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2004 Specialized Enduro Pro fully customized

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12K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  Americanahstan  
#1 ·
Hello and bonjour,

I feel the need to fill the net with more smut so, here is a 2004 Specialized Enduro Pro that is fully customized if anyone cares... read on!

Specs::nono:

Rock Shox Lyrik coil U-turn
with high and low speed compression, rebound and flood gate with 160 mm. of travel
2009 BETD aftermarket suspension link from the UK
2009 Fox DHX air 5.0 eye to eye 200 mm. stroke 57 mm.
(new rear wheel travel is 165 mm. in combination with the rear linkage)!!!
Easton carbon fiber monkey lite CT2 DH bar (nice and wide!)
Woodman components four bolt short stem (super tight)
Race Face Diablos seat post (super solid triple butted)
Fi'zi:k Atlas saddle (ample!)
Mavic 729 EX rims with a White Industries Chub hub with 20 mm. axle and a Hope Bulb rear hub heavy gauge spokes with double butted spokes on the front wheel
2.4 Maxxis Advantage tires for the moment (nice skins)
Oury lock on grips
Shimano XT shifters
LX front and rear derailleurs
Three chain rings up front (no joke it still climbs) Specialized and Truvativ Cranks 50/50
XT cassette
Avid Juicy 3 brakes 203 mm. front and rear (yeah, yeah not very serviceable) but they work when dialed-in like no other!
custom rear wheel mud guard (one of a kind except no impostors)
custom cable routings for engaged riding style
flat pedals

The bottom line is this rig really rails and flies too, in the French Alpes or on any given local trail wherever they may be!

If, you have nothing better to do please feel free to ask any questions about this Enduro. I have yet to see anything even close to it. I had to do some reading, measuring and tweaking to fit it all together. This is a budget boys dream! This is an attempt to have three bikes in one. (Enduro SX, Big Hit and Demo) Perhaps, you too know of another 2002-2004 Specialized Enduro Pro that is fully modified and ready to roll very fast! Take a gander at my user photo!

Ciao!
 
#7 ·
Americanahstan said:
2009 BETD aftermarket suspension link from the UK
2009 Fox DHX air 5.0 eye to eye 200 mm. stroke 57 mm.
(new rear wheel travel is 165 mm. in combination with the rear linkage)!!!
I took a look at the picture:

Image


Have you compressed the rear all the way to bottom-out? (It looks to me like the bottom of the seatpost / seat mast might interfere with the piggyback reservoir on the shock. If you haven't tested it yet, let most of the air out of the main air chamber on the shock and push down on the seat until it won't go any further. Watch for frame interference with the shock as you do so.)

You have an impressive looking rig there. :)
 
#8 ·
No worries dear smut fans, this is dialed and calculated there are no points of interference, seat post included. I'm a professional! Yes, Yes the geo has changed some (e.g.) BB height, but it is now between an SX and Demo height however, it has a little less stand-over height than the former. The Lyrik is from 2007. As to the photos I plan to take some high quality detail pics as soon as the sun is visible, but for now I only have my Imac cam. So, just view my user photo. By the way MTBR's photo system wasn't working or still isn't working correctly. I tried. Thanks for posting the picture on the thread! Cheers! Dangerously going beyond the accepted norm! Not everyone does Berrecloth drops! 1.8 meters is high enough for me anyway for me it's all about techinque and flow!

P.S. I would never trade liberty for security!
 
#11 ·
thanks for the pictures

Thanks for sharing your pictures! I'm surprised that you fit the boost valve in the upper shock mount area. The DHX 5.0 air doesn't fit that way because of the propedal switch and because of the new angled air valve on the shock body. I'm sure glad that not just everyone buys a bike and uses it and then buys another one when it's seemingly old or consider out of date. These are polyvalent bikes! The Specialized enduros from 02-04 are tried and true attack machines and they feel great to ride! With a seasoned rider on board they will leave may other riders and bikes behind.

Ciao :thumbsup:
 
#12 ·
Thanks for sharing these bikes, you guys are giving me some serious ideas! I recently picked up the'04 pro used. I'd ridden those frames enough to know that they feel perfect for me, and I wanted to put some work into it. Well, the rear shock has died on me already - looks like the previous owner hit some drops with the stock seatpost slammed and nailed the shock (the knick was small enough that i missed it at first, but internal damage was significant). Besides that basic seatpoast tube design flaw on these bikes (not a big deal if you just pay attention to your setup) I'm realizing that i missed a few other things in research. Namely, the obsolete 7.625" i2i, and the restrictive shock mount area.

I'm looking at a few options now:

1) I got some people searching for parts to rebuild this shock. If the price is right and its possible, I like this option because i can keep the original geometry and I actually really dug this shock when it was working. The travel adjust and pro pedal combo kicks ass! I dont know why they stopped using the itch switch.

2) COIL! My thought all along was to eventually replace it with a coil over. I test rode a new Van R on it the other day (went up to 7.875), to see if it fit, and it was so nice! Super plushy, very slight bob (small enough that i was ready to give up propedal), completely ate everything i threw at it like stairs and curbs (far superior to any air I've been on). It had that totally forgiving top end, yet stuck to the ground like crazy, and the bottom just refused to give in. The overall weight difference was hardly noticable, and best of all the 7.875" experiment concluded an insignificant change in the bike's geometry IMHO, that can be further tweaked with a fork upgrade. Plus it just made this bike look like a beast!

So i was almost sold, and looking forward to ending at least some of the maintenance issues I've always had with air, but then I was heartbroken... After really pushing it I realized that the bottom area where the piggyback attaches to the main chamber was hitting the lower shock mount area very slightly. So we turned it around like Mondo's, and it was the same deal with the bottom coilplate hitting the lower frame. Surprisingly there were no issues either way on the top because that shock has nothing but rebound adjust up there. I knew it was going to be a tight fit, but after feeling how good it was, it really sucked to see it didn't quite fit...

3) Go with a new air shock. RP23 or similar. Also looking at the new RS monarchs, as I've heard the high volume system can create a coil-like ride. I'll consider any option here now that I know I can live with the 7.875", although I'd also like to try the 7.5" to compare. I've never thought that the DHX air was worth the high price tag, but maybe Americanahstan can prove me wrong?


You guys have obviously spent a lot of time tweaking these bikes, so any advice you can give me is greatly appreciated. Did you consider coil? Has anybody heard of a model that will fit these frames? I noticed the marzocchi angle to the piggy back appears steeper, also Manitou even makes a low end coil w/o a piggyback - but I have no experience with these shocks...

again, thx for the peak at your rides!
 
#13 · (Edited)
Fox 2009 DHX air 5.0, What can I say about it...

Well after a little reflection and some black diamond downhilling in the French Alpes I can say that this Rear shock is simply brilliant! I paid 269 euros for my shock from Purebike due to a stocking issue at Purebike with the Fox RP23. I recently visited their website a few weeks ago and the DHX is now on sale! Run to it and buy one!

As to the BETD linkage and the shock you must pay special attention to the points of shock and frame interference and shock and linkage contact points.

Always mount the shock with the air chambers empty and compress the shock on the bike looking for even the slightest contact while considering frame and linkage flex under loads. Look at all points under full bottom out of the rear suspension!!!

How did I do it? Well, if you are skilled with your hands and have commonsense and some patience you can get this to work for you and have a stellar ride.

Things required are :

A little measuring
Some wrenching
Some sweat (yeah that's right!) and sweating it so that you don eff it up!!!
If you have the BETD link that is sublime then you simply mount it and the shock(DHX) with a 200mmm eye to eye and a 57mm stroke. (I presume that the RP23 will mount up without any worries) Use the longest travel setting on the BETD linkage (6.00"). Using only the steeper head tube angle setting so that the boost valve doesn't touch the underside of the monocoque "top tube" under full bottom out. It's like the Specialized flip-flop link so don't flop it or you'll be sorry because the angles don't work! Anyway, I wanted as much travel as I could get from the frame.
If you have a dremel like tool with a flexi-stylus end (a must for ease of operation) and some grinding, sanding and polishing stones and pads then you're set to wreck the BETD anodized finish just a little bit!
On the 2009 DHX air there is an angled air valve on the main chamber (body) and this is a point of interference so just remove enough aluminum to make it pass by with out touching the link (note: boost valve is next to the link and not the frame) by dispersing your grinding evenly over the surface of the link to avoid creating stress points from sharply ground out sections. ( I may have some detail pictures to post in a month or so.)
The second point of contact is the boost valve on the arch of the BETD linkage under full bottom out. (note: the 2009 DHX has a mini and max propedal switch and not the former propedal dial.) Just creat an almond or ovular like recession on the top outer part of the arch (when doing this yourself if you so choose, you will understand exactly where it is that you need to remove a slight amount of material.)
Lastly you will need to remove just a little from your "seat stays" arch that connects to the linkage in an long ovular shape just like on the linkage. Note that the grinding on the "seat stay" arch will be hidden when the suspension is at rest. This means that the grinding and POLISHING is on the underside perpendicular to the seat stays. On a sliver bike there's almost no need to paint this area especially if you polish it like a gem or chrome something, something. DO ALL OF THESE STEPS WITH THE SHOCK LINKAGE AND SHOCK INSTALLED ON YOUR BIKE TO BE SURE THAT IT'S RIGHT AND DOING THIS WILL ALSO SAVE YOU TIME BY NOT HAVING TO MOUNT AND REMOVE THE LINKAGE A MILLION TIMES! (just a little bit OK) Yeah, I know. O' ****, I'm insane. Right? Were is your sprit of being the bikers and innovators that the "Klunkerz" the pioneers once where and still are? After all it's not that big of a deal. Just think of it as big tire rub on the inner parts of the chain and seat stays. Anyway, It's up to you to decide if you are up to the challenge or "mad biker butcher shop experiment gone bad." Maybe gone right?
When enough grinding, sanding, polishing and sweating have tired you out and nothing touches and everthing is free to move without breaking you baby then, fill the chambers up following the Fox specs and test ride it to fine your sweet spots with the proper SAG, preload and bottom out adjustments. Next, ride till your hands bleed and grin like you have a banana for a smile! You'll know what I mean if you dare!

Peace to all nations and peoples,

Americanahstan
 
#14 ·
Some more info...

Before I made the shock upgrade I searched and found some good information here from others doing the same thing:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=168137

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=349591

You'll see a few guys using coil setups that seem to like it. I went with the Marz Roco air shock since I've was trying to be weight conscious with my build and found a great deal on a used one after reading good reviews on the shock. Not to mention I already have an Intense Slopestyle with a DHX coil for those big-hit days :thumbsup:

I lucked out that the TST control on the Roco is a switch on the top part of the piggy back that just sticks straight up with only 2 settings - one for climbing and one for descending. The climbing mode has more platform and the descend mode has less (obviously). I just leave it in descending mode since it still climbs pretty well in that setting but it's easy enough to just flip the switch over when I have any extended climbs. The rebound controls and air valves are all easily accessible too. It was like this shock was made for this setup :D

If I had to do it all over again I would still go with the Marz but would consider the RP23 too. I used to have an Intense 6.6 that came with a DHX Air that I swapped it out for the RP23. The DHX I had wallowed too much on that frame and I felt like I could never get it dialed in just right. The RP23 setup was simple and it handled the job nicely. Hope this is helpful!
 
#15 ·
Oh S**t is right! I'm not the best in the shop, but I'm game! Maybe with some help from a few ambitious friends and their tools I can do it...I'm just not sure I can put that much money into this thing . I'm definitely going to check out that linkage upgrade. That's an extra inch of travel, and changes the build a lot. But even on sale the DHX air runs $440 USD on that site. I've seen it as low as $379 but still too much for me, especially considering the extra work making it fit.

Anybody else out there tried a different setup on this, or have any ideas? Haven't heard any good news from my shock guy about the rebuild. I REALLY want to get a coil on it...
 
#16 ·
BETD linkages

Hey Dudes,

I have just a quick note about the availability of the BETD link for 2002-2004 Specialized Enduros. When I placed my order BETD told me that they needed to make a new batch and that I would have to wait about 2 weeks for it an that this batch that they were making about 2 and a half months ago would probably be the last batch that they will produce! I got one Gold link as you can see. I wonder about how many they have made. Just 4 colors or more?

P.S. The Specialized linkage is quite nice as I'm sure that you would agree with me because we love these bikes (what a beautiful design we have that hardly any other bike can even come close to except perhaps the Intense M6 or the 951), but the BETD linkage just out of the bubble wrap and then freshly installed on the bike just rocks the _______ out of the light weight looking stock linkage. If you have them you know what I mean.

My speed and attitude have completely improved when on my bike (i.e.) later braking just before coming into turns, very light breaking in very technical downhill sections and the let it roll faster and faster on the slopes. The comfort and smoothness is just great and jumping is a dream on a silver cloud!

Do I sound like an addict to you? No, I don't work for BETD.

Enjoy your rides and tear it up for you!
 
#17 ·
I have added just a few clarifications and corrections to my earlier how to post...

I just edited my earlier post about a BETD linkage install. I hope this clears up some details for you.

I'll leave you with this : The blowing wind in your face the whistle of your spinning wheels and the sublime thumping of wild twisted roots under your knobby tires... ZING!