AM ROAR!!! RAAW Madonna V2.2

S

Scotty675

Cable thief
Another beautiful build mate, looks the goods. Go find some big hills, I think this is were these are going to come alive. Only a very short ride so far but I think I may actually use the climb switch on this one
 
beeb

beeb

Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Rorschach said:
What shock was it running to start with @beeb
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It had one of the new SuperDeluxe with HBO and all that jazz. Seemed okay, but I had one of these earlier models on my Sentinel and preferred the feel - it just felt like it disappeared all the chatter and bumps in its path, whereas the new one it still good but seems to be aimed at a somewhat more "supportive" feel. I like the majority of the support to come from the spring and then use very minimal damping, so the earlier model should suit me better.
 
K

kten

understands stuff moorey doesn't
beeb said:
It had one of the new SuperDeluxe with HBO and all that jazz. Seemed okay, but I had one of these earlier models on my Sentinel and preferred the feel - it just felt like it disappeared all the chatter and bumps in its path, whereas the new one it still good but seems to be aimed at a somewhat more "supportive" feel. I like the majority of the support to come from the spring and then use very minimal damping, so the earlier model should suit me better.
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Chatter and the new super deluxe shocks (and forks) are not friends.

Bike looks lovely mate.

….if it turns out not to be to your liking consider flicking me a message… :cool:
 
zooks

zooks

Likes Dirt
beeb said:
Probably a minute or two down the trail, the rear brake hose popped off from the rear caliper hose connection, instant loss of brake but luckily I managed to slow up with the front brake a bit, get a foot down and bail out into some grass on the side of the trail.
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:eek: that would of been sketch AF!
 
Hellyeah

Hellyeah

Likes Bikes and Dirt
beeb said:
Well, this bike's life didn't get off to the best start with me. Took it for one ride round the local trails, it was okay - but a bit like bringing hand grenades to a knife fight thanks to the size and geo (despite not feeling particularly supple*). For my second ride, I booked a couple of days of shuttles up at Falls Creek - then promptly came down with COVID the day after the booking. :rolleyes: So after a little over a week, there I was coughing and spluttering up at a cool and misty Falls Creek (yep, that's mid-November in the high-country for you...). Started off with the obligatory Flowtown run (cruisy blue descent) to warm up, and all as was going okay. Bike wasn't feeling particularly stellar, but I thought maybe it was a bit oversprung as I hadn't really had any time to tune anything, or I was just still physically struggling from the spicy cough (definitely also some of that). But I was battling away, and up we went up to the top of the hill. Probably a minute or two down the trail, the rear brake hose popped off from the rear caliper hose connection, instant loss of brake but luckily I managed to slow up with the front brake a bit, get a foot down and bail out into some grass on the side of the trail. Given we'd just started one of the new trails (that I'd never ridden before), I decided there was no way in hell I was riding down the trail blind with no rear brake - and being much nearer the top than the bottom I hike-a-biked it back up and out and shuttled back to the car. Can confirm shuttles are a lot less fun going that way. While I probably could've got the brake line reinstalled while I was back at the carpark (though bleeding it would've been another story...), I was too knackered to care and called it for the weekend.

In the time since I have been fighting the lingering effects of COVID in the form of hectic amounts of fatigue, which has meant I've slept through most of the weekends since in the two months since. So with finally starting to feel better last week and with the benefit of hindsight (and a helpful suggestion from @Mattyp that I naturally dismissed wholeheartedly at the time, lol whoops) - I thought I'd better repair this thing and check the brake hose length while I was at it. Well, no prizes if you can guess who should be visiting the CotFW thread. As it turns out this thing needs about 15mm of slack in the final span of the hose to allow full travel and avoid yanking the hose (hurr hurr) taut. Fortunately though, the hose length was fairly easy to check as I was also swapping the shock to a (new-old-stock) RockShox SuperDeluxe shock with 525lb coil, and while I was in the shed I also swapped the drop-outs back to the middle position set, as I found the long position was putting too much weight on the front wheel (and I like a well-loaded front wheel, but it was so much load on the front in the long position it actually felt awkward/unbalanced and massively front-heavy).

I still need to run through the gears and make sure the chain doesn't need shortening up (and I might need to have another crack at bleeding the rear brake to get it absolutely rock solid) but a few laps around the backyard and a handful of bunny hops suggest all is working well. Double there was no binding of the brake hose, and was pleased to see the shock feels good. *Yes it's almost certain the previous shock/rear suspension felt bad because of the brake hose pulling taut - but I also ran that shock on another bike and found it a bit overdamped for my tastes so stuck with "new old faithful".

View attachment 406395

I also have a one-step softer coil and a Grip2 damper to install in the fork as well, but I will probably take it for a spin first because it'll just be nice to get out for a ride again finally and the fine details can wait.
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This looks so tidy, I may have a tingle
 
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