What should I get: The 2005 Specialized Demo 8 or the 2005 Giant Faith 1??? Which one and why???
Demo 8 vs. Faith 1
- Thread starter abbett1322
- Start date
definatly a demo 7 because its for freeride
go demo 1st off the demo is a well proven design and the faith isnt
Jm_ said:Yeah, the demo 8s been out for almost a whole year
LOL 
Demo 8, coz Berrecloth will ride one so it must be good
Guys at least try to help him, won't you?
Yes uiuiuiui is right.
I would vote for D8, fsr is more proven than the Giant system, and i would guess that if the frame is similar to the d9 that means that this should be hypothetically proven as well.
I would vote for D8, fsr is more proven than the Giant system, and i would guess that if the frame is similar to the d9 that means that this should be hypothetically proven as well.
Yep, abbett1322 could you give more info, like riding style, your weight/height, what are you going to do with the bike other preferences ?UiUiUiUi said:
The more info the more usefull reply's you will get.
....well when I think about it.... I don't know no'thin about those 2 bikes.
preppie said:
Even if he did all that, it would make no difference. Nobody has any meaningful experience with either of those bikes, save for the manuf. test riders and developers.
I hate these pointless questions that always come up at this time of the year -- "which should I get out of 3 products that haven't even hit the market yet?"
then just write that!Jm_ said:
and then make fun of him!
i thought the same but i didn't know for sure so i kept my mouth shut
maybe down there in cali some people already rode the bikes for a couple of runs.
DßR said:
Not quite true.
FSR has been around for over eleven years.....because it works.
Maestro....well it is harmonious. Wondering........how does that affect brake isolation?
Well of course they did.
By making minute changes to the relationship between the links you alter the ride characteristics and accentuate a given performance feature. Which is why a Demo dosen't ride like an Epic....but they both work damn well for the intended purpose
By making minute changes to the relationship between the links you alter the ride characteristics and accentuate a given performance feature. Which is why a Demo dosen't ride like an Epic....but they both work damn well for the intended purpose
The specialized is more cooler.
Seriously, personally I generally prefer specialized over giant from a quality standpoint, and although the D8 hasn't been around that long, it's based on the D9 which has been around for a while. I think it's safe to say the D8 is a bit more refined and a person should expect less "first year" issues. And IMO the Giant is just kind of goofy looking.
So I'll vote for the specialized if I have to pick, but honestly I'd get a vp-free instead of either one. Yeah yeah, I know that's not gonna help pick between the two.
Seriously, personally I generally prefer specialized over giant from a quality standpoint, and although the D8 hasn't been around that long, it's based on the D9 which has been around for a while. I think it's safe to say the D8 is a bit more refined and a person should expect less "first year" issues. And IMO the Giant is just kind of goofy looking.
So I'll vote for the specialized if I have to pick, but honestly I'd get a vp-free instead of either one. Yeah yeah, I know that's not gonna help pick between the two.
I'd like a VP-Free too, but it costs too much.OGRipper said:The specialized is more cooler.
Seriously, personally I generally prefer specialized over giant from a quality standpoint, and although the D8 hasn't been around that long, it's based on the D9 which has been around for a while. I think it's safe to say the D8 is a bit more refined and a person should expect less "first year" issues. And IMO the Giant is just kind of goofy looking.
So I'll vote for the specialized if I have to pick, but honestly I'd get a vp-free instead of either one. Yeah yeah, I know that's not gonna help pick between the two.
I'm 5'4", 110 lbs. I'm going to do some big urban stuff and freeriding.
then get a scream.abbett1322 said:
I'm gonna be getting into the heavy duty stuff, though.math2014 said:
UiUiUiUi said:
Ask a stupid question...
Maybe if he got a little more specific, we could help.
Also, does ANYONE here have time on the Faith 1?
Well Kyle Strait won the Rampage on a Demo8 (Not 9), Romaniuk got 3rd this year I think and 5th last year on a Demo9, Chris Powell and Bearclaw were railing their Demo9's all summer at Whistler. I have ridden one for a solid day here in SC and it was one of the best bikes I've thrown a leg over. I felt confortable hitting a fairly tech 12-15' drop (that I hadn't hit or even seen before) on it on run 2, day 1. I agree that the Demo is proven and the Faith has yet to be. The Faith might be a can o' whoop ass but I don't like to do R&D for brands when I'm paying for it. With that said I did just buy a first year redesigned bike but it's an evolution of proven design.
I already said, I'm 5'4", 110 lbs. I'm going to do some big urban stuff and freeriding.-BB- said:
I think your a step higher than you should be on bikes. If specialized, go with a sx or sx trail. I had a demo 9 last year and it was kind of too much bike. The enduro sx trail has 6" rear, 6" single crown front. At your height I assume your young, and your just kind of starting to ride the bigger stuff. I'm going to be riding the sx trail for next year, and i'd say I will be doing bigger stuff than you, so....get a smaller bike. You could probably even get away with getting a regular specialized enduro and swap out the air shock for a coil. You'd save alot of money and have a bike thats much easier to handle.abbett1322 said:
By the way I have 70+ pounds on you.
Its pretty mush the same as the demo9Jm_ said:Yeah, the demo 8s been out for almost a whole year
I have an '04 Enduro expert right now. Can't do a 2 ft drop without it flexxing!!! It's great for singletrack, but thats it. And how do u know that your doing bigger stuff than me???KleinMp99 said:
and he doesnt know what hes talking about. the scream is a dedicated hucker bike man. its made to have monsters on it and be thrown off crap....but at this level bike. you cant ask that sort of question. thats why theres more than one sus design evryone has dif likes and dislikes. at that level its probly gonna be mainly based on opinion of wich one you think feels better. so test ride both and get wichever feels best. btw howd u get the money for thoose?
The flexing you feel from your Enduro is due to XC rims, tires and components. The Enduro frame is strong and stiff, I took plenty of 8-10' drops on my '02 without noticeable flex.
But you're right how would we know who's "going bigger", and why should we care...
But you're right how would we know who's "going bigger", and why should we care...
punkassean said:
I was trying to help, using examples, la la la. Lets argue about this though. :nuts:
my vote is for NEITHER!!! get a burly hardtail!! theyre great!
seriously tho the demo IS a proven suspension design and the faith is never-before-seen...but even the GREAT stuff has to be never-before-seen at some point...but if urban is more what youre looking at you might honestly consider a burly hardtail...i hope to have a hands on review of maestro sometime late next week tho as a co-worker of mine got his reigh in today (i know, different bike but same suspension design)...looks like once he tweaks it a lil its maiden voyage will be at the md. watershed
seriously tho the demo IS a proven suspension design and the faith is never-before-seen...but even the GREAT stuff has to be never-before-seen at some point...but if urban is more what youre looking at you might honestly consider a burly hardtail...i hope to have a hands on review of maestro sometime late next week tho as a co-worker of mine got his reigh in today (i know, different bike but same suspension design)...looks like once he tweaks it a lil its maiden voyage will be at the md. watershed
lovebunny said:
big urban and big freeriding? last time i checked these were considered heavy duty... so a scream or scirroco could be more appropriate.
Giant Reign (meastro suspension) impressions;
1. Suspension. The rear end of the bike tracks well in the rough. Feels like the suspension is doing it's job as well as any FSR I've ridden. It's claimed as a 6" travel bike, although the actual stroke of the manitou swinger 3 falls short of the claimed 2". It's morel like 1.75/1.8. By weighting the suspension with no air in it, I can't detect any more give as result of the internal bumper (using o-ring to measure travel). Suspension action is very good and on par with any other great suspended bike I've ridden. Keep in mind that this is with a manitou SPV swinger 3, so that says a lot about the suspension design, although we ran the minimum pressure allowed for no platform.
2. Pedaling. I rode it around, but I was able to detect this mostly from watching my friend ride his new Reign 1, back and forth before the ride, and watched it during the ride. The only time I could see any bob was when we were riding back on a road (due to problems with the fork that I'll get to later). This bob was so small I would have rather left it out of this review, because it's just a trace, but I want to give the complete story. No bob while generally riding around on it and on the trail. Great pedaling. Get's a grade of A- as compared to my Foes with the old vanilla R which I'd give a C-. Pedals great.
3. Braking. This is hard to quantify. I can feel the suspension on my FSR bikes keep working when I brake down rough stuff, but when you don't have the bike to compare against it is really hard to say anything of value about it. I couldn't detect braking interfearing with the suspension, but again it's not something that I was trying to concentrate on, so I don't know conclusively.
Overall;
Freak geometry, at least compared to what you'd expect on a trail bike. This is an 18" frame. Wheelbase is 45.75". Chainstay length is 17.75". Headtube angle is slacker than claimed (this is the one geometry facet my buddy was happy with on his bike) and about 68°, there's no way it's near the claimed 69.5°. BB height is about 14.5". Comparing visually against my foes that has a 13.7" BB, the Reign's is at least an inch higher.
While you are looking at the Faith, I'd say the "actual" geometry of the faith could be different than what they are claiming due to what we've noticed about the reign. This could be good or bad depending on what you like obviously.
We had to cut the ride short though because of his manitou nixon platinum. Before we rode we found out that the dropouts are uneven. When setting the wheel in the dropout it touches the side of the brake arch when it is sitting snug in the dropouts. Basically the dropouts are not vertically aligned, and even though it straigtened some by tightening the QR the wheel could shift over time or on serious impacts. This is not tolerable, so he already decided he'd warrenty it. Before the ride the IT (travel adjuster) was sticking about 5mm or so, so when you'd engage it and try to take it off it wouldn't extend back to the "full travel". On the trail this got worse and with absolutely no imput on the IT switch the fork would pack down about 2". This means it was turning the bike into a 70° HT most of the time, he would only get about 2-3" of positive travel and the fork would never re-extend back to the correct length. This made it basically unridable, it would be like having the ETA on my marzocchi come on all of a sudden and I couldn't get it to extend except by manually yanking on the wheel. While they probably get OEM manitou for cheaper, Giant would have done themselves a favor by just putting an RP3 and Fox vanilla RLC (or 36 when it comes out) on the thing. It may have driven up the price, but it would have been worth it.
Overall the build of the bike is pretty nice, it's comparable in weight to my Foes FXR. My foes is a little lighter because I've went to some extremes to make it that way, but the wheels on the reign (high end mavic, forget the name) are very nice. The brake levers are kind of strange, they have the carbon blades of the Mag+Tis, but they are not the Mag+ brakes, they aren't even mag levers, they are the cheaper-style lever. Wierd.
So, it's somewhat wierd; Rear suspension is great. Front suspension ruins the bike. Build is pretty good. Geometry is WAY off claimed.
1. Suspension. The rear end of the bike tracks well in the rough. Feels like the suspension is doing it's job as well as any FSR I've ridden. It's claimed as a 6" travel bike, although the actual stroke of the manitou swinger 3 falls short of the claimed 2". It's morel like 1.75/1.8. By weighting the suspension with no air in it, I can't detect any more give as result of the internal bumper (using o-ring to measure travel). Suspension action is very good and on par with any other great suspended bike I've ridden. Keep in mind that this is with a manitou SPV swinger 3, so that says a lot about the suspension design, although we ran the minimum pressure allowed for no platform.
2. Pedaling. I rode it around, but I was able to detect this mostly from watching my friend ride his new Reign 1, back and forth before the ride, and watched it during the ride. The only time I could see any bob was when we were riding back on a road (due to problems with the fork that I'll get to later). This bob was so small I would have rather left it out of this review, because it's just a trace, but I want to give the complete story. No bob while generally riding around on it and on the trail. Great pedaling. Get's a grade of A- as compared to my Foes with the old vanilla R which I'd give a C-. Pedals great.
3. Braking. This is hard to quantify. I can feel the suspension on my FSR bikes keep working when I brake down rough stuff, but when you don't have the bike to compare against it is really hard to say anything of value about it. I couldn't detect braking interfearing with the suspension, but again it's not something that I was trying to concentrate on, so I don't know conclusively.
Overall;
Freak geometry, at least compared to what you'd expect on a trail bike. This is an 18" frame. Wheelbase is 45.75". Chainstay length is 17.75". Headtube angle is slacker than claimed (this is the one geometry facet my buddy was happy with on his bike) and about 68°, there's no way it's near the claimed 69.5°. BB height is about 14.5". Comparing visually against my foes that has a 13.7" BB, the Reign's is at least an inch higher.
While you are looking at the Faith, I'd say the "actual" geometry of the faith could be different than what they are claiming due to what we've noticed about the reign. This could be good or bad depending on what you like obviously.
We had to cut the ride short though because of his manitou nixon platinum. Before we rode we found out that the dropouts are uneven. When setting the wheel in the dropout it touches the side of the brake arch when it is sitting snug in the dropouts. Basically the dropouts are not vertically aligned, and even though it straigtened some by tightening the QR the wheel could shift over time or on serious impacts. This is not tolerable, so he already decided he'd warrenty it. Before the ride the IT (travel adjuster) was sticking about 5mm or so, so when you'd engage it and try to take it off it wouldn't extend back to the "full travel". On the trail this got worse and with absolutely no imput on the IT switch the fork would pack down about 2". This means it was turning the bike into a 70° HT most of the time, he would only get about 2-3" of positive travel and the fork would never re-extend back to the correct length. This made it basically unridable, it would be like having the ETA on my marzocchi come on all of a sudden and I couldn't get it to extend except by manually yanking on the wheel. While they probably get OEM manitou for cheaper, Giant would have done themselves a favor by just putting an RP3 and Fox vanilla RLC (or 36 when it comes out) on the thing. It may have driven up the price, but it would have been worth it.
Overall the build of the bike is pretty nice, it's comparable in weight to my Foes FXR. My foes is a little lighter because I've went to some extremes to make it that way, but the wheels on the reign (high end mavic, forget the name) are very nice. The brake levers are kind of strange, they have the carbon blades of the Mag+Tis, but they are not the Mag+ brakes, they aren't even mag levers, they are the cheaper-style lever. Wierd.
So, it's somewhat wierd; Rear suspension is great. Front suspension ruins the bike. Build is pretty good. Geometry is WAY off claimed.
HFX-9 carbon? Take a totally ****e brake, change the colour and slap on a carbon lever, and all of a sudden it's a high-end brake? WTF? :nuts:Jm_ said:
It's called the HFX-9 carbon evidently. On Hayes' site the only diff between this and the regular HFX-9 is the wavy rotor and carbon levers. Other than that it's the "crappy" hayes that I have on my iron horse. I haven't had a problem with that "plug" yet, but you'd think they'd just put the Mags on it at least.Rik said:
Those carbon 9's are OEM on ton's of bikes this year. It's like we are supposed to forget that the brakes suck because we are blown away by the technology of carbon and the beauty of the wavy rotor.
Weak about the fork, that's just ghetto...
Weak about the fork, that's just ghetto...