agree, for $4k from other companies you can get the same spec on a carbon bike. Or a really well speced alu bike. Plus the bike looks like a specialized pitch with a few small mods.

a real mechanic/rider should know how to work on almost everything low end to high end. If you are a vintage nut like me virtually everything is loose ball. Cone adj is something great to know and understand. Maybe your bike wont need it now but you never know what will happen down the line.

Covey took 1st 2nd and 3rd in the huck to flat (going WAY bigger than anyone) and takes 1st in the overall 19-29 cat 1 for the All-Gravity series. It was a huge bummer that he got hurt.

tricross fell under the same recall it was actually on a specific fork not a bike. They did a Stop sale on the bikes to see if a recall was necessary, it's not the first time they stopped sales to do more research before deciding to recall or not. this is reasonable as a company since getting all the facts straight before doing a recall is key. what if the problem was only on a single batch? jump the gun and you just cost the company more money than needed. the Brain aids the climbing capabilities of the bike, just like other systems (TST for example) and the wheel travel actually accelerates the bike a tiny amount and makes the bike feel fast though rock gardens, ride a canfield jedi and see what a really curved wheel path feels like. Nobble's is right tho the path stays nearly vertical till the last bit so the effect isn't as noticeable as it is on something like the Jedi i really don't see what your issue is. maybe you should learn to ride smoother

only specialized bike to have a recall in 2011 was the Sirrus and Vita with the carbon fork. and Spec just sent out replacement before it was an issue. PS FSR is one of the most licensed suspension designs (23 companies pay spec to use it in the US alone), it doesn't suck. brake jack does suck.

@brule - No but you can't say every product in the industry is up to par, most riders don't look for bad products, but they are out there and not hard to find. I've purchased many products that i was stoked on and had great "reviews" only to find it was a complete POS after using it for more than a 'test'... PB does have a tendency to hype product they are reviewing, but where would PB be if they gave a negative review? probably not seeing much demo gear from companies to review..... catch 22.

Just rode a Lapierre Team DH last week in whistler and was blown away! i am now selling my bike and buying one. Now i want to ride more of their bikes and see if they preform as well as their DH rig does!