[J]

Just got her Tuesday from Foothill bikes in SLO. Built up Tuesday night and have been in love ever since. Came stock but we switched out bars for my old V1's and brakes to some new Saints.

Buddy helping me build.

39.33 pounds with Welgo Mag flats and stock build besides Saint brakes and V1 bars.

First ride impressions are very good. The fork and rear shock are very tunable, still dialing them in. At first I'll admit I did not feel at home but that problem was fixed easily by switching the stem set-up. The stem can flip from 30mm med-low rise to 50mm low rise. I started in the 30mm position but switched to and much prefer the 50mm setting. After this change I immediately felt more comfortable than I had on my my previous bike of 4 years (old drilled Turner Dhr). I'm 6'2" and the large session is spot on.

I also swapped to Saint brakes from the Elixir Mag's which added about a quarter pound. They are verrry touchy and I'm finding it really hard to modulate the front without locking it up. They also squeal like crazy! I hope these two issues changes as the rotors and pads break in more.

Couple questions about the bike-
Has anyone else had the touchiness problem with the Saint brakes?
Any advice for setting the dials in on the shock and fork? (I'm 185lbs)

Big thanks to AJ and Josh from Foothill! Should be a great season.

 

[Banshee Rider]

Enjoy! I've been on mine for about a month now. It's a fine bike. The house seatpost and saddle go pretty damn good with the bike in real world pictures.

 

[CBJ]

Congratulation bike looks even better than the 09.

 

[chillindrdude]

i agree...kinda wished i waited to get the 2010 frameset.

 

[monkeyboy424]

Garbage.

let me sit on it cleetis, HURRAY!

looks pretty.

 

[J]

Garbage.

let me sit on it cleetis, HURRAY!

looks pretty.

Eddddiiiieeee! Coming to Conference this weekend?

 

[yuroshek]

hey J nice bike bro...

about the saints, every bike ive jumped on and parkin lot tested with saints were touchy like that. i dont like that one bit, its scary when your wheels are locking up thru the rough.

 

[haromtnbiker]

The brakes do squeal a lot with the stock pads, especially when new. The organic pads don't have this problem to the extent, but are very hard to come by. I found that running slightly thinner rotors allow for a less touchy feel, but still provide great amounts of power.

 

[J]

hey J nice bike bro...

about the saints, every bike ive jumped on and parkin lot tested with saints were touchy like that. i dont like that one bit, its scary when your wheels are locking up thru the rough.

This happened today! Coming through a loose rocky section in SLO and went to grab some front brake and then exploded up and over the bike as the front slid out. Didn't mean to lock up the front. Anyone find they get less grabby as they break in? I'm not too stoked on the idea of getting new pads (or rotors!) for my new brakes.

 

[J]

The brakes do squeal a lot with the stock pads, especially when new. The organic pads don't have this problem to the extent, but are very hard to come by. I found that running slightly thinner rotors allow for a less touchy feel, but still provide great amounts of power.

Do the organics wear super quick?

 

[yuroshek]

This happened today! Coming through a loose rocky section in SLO and went to grab some front brake and then exploded up and over the bike as the front slid out. Didn't mean to lock up the front. Anyone find they get less grabby as they break in? I'm not too stoked on the idea of getting new pads (or rotors!) for my new brakes.

scary stuff right? best bet is getting yourself some hayes stroker aces!

 

[monkeyboy424]

Eddddiiiieeee! Coming to Conference this weekend?

Oh, I'll be there.

with bells on.

or was that beers on?

i used a smiley! will hi-five about that. later.

 

[Kanye West]

Does anyone make an organic pad for the new Saints yet? I'd be interested in trying them out.

Those brakes take getting used to because they're so strong. The rear brake is almost useless in straights. You just have to get on the front end hard and dynamite the front brake for just a second before a corner and just feather the rear through the corner if you need to. If you can get braking traction with the front wheel, you can bleed off speed crazy late before corners.

 

[guitarhero]

You can use hope m4 pads. You need to file off the little vampire teeth on the top of the pad, and you might need to use the saint spring. Little bit of a faff, but more compounds available

 

[dhmike]

 

[RMboy]

You can use hope m4 pads. You need to file off the little vampire teeth on the top of the pad, and you might need to use the saint spring. Little bit of a faff, but more compounds available

Good shout bud.

Also wait for Goodridge or Swiss Stop to bring some out, then we will be sorted!

 

[al-irl]

Ashima do organic pads for the saints. There also cheaper than the shimanos. The saints take a while to get used to but once you've learnt that you can brake an awful lot later and u hardly need to touch the lever there fine. I had problems locking up the rear when i first got mine but hasn't been much of a problem lately.

 

[kickstand]

I really like that bike.

 

[Konabumm]

Your going to love it - I raced on my 09 all year and it was awesome.... looks like the 2010 model is a little heavier - mine was 38.2 out of the box.

 

[Myles]

Got a big question: Is the steerer tube on the Fox 40 that comes with the bike tappered to accomodate 1.5 lower cup or it comes with a special lower cup on a standard steerer. I'm asking since I want to swap my fork for a Boxxer WC when my Session 88 arrives.

Thanks!

 

[snowaddict91]

Your going to love it - I raced on my 09 all year and it was awesome.... looks like the 2010 model is a little heavier - mine was 38.2 out of the box.

I don't know if you really raced all year...

Just messin' with ya bud

 

[zdubyadubya]

Got a big question: Is the steerer tube on the Fox 40 that comes with the bike tappered to accomodate 1.5 lower cup or it comes with a special lower cup on a standard steerer. I'm asking since I want to swap my fork for a Boxxer WC when my Session 88 arrives.

Thanks!

dual crown forks don't have tapered steerers to the best of my knowledge.

swap should be no problem.

 

[Sandwich]

no problems with my saints out of the box. there must be something funny with the session frames, lots of people complain about squeel but mine only did when it was really dusty and the rotors were hot. Mine are also not overly powerful. I actually run alligator sawblade rotors and have been considering upgrading to stock rotors to get a little more surface area and therefore bite and power. I've had no problems with them whatsoever and modulation is excellent. Sorry that you seem to be having so many problems...the only advice I can give is to try out the alligator rotors, since that's really the only difference between yours and mine.

Bike looks awesome otherwise, except for one thing...you got dirt on it! You can post a bike that gets ridden in this forum!

 

[J]

Your going to love it - I raced on my 09 all year and it was awesome.... looks like the 2010 model is a little heavier - mine was 38.2 out of the box.

I did switch to the Saints which made it heavier. Not sure if the bars added or lost weight. My buddy actually got a large session the same night and we built them up side by side and his is stock. I can't remember exactly what his was but I want to say it was around 38.7 with the pedals installed.

Edit- Also, I did hear that they thickened up the downtube to prevent DENTS! worth it.

Got a big question: Is the steerer tube on the Fox 40 that comes with the bike tappered to accomodate 1.5 lower cup or it comes with a special lower cup on a standard steerer. I'm asking since I want to swap my fork for a Boxxer WC when my Session 88 arrives.

Thanks!

The steerer is standard 1.125" all the way down. The frame should come with a bitchin integrated headset too.

no problems with my saints out of the box. there must be something funny with the session frames, lots of people complain about squeel but mine only did when it was really dusty and the rotors were hot. Mine are also not overly powerful. I actually run alligator sawblade rotors and have been considering upgrading to stock rotors to get a little more surface area and therefore bite and power. I've had no problems with them whatsoever and modulation is excellent. Sorry that you seem to be having so many problems...the only advice I can give is to try out the alligator rotors, since that's really the only difference between yours and mine.

Bike looks awesome otherwise, except for one thing...you got dirt on it! You can post a bike that gets ridden in this forum!

I read somewhere on the forum that a Shimano rep said if you overheat the brakes during break in the pads will rub off onto the rotor and cause squealing and excessive bite. I'm not sure if there is truth to this but it could have happened to mine? I definitely didn't go easy on the bike at first! The fix was said to be get new pads and sand the rotors.... I'm waiting to see if anything changes first.

Yep, bike is dirty and happy that way. It started raining while we were doing some laps yesterday- made for some awesome dirt which is rare here.

 

[yuroshek]

I read somewhere on the forum that a Shimano rep said if you overheat the brakes during break in the pads will rub off onto the rotor and cause squealing and excessive bite. I'm not sure if there is truth to this but it could have happened to mine? I definitely didn't go easy on the bike at first! The fix was said to be get new pads and sand the rotors.... I'm waiting to see if anything changes first.

J sounds about right to me, i know whenever i put new rotors or pads on i take it for a quick spin and break them in. Same thing with a car you cant just jam on the brakes right away. you have to easily break them in.

 

[Sandwich]

I read somewhere on the forum that a Shimano rep said if you overheat the brakes during break in the pads will rub off onto the rotor and cause squealing and excessive bite. I'm not sure if there is truth to this but it could have happened to mine? I definitely didn't go easy on the bike at first! The fix was said to be get new pads and sand the rotors.... I'm waiting to see if anything changes first.

Yep, bike is dirty and happy that way. It started raining while we were doing some laps yesterday- made for some awesome dirt which is rare here.

good on ya for the dirt. Too many people have studio shots of their bikes and it ruins the whole concept.

I don't know if that's true, but it's definitely wise to bed the brakes in before use. I probably did a couple of stoppie runs before I just went for it. I think Highland was the first place I rode, so it probably wasn't a hard day for the brakes.

I would probably say try and make sure the disk tabs are properly aligned and faced, then sand the rotor and give it a shot. There have been a lot of discussions on sessions and squeeley saints, but I'm not sure there was an excellent resolution. A lot of people suggested running one organic and one metallic pad, but the only place you could get organics was from the shimano booth, since they weren't for sale to the public, so how that helps, I don't know.

Or try a little isopropanol on the rotors first, let it dry, give it a shot, if not, try steel wool or some light sanding. Good luck!

 

[J]

J sounds about right to me, i know whenever i put new rotors or pads on i take it for a quick spin and break them in. Same thing with a car you cant just jam on the brakes right away. you have to easily break them in.

On other brakes I've owned I've always lightly dragged the brakes during the brake in period, as in no hard stops in order to prevent glazing over the rotor and pads. "Glazing over" as in no bite. I did this at first on the Saints and it seems to have done the opposite... too much bite. Anyway, I'll toy around with em and let you guys know if anything solves it.

 

[Kanye West]

The most reliable way I've found to bed in new pads/rotor, both on a bike or a car, is 10 cycles of going from spun out to walking speed (on the bike) and from 60 to 10 (on the car), never bringing it to a complete stop to prevent one part of the rotor from overheating or bedding in differently.

 

[2gungho]

Sick and eyegasmic..

 

[J]

Brakes are feeling a lot better. I did sand the rotors and pads down and tried to "rebreak" them in. Not sure if this was necessary but after simply riding them more they are getting less touchy and noisy but still powerful. Stoked!