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I've spent the last couple of weeks of cold/snowy/rainy weather building up a 2016 S-Works Enduro 29er and am eagerly awaiting some clement weather to take it for a proper ride.
It's hard to glean a great deal about the bike from a couple of furtive (dry) laps of my local village last night, but it's clear that it's noticeably taller than the Stumpy 29er that I've replaced.
To that end, I'm considering one of two options (or both if feasible) - namely fitting an offset bushing at the front shock mount or the more drastic and apparently risky option of fitting a 650B Enduro shock yoke.
Has anyone explored either option?
What size frame is it?
Large.
The 650b yoke will work fine and give much, much better geometry.
I had one on a large 2016 alu and my pal had one on a medium S-works frame. I think it's the small which may be incompatible.
I put an offset bushing in as well in the end, but the difference was marginal compared to the new yoke.
Thank you chakaping!
I’ve seen that Hibike in Germany stock the yoke - anyone bought from them before?
We are running medium frames and are running them in standard setup with no offset bushings or 650b yokes, we havent even flipped the link on the 2018 one. We looked at our 29er Stumpjumper at the side of the Enduro and the front is lower but put this down to the difference in the fork hight of a 160mm Ohlins and a 140mm Pike. We do have some 160 pikes but never got round to trying them.
Ive just looked at some pics taken in our garage for insurance purposes and the bars are all almost in the same place with regards height compaired to the joints in the block work on the wall.
Post some pics up now its finished
Thank you Tracey.
My 29er Enduro was a 2014 model and I always felt on top of it, awkwardly and never really jelled. It was very quick though.
Hey Tom, 2014 was the same frame geometry as 2016. Sky-high BB, same BB drop as the last 650b bike I had!
Some people clearly like 'em but I found it quite alarming and unpleasant TBH.
I went from a 2014 stumpjumper evo 29 to the enduro 29.
The two bikes are very different. The low bottom bracket and long chainstays are the complete opposite to the enduro. The enduro has very little front wheel grip compared to the evo.
A 650 yoke will transform the bike. The Enduro does have a nice short head tube compared to the stumpy though.
I popped by my nearest Evans just now.
The good news is that a 650B yoke costs £60.
The bad news is that Specialized won't allow Evans to order me one without having been supplied with a frame serial number...
I guess that Hibike is my best bet?
https://singletrackmag.com/members/golo/
Think this guy was selling a 650b yoke a last week for £25 in the classifieds, might be worth a try
Thanks Tracey - have taken the Hibike plunge. The difference in cost to a UK Specialized supplied shock link is £3.95 (ish) and I can live with that.
One of the reasons why I loved my Stumpy Evo was because of the balanced handling and the communicative front end. My Enduro 29er fumblings so far have amounted to riding it twice round the block on tarmac. It feels (unexpectedly) pleasingly responsive under pedalling, the BB didn't feel quite as tall as I initially feared but it's not quite in the same low-slung league as my Stumpy.
And +1 for a noticeably less lofty head tube, partly thanks to the flush fitting headset!
I was bitten once in the past by a bike that reviewed well, but rode like a dog in a large size mainly because there was no front end grip or feedback whatsoever (2009 Wolf Ridge), I ended up spending a fortune trying to get it to handle acceptably. Strangely, I also have a 2008 version of the same frame in a medium as used by Mrs PJM and that handles beautifully (as does Mrs PJM). The head tube of the Wolf Ridge was too tall, the geometry was noticeably steeper than the size medium and it put me in A&E three times.
Glad you are sorted, dont forget the pics we all like to see bike pics.
Oh, I’m really glad I spotted this thread. I’ve recently swapped my 2016 aluminium Enduro 29 (which I was running with an offset bottom bracket that reduced the B.B. height by 10mm) for a 2016 carbon S-Works. Apart from frame material and B.B. height, it’s all the same components, but crikey, what a difference that extra 10mm in height makes to the feel of the bike. The offset B.B. is not compatible with the carbon frame, and I’ve been that disappointed with the ‘on stilts’ feel, I’ve even thought about rebuilding the aluminium frame!
I’d been unsuccessful sourcing a 650b link in this country, but had forgotten to try the German sites. Thanks for the heads up on Hibike and feedback on the 650b link - I’ve just ordered one...Oh yeah😁
Spesh have some rather worrying advice on the B.B. - then recommend epoxying in the bearings, which is “semi-permanent”!
I went down the Wheels MFG route with plenty of loctite, but Spesh have advised that I’m free to have the B.B. shell epoxy’d in if I wish.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who had contributed to the thread, STW at its finest.
Oh good luck with the new link Bowglie!
It’s the bearing cups not the actual bearings that sometimes get glued in to help shut up creeks or if the cup walks out of the shell. And it’s not permanent.
Might be worth a read.
So...my local trails are waterlogged, they’re wetter than I’ve ever seen them. Sodden chalk is slippery and gives a bike with poor balance and geometry nowhere to hide.
Now, my Enduro still has the straight-out-of-the-box geometry, I was very, very peasantry surprised at how the bike handled. Sure, it’s a little taller that my Stumpy Evo, but I didn’t notice a huge difference. The handling is incredibly approachable too, I found myself indulging two wheel slides but the bike went exactly where I pointed it.
Climbing it didn’t feel terribly different from my Stumpy and even on foul and treacherous trails it felt like a big, friendly bike that I could lean on, pleasingly communicative too.
Nothing rattled, nothing needed adjusting aside from the shock rebound by a solitary click.
I’m going to enjoy the 650B link, that’s for sure!
When I had my carbon Camber I didn't fancy the thread lock idea for the BB so bought the Hope BB and never had any issues with it while I owned the bike.
Will this mod work on the 2017 version does anyone know (Size large, aluminium frame)??
You don't need to mod the 2017 shock yoke mate, Spesh basically did the mod in the factory for the 2017 bike.
The 2018 has a flip chip in the yoke. I was told that it can be purchased from Specialized for retro fits to the 2017 frames.
I finally got round to fitting my shock yoke last night. I've read a few cautionary posts about the seatstays hitting the seat tube at full compression with the 650B yoke fitted, so stepson one machined me up a 2mm shim to fit between the shock and the yoke itself.
It might seem like a half measure, but I don't want to write off my frame just yet. I'm happy with the result, the BB is definitely lower and you do sit more in the bike than on it. I also had to add approximately 25psi in the shock to get to my desired sag setting.
My next plan is to gaffer tape some blu-tac to the seat tube at the point where the seatstay brace would meet the seat tube at full compression. The idea isn't to protect the seat tube itself, but to see just how much clearance I have at full compression - if it's sufficient then I'll try removing the shim.
Watch this space...
One ride in and I have to report that I'm extremely happy with the modification so far. I haven't measured the change in BB height, but it feels significantly lower and as a result the bike rides with a much more planted feel. It definitely feels faster everywhere, it's easier to throw into corners and I'm far more comfortable on the bike.
The lower BB has also improved the balance of the bike considerably. I found that with the stock shock yoke, the Enduro wasn't the easiest or most predictable on the slippery stuff, but the weight distribution now feels much more even. It now feels a lot like a burlier version ofthe Stumpy I replaced, which had terrific balance and a usefully low BB.