[Gelmanskii]

what is the diff bet the '03 and below jamis dakar to the '04 and above dakars? i just finished building up my dakar xlt 3.0, tried it at mt. falcon in CO, and it was such a wonderful bike. they said the older ones are a lot better. any inputs???

 

[GearHead]

The '03 and below used to use a horst link design where the '04 and above is a single pivot design.

Since the new '04 frames came out, the reviews have been less than favourable. The Jamis Dakar has fallen of the map comapred to the '03 frames.

 

[el_chupo_]

Newbie chiming in here, but havent they taken abunch of "budget bike of the year", and "best bike under 2k" stuff with the new design? I wonder because I am looking at building one. Thanks all

Matt

 

[GearHead]

Newbie chiming in here, but havent they taken abunch of "budget bike of the year", and "best bike under 2k" stuff with the new design? I wonder because I am looking at building one. Thanks all

Matt

Not saying anything bad about the bike, but those type of awards are usually highly weighted towards what components you get for X amount of dollars and the actual suspension design doesn't receive that much talk.

 

[Jwiffle]

what is the diff bet the '03 and below jamis dakar to the '04 and above dakars? i just finished building up my dakar xlt 3.0, tried it at mt. falcon in CO, and it was such a wonderful bike. they said the older ones are a lot better. any inputs???

The main difference is the rear suspension design. '03 models had the pivot under the dropout (horst link, Specialized's fsr design). '04 and newer puts it above the dropout, which makes it a linkage-activated single pivot. In other words, it is not a true four-bar linkage design. Jamis did not want to pay Specialized to use their design, so opted for the single pivot. It still works well, pedals very well from what I understand, but may have some brake jack whereas the older models did not. But they are still good trailbikes, so I wouldn't sweat it too much.

 

[dogonfr]

I have a Versus Blitz 2005 model & the updated the chainstay to make it more solid, less flex. My old chain stay looks just like yours. I sent Versus a pic of this, they never responded back.

 

[GearHead]

Newbie chiming in here, but havent they taken abunch of "budget bike of the year", and "best bike under 2k" stuff with the new design? I wonder because I am looking at building one. Thanks all

Matt

I guess something else to know is that the Jamis Dakar is one of the least laterally stiff FS frames available. It is pretty easy to apply a lateral load, such as when cornering, to the pedals and have the rear tire buzz the chainstays even with 2.1" tires.

 

[dogonfr]

I guess something else to know is that the Jamis Dakar is one of the least laterally stiff FS frames available. It is pretty easy to apply a lateral load, such as when cornering, to the pedals and have the rear tire buzz the chainstays even with 2.1" tires.

Just order a chainstay from Versus & walla you got stiff

 

[Relayden]

I guess something else to know is that the Jamis Dakar is one of the least laterally stiff FS frames available. It is pretty easy to apply a lateral load, such as when cornering, to the pedals and have the rear tire buzz the chainstays even with 2.1" tires.

Odd... I have an XLT (04 with 05 chainstays). Compared with other bikes I've ridden, enduro, liquid, etc. It feels way good, no noticeable flex at all. Way stiffer that the HL's I've tried, I even had to get warranty on the spec enduro chainstay for latteral flex, tire was robbing the left side of the chain stay. You can say i'ts a less efficient design on the braking dept, but feels more stiff and snappier or lively when climbing over continuous bumps than the HL. Titus Motolites have the same desing (swing-link) but with the HL and I haven't heard nothing negative against it. May be you are reffering to the regular dakar, I have no experience there, but haven't read nothing negative on past magazine reviews. Check the reviews on the XLT and they all have good things to say, only they wish the bike kept the HL for the braking reasons. If you had the expierence mentioned above, another reason besides the frame, can be the wheelset.

 

[Relayden]

I have a Versus Blitz 2005 model & the updated the chainstay to make it more solid, less flex. My old chain stay looks just like yours. I sent Versus a pic of this, they never responded back.

Noted this while checking out their website. Do you happen to know if they can be interchanged?

 

[GearHead]

May be you are reffering to the regular dakar, I have no experience there, but haven't read nothing negative on past magazine reviews.

Yah, I am talking about the regular Dakar and you guys are talking about the XLT. My bad!

dogonfr posted about changing his chainstays too to stiffen the back end up.

 

[dogonfr]

Noted this while checking out their website. Do you happen to know if they can be interchanged?

I dont know if it will fit for shure, although i dont belive they would mass produce items & change things to make them fit another manufacture. Also when i emailed Versus about this they did not respond back as if to say, ya so! I can take pics of the BB pivot & the bearing size for you.

 

[Gelmanskii]

is it easy to ask for a new chainstay for the xlt's from jamis? or you need to have a valid reason to ask one, say broke tha chain stay? i saw the 05 xlt and it has a beefier chainstay...

 

[Relayden]

Well in my case and many others here, the chainstay just cracked at the rear welds, luckily I noticed it before they snapped and leave me stranded. They were replaced under warranty, but I've read here that other guy just went to a dealer and got it replaced as Jamis apparently sent that dealer a few stays to spare (my assuption) check in the Jamis forum for XLT. The new one is way beefier and blingy. And for 06, they have changed both stays. Right now I just don't see where my frame could fail, only time will tell. Be sure to periodically inspect the front (bb) bearings. I have a friend who has a 03 xlt and the stay cracked just below the right side bearing, not in the weld, but in the solid aluminum part. When inspected the bearing was almost impossible to rotate, leading to the believe this caused the material to fatigue and snap! Seems that this bearing takes more gunk. And it litteraly took around 3 month's to get his stay, first it arrived and it was cracked where the right bearing goes (apparently the bore was not big enough to accomodate the bearing). And then, they kept us telling a replacement was sent, that it got lost.....well until finally it arrived. My advice just go to your dealer and ask them to replce the stay, Jamis is very well aware of the problem, so they should take care of it before it happens.

Good Luck!!

 

[Gelmanskii]

thanks for the info bro, i'll try that....