Not sure if this would be helpful and I am a newbie to 3d printing but I created way to hold 2 blips on 1 piece bars for those of you who want to have an additional place to hold the bars in longer events.
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I found it set up quite quickly, just started with factory recommended and made a few quite minor adjustments. I think the fork has a wide range of comfortable settings, in contrast with my 38 which feels absolutely awful when I donāt have the settings dialed in.
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Caved and bought a specialized epic 8 evo pro on sale instead of Cervelo zfs-5 as a bike to transition from road/gravel to mtb and ultimately Leadville. While i start riding it, anything I should look out for if I find end of the year deals to make this more XC? Iām debating what PM to get, as part of me wants a pair of assiomas for travel, however I realize I need another quarq for flight attendant, which Iām considering at some point. Any strong PM opinions?
Edit: somewhat oddly, my bike came with a 2025 fox 34 grip x fork.
My XC bikes have always had dual 3-way lockouts, so thatās a direction Iād immediately go for XC if I were given an EVO. If funds allowed, flight attendant solves the 3-way lockout gap in the best possible way.
Is there a route to getting FA at a discount? Looks like sticker price is roughly 2k?
Youāve already got Fox suspension on the bike. Maybe opt for Live Valve instead? $399 for the kit.
I donāt think Live Valve has a fork lockout, but Iāve generally found a fork lockout is only needed when out of the saddle. For Leadville, thereās not much of that kind of riding. And Iād guess just the rear shock electronic lockout would be sufficient.
This the bike? Nice.
Yup thatās the bike! And yes, it comes with fox suspension. Unfortunately it looks like the kit isnāt quite a retrofit: you need to buy the shock as well.
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I think fox has a firm fork setting. I havenāt ridden it and Iām not sure how well it works compared to a traditional lockout. I assume itās going to depend on the fork tune. I agree that a normal lockout is only needed for out of the saddle, but I personally use the lockout a bunch at Leadville (probably more than any other MTB race). I think it just comes down to how an individual uses their lockout and how much they are out of the saddle. There is a lot of smooth/steady climbing at Leadville where Iāll climb out of the saddle for extended periods. Or Iāll stand to get over the last bit of a steep grade with a little extra push to get back up to speed quickly. I have flight attendant configured to keep the fork in open or pedal mode unless I override it into lock mode (again, just when standing). The live valve system sounds interesting and I can see some potential advantages (and disadvantages), will be interesting to see how both live valve and flight attendant evolve and whether they trickle down to lower end bikes like electronic shifting has.
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just to be clear: are you talking about the lockout on the shock or the fork? My understanding is that with the better Fox forks, locking out the front for climbing really isnāt needed.
Shock with live valve looks like it costs in the range of $900-$1000. Ouch.
Same with a properly setup Lefty Ocho.
That said there is still likely measurable loss but thatās not anything remotely close to where my biggest gains are to be made.
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Both. My primary experience with Fox suspension is on my scott XC bike and both the 32 and 34 stepcast forks I had used 3 way lockouts (lock, pedal, open). As did the the shock. I know lots of folks are fine climbing without lockouts (so itās not āneededā), but I canāt stand it on a race bike. I can live with it on my trail bike, but it still bothers me. Again, I think itās just what you are used to. So many years riding a scott with dual 3-way lockouts got me hooked on that system. When specialized finally saw the light with the epic 8, it become my scott replacement.
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I manually lock my fork if Iām out of the saddle climbing for āextendedā periods. I find this necessary to avoid excessive front end bobbing. For me, this usually means between 15-60 seconds on a fire road when Iām giving my sit bones a break. But I donāt spend much time out of the saddle, so this isnāt needed very much.
Iām riding the Emerald Mountain Epic today (formerly the Steamboat Stinger) and over 52 miles and 5-6hrs, I wonāt lock my fork at all. Itās mainly single track. I will use the rear shock lockout on the climbs (4 long ones, each 45-50 mins), and Iāll manually flip that when needed.
I think how important it is for you to have a handle bar mounted lockout lever, or electronic lockout is dependent on your riding style, course profile/variability, and how much youāre looking to optimize your race times. It could be possible for you to be happy on your Epic without a lockout - but depends on a few factors.