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Specialized
99 S-Works FSR XC
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Submitted by
Richard
a Cross Country Rider
from Melbourne, Australia
Date Reviewed: July 11, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | Light weight, fabulous suspension, Fox Vanilla FLOAT RC shock. | | Weaknesses: | Sizing, maintenance, plus other small gripes - see below. | | Bike Setup: | XTR mostly, with LX cranks, crosslink wheels, Manitou SX LE fork. | | Bottom Line: | This is a great bike. The operation of the suspension is almost perfect, and is set up as an excellent compromise between travel/plushness and resisting bob. The bike climbs better than any hardtail I've tried, as the suspension keeps traction over rough ground where a hardtail might bounce and spin. Very comfortbale for long days in the saddle. However, the bike has a few annoying faults.
I bought this bike in a bit of a hurry, and ended up getting a frame size that was too small. I was riding a 17" Specialized hardtail at the time, and bought a 'medium' sized S-Works FSR-XC. It has a reasonably long stem on it, and thus the frame's geometry puts my weight too far forward, making the cockpit feel cramped. Great for climbing, but a little uncomfortable on descents. I should have bought a large.
The suspension does require a bit of maintenance, but the rear end can be disassembled with a minimum of fuss in about 10 minutes. Grease ports would probably help this situation.
The rear derailleur strikes the lower suspension (rearward) pivot over rough ground - this is really annoying, and something I would describe as a design fault. Compare the new Giant XTC's righthand dropout to see how it should have been done to give the derailleur sufficient clearance.
Because of the position of the shock, there is very limited adjustment of the seatpost. Like, maybe an inch.
All up, a very competent bike, but some aspects not very well thought out. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Joe
a cross-country rider
from Altadena, CA
Date Reviewed: October 9, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
99 S-Works FSR XC, I saw this bike in a couple of publications, it looks too sweet, with its new M4 frame full suspension weighing in at 23.5 Lbs.
I'm going to order this bike now, they are not even shipping it yet.
The suggested retail price is $2995.00, Team Red looks killer. check out The Specialized Web Site at http://www.specialized.comI would also like to get feed back from other people than know about this bike and post what you think !!
This bike needs it's own category. If anyone from MTB Review is reading this, maybe you can create an entry for The Specialized S-Works FSR XC 99 model.
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