I recently picked up an 2018 Epic Carbon used. I found a great deal. I ordered it to finish this year’s race season, but the Covid Quarantine ended the season before I could race it. I’ve only ridden it once and set a bunch of PR’s on a trail I’ve ridden hundreds of time. But, I digress. I was looking at the Top Fuel, cause all my other bikes are Treks. However, I went with the Epic because of the Brain. I get stupid when I race. the simplistest thing like opening or shutting down the suspension is too much when I’m redlined. I inevitably screwed up. The Brain allows me to ride hard and it does the adjustement for me. Although i only rode it once, I was very impressed with the Brain.
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I have the same bike. The Brain gets a lot of flack from those who haven’t used it and I think it is really good. The bike rips up climbs and descends really well. There is that initial thump when the rear brain activates but that goes away once on the dirt. It’s an extremely lively and playful bike that just wants to be whipped around.
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Come race in Pisgah. 
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I’d love to!
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I was almost in the same situtation but looking at the Spark or Oiz found an absurd deal on a Epic Comp. After a few issues getting the rear shocked warrantied 4 times in 50 miles I’m loving the brain. Haven’t had issue with that random clunk anymore and just feels smooth. When it comes to climbing the bike is like having a cheat code it just goes up no matter how poor my line is. Maybe cause I’m mostly a road biker trying to get into XC but the bike feels like a road bike thats made for offroad. I stopped using my trail bike because the epic is so much more fun even going DH.
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Where in Western Mass? What trail systems do you like out there? I’m in Boston, but got family in the Worcester area so I get out there enough. Always looking for new places to ride.
Interesting about no more thump…the thump is the brain opening it will always be there.
Anyways, I got an epic expert used a year ago and recently had had to get the rear shock serviced, I had too many miles on it and the seals were worn out. I thought it was gonna be much worse but it wasn’t.
I have an Epic S-Works and it’s a great bike. Brain is super when Brain works.
Before buying a Brain equipped bike it’s worth thinking about suspension service, replacement parts, proprietary mounting parts (shock yokes) and such. Some riders this is a non-worry. But for folks who keep bikes a long time, do their own suspension work, etc, then Brain can become an issue down the road.
Again, love mine. Just suggesting it is worth a few extra seconds though before writing the check.
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I’m in the Springfield area. We have quite a bit of varied terrain here in the Pioneer Valley. Popular spots include Robinson Sate Park in Agawam -fast smooth flowy singletrack, Bear Hole Watershed in West Springfield -lots of new trails here also fire roads & rough rocky trails up on the ridges follwing th New England Trail, Facing Rock in Ludlow -great trails here, rough old school singletrack. That brings us to Holyoke Range State Park which consists of 2 primary areas. On the Granby side is Batchelor St. This place never, ever fails to disappoint. It’s rough, you are always climbing except for brief descents. Then on the Amherst side is Earl’s which was fast flowy smooth singletrack but is quite blown out at this point due to lack of trail maintenance, some questionable trail routing decisions & a high volume of traffic.
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Before you blow off the suspension, I’d suggest you make sure it is set up correctly. There are lots of good resources on the web/youtube that explain how to do it.
My suggestions are:
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Reduce the pressure in the fork until you have 20% sag. Set the rebound so the wheel doesn’t come off the ground. Set the LSC so there is no brake dive. If you still have problems with the bob, just use the lockout. No need to swap the fork.
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Run less air in the shock, and increase the rebound. It sounds like your rebound is too slow. You will still have the same SAG levels even with a spacer because a spacer only tunes bottom out resistance.
This is a full suspension bike. It will not feel as efficient as a hardtail when in the open mode. That’s why the shocks have compression damping. Use the middle and “lockout” mode on the climbs, and the open on the descent. You will have firm climbing and plush descending.
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I’m good with the suspension, not going back to rigid anytime soon! Thanks for the tuning tips, much appreciated. I think I’ve got both fork & shock pretty well set up for the time being. When I get some time, I plan to fiddle around with the rear lockout a bit, specifically the middle setting. Right now, it’s pretty much totally locked out in that position but with cable tension adjustment I should be able to get a bit more out of it & like you suggest, run it locked out on smooth climbs, middle position for most trails & open for descending.
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Yeah, but what about your gravel ride last Tuesday night?
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How do you like that tire setup? I was just thinking of this exact combo.
I’ve switched to Vittoria Peyote front/back on the training bike (Oiz M10) and Vittoria Barzo front / Peyote rear on the racebike (Oiz M-LTD).
I liked how the tires made me aware that they were going to fail and before it happened, coming from Schwalbe this was a true blessing. However they’re not especially light or suited for wet/damp-conditions. There is literally no traction if there’s a damp root somewhere. Although not a lot of other tires would have traction there either. But these were exceptionally bad when it was wet outside. So just beware.
Looks ace
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Thanks! I’ve shortened the handlebars today and put on ESI grips but this is how it looks when raceready.
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I’m confused. Are you being sarcastic and you didn’t like the tires cause they always felt like they were going to fail?
No not being sarcastic however I might need to clarify that the tires performed well. However when they were about to fail they’d let me know beforehand. Which I appreciate. If I were to change to something similar in another brand I’d look at Peyote/Mezcal or Continental Raceking of course all tubeless and re-inforced (TNT/Snakeskin/ProTection).
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@RoadMilitia82 i think is asking what do you mean by fail? Like tires tears apart or slides out from under you?
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Exactly. They break loose on the dirt?