greeting getns,
I see that fellower Enduro 07, 08, and 09(SL) owners have all chime in about the E150 & AFR shock! I might as well chime in too.. because I want to participate in the fun.. hehehe.
(But first I want to mention that only the 09 SL model comes with the E150 forks)
Anyway I have an 07 S-Works SL but I'm a light rider at <130 lbs naked, so some of my experiences with the bike might not apply some... since some people eat 130 lbs of food for breakfast alone hehe j/k.
Regarding the AFR / rear end:
When I had it (had), I thought it was great. Set it to soft (my settings, which means an average rider would sink it down 2/3!) and and I have no problem with most AM trails on the down. I did have a few moments when the trail was bumpy, fast, and I have to make a turn, this is when I noticed that i'm lacking confidence in the rear traction (causing me to stand the bike up and slide the rear in order to make the turn, but this in itself is quite a fun exercise in drifting too.. because it feels nice drifting.. unless of course you're racing against the clock which lose you time). Now I got rid of the AFR and put on the Marzzochi Roco TST Air, which has huge volume air can, and a wider shaft! Boy, this thing feels almost like a coil to me now! In fact I like the Roco TST over a coil because air offers great on-the-fly PSI adjustability, which I prefer because I do use this bike for some dirt jumping fun with the 12-17 year old kiddies too! The Roco definitely tracks better than the AFR, I can now have the confidence to slide and drift sideway (at some speed) without having to think about dipping a foot down so much.
My advice for those with AFR and want a cheap yet capable alternative, just go to ebay and look for a busted up DHX, ISX, .. buy it for cheap.. and send it in Pushed to have it overhauled! They'll fix her up good!
Regarding the E150 / front end:
the e150 is IMO the best 150mm travel forks out there for aggressive AM riding. The e150 does not have separate external slow and fast rebound adjustments, it only has the external fast rebound knob. For slow rebound adjustment, unfornately this has to be done via the internal spike valve, which will require you to send the fork in for the "factory service" (tell them your weight and you riding style and they'll adjust this spike valve accordingly. I think you can even adjust this spike valve psi yourself too if you're willing to take the forks apart and know what you're doing). But when I sent in my forks, I told them to tune it for a 150lbs rider (even though I'm 130 lbs) because I like my front stiff.. and I will now have to live with a less than ideal slow-speed rebound.. but that's totally acceptable to me because I have learned to compensate for this by being more active with using my arms and legs as suspension!.. Now if I was racing,, then yeah I want a perfect front end setup for fast and slow speed, but let's be real, i'm a weekend warrior.
But with a short travel double crown (150 mm for a double crown is short), this bike owns in the roughs (whether picking a line or plow her through!) AND it owns in wide corners because after a while you're thinking screw it I'm gonna drift this thing, and a stiff front end (double crown) and a wide bar (mine is 750mm) you have more confidence to fist the bar and let the bike drift. Try doing that with a single forks with consistent confidence on an unknown trails!
I have not been able to bottom out my forks on 4-6 ft drops! But keep in mind I'm only 130 and having the forks tune for a 150. Because 4-6ft is about all i'm looking and capable of doing anyway, I'm thinking of having Specialized tune it for a 140 lbs person the next time I sent it in so I can better utilize the rest of the travel on it. This IMO is the only draw back on the E150 (can't do external slow speed adjustment, but still can do internal adjmustment at a co$t though.).
Geometry of bike:
bike has 67deg head angle, which is fine with me. I haven't gotten into a situation where I think a 1 deg decrease in head angle would have saved my ass yet. Usually if it's a mistake, it's me going over my head and a 66 or 65 or 64 deg head angle wouldn't have saved me anyway. But on the climb, anything over 10 deg grade, a 67 deg HA is quite tough, the front will lift and float as you put the torque on the pedals. You can drop the E150 down to steepens the HA, but I don't want to take the pussified approach to climbing hahaha so I fight the front going up
The thing about the Enduro is that its sizing is on the big size. If you're 5'8 or shorter, get a small. I'm 5'7 but I have a medium and I'm constantly having to fist this bike in fast corners, but it can also be fun fisting a bike too! But if you're looking for put manual on this bike, ughh you better go small, because I can barely hang my ass out to baland on the rear wheel without fully locking my arms which of course is also no good!
bottom line is if you can get it at a good price, get it.