First ride on a dually - wow

hellmansam

hellmansam

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Haven't enjoyed riding my HT much (Merida with a crap SR fork) for a long time and recently found out I could hire a demo bike (Specialised Camber FSR) from an LBS. Had a ball riding some twisty single track with berms and a few modest jumps. Wow, mind blown at how good it was. I'spose skipping the last twenty years of MTB evolution will do that ! I ran out of legs well before time. A few more rides and I think I would be a lot more confident once I've got more of a feel for the bike but even so I cleared a few logs and steps I wouldn't have tackled on my HT, went way faster in corners, and didn't clip a tree with the crazy wide bars. I'm keen to take this bike out some more.
 
stirk

stirk

Burner
Welcome to the duelly club, surprised it took 20 years to get there! Hard tails are still awesome fun though.

Did you buy the bike already?
 
hellmansam

hellmansam

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Didn't buy it yet - but if I had the $$ ready I reckon I would have bought it home today.
https://www.specialized.com/au/en/mens-camber-comp-carbon-29---1x/p/128960?color=239837-128960
Being a demo bike it is a good price and you wouldn't have known it's been ridden but apart from needing to save up some more, I'm right at the overlap between M and L sizes. The Medium I was riding today felt fine but I've got nothing to compare it with. Would like to try a few different bikes. A few have caught my eye when I was online window shopping the other day, Marin Rift Zone and B-17, Merida One Forty and Giant Trance 2. I have a feeling they might seem heavy after the Carbon Comp. WTF I never intended to even look at a carbon bike ! question marks for me are that it has a press fit BB (prone to noise issues?) not Boost hubs which is prolly not important given my present riding level. BB seems low which was little bit annoying in places but would be why it corners like its on rails. Tyre clearance on the back was pretty tight with the 2.3 it comes with, might not have room for a 2.4.
Definately don't want an XC bike, would rather get a bike that I'm not wanting to upgrade anything for a long while.
 
Ultra Lord

Ultra Lord

Hurts. Requires Money. And is nerdy.
Both the new merida 140 and giant trance are great bikes aswell, try and get a demo on both if you can. I know giant do a few demo days, unsure about merida.

If it was me I’d take the trance. No real reason other than personal bias hahaha. I worked in bike shops from 12 through to 18 and was always impressed with the finish on giant. I’ve ridden the current model trance a fair bit, and was pretty blown away by it (so much so it made me second guess my own bike, that’s frame cost me almost as much as what my friend paid for his whole bloody bike).

And please don’t be sucked in to the carbon V aluminium thing! geometry and suspension kinematics play a much larger role in how a bike rides than what it’s made out of. A well designed ally bike will outride a poor carbon and vice versa. Pick the bike your most comfortable on foremost. Boost hubs are a much of muchness, just different standards that achieve the same result. Dont worry about it.

I’ve not much experience with marin, sorry.

The price range your looking at, you won’t have to change much at all :) maybe grips, seat, bars and tyres if you don’t gell with the stock stuff, but thats normal across all price ranges.
 
mark22

mark22

Likes Dirt
Whoohoo and now it begins.
If you don't want to upgrade soon I would be looking at a Stumpjumper or equivalent geometry in other brands as you are not XC focused, have look at a Canyon Spectral.
By going a bit more aggressive in the geometry and more travel will see you not looking for that little extra from your new steed on the more demanding trails. You dont want to be bringing a knife to a gunfight.
Large is going to be a bit more stable if your in between I'd be going that way.
Most bikes are PF BB now like em or not never had an issue myself but a fair few have.
Boost smoost, if you get a demo cheap enough go for it you would be hard pressed to tell the difference riding.
BB are fairly low now so buying some low profile pedals will help a bit, mostly its technique.
Good hunting
 
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hellmansam

hellmansam

Likes Bikes and Dirt
pink poodle said:
Probably don't get the camber then.
Click to expand...
I rode it with out knowing anything about its geometry, just that it's 120mm travel. For the tracks I rode yesterday it was great but I reckon in time I'll want to get a bit more adventurous with bigger bumps. I tend to research choices like this a bit too much so I should get that out of my system while finding the other bikes to check out. Giants are not hard to find but the others are.
 
redbruce

redbruce

Eats Squid
hellmansam said:
Didn't buy it yet - but if I had the $$ ready I reckon I would have bought it home today.
https://www.specialized.com/au/en/mens-camber-comp-carbon-29---1x/p/128960?color=239837-128960
Being a demo bike it is a good price and you wouldn't have known it's been ridden but apart from needing to save up some more, I'm right at the overlap between M and L sizes. The Medium I was riding today felt fine but I've got nothing to compare it with. Would like to try a few different bikes. A few have caught my eye when I was online window shopping the other day, Marin Rift Zone and B-17, Merida One Forty and Giant Trance 2. I have a feeling they might seem heavy after the Carbon Comp. WTF I never intended to even look at a carbon bike ! question marks for me are that it has a press fit BB (prone to noise issues?) not Boost hubs which is prolly not important given my present riding level. BB seems low which was little bit annoying in places but would be why it corners like its on rails. Tyre clearance on the back was pretty tight with the 2.3 it comes with, might not have room for a 2.4.
Definately don't want an XC bike, would rather get a bike that I'm not wanting to upgrade anything for a long while.
Click to expand...
Go the Large and put a shorter stem on (Cambers are specced with silly length stems).
This is last year for Camber as its being replaced by the dearer and slightly heavier Stumpy ST.
For the bit extra (on demo and runout prices), Expert is better value than Comp spec.

I had an Epic and now have current Camber Expert, its a trail bike with XC DNA still evident.

Never had an issue with BB creaks on Epic, current Camber will fit most tyres up to 2.4.

If you want more enduro, stumpy is Spesh choice. Should be some 2018 ex demo and runout deals around now that 2019 Stumpy is out.

If you are buying a Spesh, get it from a big dealer as Spesh Aust not known for good support of small dealers on warranty.

The other bike I was considering was a Rocky Mountain Instinct. Some good deals around on them.
 
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pink poodle

pink poodle

気が狂っている男
It sounds like you should stretch a little and get something beefier...if xc isn't your thing it won't take long to out grow that camber. The spitfire moorey is talking about would be a sick choice. I was keen on getting one of them for a while. Good geometry, strong, and pedal friendly. The banshee marketing machine call it a downhiller's trail bike or something like that.
 
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