Hi Mtbr, so I've just got a specialized epic expert 2013 with brain on fork and rear shock. I had a 2008 epic before with brain on rear shock. So my question is around the brain fade settings "firm" to "soft" and in particular when racing an unknown or varied terrain course.
As folks with brain shocks/folks know - on "firm" setting the shocks are near locked (and obviously open when drops are encountered etc) with a very efficient and more rigid bike feel - great for fire road climbing and when on "soft" the shocks are more open and with a plusher less efficient ride experienced - better for technical downhill secitons. I would almost describe these settings to be comparable to CTD settings - firm = C and soft = D and in any where inbetween = T. These settings obviously can not be changed on the fly (and I expect folks so say they are not supposed to be -that's the idea).
Now that's all great if the terrain ahead is known to be largely consistent and thus the appropriate settings can be applied before riding. Or if you have the option of stopping to tweak accordingly. However, if there is great variance in the terrain - e.g., fire road climb, smooth single track and long technical rock garden descent AND you do not have option of stopping and changing settings i.e., when racing...this becomes challenging. Ideally you want fully firm for fire road climbing and perhaps the single track...but from experience it's better to have the setting towards softer (esp fork) for a more manageable (and potentially) faster descent on long technical rock gardens.
I've ridden CTD set ups with ability to adapt to the environment on the fly - these make more sense for the given scenario above.
I expect to get an answer of "compromise, set it half way" but am I missing something here with these brain fade settings...the epic and brain are designed for racing - not stopping. FYI - i have the shock/fork set up correctly pressure/sag etc.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Cheers Austyn
As folks with brain shocks/folks know - on "firm" setting the shocks are near locked (and obviously open when drops are encountered etc) with a very efficient and more rigid bike feel - great for fire road climbing and when on "soft" the shocks are more open and with a plusher less efficient ride experienced - better for technical downhill secitons. I would almost describe these settings to be comparable to CTD settings - firm = C and soft = D and in any where inbetween = T. These settings obviously can not be changed on the fly (and I expect folks so say they are not supposed to be -that's the idea).
Now that's all great if the terrain ahead is known to be largely consistent and thus the appropriate settings can be applied before riding. Or if you have the option of stopping to tweak accordingly. However, if there is great variance in the terrain - e.g., fire road climb, smooth single track and long technical rock garden descent AND you do not have option of stopping and changing settings i.e., when racing...this becomes challenging. Ideally you want fully firm for fire road climbing and perhaps the single track...but from experience it's better to have the setting towards softer (esp fork) for a more manageable (and potentially) faster descent on long technical rock gardens.
I've ridden CTD set ups with ability to adapt to the environment on the fly - these make more sense for the given scenario above.
I expect to get an answer of "compromise, set it half way" but am I missing something here with these brain fade settings...the epic and brain are designed for racing - not stopping. FYI - i have the shock/fork set up correctly pressure/sag etc.
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Cheers Austyn