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Overdrive 2... deal breaker?

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mullen119

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have been looking around at what I want for my next bike. I am starting to lean towards a Reign.....

But then I saw it..... Overdrive 2.... Am I wrong to think of this as a deal breaker? It will severely limit stem selection, and I am a suspension snob and will likely not be happy with the fork anyway. Do they an adapter headset to allow a normal tapered steerer? Why not just use a straight 1.5'' headtube if they want more stiffness? The weight savings has to be only a few grams. Just seems stupid to me.

Am I overreacting or is this a legitimate concern?
 
#3 ·
Giant OD2 frames are the same as any other tapered frame. Giant just uses a different upper headset section to allow for the larger steer tube. If you want you can install a standard tapered headset and fork or you can just replace the upper as the lower is the same.

There really isn't any downside to the frame as far as the headset is concerned. In my opinion the down side to OD2 is trying to sell the OEM fork after you have replaced it.

I have a Trance x29 Zero that I'm looking at upgrading the fork on myself.
 
#5 ·
mullen119 said:
I have been looking around at what I want for my next bike. I am starting to lean towards a Reign.....

But then I saw it..... Overdrive 2.... Am I wrong to think of this as a deal breaker? It will severely limit stem selection, and I am a suspension snob and will likely not be happy with the fork anyway. Do they an adapter headset to allow a normal tapered steerer? Why not just use a straight 1.5'' headtube if they want more stiffness? The weight savings has to be only a few grams. Just seems stupid to me.

Am I overreacting or is this a legitimate concern?
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Legitimate concern for 2 reasons:

OEM fork will be tough sell if you don't like it as the forks that come with OD2 are 1 1/4-1 1/2

Second, if you want to run a standard taper you need to get special top section of head set to fit the head tube as a standard headset top 1 1/8 won't fit. Probably have to pay out the ass from Giant as nobody makes this as far as my searches go. I'm not even sure what this part is called- head set reducer? Fork adapter?

If anyone has a link for this part please post as I am trying to run a standard taper fork on my OD2 frame.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
So it seems like some of my concerns are warranted and some are not. Its enough of a concern to continue my search for now. Even if I decided to keep the fork, I would likly want to change stems and even that would be a pain. I Wont count it out, But its definitely a check in the negative column.

Thanks for the replys!
 
#11 ·
ryansod said:
There are non-Giant stems but not that many and most of them are in the 70-100mm range. BUT Giant has their own stems ...
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I didn't even know about OD2 until my special-ordered Anthem showed up. I'm very particular about fit. I pretty much assume that any stock bike I buy I'll wind up swapping out handlebars, stems, and saddle.

I wound up finding a very good fit from one of Giant's stems, but I had to buy the most expensive one to get the exact reach and rise I wanted. Cost me some money I wasn't planning to spend.

Since Giant is so big (no pun intended) there's kind of an assumption that OD2 has a chance to actually become a mainstream thing. But maybe not. Lots of proprietary standards have withered and died over the years. Coincidentally, there was an effort to move XC bikes to 1 1/4" back in the 90's and it never got off the ground.

If I was going to get a different fork, one of the reasons would be so that I could get onto the standard and use any stem from any manufacturer. But then I'd have an OD2 fork to sell, which would be kind of like trying to sell a fork from a Genesis 2 bike.

Proprietary crap is one of the things that has made me reluctant to ever buy another Specialized... sorry to see Giant doing it.
 
#12 ·
TomP said:
I didn't even know about OD2 until my special-ordered Anthem showed up. I'm very particular about fit. I pretty much assume that any stock bike I buy I'll wind up swapping out handlebars, stems, and saddle.

I wound up finding a very good fit from one of Giant's stems, but I had to buy the most expensive one to get the exact reach and rise I wanted. Cost me some money I wasn't planning to spend.

Since Giant is so big (no pun intended) there's kind of an assumption that OD2 has a chance to actually become a mainstream thing. But maybe not. Lots of proprietary standards have withered and died over the years. Coincidentally, there was an effort to move XC bikes to 1 1/4" back in the 90's and it never got off the ground.

If I was going to get a different fork, one of the reasons would be so that I could get onto the standard and use any stem from any manufacturer. But then I'd have an OD2 fork to sell, which would be kind of like trying to sell a fork from a Genesis 2 bike.

Proprietary crap is one of the things that has made me reluctant to ever buy another Specialized... sorry to see Giant doing it.
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I agree with you, it took me very long to get a suitable stem as my local distributor did not bring them in. There was an article back when OD2 was released, that big stem manufacturers like Thomson would hop on the new standard, but till date there's been nothing. Honestly being the average rider I can't even feel the added stiffness of OD2; it's really a redundant standard.

That said, has Specialized come up with proprietary standards? I thought they were pretty okay.
 
#13 ·
TomP makes a couple of good points, most riders will change out stems and seat posts to dial in fit and proprietary stuff forces you to buy their kit. Then it's hard to sell the nearly new components you replaced because of the proprietary size. :madman:

Same thing with the fork. I like to pick up a fork on sale/used to try out different suspension set ups. There are some great forks out there that will change the ride of the bike. Plus if you ride a lot, it's convenient to have a spare fork to run while your main fork is in for service.

On my first Anthem X29 OD1, I ran a 100mm stiff fork for fast XC trails and put in a 120mm plush fork for more radical terrain. Bike rode totally different with each fork and it was easy to swap out. Now with OD2 I would need 2 OD2 forks (try finding a deal on these) or 2 head sets if 1 was OD1 and the other was OD2. Makes it harder and more expensive.

I can't see a difference in performance/handling with OD2, think this proprietary stuff makes it tough for the consumer and forces you to run their stuff at a higher price.
 
#14 ·
aizen said:
...That said, has Specialized come up with proprietary standards? I thought they were pretty okay.
Click to expand...
An example of it in my life was that the Fox Triad that came with my 2010 Stump Comp. The connection to the linkage (on the plunger side) was a special bracket that connected to the linkage in a proprietary way. And the Triad was a piece of junk. They were prone to blowing out (mine did in the middle of the biggest race/event of my season), and even when they worked properly they were marginal. In my opinion, none of the three settings was right for the bike. The FSR is a suspension design that desperately needs some kind of platform (unlike Maestro), and the Triad's middle setting was not adequate. In free mode it was too active for anything other than flat-out descending. In platform was just wrong and not tune-able like an RP23. I really disliked that bike, and the fact that I was stuck with either that junky shock or spending mega bucks to upgrade to a brain (an idea I have never liked) was one of the things that really ruined it for me.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
TomP said:
An example of it in my life was that the Fox Triad that came with my 2010 Stump Comp. The connection to the linkage (on the plunger side) was a special bracket that connected to the linkage in a proprietary way. And the Triad was a piece of junk. They were prone to blowing out (mine did in the middle of the biggest race/event of my season), and even when they worked properly they were marginal. In my opinion, none of the three settings was right for the bike. The FSR is a suspension design that desperately needs some kind of platform (unlike Maestro), and the Triad's middle setting was not adequate. In free mode it was too active for anything other than flat-out descending. In platform was just wrong and not tune-able like an RP23. I really disliked that bike, and the fact that I was stuck with either that junky shock or spending mega bucks to upgrade to a brain (an idea I have never liked) was one of the things that really ruined it for me.
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I always look at stuff like this before buying a bike. I will not buy a bike that has proprietary components. In this case, the OD2 can be changed to a standard taper, so its not completly off my list, but its a big enough pain that It moves it down a few spots. When it comes to rear shocks of odd sizing,(or pull shocks like on some Cannondale and Scott bikes) or odd axle standards, I either skip the bike or wait to make sure the part is going to stick around before I make the purchase.
 
#16 ·
mullen119 said:
I always look at stuff like this before buying a bike. I will not buy a bike that has proprietary components. In this case, the OD2 can be changed to a standard taper, so its not completly off my list, but its a big enough pain that It moves it down a few spots. When it comes to rear shocks of odd sizing,(or pull shocks like on some Cannondale and Scott bikes) or odd axle standards, I either skip the bike or wait to make sure the part is going to stick around before I make the purchase.
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Yep. I totally agree with what you are saying, proprietary stuff is usually a deal-breaker. I committed an error in judgement when I bought that bike. Part of me felt a bit of concern right away with the Stump, but it was boasting 130mm rear travel on a 29. At that time I wanted that.

But it wasn't too long before I just plain wished I could go back in time and get my money and my old bike back. The Stump was way, way too low (never mind pedal crashes, the bottom bracket shell sometimes hit rocks), the rear shock had to have enough pressure to keep it from getting full travel or it would squat so badly that it was nearly un-rideable.

People who have them really seem to like those bikes. I have to say, I do not get it.

What can I say, sometimes I just make a snap decision that turns out stupid.
 
#17 ·
BacDoc said:
Legitimate concern for 2 reasons:

OEM fork will be tough sell if you don't like it as the forks that come with OD2 are 1 1/4-1 1/2

Second, if you want to run a standard taper you need to get special top section of head set to fit the head tube as a standard headset top 1 1/8 won't fit. Probably have to pay out the ass from Giant as nobody makes this as far as my searches go. I'm not even sure what this part is called- head set reducer? Fork adapter?

If anyone has a link for this part please post as I am trying to run a standard taper fork on my OD2 frame.
Click to expand...
I know this is an old post but I recently changed my original fork on the anthem X 29er to a 120mm travel one, with the 1 1/8" steerer. All I did was re-design the bearing spacer sleeve (not sure what it's called) to replace the original one (the blue part). I've attached a PDF of it. Just get it machined of aluminium, it'll be perfectI've put over 300 km's on it with no issues. Note that you'll need a new stem and smaller stem spacers but you wanted to change the stem anyways so no big deal. View attachment bearing spacer.pdf
 
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