Ari updated the Signal Peak
I think it depends on color. My white Evo frame size L was 2291g with the og shock:
I believe thatās a bit more than 100g but personally at 100kg system weight I donāt care about 200g weight difference on the frame.
Iām excited to here what folks experience with this are as the geo works for me.
Spec is claiming 2.13 for the new 26 gloss swork frames with seatpost included. 2.21 for your frame all M size, no seatpost which is claimed to be 180 grams. Iām not sure if there is a sidluxe / fox shock weight difference. But yes seems like 260 grams ignoring the shock weight.
I want a red sid ultimate
if we are lucky it will take around 2 years for Rockshox to make it available to the public
For a brief moment I considered buying the Epic 8 Pro solely to get the pink shock.
Keegan cape bike check also has a red sticker for the shock, I really like the red combo
Iām sure someone makes replacement stickers for the shocks and it isnāt overly expensive to have the fork lowers painted when you service them - Iāve been contemplating having a white one done
Nino used to have some great builds with a white fork!
How stiff is the SID when its locked out with Flight Attendant? I got a chance to demo a trail bike with a 150mm Lyrik FA and was surprised how much bob the front fork has when its locked out. Compared to my Scott Spark with a 130mm Revelation that is very stiff when its locked. I know Scott does some different internals on the fork vs a standard Revelation, but I was expecting FA to be stiffer when locked. The rear shock was fine on the FA bike, it was just the front that surprised me.
Does the XC version of Flight Attendant bob if youāre out of the saddle?
Iāve been trying to figure this out since I upgraded to FA on my epic 8 last fall. I bought the bike with the manual lockout, it was solid. Banging the front end down would cause a little movement, but not much and felt really good out of saddle. Upgraded to FA damper and it seemed to be firm-ish at times and had a little bob at times out of saddle. Shop agreed it wasnāt right, warranty swap with SRAM. Didnāt get around to testing it again until early this year and the new damper was similar (excess movement). Called SRAM tech support and had good conversation with multiple guys who race and they said it should be firm/locked other than blow through on really hard hits. Warranty again. I have the new damper, need to install it and see if itās better. Honestly, it works pretty well as-is, but they are saying it should basically act rigid (which it doesnāt and the manual one did). I suspect they may have QC problems with the bleed process leaving some air in the damper. The bleed port is in a different location compared to the manual version and the bleed procedure in the manual sounds like it could be easily screwed up. I ended up with an extra damper on the 2nd warranty claim, so I may try to bleed the last bad one to see if it makes a difference. Sorry, not really an answer to your question but you are not the only one trying to get to the bottom of this.
The Epic 8 might be lighter. My Gen1 SC in large, with XX1 (pre-transmission but with Quarq PM and XTR brakes), ENVE M525s, Schwalbe Ray/Ralph tires, XTR pedals, sealant, no cages, and a Reverb electronic dropper is right at 23lbs. Obviously a lighter dropper would help and thatās a big reason Trek didnāt spec the Reverb on the top Gen2 builds.
As referenced in my comment above, my main XC bike at present is a Gen1 SC that I got right around when they first launched, so have had it for a while. Itās been a fine bike, gotten me through Leadville multiple times and perfectly adequate for local mid-west trails. However with how rooted some of our trails are, the 100mm SID does beat up my hands and wrists on long 3+ hour trail days. I run an ENVE M5 bar which is a lot more comfortable than the stock 35mm bar that had come on the bike.
I plan to do a little more trail riding this season and have registered for Little Sugar (and Big Sugarā¦). I am registered again for Leadville FWIW. Iām looking for something more capable and more comfortable than the Gen1 SC.
So far, Iāve ruled out another Trek. The change from Gen1 SC to Gen2 SC is not worth the upgrade. The Top Fuel is too much of a trail bike. I am looking for a bike with Flight Attendant.
The two main options Iām thinking of is the updated Allied BC40 and the S-Works Epic 8 with FA. Iāve at least considered the Lauf Elja, which is the āvalueā option with their Ultimate FA model currently on sale under 8k. However there is very little real world experience with this bike, it is going to be a little heavier than the BC40 and definitely the Epic 8, and it still looksā¦weirdā¦
If money were no object, the S-Works Epic 8 would likely be the easiest choice. There is a dealer near by and itās clearly an outstanding bike and the lightest of the three. But itās $14,500.
For me, one of the biggest pluses of the BC40 is the ability to spec it out exactly how you want it. I would ordered it in Large with XX SL Transmission groupset with FA, Fox Factory Transfer 150mm dropper, and their new Duet Stem/Bar. Importantly, I would exclude a seat, wheels and tires. I already own two sets of ENVE M5ās and also a set of the new ENVE M5 Pros, so this chops a lot off the cost of the bike. Depending on paint choice I could get the build under 10k, so once you factor in taxes about 5k less than the S-Works Epic 8.
There is the option of a lower specād Epic 8 and buying FA separately, but I likely wouldnāt do this install myself, so would also need to factor in the labor costs. Ultimately for me I donāt think this is a good fit.
There is not a ton of comparative information regarding the Epic 8 and BC40, let alone comparisons with both bikes running FA. The Bicycle Station YouTube videos discussing them are helpful, but my takeaway is both are very good.
Iāll like keep my SuperCaliber for now as well, so would still have it as an option for Leadville. Once I get something new, I might change my mind after getting time on a new bike, but for the purposes of this exercise assume I still have it.
Currently Iām leaning towards the BC40, based on the 5k savings. However Iād love to hear other peoples thoughts and if Iām missing something. I have yet to talk to anyone that has ridden the BC40 with FA that didnāt work for Allied or was a sponsored ride posting about it. One of the Allied employees I talked to said the FA āfeels differentā but didnāt really go into any more detail.
I was over here try to figure out what this new bike Gen was until I came to my senses!! ![]()
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The new Top Fuel is being raced by some of the WC Trek team riders.
You could also look into Mondraker, Pivot, Scott. They all have FA bikes. I even think the new Ari signal peak has a flight attendant optionā¦.and donāt forget the Yeti ASR ultimate build.
I think you and I got our SCs around the same time. Mine has probably seen less action than yours - but I am also looking at making some changes.
Here in the UK there is no market for used MTBs (unless e-bikes). So I am thinking of doing something a little different.
- Strip the SC down and use as many parts as I can to build a hardtail MTB. It will serve a few different purposes including bike packing.
- Like you probably get a 120/120 XC bike. Not sure what yet.
This is the path I went. There are certainly trade offs with any path, but I wouldnāt stress the labor cost unless you donāt have access to a decent shop. Itās just a fork damper and shock swap and putting new grips on (to replace the manual lockout grip). Even a crappy mechanic would struggle to spend a full hour doing it. And if you can service shock lowers (a simple skill worth having), itās a really quick/easy DIY. For me, it came down to the Expert build having very little āthrow-awayā stuff I didnāt want and still came in well under $10k after adding FA, XXSL PM crank, and AXS dropper.
I do like the ability to custom pick everything (including paint) on the BC40 and I considered it, but it was thousands more for the same level build at the time, heavier, and didnāt have the downtube storage (which is borderline must-have for me). Maybe with their switch to Asian sourcing on the raw frame itās more reasonable now. I think they are still painting/finishing in Bentonville and you can pick from a bunch of colors, so a big selling point if you want something a bit unique.
Find a 30% off sworks frame, install FA in the fork and replace the shock. No reason to buy a full build when there is tons of frames available
I have had both a BC40 and an Epic 8. Neither with FA, so canāt comment there. They are both similar enough, you canāt go wrong. My only criticisms of the BC40 - didnāt like that you could only fit a small bottle in the seat tube cage. As someone who often does marathon events, this was was important to me. I also felt like the paint was easy to chip.
One other bike you could consider is the new Ari Signal Peak. I think Ari will work for you on a custom build - whether that be a frame with FA or the full FA build without wheels.
I picked up FA during a black friday sale and ironically just got around to installing it today. The install process is really pretty simple other than having to cut the steerer tube on the fork.
Google says a large Epic 8 will hold two 24oz bottles. Is that correct? In the down tube cage can anything larger like a Zefal 1l fit?
