[shakazulu12]

Whoops. This happened. Shakedown run today on National trail, South Mountain, Phoenix. Photo at the base of the Waterfall.
View attachment 1973507

Coming from someone moving to that area in two weeks, with a Spire. Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

[Blatant]

It’s pretty soon for me. I’ll give it 100 miles or so before any depth of opinion. I did ride it again yesterday, this time up National, which is always a hump, and then down Devastator, which is a more old-school fall line down the mountain.

I have a new Stumpjumper as a daily driver. I can safely say I wouldn’t personally want the Spire as my only bike. It is, however, a much more “usable” bike than the numbers would suggest. It pedals and handles much more normally than you’d think by the geo chart. Nice bike.

 

[felix.kuehbauch]

Hey,

i got an XL Spire. Love it!

Only thing i noticed is slight Play when i grab the rear wheel with one hand and main frame around the seat tube area and than move it in counter directions. Its very suttle. Cant see it can only hear/feel it. Can confirm its not the wheel/hub since i was able to test to different wheels. When i have the bike in a stand without the wheel i cant get it to rattle. Lever is not enough than. All Bolts are tight and torqued correctly.

On one of the first couple of rides the main pivot bold came lose it barely hat any lcotite on it . Tightened it according to torque specs never came lose again. Slight play worries me a bit though. Anything i can do?

Cant really drive to my LBS as its 500km from my place

 

[socalrider77]

Hey,

i got an XL Spire. Love it!

Only thing i noticed is slight Play when i grab the rear wheel with one hand and main frame around the seat tube area and than move it in counter directions. Its very suttle. Cant see it can only hear/feel it. Can confirm its not the wheel/hub since i was able to test to different wheels. When i have the bike in a stand without the wheel i cant get it to rattle. Lever is not enough than. All Bolts are tight and torqued correctly.

On one of the first couple of rides the main pivot bold came lose it barely hat any lcotite on it . Tightened it according to torque specs never came lose again. Slight play worries me a bit though. Anything i can do?

Cant really drive to my LBS as its 500km from my place

Following, my sentinel does this too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[felix.kuehbauch]

Following, my sentinel does this too


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Have you shown it to your LBS yet? Mine is 500 km away xD. Only few Dealers over here in Germany.

 

[Blatant]

Based on your description, if your pivots and rear axle are tight, I’d be looking at the shock bushings. Can you re-create the sensation by twisting/moving the shock?

 

[felix.kuehbauch]

Mh no the shock and bushings seem rock solid. Maybe i am beeing over critical. It does not affect the ride and bike feels solid. Probably gona just ride and keep an eye on it may be visit my dealer. I just dont want to deal with warranty and just ride the damn beast. Gap on left side of the main pivot seems large. Is that normal? Right side is flush

 

[ear_ache]

Hey,

i got an XL Spire. Love it!

Only thing i noticed is slight Play when i grab the rear wheel with one hand and main frame around the seat tube area and than move it in counter directions. Its very suttle. Cant see it can only hear/feel it. Can confirm its not the wheel/hub since i was able to test to different wheels. When i have the bike in a stand without the wheel i cant get it to rattle. Lever is not enough than. All Bolts are tight and torqued correctly.

On one of the first couple of rides the main pivot bold came lose it barely hat any lcotite on it . Tightened it according to torque specs never came lose again. Slight play worries me a bit though. Anything i can do?

Cant really drive to my LBS as its 500km from my place

My alloy spire did this as well. I diagnosed it as 1 or 2 threads too long on the rear axle. I essential could not fully tighten the rear axle. By adding a washer on the hex bolt did the trick.

 

[felix.kuehbauch]

Looks fine on my rear axle. I have a feeling its my main Pivot Bearings they turn hardly compared to rocker bearings for example. Will change those and see how it goes.

 

[Waldchiller]

Found the source of the play/rattle. It’s the dive side chainstay pivot. I can actually feel the play when rocking the rear wheel from side to side and wrapping my fingers around the joint. Some people in PB forum reported the same issue.

 

[socalrider77]

Looks fine on my rear axle. I have a feeling its my main Pivot Bearings they turn hardly compared to rocker bearings for example. Will change those and see how it goes.

Mine ended up being the main pivot axle was a little loose. Popped the collet bolt out, tightened the axle a tad, re-torqued the collet bolt, and now good to go


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[felix.kuehbauch]

Transition got in touch with me. I need to grind down Screw/Axle #15 and #20 by 1 mm as they are too long on my bike. I will get a new set of bolts and Bearings in a few weeks. Great service. I can live with that.

 

[wimpy10]

has anyone installed funn descend headset? do
they have the rubber like seal or dust covers like canecreek’s?

 

[Blatant]

So, in light of some other comments, I did a pivot teardown last weekend. I didn’t have any slop, which I’m very sensitive to, but a mild cracking noise deeper into the travel.

I didn’t check factory torque specs during disassembly, but most of the pivots felt very, very tight. None had Loctite and most were not lubed. I lubed, Loctited and torqued to spec. I did manage to booger up the NDS rear chainstay pivot, which was incredibly soft. Otherwise, I’ll ride in a couple days to see if there’s any difference.

Also took out the stacked volume spacers from the Float X.

 

[Blatant]

Man, the bike felt terrible. Like really bad. And it sounds like a bag of hammers. Started out fine, but by the time I was coming down National, the bike felt like it was coming apart. Actually stopped twice to make sure the frame wasn’t broken.

Rechecked torque at home and all was to published spec. I reached out to Transition; I have no slop or play but wondering if there is out-of-spec hardware.

 

[ARider]

How is your lower shock mount bolt/spacers?

Known issue with the threaded portion of the bolt not being long enough and the shoulder bottoms out on the DS flip chip before it can really get fully tight on the shock hardware. Transition recommended that I sand down the half moon nubs that contact the shock spacer on each side by 0.5mm or more. A fully threaded (or more threaded ) bolt would help also, but you would have to turn the head down to get it to fit inside the high/low chip.

Also, the Float X is a large volume air shock. Unless you are 110 lbs or running 20% sag, I'd put some volume spacers back in.

Are you on carbon or alloy frame?

 

[Blatant]

I have the alloy. Transition got back to me quickly and offered replacement chainstay pivot hardware. The rep stated there were instances where the pivot axles were too long. And I got the same input on the flip chips. Interesting that I have no discernible slop or play.

Regarding the Float X, the frame seems very, very progressive. I’m 190 in gear, running 20mm sag. After landing some decently spicy drops with no spacers, I’m 8mm short of bottom out.

 

[ARider]

The frame is by no means super progressive (23%), but the Float X does have that big 10mm MCU bottom out bumper which takes a lot to get full travel. The long 65mm stroke helps prevent bottom out as well.

Interesting that the CS pivots would make so much noise when there was no visible play. Did you use lots of foam on the derailleur and dropper housing?

 

[Blatant]

I tend to like a relatively linear suspension feel.

Thing is, I don’t KNOW specifically what’s causing all the noise. There is definitely no slop as I’m incredibly sensitive to that. I bought a complete, so no idea how the shop built it regarding cables. I could pull the post and take a look.

 

[ARider]

For sure try and see the shift/dropper housing. If they don't both have a big piece of foam on them, the alloy frame will sound like a coffee can full of bolts in the rough. You can try the trick of pulling the housing tight where it exits the HT area, and wrap some tape around it to try and "preload" it as well to prevent rattle.

Funny side note; Neko Mullaly is using the hardware kit from a Spire on his 3rd prototype DH rig that he's racing in France this weekend. Interesting as the hardware is literally the only issue I have seen with this frame .