Dare
- Thread starter mtbman4
- Start date
The frame is a work of art. Perfect welds, neato cable routing and laser etched graphics on an anodized finish. The rear spacing is 135mm but it's a custom Hadley 20mm axle (it reduces down to something like 15mm through the hub.) The bike has a long wheelbase due to the real linkage.
Customer service is questionable. My friend had a time trying to get derailleur hangers for it. Get a couple when you get the frame.
Mike
Customer service is questionable. My friend had a time trying to get derailleur hangers for it. Get a couple when you get the frame.
Mike
I am not a big fan of all the marketing talk that Ellsworth does, but I owned a 2002 Dare for about a year and it was one fine bike. True 4-bar linkage bikes just ride well, brake well and pedal well.
I had an '01 dare, the first year of the "new model design". Yes, they are pretty, and it rode very well. Customer service, and warranty issues can be a big deal with ellsworth. To sum up a conversation I had with one of their reps., their philosophy is that their "black diamond" bikes, the dare and joker, ridden in the style they were built for, should last about two years. They don't stockpile replacement parts long after that, and you may be forced to "upgrade", at your expense, to the newer model in the event that replacement parts aren't available.
check out this thread from mtbr, and get some more info on their warranty practices; http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=5520&highlight=ellsworth+warrenty
it should be enough to scare you away, unless you've got money to burn.
check out this thread from mtbr, and get some more info on their warranty practices; http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=5520&highlight=ellsworth+warrenty
it should be enough to scare you away, unless you've got money to burn.
i have a 02 and i love mine, it pedels well, and rides nice...
About all I know about the dare, is I liked the look of the 2000 model better. There have been a lot of posts on Ellsworth's breaking, but probably not much more then most other freeride type bikes, anything will break in the right(or should I say wrong) situation. Though I think they have over-confidence in thier Joker frame to classify it as a freeride(dare I say 'black diamond') frame.
I don't know about that. I've seen a disproportionate number of Ellsworth breakage posts vs. any other bike I can think of... And especially if you consider the relatively small amount of bikes they sell in relation to, say, a BigHit - I think their ratio of broken bikes is utterly rediculous.lockemiester said:
Much like with a BigHit, you have to run a 24" wheel to make the geometry decent. I'd prefer not to hear about how the "BigHit is designed around a 24" wheel because they're stronger/lighter/etc." Come on. Nobody designs a DH/FR bike around a 24" rear wheel unless there is no way to get around it. Anyway, VW's Dare had a pretty steep head angle with an '02 Dorado and a 26" rear wheel so he went to a 24". The BB is still a little high for what we consider to be optimal even with the 24, but it got the head angle down to 67'.
I know a lot of people think that we're biased about this stuff, and that I only bag on bikes like the Dare because we don't sell them. We could sell them if we wanted to, most small manufacturers try and get us to sell their bikes at least three or four times a year. We don't sell them because we don't think they're up to par with the rest of the field.
I know a lot of people think that we're biased about this stuff, and that I only bag on bikes like the Dare because we don't sell them. We could sell them if we wanted to, most small manufacturers try and get us to sell their bikes at least three or four times a year. We don't sell them because we don't think they're up to par with the rest of the field.
Wasn't Von riding a Specialist for a while??? I never realized you don't carry Ellisworth, not that it matters though every other shop in Utah does and I wouldn't buy one from any of them either.
I thought maybe it was the other way around.