Back to the topicsyadasti said:Well I got a little lazy there in my first post cause I wanted to be concise (as does Foes) and the point was still true - designs with a single pivot basis are the lightest...
Jm corrected my slip, but I was bored and he's a easy catch - he goes and posts a half dozen places about not finding some small part for his Hayes - I mean come on
Nobodoy really knows anything about either the demo9 or the demo8 so I just make up stuff that is so complex people just think I know what I'm talking about.Demo9-lexle said:Back to the topic
Youre right!punkassean said:
Hmm, you make an interesting point. All I know is that the people I've talked to who own a Demo 9 have said the wheelbase feels long to them. However, if your numbers are right, then I guess it's some other property of the bike that is causing them to feel that way. In either case, you're right: both Demo bikes could in all conceivability RIP.punkassean said:
it's not a long wheelbase, but the chainstays are proportionally a lot shorter than on other bikes, so the perception may be that it feels longer than it is, becuase it has much shorter chainstays than other comperable bikes.mtbfreerider182 said:
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I think the geometry #'s on the Demo9 are pretty much spot on. I was lucky enough to have spent time riding one and I can say with all sincerity that the bike is unbelievable. I had a few potential skepticism's about the bike prior to riding it but after the fact all doubts were completely erased. Not only were they erased but any positives I had preconcieved about the bike due to reading all of the hype and hearing testimonials were better than I had imagined. I currently have a Kona Stinky Primo, which nobody is claiming to be high tech, super high performance bike. However as proven by many top pros, it is a capable bike in the right hands. I love my Kona and have been comfortable doing things on it that I have never been comfortable doing on any other bike in the past and I have had a lot of bikes. However after only a few pedals in the dirt on the Demo9, I felt like it was my bike, everything just clicked and worked in harmony. THe huge and heavy Specialized tires not only gripped the ground but added even more cush to the already super plush suspension. For the record Specialized tires are not a re-badged no name tire, they are well engineered and manufactured high end tires that are comparable to Maxxis and IMO better than Intense and Kenda and many others. By going to a 2.5" tire and Stan's you can drop well over 5lbs. off of the stock weight (Specialized also puts huge DH tubes in the Demo so Stan's is a huge benefit) I do agree however that a Thomson post and some Hope 6 pots and a king headset would be par for the course at over 5G's! Back to the review. Even though the bike has 9" of buttery travel, it pedals as efficiently as my Kona and stays much more active through rocks and while braking. I have always been against heavy overbuilt bikes bikes due to their inability to be maneuvered fast and man handled around. I didn't weigh the Demo9 but I could only tell it's weight by picking it up staticly. Once on the bike it felt more nimble than any other DH bike I have ridden regardless of weight. I think the wieght combined with the super low center of gravity is what makes the bike work so well, it can be leaned over so far and it just sticks like glue. It can be swapped back and forth with ease. I hit a 12-15' vertical drop at UCSC (that was new to me) and on my first try I cased this big gnarly redwood root right on the bashring, I though I was going to eat $hit so hard but upon impact the Demo just swallowed it up. It did take a huge gash out of the root though. I did also tweak my ankle pretty bad but I have to say that any other bike and I would have not gotten off so easily, the Demo rode right over it and didn't complain. I went back and hit it again and cleared the root and the Demo made it feel like nothing at all, seriously. Ride a Demo...fall in love...it is the best thing available right now. PERIODilfreerider said:while i want to be optemistic about the demo 9 (i love the look and concept of the bike) , the dry numbers just doesnt look good.
wb - the wb on specialized site says 46.5 " for the m and 47.3 " (!!!) for the l. i know it is measured with a 888 , but all bikes that ive checked till now had a slightly longer wb than the official company numbers.
weight - if the 14 lb + figure is true , than this frame is a fu@#$%# beast! my big hit weighs signifacantly less and it is strong as hell , so why did spec need an extra 3 lb + ??? this is imho an unacceptable figure in todays market where u could get an almost indestructible frames in the 10 - 11 lb zone. while many can argue that 3 lb are not important , it could be very significant for a dh race bike (and there is a dh logo on that frame if im not mistaken
price - 5200 $ for specialized tires (ultra heavy and wide btw) ,seat, post ,bar . grips and pedals ??? what about aome easton/thompson/maxxis/hope lovin? come on spec , u can do better than that !
the bike could be the real deal ,but for a potential buyer that cant demo the bike prior to purchase (most of us i guess) , those figures are somwhat of a problem. i (for example) only pedald it around a bike shop here in israel , and couldnt figure anything about it.
ilfreerider
p.s - some how i get the feeling that next year's d9 will have different num's (but thats just me).
