[DirtEveryDay]

Here's my new ride for atleast this season! I seem to change bikes often..but I also seem to have found my place in this world on a Mongoose. Had a Black Diamond before. It definately hooked me. I won't get into my "Mongoose Rules Because..." rants, you've all prob heard them and we'll leave that all out this time. Just try to try out the Freedrive if you EVER get the chance.

O7 ECD
07 Boxxer WC w/custom decals
165mm Saints
Shown with SunRingle ADD wheels, will be replaced with Azonic Outlaws in Ano'd GRAY on Tuesday.
Azonic B52 Scandium bar(LIGHT and WIDE!)
Sunline Direct Mount stem-I had NO idea their work was so beautiful!
2.2 Michelin DH16s(until all the new Kendas finally become available!)

And YES...that is a dual ring front setup you see there!

I'm a little bummed on the weight: 42.4 pounds. I was hoping for sub 40, but I might check out some XTs and a Ti spring. I could handle atleast being IN the 40s...

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Oh...and YES, I know my control cables/hoses are too long! Drives me nuts, but I'm not going to worry about it till I rip one out mid-run...

 

[.Pit Steelers.]

If it didn't say Mongoose on the side.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Fabulous contribution.

 

[Inclag]

Looks great. Have fun on it

 

[NY_Star]

Are you going to polish this one?

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Ugh...NO! That was a lotta damn work!
My ORIGINAL plan was jet black. Never seen a black ECD. But then the frame showed up, and I still planned on painting it. Had it for a few days before I took it outside to shove the headset in and WHAM! The sunshine it it and I about dropped the thing! I thought it was just gloss white and bright orange. The paint is a deep metallic and GORGEOUS! Not really noticeable until you're close to it though.
I can't imagine the paint will be purty forever though, and planning on gloss black with translucent orange fade. I like orange.

 

[General Lee]

Oh...and YES, I know my control cables/hoses are too long! Drives me nuts, but I'm not going to worry about it till I rip one out mid-run...

why don't you save yourself the time and fix it now then? guess it's just a peeve of mine to see someone take such care in setting up a bike and then be to lazy to pay attention to the details.

Cool looking bike though.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Several reasons: I haven't ridden since August when I separated my shoulder, got 2-3 sad excuses for riding in(I live in South Dakota)before winter hit. Yesterday was the first real day riding was possible, and it still actually wasn't. Even Michelins can't grab mayonnaise!
So I want to ride really badly, I have none of the stuff I need to rebleed the Codes, plus it's something I've never been very good at at all, so I don't want to do it myself. I have NO shops within 6 hours of me. So the next time I can get it done is when I head to a race a few days early and get them done(it'll cost me a beer or two), or I can enjoy another two weeks of no riding and mail them to the shop, have them bleed them, then mail them back to me.
It's the only two things I really don't mess with: bleeding brakes and building wheels. Especially when I can get it done for near nothing when I get to the place with the best riding!
I'm certainly not lazy, I just like things done right and not afraid to admit the things I don't think I can do right!

 

[DirtEveryDay]

I remember I trimmed my Magura lines...just had to cut the line, insert a new olive then tighten it all back up...any chance my Codes are like that as well? Like I said, not a brake guy and not afraid to say it...

 

[mattmatt86]

whats the rise on those bars?

 

[DirtEveryDay]

25mms

 

[sk_23]

it's great bike but the free-drive have one big problem.... you don't fill the whole travel even when the shock adjusted

 

[DirtEveryDay]

You don't think you FEEL it or you don't USE it? That's one thing about the Mongoose Freedrive system, it's not a monstertruck. You can't just barrel through crap with your eyes closed. It's a bike that makes you search for the flowy lines which, ultimately, is the faster line. Doesn't mean it won't handle the rough line, you're just going to feel it in your legs more. I think it just likes big moves more than stuttery line choices. Rather than bumble through a rock garden, just find the one line that will let you gap a few sections, make it flow.
I originally planned on running an 888 on my ECD. I now think the Boxxer WC was the absolute PERFECT choice for this bike. I'm pretty stoked how it all worked out.

 

[dhmike]

pretty sweet ecd.i'm diggin the custom stickers on the fork, nice touch.my friend races a ecd also and loves it.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Thinkin the pedals are a tad much. I love the pedal itself, but wonder if white might have been a better choice simply for asthetics.

 

[Biffff]

Why dual ring????? switch to a single and that'll save some serious weight.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Not enough to justify having to just push it everywhere here. If I want to do any riding at all here, being able to pedal helps. Eastern South Dakota=flat. I'll slowly rebuild my fleet, but until then I need a bike I can ride. And as well as the Freedrive pedals, it'd be a shame to not be able to use it.

 

[FreeRide-Junkie]

Killer. I got a chance to bounce around on one my buddy borrowed from a local shop. I was impressed. I didn't get to take it on an actual run but he had nothing but good things to say about it.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

That's too bad! I really haven't gotten to rip on the ECD yet(ask me how much that's bothering me!), but even with my Black Diamond, the suspension is very odd...cruises around like a hardtail, but without the harsh bumps. You'd never know there's a whole crapload of travel in the back.
I wish more companies would send out demo bikes. All kinds. Would be the best way possible to get people on the bikes they want, or off the ones they THOUGHT they wanted!

 

[Biffff]

Not enough to justify having to just push it everywhere here. If I want to do any riding at all here, being able to pedal helps. Eastern South Dakota=flat. I'll slowly rebuild my fleet, but until then I need a bike I can ride. And as well as the Freedrive pedals, it'd be a shame to not be able to use it.

I run a 36t with a 11-34 cassette and trail ride by DH bike. I've got to to get to our stunted trails. I even get it up some good climbs. If your area is flat then that makes it even better. Your bike, your choice though. Have fun riding it!

cheers

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Fun??? I'm not having "fun!" I'm trying to ride full-on XC trails on a 9" travel DH rig!!! This sucks! And by "flat" I meant there's no mountains, no big hills, not a single run over approx 40 seconds of downhill speed. SERIOUSLY. I have to drive 6 hours to get to atleast a 2 minute run.
No, what I have here i seriously can't get up with a 22t front and a 34t rear. And that's out-of-the-saddle climbing. The climbs are short, but extremely steep. So it's 1/4 mile up for every 1/4 mile down. I can't really even use it for training since it's not long enough for increasing stamina, too steep to spin on, just rips a few muscles apart and then I either have to spend the next downhill section sitting and panting or sit and wait at the top. I may just go back to my 36t single ring that I tried initially, just push up everything and be rested for the DH sections. I have some private stuff that's better than the extremely limited public access land, but of course it's kinda fragile and riding it in wet weather destroys everything. Love the midwest.

 

[FreeRide-Junkie]

Love the midwest.

Don't even get me started.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Haha..yeah, you feel me!

 

[FreeRide-Junkie]

That friend of mine who was loaned the ECD is moving to Santa Barbara this summer. I'm hoping to make the trip and finally get on some true DH. Money and injury has kept me stuck in the midwest and I'm just about going crazy. I'm picking up an '04 V10 for now but will definitely be considering the ECD when I have enough cash to buy myself something new. Rip it up.

 

[Biffff]

Fun??? I'm not having "fun!" I'm trying to ride full-on XC trails on a 9" travel DH rig!!! This sucks! And by "flat" I meant there's no mountains, no big hills, not a single run over approx 40 seconds of downhill speed. SERIOUSLY. I have to drive 6 hours to get to atleast a 2 minute run.
No, what I have here i seriously can't get up with a 22t front and a 34t rear. And that's out-of-the-saddle climbing. The climbs are short, but extremely steep. So it's 1/4 mile up for every 1/4 mile down. I can't really even use it for training since it's not long enough for increasing stamina, too steep to spin on, just rips a few muscles apart and then I either have to spend the next downhill section sitting and panting or sit and wait at the top. I may just go back to my 36t single ring that I tried initially, just push up everything and be rested for the DH sections. I have some private stuff that's better than the extremely limited public access land, but of course it's kinda fragile and riding it in wet weather destroys everything. Love the midwest.

Sounds like a full DH race bike is the wrong bike for your area then.

 

[SprungShoulders]

If you're doing a decent amount of pedaling move the lower shock mount up to the top - short travel, 7.3" - hole and drop the spring weight by 25-50#. This will: improve the pedaling characteristics with very little noticeable loss in travel, save you some grams in spring heft, and bump the full-compression BB height up by about 0.5" (the uncompressed BB height remains virtually the same).

FYI, Mongoose tech - or at least the person I spoke with - kept insisting that the top hole of the lower shock mount was long travel mode. I had my suspicions, so in each travel mode I measured the uncompressed BB height, removed the spring, fully-compressed the suspension to the point of contact with the bottom-out bumper, and re-measured the BB. Not only could I feel the leverage ratio differences between the two mount holes (the lower making it MUCH easier to compress the shock), the BB was approximately 1/2" lower when the shock was in the lower mount hole (hence longer travel).

Anyhow, super nice ride. I love my EC-D too.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

I didn't build the ECD to be an XC rig! I had to sell every bike(and nearly everything related!)I had to buy/build the ECD! So now I'm just down to one bike and desperate to ride. I just had everything I needed to throw dual rings on so I did, assuming it would make it morerideable. However, it's been so long since I've ridden that even with a 22/34 I can't get it up the hills anyway! So, prob this weekend it'll be going back to 36 front with the 34-11 cassette out back. The hills are too steep and short to spin up anyway, so screw it, I'll just walk. Once it dries up enough to get out to my training grounds I'll be set. I can actually use the ECD's potential out there. The reason for the ECD over the Black Diamond I had is that I'm finally at a point with the wife, kids and bills that I can start travelling a bit and race. Didn't really feel like traveling all over the country with a not-quite-ideal bike.
I also still have no idea what I should be running for a spring yet! Haven't been able to jump or drop this thing, let alone dig into any berms, etc. I had a 300lb spring on my BD3, but my ECD has a #450...feels good so far! Strange.

 

[NuckaMan]

Juat curious-

How well does the Dual Ring setup work on the ECD?

I thought about doing it to mine but figured, naw, not worth the trouble.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Not an issue with it at all, actually. Looks funny on there, knowing what the bike was meant for, but it works great! The ONLY thing that worries me about leaving it on is accidentally hitting the shifter during a race, it takes a little thumb stretch to get it up on the big gear. Nothing I'd want to mess with at 40mph or around a berm, but I've run dual rings up front on ALL my previous rigs(mini-DH rigs) and never had it happen... yet.

 

[SprungShoulders]

I also still have no idea what I should be running for a spring yet! Haven't been able to jump or drop this thing, let alone dig into any berms, etc. I had a 300lb spring on my BD3, but my ECD has a #450...feels good so far! Strange.

Point of reference: I'm 170lbs-ish in full gear and I run a 300# spring in the 7.3" travel mode. I feel that it's spot-on in terms of sag and overall compression characteristics, running 1 turn ProPedal and about 130# in the boost chamber (Fox DHX5 of course). I'd guess for the same body weight in long-travel mode a 350# spring might be about right. A 450# coil for someone less than 200+lbs would be highly over-sprung, IMHO. YMMV.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Hmmm...well, I'm 165 in the summer...180 right now! Need to get on that bike! Crap...I need a spring, then.

 

[NuckaMan]

Do you have any slight vertical play in your suspension?

On mine, seems like the hardware seems to loosen on me at the BB lower linkages (the black linkage arm). LocTite and all, seems to have a little vertical play when I lift the bike up by the seat.

I don't think it affects anything but I know from experience, anything loose gradually gets worse with repeated abuse.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

I don't, but will. The Pre-08 hardware was less than ideal, just kind of a bad design on top of being a softer metal. All you gotta do is run to your local hardware store and get a hardened bolt with shank long enough to pass ALMOST completely through the outer bearings, cut off all but what you need of the threads and slip on a Nyloc nut and you're golden. I can't remember the exact size and everyuthing right now, but I'll be doing it to mine in a few days. Get that fixed, if it breaks on you you're gonna have a headache!
Here's what your bolts look like right now...

 

[Slater]

Going from Michelins to Kendas?!

I just went the opposite direction and wouldn't even take the time to piss on a Kenda now.

You're nuts.

But I like the bike!

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Have you checked out the new Excavator and the K.O.T. yet?? Promising.
I want the Excavators for dryer stuff, and the KOTs for the really wet, maybe keep the Michies for everything in between!

 

[NuckaMan]

Yeah, I replaced those with a hardened steel through bolt with nylok hex.

The bolts I'm talking about are for the linkage that attaches the bottom bracket area to the bottom of the rear triangle with a black aluminum hinge attaching the 2 areas. I seem to be developing play in that area....very slight though.

 

[DirtEveryDay]

Oh..I know what you're talking about, but I don't know what to tell you! Is it the bearings or the link that's wearing?

 

[renorider40]

nice. i love the look of it. i tried one out the other day in a bike shop parking lot, a couple good sized sets of stairs to mess around on, bike has a very different feel.

 

[SprungShoulders]

Yeah, I replaced those with a hardened steel through bolt with nylok hex.

The bolts I'm talking about are for the linkage that attaches the bottom bracket area to the bottom of the rear triangle with a black aluminum hinge attaching the 2 areas. I seem to be developing play in that area....very slight though.

Yes. Pull it apart and check the seating of the needle bearings. I had one slip inboard, which caused play.

The pivot bolts on that linkage also need to be nice and snug. Always. Just a little too loose and you get unwanted play, which is further amplified by the bearing issue mentioned above.

Hope that helps!