New Bike Day (15 Years Since the Last)

Been riding my hardtail a long time. Recently was given a can't refuse offer to buy a new bike. Picked up a 2018 Specialized Epic Comp Carbon.
I was thinking of getting a bike with a bit more travel, but this deal was too good to pass up. And, I'm pretty much an XC rider.
My first full suspension, my old bones can use the break.
I'm including a stock photo, but it looks the same.

Next, I'll have questions about droppers - various kinds and what kind of travel etc.

 

Very nice! I bet you shave a few minutes off the solstice rides up and down...

 

Woohoo!!!!!

Not a Special'Ed fan, but coming off your old bike....this will be a whole new world.

Big wheels, full suspension, 1x gearing....awesome.

 

Nice rig! congrats!

 

Oooooh, niiiiice!

For droppers, I have had only positive experiences with the cheapest Race Face Aeffect models I can find.
Take-offs or lightly used are going for $100-$150 on Pinkbike. Looks like you need a 30.9.

You need to update that profile now!

 

That is a race bike. No dropper required unless you plan on bombing down gnarly chunky singletrack in which case you have the wrong bike. Of course that's just my personal opinion. I loved my Epic when I had it. Very fast.

 

Nice rig! Congrats!

PNW Components Droppers for the win! Cheap, durable, reliable, small company, excellent ownership and customer service!
https://www.pnwcomponents.com

 

The one, two, and three ladies approve of droppers... who would argue with that!!!

 

Valid point though I still wouldn't put one on an Epic.

 

I love me some dropper, best upgrade on my bike!!!

 

I like mine too but to be honest I never lower it more than the first 40mm step.

 

Go ride with Herzie or Mike

 

I have. Rigid post on the SS.....Rigid post on the Tallboy.

 

Nice rig!
Go have some fun with it now!!

 

Where?

 

Palm Canyon
Noble

 

Pffft...

 

You forgot Cannell! Twice on the single speed with no dropper...

And I rode with Herzie in Wrightwood. I should have gone by when he offered... Ed got me by 10 seconds on Boy Scout on the barbecue ride. Damn exposure.

 

Y’all are saying you ride those places without adjusting your seat posts?

I mean, sure, I rode stairsteps and TnA with a Thompson Elite, but I slammed it as far as my wretch...I mean FABULOUS Giant would allow.

 

Before I got the dropper on the Chameleon, the only time I ever lowered the seat was on the bailout of shame ride... I went down West Horsethief at mile 35/7500. It's usually a HAB uphill. I don't know many who choose to go down it, but it was the straightest shot back home. I was dizzy and coming down with the flu... So no, I didn't lower the seat for Cannell. Twice...

But I will admit, I'm now used to the dropper and wouldn't go back to life without one... Even if I go back to the single speed for True Grit, I'll have the dropper on the bike.

But I'm slower than you downhill and choose my lines more carefully. When I don't, I end up making appointments with the doctor. Like next Monday, for example... #kokopelliinjuriesarereal


What was this thread about again?

 

Dropping in on the plunge without dropping your saddle...sounds about as much fun as riding it on a hardtail! I kidding, I kidding. The Spezie has a bent seat tube (ahem, like my Giant), so the seat post goes down only so far. Shop for a dropper post @Rumpled! I’d avoid anything used because there is a chance it belonged to the likes of me before you get it. @Cisco Roots‘ PNW stuff looks interesting.

 

My bikes didn’t even have seat QR’s.

 

I would. And bump that fork travel to 120mm...Beast mode!

 

Epic Evo!

 

Is that one of the forks that is easy to adjust? Remove the spacers and you're good to go? If it is, that 100 to 120 jump was like magic on the Highball.

@Rumpled hasn't even ridden the bike and we're upgrading him.

 

Congrats on a well-deserved splurge, Jim. Have fun getting acquainted and beyond...

 

Don't think I'll mess with fork internals, I'll just leave it as designed.
I'm not nearly the descender like @mtnbikej , I do lower my hardtail seat for things like Motorway and the Luge.
Even though this is a race XC bike, it's essentially my All Mountain bike - just I don't do much real tech stuff.
Word is this can handle 100 mm of dropper. I'll look into options fitting that.
I feel a dropper will be useful for me on this bike.

 

Not to poke the bear, but Zilla-bro, you might be my only riding partner whose face I’ve seen contact the ground riding tech stuff. (Since I can’t count myself as a partner .) In total fairness, your relationship with gravity was way off that day. Also in fairness, you have a lot of skill, especially with your seat way up there! Would a dropper have averted? We’ll never know!!!

 

You're not normal...

Actually, I had my first dropper back in 2009, but it quickly failed. I got a new one from KS easy enough, but I never put it back on. Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell you - the riding that I was doing in my backyard is all up, then all down. Easy enough to drop it for the descent. Stop at the bottom (as we all did anyway), put it back to proper extension, then repeat at the top of the next descent. It took all of 10 seconds to do, and I knew exactly where my proper extension point was (1 hand width from the bottom of the word "Thomson" to the seatpost collar).

I went back to a dropper in 2013 with my Knolly as I was riding places that had ups and downs on the same trail! Still really don't need one for 80% of my riding. My Tracer came with one, and it works well, so I never felt a need to remove it to install a rigid post. I'm not concerned about the extra lb.

As for the OP, I do recommend a quick release seatpost clamp at least - gives the option of adjusting almost on the fly, at least the 30-40 mm available before the bend. Oh who am I kidding - get a 100 mm dropper.