Bad luck, if you stick with it then the new fork should be as good as mine. Mind you the price of the Commencal 5.5 is what my money would be on, closely followed by the Cove Hustler XC and Orange 5.

if your specialized dealer is worth there salt at all then they will get the forks changed for an entirely new set. specialized themselves have told dealers that they will do this !!!!

i havent come across any dodgy ones yet in my shop yet but yours must have slipped through the quality control as mentioned........if the shop wont help contact specialized direct, dont give up on it mate its a truly awesome bike.

Hummm, had no problems with my fork....yet! Have seen a SL running a Fox Vanilla 36! Looked ace, thats a possibility because the rest of the bike is as good as it gets! Also Spesh are very good at honoring their end of the deal, you jus have to moan and moan. I did a while back because a shop (No names)sold me a test bike Epic, which developed millions of issues and after the 13th visit to the shop with no joy i decided to write a letter of major disgruntledness direct to Spesh HQ bypassing the shop. In this letter i listed all the issues and the ammount of time i wasted having to deal with somit i really shoulnt have to deal with. Respec, because from that moment on, they bent over backwards to sort the issues. They were unable to source parts for the Epic so they settled up by giving me a New 05 FSR XC. Its worth contacting their HQ via Email and tell em how distressed you are etc.....

Oh yeah, the shop did say that if an issue with the forks develops and it has to be sent off, they will fit another fork first so that you suffer no down time.

No down time, I'd get it sorted mate, new product got to expect some issues, sure they'll get it sorted, it's there flag ship new design after all, be stupid not to.

Well...

To be fair, Leisure Lakes in 'Nam replaced the cartridges today.

Mark the mechanic squeezed it in to his schedule and I've got compression damping at last!

The play has been sorted-hub issue.

Ride report soon.

Happy again!

Edit:

Not So happy! Play still evident as a cluking in fork. Back to shop for me:-(

Like i said, they should literally give you a totally new fork whilst yours gets sorted. Pressure them on this as i was told this info by the shop that i purchased my SL from, it was part of their sales spiel, but if anything like what you have described happens to mine i will put their sales ploys to the test and demand that they honor the terms they sold the bike under. Anyway spend 2k on a push bike, it should friggin work, end ov!

Always let some other sucker, buy a new untested product is my advice :)

Lets see if the 08's are tweaked in anyway, cause I still want 1 but not yet.

Well Dyl, I think you're right!

Out for an early morning ride and the clunking made the fork sound not happy and to top it all there's oil drooling out of the top of the right leg.

Am rejecting bike and will look for something that will last me.

Very sad as the bike when it's good is fantastic. Just haven't the time/money/patience to constantly do the 80-mile round-trip to my LBS and have my bike out of action.

Great news!

Leisure Lakes 'nam have agreed to swap it for a Stumpy FSR Elite. Proven kit, and more my kind of riding style.

Think the SL will be amazing when sorted, but until then just not quite there.

The shop were excellent. 10/10 to them!

Which one is the Elite ?? £1500 model below the Brain with the Talas RL forks ??

Only ridden the Expert which is a cracking bike, with the Brain, then I think it's Pro for £2600 then Carbon model 3K+ thats not the elite is it ?

Glad it worked out for you mike. Dyl,if it wasnt for sukkas taking the plunge and buying a first release model, you wouldnt be able to buy a tweaked 2000 & blah model....that is if you actually buy anything!

Elite has TALAS RL 140mm on front, Triad Rear. £1800 bike sitting in between Comp and Expert.

£99 more than my SL but the components are significantly better than going for the Comp.

Marco-absolutely right. I'm sure my bike will get examined by Spesh and it'll only add to the experience for others. I'm guessing Spesh were expecting a few returns.

I can only re-iterate how well Leisure Lakes dealt with the problem. I was quite stressed after my ride this am. Mind you, I have spent a small fortune with them over the years!!!!

Marco, and I thank you Suckers :) If the LBS hadn't of already sold the 1 they had in, I'd of likely had it already.

Mike, mate just got the Expert for £1750, but guess your stuck with Evans.

I'm happy to stay with fox-equipped bikes for now!

The Expert is still FOX for 07, the 08's will be all Spech's own Show and maybe Forks though.

They didn't risk rolling it into there best seller I guess this year.

Apologies. I thought all the Brains were the AFR shock.

I'm under the impression that Fox have a large hand in the new Spesh suspension anyhow.

I lose out on the brain fade (I get Triad) and X-9 (I get LX) shifters and X0 Rear mech (I get XTR!?!).

I think that's it.

Since my old stumpy had a Float R with no pro-pedal or lockout, I think I'll be doing just fine.

Can't wait till the Mountain Mayhem now!

Only on the Epics this year, next year AFR for sure, unless there is some higher end Spesh version.

Not liking the SRAM stuff, so to me thats a upgrade.

The Fox main guy left, and designed all the Spesh Stuff, so very similar for sure.

Dyl,

I think Pro upwards gets the AFR Brain Fade.

From some of the US websites I think there are issues with those too....

Not to say that any Fox unit couldn't suffer from a fault.

I'm under the impression the Triads and TALAS are fairly reliable units though (I hope!!).

Mates Talas RL is lovely to be fair.

Hey it'll do you just fine I'm sure.