The dry and dusty trails have started to take their toll on the Stumpy over the past few weeks, with the higher speeds and rougher ground meaning she’s required some workshop love to keep her running smoothly and creak free.
Last month, I headed out to Hood River, Oregon, to
check out a few new bits and pieces from Specialized (see p36). The trails out
there were covered in a good few inches of dust and properly beaten up too.
Though they’re not the steepest trails about, they’re fast and are littered
with some harsh hits in places, which highlighted just how much my Fox 34 fork needed
a service.
After a good couple of days with some long hours spent
in the saddle, it had lost its supple, smooth stroke and begun to feel a little
notchy and harsh on the hands. It’s at times like that that you really start to
appreciate just how good a well-serviced fork feels!
As soon as I returned from the US, I got the 34 boxed
up and sent off to the guys at Mojo, who’ll hopefully be able to breathe new
life into it. In the meantime, I’ve plugged the RockShox Pike that the Stumpy
originally came with back into the bike, and added another Bottomless Token to the
air spring side of the fork to help it ramp up a little more at the end of the
stroke.
A quick ride around my local trails led me to drop the
air spring pressure down by 5psi too. The result is that I now feel more
confident in loose, blown-out turns, with what feels like more traction than I had
previously, but can still really hammer the fork hard through the rough stuff
without it bottoming out too easily.
Along with the fork swap, I wanted to try a RockShox Monarch
Plus rear shock, just to see how it compared to the custom Fox Float CTD shock that
Mojo prepared for me. So far it feels pretty similar, though the lockout
setting does feel firmer than the ‘Climb’ setting on the Float.
PRICE 6700$
