Mountain Bike Reviews Forum banner

2013 Spitfire

510K views 3K replies 288 participants last post by  RS VR6 
#1 ·
What do we know so far?

Does it have bearings?
Adjustable geometry? Looks like there could be adjustable geo built into the dropouts.
Geo specs?

27.5" compatible dropouts as option

"Banshee Bikes 2013" by fakawi
 
#797 · (Edited)
First ride with the Spitfire today. Did a 30min climb. The bike climbs pretty well even at 14kg, no dropper post yet (waiting for my Thomson) and flat pedals. Really impressed by how it rides downhill. The rear triangle feels stiffer than the one of my DH bike (Lapierre Pendbox, ok....maybe not the stiffest on the market). With the DBair and the Deville the bike really feels like a mini-DH bike.

Pics will follow. Just need to find a proper camera ;)
 
#802 ·
Thanks !!

I've been riding on BOS suspensions since 2009. I have BOS suspensions on my DH bike and I'm very happy with them so I went for a Deville on the Spitfire.

In my opinion, what really set BOS apart from other brands (Fox, Marzocchi, RS etc.) is the quality and the simplicity of the cartridge (open bath with no fuzzy damping system. Only shims and oil). They don't rely on new-fancy-aerospace-japanese-plastic technologies, they just engineer and build quality products.


The Deville is no exception. It sticks to the ground, gives a lot of traction while still keeping a lively feel. Thus, I found their TRC system really clever. Instead of simply locking the fork, it increases the stiffness of the air spring. So you have all the advantages of a lockout system in terms of pedaling efficiency, but still have a fork that filters the terrain (roots or rocks for example).
The weight is also pretty competitive compared to other brands out there.


So I'm very happy with the fork and stongly recommend it.

PS: No travel adjust. The reason is that the air spring chamber is slightly different on the 140 and 160mm. And from what I know (I'm from France) there's no plans for travel adjust, but who knows....BOS often suddenly come out with new stuff.
For those of you that want more info about BOS products, feel free to send me a PM. (I don't work for/with BOS, I'm just one of the biggest enthusiasts of the brand here in France....and possibly on earth :D).
 
#803 ·
... In my opinion, what really set BOS apart from other brands (Fox, Marzocchi, RS etc.) is the quality and the simplicity of the cartridge (open bath with no fuzzy damping system. Only shims and oil). They don't rely on new-fancy-aerospace-japanese-plastic technologies, they just engineer and build quality products.

The Deville is no exception. It sticks to the ground, gives a lot of traction while still keeping a lively feel. Thus, I found their TRC system really clever. Instead of simply locking the fork, it increases the stiffness of the air spring. So you have all the advantages of a lockout system in terms of pedaling efficiency, but still have a fork that filters the terrain (roots or rocks for example).
The weight is also pretty competitive compared to other brands out there.

So I'm very happy with the fork and stongly recommend it ...
Me too! :p

I went for the Deville on my Spitfire because of simple Adjustment (Air-Pressure, HSC, LSC, Rebound) - and for it´s Plenty of Tire-Clearance which fits a 650B up to 2.35 in the regular 26-Fork. Plus the Opportunity of still going with 20 mm Thruaxle and 1 1/8 Steerer (makes for a ZS-Angleset).

Mine is without TRC - after Years of Travel-Adjustment I wanted to keep Suspension-Settings as simple as possible - set and forget. The Spitfire´s Geometry and KS-Link is pretty unique and dialled and at least doesn´t really require Platform or lowering the Fork.

The Manufacturing-Quality is Top-Notch and reminds me of the good old Bologna-made-Marzocchis, if not better. BOS is expensive, but the Deville is one of the lightest and stiffest Forks in the 160 mm Travel-Range. Beautyfull made and awesome Performance. :thumbsup:
 
#804 ·
When I mentioned travel adjustment I didn't mean like a Talas or Dual position Air. Just meant could you adjust it internally either with a spacer or the pin in ladder system like X-Fusion uses.

No Style, what 650 2.35" tire you running in that 26" fork? Have any pics of clearance at the arch and especially the bottom of the crown at full bottom out (all air out of the fork). Also what's the A/C height @ 160mm?

I'd have to research the TRC more but Air-Pressure, HSC, LSC, Rebound would cover it for me. The new US distributor is in the next state over so that's convenient should I decide to buy.
 
#806 ·
As far as I know there is no Possibility to adjust Travel via internal Spacers or something like that. The Deville offers 160, 170 or 140 (new AM) fixed Travel.

TRC means internal reducing the Travel to more progressive 100 mm without affecting A-to-C-Height.

I´m running 2.25 650B Tires. The Pictures with 2.35 Tires, fully compressed, have unfortunately been deleted. If I remember correctly there was 5 mm Clearance with 2.35ers, on both Arch and Crown. I can quickly post a Picture with my 2.25 Hans Dampf tomorrow.

A-to-C-Height is about 545 mm (26-Version).
 
#805 ·
No you can't adjust the travel internally (with spacers etc.) because you would also have to adjust the air chamber accordingly and BOS does not provide any info or parts to do so.

Still, I guess they can do it for you but the move will be permanent (if you would like to go back to the original travel you would need send them the fork again). And their policy about this adjustment is not really clear. They seem a bit reluctant.

Here's some detailed info about how the TRC (Twin Rate Curve) works :
Line Metal Parallel Steel Aluminium

Blue Text Slope Line Colorfulness

Source : BOS Suspension.

The red curve is with TRC "off" and the blue one with TRC "on".
So the curve remains the same on the first mm of travel to ensure consistent grip. Afterwards, the curve gets more progressive (with TRC "on"). So the fork will only respond to bigger hits (say rocks or holes) and stay stiff enough to climb easily.
 
#810 ·
Thanks for the pics No Style. More than enough clearance for the 2.25". Some of the bigger 2.35's could get tight (or even bigger 2.4's) but I'll bet most would still fit. Lot's of clearance for a 26" fork using 650B wheels.

Yeah, I will wait and see about the upcoming 650 fork. No rush but an interest for sure. I have the White Bros. Loop to work with in the mean time (including custom blue decal set for it from Slick Graphics. White Bros. kindly supplied the decal file for these to reproduced. Blue theme going on my raw frame. Stan's decals in blue also). Even though the Loop is a full 650B fork it's A/C is low @ 534mm for 150 travel so there will be a fine line between HA and BB height setting this thing up. Soon, has to be ready before the July 4th weekend. FINALLY have my Hadley XX1 driver body on it's way. That has taken forever to be finished. I'll be using the 26" drops in 12x142 for now but as soon as those new 650B drops are ready I'm on it.
 
#811 ·
Yes, the Deville offers very much Clearance. As mentioned - with Schwalbe HD 2.35 the Clearance is still 5 to 7 mm! By the way: the 2.35 HD is nearly as big as the 2.4 Maxxis Highroller II - at least both 26-Versions have the same Dimensions.

As for the (low) A/C of the WB Loop: Does the Fork have Tapered Steerer? Have you thought about going with Angleset? From what I know the only Option of going external (lower) Headset-Cup on ZS44/56 Headtubes and to raise the BB a little ...

I´m going to purchase some new Dropouts too when they are available. Till then I´m pretty much clear about a fixed Wheelsize, because for now 650B feels so right, but like to keep the shorter Chainstays ...
 
#812 ·
Tapered fork on the Loop and head set installed already. Not a fan of the external cup "look" anyway. Really like the clean look of the big 56mm ZS lower and wish all the companies would adopt it. I like a high BB and don't mind a somewhat steep HA. I figure BB will end up between 13.5"-13.75" with a HA of 67.5-68 degrees. It should climb gnarly stuff really well I'm hoping.
 
#817 ·
All true and I´m of Course aware of that!!!
But the Deville (26-Version) offers enough Clearance full compressed with HansDampf 2.35. I have checked this several Times befor buying - I can assure. ;)
The 650B HansDampf in 2.25 is just enough for Trailriding, so I do have some more Clearance. As mentioned: As soon as my Riding requires 2.35er or 2.4er Tires most of the Time I´m going to get a 650B-Deville. For now the 26er Deville just works fine with 650B-Wheels, as it offers the most Conversion-Clearance of all 26-Forks. :thumbsup:
Another Thing is: I wanted to get as early as possible into the 650B-Thing with the Spitfire, so 2013 is my Season to check which Wheelsize to keep. I didn´t want to wait or waist Time for new 650B-Offerings that mostly come out for the next Season. :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top