[golgiaparatus]

The bike just turned 1 year old. Felt some pretty odd suspension feel the other day. Checked it out... low and behold... shock eyelet is cracked clean through.

Most technical race of the season is in 2 weeks... gonna have to race it on the hardtail unless the shop and specialized/fox can hustle. My back hurts just thinking about it.

 

[Heidi]

I'd just buy a different bike. How can you trust something that has failed twice?

 

[Polandspring88]

.

IMO, it's more trouble than it's worth at this point, regardless of how well the bike performs.

 

[golgiaparatus]

I'd just buy a different bike. How can you trust something that has failed twice?

The answer... I don't trust it. I'll sell it the first chance I get. But what to replace it with? Nothing looks good that's affordable, and I have a baby on the way so even if I get a good price for the Epic, I don't have much to spare for it's replacement.

 

[shiggy]

The bike just turned 1 year old. Felt some pretty odd suspension feel the other day. Checked it out... low and behold... shock eyelet is cracked clean through.

Most technical race of the season is in 2 weeks... gonna have to race it on the hardtail unless the shop and specialized/fox can hustle. My back hurts just thinking about it.

Is the break in the frame or the shock?

 

[Heidi]

The answer... I don't trust it. I'll sell it the first chance I get. But what to replace it with? Nothing looks good that's affordable, and I have a baby on the way so even if I get a good price for the Epic, I don't have much to spare for it's replacement.

Sell the baby.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Is the break in the frame or the shock?

Shock eyelet, cracked clean through. Huge crack with total separation. I'm surprised it didn't completely fail.

But I strongly believe that the trouble I've had with this bike comes from a weak rear triangle. They released this bike in 2010... the very next model year they had cross members, thru axles and beefier everything back there.

They knew they had a problem.

 

[sanjuro]

Well, this is one of the advantages of the VPP/DW designs. The pivots are not at the weakside of the rear triangle, by the wheel, but at the strong side, by the BB.

I bet even the XC bike is going to be beefier than the Epic:

 

[shiggy]

Shock eyelet, cracked clean through. Huge crack with total separation. I'm surprised it didn't completely fail.

But I strongly believe that the trouble I've had with this bike comes from a weak rear triangle. They released this bike in 2010... the very next model year they had cross members, thru axles and beefier everything back there.

They knew they had a problem.

How would a weak rear triangle cause the shock to crack?

 

[golgiaparatus]

How would a weak rear triangle cause the shock to crack?

Hell if I know... torsion to the shock maybe. I'm stumped. I've never seen a shock crack before... usually it's the frame around the shock that fails.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Well, this is one of the advantages of the VPP/DW designs. The pivots are not at the weakside of the rear triangle, by the wheel, but at the strong side, by the BB.

I bet even the XC bike is going to be beefier than the Epic:

Wish I could afford a tallboy or a pivot 429 right now (only XC VPP/DW 29ers I can think of)... Still, If I had to replace it with something near $3k... Id go with a Black Sheep HighlightST.

 

[golgiaparatus]

1 week later... I have a new shock, all new mounting hardware, and a new brain. After a week of riding nothing but a SS hardtail, this thing feels like a rocketship.

Here's a photo of the crack.

 

[-BB-]

And did you have both fail at the same place?
I would think that if there were twisting tortional loads the shock shaft would just shift with it. And if there were side to side loads you would see wear on the shaft or worn seals.


ok, cant resist here...
Have you tried to manually pump your shaft to see if anything comes out?

 

[golgiaparatus]

And did you have both fail at the same place?
I would think that if there were twisting tortional loads the shock shaft would just shift with it. And if there were side to side loads you would see wear on the shaft or worn seals.

ok, cant resist here...
Have you tried to manually pump your shaft to see if anything comes out?

No, I went to put the bike on the car and felt the play in the shock. First thought was that the bolt was loose. When I went to tighten it, it twisted right off with very little effort. I assume it had been taking extra impact from the shock having so much play in it.

I actually didn't notice the crack in the shock until I put the bike up on the rack to take it in for a new bolt/bushing assembly.

 

[dump]

I'd just buy a different bike.

Me too. Time to get something that's made to last - if you're interested in that of course.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Me too. Time to get something that's made to last - if you're interested in that of course.

In a discussion with the builder about this.
http://genericcycles.com/st.htm

 

[mrbigisbudgood]

In a discussion with the builder about this.
http://genericcycles.com/st.htm

Looks flexy.........

 

[golgiaparatus]

Looks flexy.........

I know right

There are quite a few of the flex plate designs out there that make a good amount of travel. Generic, Black Sheep, Funk, Dean, Siren (which I'm not considering since it's not ti). Generic and Dean are at the top of my list just due to the fact that they are both nearly $1k cheaper than the others. I feel like the dean might be stiffer, but it has only 2" travel.

What I want to know is what the pedal feedback is like when climbing and how the rear triangle deals with torsional loads. Seems like the plate would twist all day long... but can the seat stays and the upper linkage fight the good fight and hold the wheel in line.

Really hard to find someone that has one of these.