[BikePilot1]

I was looking for a bike for the wife and to use as a loaner for friends, etc. and stumbled across a 2015 Flux that fit the budget. Super excited to have it in the house! It's a well cared for example and setup well for our local trails I think. Pike rct3 set to 130mm, X01 1x11, X01 cranks, xt brakes, fox (ctd?) shock, reverb dropper, dt240 hubs, and truvativ bars/stem. Currently has conti trail king 2.4 tires which I think will be fine. I might eventually swap out to light 2.6s (I'm currently running a nobby nic f and rocket ron rear on my bike) and may try to save some grams here and there, but overall I think it's about right.

Any tips or tricks on setup or maintenance? Our local trails are super steep and rocky. Anyone using a fox DPS or dpx2.0 shock? Anyone experimenting with 140mm travel in the front?

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[freebiker]

Awesome! A used turner is better than a new competitor brand.

TURNER BIKES!!!!

 

[BikePilot1]

Thanks!

 

[steadite]

I have a 5Spot and a Sultan. They're good bikes, but need more maintenance than most bikes.

What I find with them is you need to disassemble and clean the pivots in the lower link. The dirt seals...don't (seal)...and you get excessive wear between the bearing and the lower link if left too long. The link is just decorative anodized, so there's minimal wear resistance.

I've found that injecting grease just attracts more dirt, and you get a gob of greasy dirt stuck to the bike, so my practice is to disassemble, clean, apply MINIMAL grease, and re-assemble. I do this every ~5-8 rides because it's sandy here. If left too long, you get excessive wear on the link and the back end of the bike feels noodley. I replace the bearings and/or link at least once a season.

https://www.turnerbikes.com/bikes/one-piece-dw-link-kit-2009/

Final lesson-learned I have is when re-assembling the link on the bike, I heat the link with a heat gun (to about 200F). This expands it temporarily and makes it a lot easier to slip together. Obviously use gloves so you can hold the warm/hot link.

Enjoy and hope that helps!

 

[BikePilot1]

Thanks, that's really helpful!

 

[SMR]

I have a 5Spot and a Sultan. They're good bikes, but need more maintenance than most bikes.

What I find with them is you need to disassemble and clean the pivots in the lower link. The dirt seals...don't (seal)...and you get excessive wear between the bearing and the lower link if left too long. The link is just decorative anodized, so there's minimal wear resistance.

I've found that injecting grease just attracts more dirt, and you get a gob of greasy dirt stuck to the bike, so my practice is to disassemble, clean, apply MINIMAL grease, and re-assemble. I do this every ~5-8 rides because it's sandy here. If left too long, you get excessive wear on the link and the back end of the bike feels noodley. I replace the bearings and/or link at least once a season.

https://www.turnerbikes.com/bikes/one-piece-dw-link-kit-2009/

Final lesson-learned I have is when re-assembling the link on the bike, I heat the link with a heat gun (to about 200F). This expands it temporarily and makes it a lot easier to slip together. Obviously use gloves so you can hold the warm/hot link.

Enjoy and hope that helps!

Disassemble every 5-8 rides? That sounds excessive. My Burner didn't need anywhere near that. I just pumped in some grease through the zerks and occasionally tightened the lower pivot bolts and everything ran great.

 

[Vespasianus]

I have a 5Spot and a Sultan. They're good bikes, but need more maintenance than most bikes.

What I find with them is you need to disassemble and clean the pivots in the lower link. The dirt seals...don't (seal)...and you get excessive wear between the bearing and the lower link if left too long. The link is just decorative anodized, so there's minimal wear resistance.

I've found that injecting grease just attracts more dirt, and you get a gob of greasy dirt stuck to the bike, so my practice is to disassemble, clean, apply MINIMAL grease, and re-assemble. I do this every ~5-8 rides because it's sandy here. If left too long, you get excessive wear on the link and the back end of the bike feels noodley. I replace the bearings and/or link at least once a season.

https://www.turnerbikes.com/bikes/one-piece-dw-link-kit-2009/

Final lesson-learned I have is when re-assembling the link on the bike, I heat the link with a heat gun (to about 200F). This expands it temporarily and makes it a lot easier to slip together. Obviously use gloves so you can hold the warm/hot link.

Enjoy and hope that helps!

I still ride my 2011 5-Spot and my experience is that the grease gun system is great but only needs to be used sparingly. When I first got the bike, I would add grease until the old grease would start coming out past the seals. Bad. That is not what you are supposed to do (I believe). This just attracted dirt and made the whole thing bad. What I find is a to add just a wee bit of grease -just enough to feel some back pressure. Do that every 5-10 rides and everything ends up working ok. I have taken my system apart 2-3 in my 8 years and am only my second set of bushing.

 

[cemeek]

Sorry to bump old threads - but I'm running a Pike RCT3 at 140mm on my '14 Flux - works great. Put in a CC DBInline and it's been fine for me, but looking to replace it as when it does break (and apparently they all do) it will be out of warranty.

 

[David R]

Upgrading the Inline to the DBAir IL (which can be done as part of a service) is a good way to improve both the performance and reliability for less than the price of a new shock. The early Inlines had issues but they've long been resolved now and the DBAir IL is a great shock.

 

[cemeek]

Upgrading the Inline to the DBAir IL (which can be done as part of a service) is a good way to improve both the performance and reliability for less than the price of a new shock. The early Inlines had issues but they've long been resolved now and the DBAir IL is a great shock.

THANKS for that, had no idea, this is really compelling: https://canecreek.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DB-AIR-IL-Product-Profile.pdf

I'm torn. Last things my Flux 3.0 could possibly need is a quality carbon wheelset and this shock upgrade, maybe a lighter seat, grips but - for major components I can't get much better (full XT, dropper post added, Pike upgrade, DB inline upgrade). Comes down to stick with the original reasons/commitment to Turner - or bail. Feels like throwing in the towel to bail on the Flux and go with a new plastic bike.

Upgrading the DBInline and new carbon wheelset would be less than new bike pretty sure, don't expect to get much if I tried to sell the old gal. Tough one.