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Official Specialized Camber Thread

1M views 5K replies 748 participants last post by  aznmode 
#1 · (Edited)
well, the first thread seemed to have a lot of speculation and questions...
now that the camber is beginning to trickle into shops and hit the trails, i figure we'd get a new thread going with some real life experiences and pics...from us who are really riding them (not just getting them for free to test ride).
here's my 2011 camber elite..size medium..






here's what i've changed:
-sram x.7 drivetrain
-truvativ stylo crankset
-pg990 cassette
-pc991 chain
-phenom saddle
-sunline v1 am wheelset
-maxxis advantage front / maxxis larsen tt rear tires (set up tubeless)
-esi chunky grips
-crank bros egg beater sl pedals
-truvativ stylo race 100mm stem
-truvativ stylo race seatpost

weighs in at 27lb 10oz...which for a 5" travel trail bike is pretty good imo.
 
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#156 ·
Sid Nitzerglobin said:
I'd take a wild ass guess and say a small but you're getting close to medium range. Either might work for you w/ proper adjustment of saddle and stem length,

Definitely try to at least sit on both sizes and see which works better.
yup, thats my wild guess as well, it would be best to test them both i know, but local store doesn't have either of them, only L... so i'll have to order one (S or M) first and then see how it fits.

Basically i was kinda hoping that some Camber owner who is around my size could give me some pointers how and what did he/she choose.

Anyway correct me if i'm wrong - you are 6.2 and that's between L and XL and you choose to go with smaller frame, therefore i should go with smaller as well? :)

thx 4 info,
D
 
#157 ·
dakkz said:
yup, thats my wild guess as well, it would be best to test them both i know, but local store doesn't have either of them, only L... so i'll have to order one (S or M) first and then see how it fits.

Basically i was kinda hoping that some Camber owner who is around my size could give me some pointers how and what did he/she choose.

Anyway correct me if i'm wrong - you are 6.2 and that's between L and XL and you choose to go with smaller frame, therefore i should go with smaller as well? :)

thx 4 info,
D
One thing I may mention is that using a water bottle on the large frame is a little tricky but can be done. You may want to check on the smaller frames....just an FYI
 
#158 ·
Hi folks: my Camber Expert. First photo 100% OEM in Vegas. 2nd photo with Monkeylite handlebar, 100mm FSA stem, GrabOn grips and WTB Rocket V Pro saddle in Sao Paulo. There are two mistakes in Specilialized's site: Reba solo air (it's dual: if not would be a Recon Gold with other sticker) and 90mm stem in M size (it's actual 75mm). 12.4kg



 
#160 ·
dakkz said:
Anyway correct me if i'm wrong - you are 6.2 and that's between L and XL and you choose to go with smaller frame, therefore i should go with smaller as well? :)

thx 4 info,
D
I don't think I'd even consider an XL in this frame for me. The large test bike felt just about perfect after raising the saddle 1.5" or so above the bars in the default setup the LBS had it at. Saddle was pretty far back on the rails, but KOPS and reach were very good and I believe I'll actually wind up w/ more set back on the post that comes w/ the Pro vs. the Expert that I tested so I should gain back a bit of tweaking range.

I had gone w/ a 21" on my Rockhopper as the 19" felt too small and while it has been serving me well and I have achieved a pretty comfy fit on it overall, it's always seemed maybe a tad big and only afforded me 1.75-2" of standover.

The advise I generally hear when between sizes is to go smaller rather than larger as it's often easier to correct your fit up than down. The smaller frames can also be a bit lighter and potentially slightly more maneuverable, but I'd say the fit would trump both of those for me.

It's a bummer they don't have medium or a small you can at least sit on.

Bottle clearance was definitely pretty tricky on the L. It took a concerted effort to navigate my bottle in and out of my Ribcage w/o tearing off the Pro Pedal lever. I might have to check out a side entry bottle cage or a shorter bottle as I like to carry a bottle of electrolyte/carb drink and do straight water in the Camelbak.
 
#165 ·
Got a few more pics.

After cleaning up after the inaugural night ride:


A few from my ride out at John Bryan today. Pretty crazy ride, wound up w/ a quarter to half inch of muddy ice frozen to like every trailing edge on the bike and a ~4lb chunk between the linkage joints, seat tube, and FD by the time I got back to the car. This is gonna be fun to clean up...




Bike performed great overall but had frozen out the FD by 2/3 of the way through my ride. The Mountain Kings actually wound up working really well in the snow.
 
#166 ·
For those of you that have one of these, would you consider it an aggressive XC bike/ light AM? Do you think it would handle some small jumps with landings and maybe once or twice a 4 foot or so drop with a landing? I'm looking for something to possibly replace my 08 FSRxc Comp that will still be nice for doing long 50 mile rides, but also enought bike to play around with here and there. I would be changing out the fork to one with a 15QR though if that makes a difference.
 
#168 · (Edited)
dkbikes4life said:
For those of you that have one of these, would you consider it an aggressive XC bike/ light AM? Do you think it would handle some small jumps with landings and maybe once or twice a 4 foot or so drop with a landing? I'm looking for something to possibly replace my 08 FSRxc Comp that will still be nice for doing long 50 mile rides, but also enought bike to play around with here and there. I would be changing out the fork to one with a 15QR though if that makes a difference.
Personally I'd call it a trail bike, so somewhere in between an XC and AM bike.

Both the test bike and my Pro seemed solid to me landing jumps ~3.5 high or so to flat w/ the wacky OS 24 9mm QR. I'd imagine a 15mm axle would make things a bit stiffer and more durable. I'm about 210lbs. and the thing I'd worry the most about being able to handle this type of jumping/drops over the long term are the wheels, but they might do OK :confused: .
 
#170 ·
Sid Nitzerglobin said:
Personally I'd call it a trail bike, so somewhere in between an XC and AM bike.

Both the test bike and my Pro seemed solid to me landing jumps ~3.5 high or so to flat w/ the wacky OS 24 9mm QR. I'd imagine a 15mm axle would make things a bit stiffer and more durable. I'm about 210lbs. and the thing I'd worry the most about being able to handle this type of jumping/drops over the long term are the wheels, but they might do OK :confused: .
Thanks for the respose. I was looking around and actually found that the Giant Trance may be more of what I'm looking for. Roughly the same price range and comes with the 15QR already.
 
#171 ·
dkbikes4life said:
Thanks for the respose. I was looking around and actually found that the Giant Trance may be more of what I'm looking for. Roughly the same price range and comes with the 15QR already.
Camber is essentially Specialized's Trance, I actually test rode an X2 in the process of picking out the Camber (just around the parking lot however, no demo bikes for Giant I could find at the local LBSs). I hear good things about the Trance for sure.

I've been doing the same kind of jumps and hits on my Rockhopper w/ 9mm QR for a while now and have yet to break or bend one. The stock Alex RHD wheels have definitely got some issues at this point, but they were pretty crappy from the get go.
 
#172 ·
Just picked up my Camber Pro tonight. I will be swapping a few parts and then posting some pictures. I am putting on my Easton carbon bars, Thompson seat post and stem, then I will put it on the scale. Well what was the first ride like? Money well spent? I wont be riding here in Reno, NV for a few months, maybe time for a rode trip to some warmer weather.Your crazy man, $2800 bucks and you take it out in the snow, not me. Next summer I will be tearing it up. Sweet ride.
 
#173 ·
First ride was actually a night ride on Friday. The lower spots of the trail were still pretty soft so it was kind of a slow one. Feet got really cold so I picked a pair of these on Saturday since apparently nobody in this town carries winter MTB shoes.

Sunday's ride was pretty darn fun, but very messy. I think I got some infintesimal inkling of what cyclocross might be like, albeit at a MUCH lower intensity level. The parts where the snow hadn't been worn through were actually the best from a grip perspective, still all in all if I made sure to brake in a straight line and keep my weight on the pedals things handled pretty well. Getting a little bit of slip angle on the rear end when taking turns at closer to the limits of traction felt pretty cool. The only major yikes moments came when the rear tire got deflected mid-turn off of roots that ran parallel to the trail a few times.

The bike felt great, suspension seemed to stay consistent in its dynamics despite it being cold enough to freeze the spray to the frame pretty much instantly (~25F). About the only issue I ran into was the FD getting frozen out as I mentioned. This really wasn't a huge problem but as the ice started building up, the uphill parts through fresh snow became a pretty decent work out w/ 38x36 as my easiest gear combo. Still doable, just a bit tougher than I would usually tackle them with. If I had a 34 or 36T ring and a chain keeper I might consider going 1x10.

I'm planning to continue to ride all winter, trail conditions permitting. We usually don't get feet of snow around here, and once the ground gets nice and frozen it should be a good deal less messy. Only thing that will screw me up is if we get the yoyo-ing temps w/ things constantly freezing and thawing and re-freezing or if it turns out to be mild enough to rain a bunch. Sub 20F temps w/ a lot of wind have a good chance to make my rides a good deal shorter and less frequent as well.
 
#174 ·
Hi all,

I am planning to replace my old Giant NRS 3 frame with an Expert Camber one. Does someone know the bottom bracket spindle dimension used in the Camber? The Specialized website shows that the Expert model has a BB-ES25 bottom bracket and I know it has a 68 mm shell width, but have not been able to find the spindle dimension. Can anyone help?

Thank you
 
#176 ·
Thanks Bikebr,
I was told by the LBS mechanic that the Camber has a 68 mm shell. I will go back and measure it myself. I am planning to get a new crankset (the one on my NRS is 8 years old) so I may go with an external bearing version which can accomodate either shell size.

Greetings
 
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