brake levers, avid 2.0 brakes, ODI yeti lockjaw grips<--these rock! Koski riser, azonic shorty stem.. blah blah
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Submitted by
Joe Martin
a Weekend Warrior
from Sultan, WA.
Date Reviewed: November 18, 2001
Strengths: Strong Frame. Good Geometry for all around use.
Weaknesses: None
Bottom Line:
Excellent price/performance. I've ridden this bike in all conditions and its never let me down. The level of components were fairly low and were replaced as they wore out.
Bike Setup: 1998 Specialized FSR Comp. Zoki Z2 Atom 80. Cane Creek AD-5. All XT drivetrain. MountainSpeed bearing kit. Mavic 517 rims. Koobi Au Enduro saddle.
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Submitted by
Cheetah
a Downhiller
from Campinas, SP, Brazil
Date Reviewed: April 12, 2001
Strengths: Excelent Performance and Confortable Frame Geometry Reliableness Good Custom brakes,stem, front hub
Weaknesses: Bushes demand too much maintenance front derailleur incredibly heavy seat stem (also weird dimension)
Bottom Line:
Perfect for free riding. Too smooth for Xcountry racing (obvious). I´ll search for alternative rear susp axles (plastic bushes suchs). One can face serious DH if you have a double crown fork and a bigger rear susp.
Submitted by
David Sherwin
a Weekend Warrior
from Northridge, Ca, USA
Date Reviewed: December 6, 2000
Strengths: I fall often and hard, but the bike takes a licken and keeps on ticken! Very strong frame and components.
Weaknesses: Chain suck! I have had to change my front rings twice. Stayed with XT and it is now doing very well. I have also had to change both derailers. What a waste of money! Chain suck cost me to spend time and money. I think that maybe it is a combination of finding a good mechanic and poor design of angle for proper gear adjustment. Last problem is the weight of the bike, too heavy.
Bottom Line:
Highly recommend Specialized products. I have just over 700 miles on the bike and I really do fall often and hard. I am suprised that any bike could hold together this well. It would be nice if I could take a couple of pounds off of the bike.
This bike is awesome!! It is my first full suspension and my first specialized and I have to let you know specialized has a customer for life. The geometery of this bike far exceeds any other(I'm convinced it's the geometery, not the tires, not the fact that full suspension gives you more confidence, but the geometery). I'm coming from a GT Ricochet that I thought I would hang on to to use when I plan rides that scale steep ascents but now I think I'll be selling it soon. I'll tell you this bike is well outfited with not the top of the line components(witch I think sacrafice too much durability for weight to do any real world riding). I am proud to say that this bike is totally Shimano free!!! witch is the way I like it! But anyway the main places I'm finding this bike really excels in is slow speed handeling in technical terrean, steep down hills, the more technical the better, the faster the better, the steeper the bette up or down, hell it the best all over the place! only problem I've had is with adjusting the rear shock for some reason that screw disc thing will not turn unless you show it some pliers, but I'll soon be replacing it because I don't like rock shox either. this is all after 3 very long rides so I will be updating this review in a few months. RIDE ON!!!!
I bought this bike from a friend almost 3 years ago, and as far as I can tell it still has the same components it came with.
I like this bike a lot and ride it XC and some light Read More »
I bought this bike from a friend almost 3 years ago, and as far as I can tell it still has the same components it came with. I am particularly interested in changing the suspension Read More »
