Transition Spire - dual crown conversion

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Transition Spire - dual crown conversion
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flag mattkvt
O+
Posted: Mar 15, 2022 at 13:32 Quote
Hello Spire owners -

I've got a bit of a project going that I've been getting feedback from a few folks on, but I was hoping that some of you might have already done this and are able to provide a little feedback. We're going for a mini-DH bike of sorts - it's a large alloy frame Spire built for racing Eastern States Cup. The drivetrain is swapped over to DH gearing, derailleur, chainring. It will most likely be getting a fox as it sounds like the boxxers don't play well with the Spire. Here are some things I'd like to learn more about:

Have you actually done it yourself, and if so, what fork did you select?
Did you convert the DH fork to a short travel spring?
Have you been able to get the overall geometry of the bike to stay quite similar to original?
Original offset is spec'd at 44mm, but fox DH forks have larger offsets. What did you go with and has it negatively affected feel on trail?
Anything you'd do differently?

Thanks!
flag thegromit
O+ FL
Posted: Mar 16, 2022 at 8:05 Quote
mattkvt wrote:
Hello Spire owners -

I've got a bit of a project going that I've been getting feedback from a few folks on, but I was hoping that some of you might have already done this and are able to provide a little feedback. We're going for a mini-DH bike of sorts - it's a large alloy frame Spire built for racing Eastern States Cup. The drivetrain is swapped over to DH gearing, derailleur, chainring. It will most likely be getting a fox as it sounds like the boxxers don't play well with the Spire. Here are some things I'd like to learn more about:

Have you actually done it yourself, and if so, what fork did you select?
Did you convert the DH fork to a short travel spring?
Have you been able to get the overall geometry of the bike to stay quite similar to original?
Original offset is spec'd at 44mm, but fox DH forks have larger offsets. What did you go with and has it negatively affected feel on trail?
Anything you'd do differently?

Thanks!

Please build it with a Dorado
flag Parsurf
Posted: Mar 16, 2022 at 11:58 Quote
Running a 50mm offset on the fox 40 with 190 travel. Geometry is real close to original. I spent some time researching stanchions/frame clearance, fox 40 seamed to have the most. A Dorado would SIGNIFICANTLY cut down turn radius. I would think any would be fine if the bike was a strictly park ride but I would not want to take it down any slow tech. Offset change was unnoticed. Stack height goes up. Dual crown for me was to get rid of the stupid CSU’s on every single crown I have run. The added stiffness is just a huge benefit.
flag mattkvt
O+
Posted: Mar 18, 2022 at 8:16 Quote
Awesome, thanks Parsurf. We found the 40 was the way to go as well, with a bit of research. I'll post some of the project as it gets going. Right now, waiting for the 40 and some drivetrain components to convert to a 7 sp DH drivetrain.
flag taiano
Posted: May 15, 2022 at 7:46 Quote
hey Parsurf.
I see you also switched to the dhx2 coil. Seems to be the preferred option for the spire. Did you keep the 205/65 or go to the 205/60? . I'm picking up a GX spire next week and wondering how much of a noticeable difference it made compared to the super deluxe air. I do ride a lot of choppy stuff. but I also like the big features often going to flat. Do you find you bottom out easy on the coil? Is the bike still as playful? mattkvt feel free to chime in. Ill take all the advice I can get. Im riding on Vancouver island.
flag Parsurf
Posted: May 15, 2022 at 16:40 Quote
taiano wrote:
hey Parsurf.
I see you also switched to the dhx2 coil. Seems to be the preferred option for the spire. Did you keep the 205/65 or go to the 205/60? . I'm picking up a GX spire next week and wondering how much of a noticeable difference it made compared to the super deluxe air. I do ride a lot of choppy stuff. but I also like the big features often going to flat. Do you find you bottom out easy on the coil? Is the bike still as playful? mattkvt feel free to chime in. Ill take all the advice I can get. Im riding on Vancouver island.

Running it at full stroke, 205/65. I weigh around 185 on the bike and am running a 450 spring, getting about 27% sag. Never bottomed out hard, I for sure do stupid stuff on the bike. I was blowing through travel on the super delux at 30% sag but didn't play with volume reducers at all before going to the dhx2. I just picked up a 425 spring and am gonna give that a go, should put me at around 30%.

I don't think "playfull" is a term i personally would use to describe my Spire, more like "plowfull". My bike likes going fast through chunk, handles the steeps just fine and is a hoot on big fast flow trails. I can generally load it up and pull for trail gaps, I would say its between a "trail" bike and a dh bike, doesn't totally swallow lips like a dh but doesn't pop off them like a normal enduro. It is for sure a handful in tight flow trails, takes a ton of work to get through stuff that a normal bike makes pretty easy, but i don't gravitate towards that kind of riding so i make it work when necessary.

Suspension is extremely subjective imo. What feels great to one person can feel like hot garbage to the next. Speed, type of trail, weight bias, incline of trail, riding style...etc all make up what our settings end up at. We could be the exact same size and weight and everything, I could give you my settings and you dial them in on your bike and think I'm an idiot and vise-versa...
flag k2theg
O+
Posted: Aug 3, 2022 at 12:06 Quote
photo

photo

Nothing compares to a dual crown...I just want to hurl this thing into anything.

190mm front / 180mm rear.

I'm very tempted to just keep the 40 on and never go back to my 38.
flag GregMarshall87
Posted: Aug 20, 2022 at 0:55 Quote
Parsurf wrote:
Running a 50mm offset on the fox 40 with 190 travel. Geometry is real close to original. I spent some time researching stanchions/frame clearance, fox 40 seamed to have the most. A Dorado would SIGNIFICANTLY cut down turn radius. I would think any would be fine if the bike was a strictly park ride but I would not want to take it down any slow tech. Offset change was unnoticed. Stack height goes up. Dual crown for me was to get rid of the stupid CSU’s on every single crown I have run. The added stiffness is just a huge benefit.


I’m looking at the same kind of build on a Carbon Spire with an Ohlins DH38…

Any experience with the clearance with the Ohlins? The offset options are 46 -50 -56 -58
Was thinking 46 to keep it the same as stock SC but would. Maybe it needs to be 50 so turning is not to limited ‍♂️

Any help would be greatly appreciated
flag Parsurf
Posted: Aug 20, 2022 at 7:51 Quote
I would go with the 50 offset just to be safe. Running out of steering on the 52 offset doesn’t happen very often but when it does it sucks pretty bad. Uphill no problem you just don’t make the switchback, downhill you also don’t make the switchback but it takes some body English/contortionist to keep from going OTB.
flag chris-sendersen
O+
Posted: Nov 9, 2022 at 12:20 Quote
mattkvt wrote:
We found the 40 was the way to go as well, with a bit of research. I'll post some of the project as it gets going.
How did the build end up going? Trying to see how the 40 feels before trying it.
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