Just picked up the new Scalpel. I wanted a modern upgrade and it seems to fit that bill. I need a few rides to really get to know it better. I plan on doing some longer XC rides 50+ miles with it.
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Has anyone besides me ridden full suspension bikes with the rear shock mounted along the top-tube vs. along the seat-tube? I find my current Oiz much stiffer/less comfortable than my old BMC Fourstroke. Just curious if that is a thing or just my mind playing games.
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I have not ridden a seat tube mounted shock so I can’t offer an opinion on the differences but are you on an Oiz TR ? I’m on an M10 TR & the shock tune is very linear. To get it to sit high the way I like it, I had to run pretty high pressure & about 15% sag which left it pretty stiff & not exactly comfortable. I ended up putting the smallest volume spacer in it & am able to run about 10-15psi less pressure for 25% sag (based on reduced 5mm stroke of shock dropping it to 100mm travel) & it’s a lot cushier high in the stroke & gives good compliance of small bumps, roots, etc. It ramps up pretty quick & I haven’t bottomed it out yet.
I love this bike & it would be perfect for what I ride. It’s just gorgeous, too! Went full suspension in March & had switched back to gears last summer & damn it, I really miss the simplicity of single speed. Gears allow me to be lazy but if I’m regularly riding SS, I’ll push those same gears much harder.
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I’m guessing that your response was towards me and not coke’s post so I’ll answer. I have the M10 and M-LTD so not the TR unfortunately. I’m going to check airpressure because I’m pretty sure I can lower both front and rear pressures because I’m not bottoming out.
Small bumps and roots feel like shockwaves up my spine even though I’m standing. 
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Interested in your feedback when you get some time on it! Nice bike. 
Yes, this is another huge generalization but vertically mounted shock designs tend to be more active. I also think that particular suspension design is very much in favor of pedaling efficiency maybe to the fault of comfort. You’re on the right path with air pressure, but don’t fall out of the recommended sag measurements too much, if you find yourself needing to run more than what Orbea recommends for sag it might be worth checking for air volume spacers in the shock and fork if you’re still not getting full travel.
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There’s a good Oiz thread on MTBR in the manufacturers forum section. There are a couple of pages of bickering about shock set up & also a guy who swapped to a Manitou McLeod that he swears fixed his issues. Might be worth looking at.
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I somewhat figured that it would be. More active that is. I mean I can’t really fathom that Fox “elite”-forks and shocks feel better than Factory-versions. I was so pleased with my Fourstroke 01 and the fork/shock-setups but wanted to try something new this year. Unfortunately I think I’ll go back to that vertically mounted shock in the future.
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I played SS for a couple of years when I lived in upstate NY, I tried SS in the WNC mountains and realized I liked riding more than hike-a-biking! I still got some habits from that SS era engrained though, I favor a bigger gear, stand more often than most and always try to preserve momentum. No chance I’d go back at this point but I’m sure it made me a better rider.
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The only thing different on the Factory models versus Performance Elite is Kashima, color.
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My spin is pathetic & I credit that to singlepeeding. Where I’m at in western MA, everything is pretty much rideable on a 32x21. I rode an On One Scandal rigid for a few years with that gear ratio & loved it. I had a White ENO freewheel (which I could not remove) on Surly hubs & Velocity Blunt rims IIRC. Ran Maxxis Ardent 2.4 (2nd worst front tire only to Ardent Race) & used to get comments about my huge tires 
Last year I acquired a Trek Farley 9.6 which I put a 29+ wheel set up on with Derby 40mm internal width rims & Bontrager 29x3 XR2s & it was amazing on the smoother trails set up rigid. Unfortunately, I blew my back out & my doc riding friend advised gears & suspension so I set it up with a Rockshox RS1 & SRAM 11 speed drivetrain. My son is riding it like that now but I’ve got to get him something different so I can add an SS back into the mix!
Weight must also be a big part. If not then the price gauging could never be justified. But OK. Then it’s basically down to the design of the bikes. Sad.
Play with your air pressures in the fork and shock. If you ride all your local trails for months and never come close to bottoming out, then you have the option of running less pressures. Running lower pressures allows two things, increased comfort and better traction. Why do we even run sag? It’s so the wheels can drop into holes and maintain contact with the ground. Why don’t we run 50% Sag? You run the risk of constantly bottoming out.
I run a lot less pressures in my Scott Spark RC 900 then I used to. When I first got the bike I had 114 psi in the fork and 138 psi in the shock (100mm f/r full sus). Over the year I kept dropping the psi and found how much better the bike rode and performed. I now sit at 103 psi in the fork as well as 103 psi in the shock (for reference I weigh 175 lbs without kit). Even with this I never bottom out and generally racing my roughest trails I still only use 85-95% of my travel. I have to hit a big drop or a jump to flat to come close to all of my travel.
The negative of running lower pressures is possibly pedal efficiency. You may get more pedal bob if your pressures are excessively low. This is less of a concern for me with the twinlock in the mid setting (traction control) that firms up the fork/shock and reduces travel to I believe 70mm f/r. I’m in this partial lockout 90%+ of the time and always when I’m pedaling. That being said, I would rather trade better traction over absolute pedal efficiency as crashing is always slower.
When I head out to ride in Colorado, as opposed to the midwest, I increase my pressures a bit to compensate for the different terrain. However, I only increased my pressures f/r to 105 psi.
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I’ve owned a lot of geared bikes, but I always find myself riding SS. If I have the choice between geared and SS, 9 times out of 10 I’ll choose SS. It’s honestly just more fun for me.
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I’ve played around with my setup. I have one XCO-track where there are gap jumps and big drops where I usually test how my setup is and also where I do my rebound-settings. There I’m about 5-8mm from bottoming out the fork and I’m bottoming out the rear shock sending the rubber O-ring all the way to the bottom. However it’s a huge difference between my Fourstroke and the Oiz. Sag identical. Fourstroke was way better at not notifying me of every little bump than the Oiz. A friend of mine has a couple Top Fuels 9.9 RSL (2017, 2019)-models and they equal to my Fourstroke. Much better at smoothing out the ride than the Oiz. My theory is that those bikes with horizontally mounted shocks are far more “stiff” in regards to bump-sensitivity. Guess it’s a compromise. However I never felt the Fourstroke being inefficient at pedaling. I’m looking to sell one of my Oiz:es (training bike M10) to switch to Spark RC 900 WC or Fourstroke. Even though it’s way less gear for the buck.
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Yeah, just eyeballing the geometry it makes sense logically to me that a vertical shock would be more sensitive to bumps than a horizontal shock. That being said, the opposite would be true regarding avoiding pedal bob, so there’s obviously some compromise. I guess that’s why they spec a remote lockout, so you can have the best of both worlds when your pedaling and descending.
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I should’ve ordered the Spark before they ran out of stock last year. 
I like the Oiz M-LTD because it’s crazy light and extremely stiff. The training bike however is not overwhelming. I’m going to try to get rid of it and buy something else instead.
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How do you like the spark rc? This winter I’m gonna get a full sus and transfer all the parts from my scale. Short list so far includes spark rc, blur, or a 100mm/boost top fuel.
Absolutely love it, no complaints. I’m now working into my third year of riding/racing the Spark RC 900 WC 2018. I will buy another one as soon as they give it a refresh, which appears to be the 2022 model.