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06 Flux to 09 DW Flux (UK) review

2K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  BlueMountain 
#1 · (Edited)
First of all my pictures of the bike are poor, I quickly whipped out the phone and grabbed what I could...

I've previously owned a coil 5spot, 06 HL Flux and now a Silver DW Flux. Now we are talking early days and I like to give myself a while to acclimatise to a new bike before I comment but I know there are people on here aching to find out whether they want to break the bank and spend their cash on a new frame, especially if they have an older variant.

From Flux 09

My previous flux has done some big rides and big miles, in all weathers and terrains - it's been a pleasure to own and ride - being the perfect bike for me so far. I didn't think there was a whole lot wrong with it but it's great for things to evolve for the better while keeping the heritage intact. So with 11,000 miles behind me and no real problems I decided to put my UK order in for the flux as soon as I saw it ...

I will put my build up on the database, but we're talking a mix of XT,XTR - some British kit - Hope minis, hubs and headset, Use Carbon bars, Thomson pin and stem.

My first ride today I rode some tarmac, some fire road and plenty of singletrack. The great news is it feels like a flux to me but with a crisper back-end. Pedalling without some form of compression on the previous model felt a little sluggish - but the DW is great even with no pro-pedal. I would also say it feels stiffer and rides quicker, carving great through the tight stuff. On the ups (where I think the Turners are amazing) - it oozes grip and you feel you have more power without the bounce that you could sometimes feel getting out of the saddle.

(It was quite shocking on the road how hard-tail like it felt!)

I've yet to dial the shocks in properly and try any real fast downhill stuff but this is a great start. Oh and the bike feels a little heavier than the old flux with similar build - but feels quicker in the saddle.

The guys who did my build tie-wrapped the gear outer to just below the shock, similar to the other side where there is a purpose hole for the brake-line. I'm not sure if this is a good idea yet but the potentially rubbing shock does concern me.

From Flux 09
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Thanks everyone!

DT - Maybe I will remove it eventually - but I'm going through that coveting phase where I'm trying to keep it brand new. Many thanks for the frame - it's going to be a great riding Christmas break for me!

Fresh tracks - I will stop short of saying it's a massive amount better because that would at imply that something was not good about the original - I will just say it's much better where it counts. I did a second 30 miler of singletrack yesterday and the overwhelming thing that I found better was the grip - it seemed to stick better to everything. Now this could be due to new tyres, new kit generally but going around sloppy corners everything felt really sharp. I am riding everything with the pro-pedal off something I never did with the HL flux, if this is the difference then you could say that's a big difference as your getting the benefit of plush sus with the pedalling feel of a HT.

The build has been great also, so thanks to Dale at Sherwood Pines Cycles, UK.

I have a race next weekend in some rough and hilly terrain, so will report back.
 
#12 · (Edited)
Update 400 miles + Race

I finally got around to doing an event on the Flux - I'm not really a xc racer (much too old) but I do ride plenty of enduros and trailquests. Last Sunday I took part in my first event since buying the new Flux (I've ridden 4 yrs of events on the 05/06 model.)

Before the race I'd generally been putting in a cross-section of rides and messing with the sag/rebound to get the bike feeling correct - I've got a bad lower back so I don't like the bike to wallow too much as I find my back tries to compensate for the wallow. At a RTR weight of about 212lbs - I'd been using 175psi in the shock and although it felt good - it didn't feel quite snappy enough as I'd got it into my head that I needed a lower PSI to get the best from the link, but actually I've now found the opposite. True it always nicely stiffens when you put the power down which is a great feeling, but the rest of the time I found the deeper sag a bit too much for me.

So I've been adding 5psi for a few rides until I hit 190; the day before the race I tried it like this, expecting it to be too stiff and short in the travel - how suprising then it still felt as plush as the lower amount! - still using the same amoung of travel but felt much better to pedal.

I think I'd got it into my head that this bike needed loads of sag, but it doesn't. And the weird thing is that's more pressure than my old Flux.

Going back through the posts DT does mention the RTR weight minus 25-30, so that would be spot on, at least at the 25 end for me.

The race went really well, and I came third only missing out on first by 3 minutes over 3 hours - so the bike was more than capable on the terrain, a mixture of singletrack, fire road and tarmac for 40 miles.

Now really pleased and not too bothered about having a stack of sag as I've hit the nirvana of absorbtion and efficiency without the slight wallow that you get when running plenty of sag - which is as much a personal thing as a tuning thing.

(I had a fantastic December on the bike putting in over 327 off-road miles, constantly wanted to ride it!)
 
#13 ·
1000 mile update

With a 1000 off-road miles behind me, and the Winter season a messy success of riding and racing I'm glad to report all is great with the Flux.

This is a superb bike. Recently I messed with my shock again as I think upped the PSI too much recently somehow thinking it would be better to pedal. But due to some weight loss and general fettling I've settled back to where the DW likes to be on the sag front. And that's 180 PSI with a RTR(Camel+water) of 205pounds. Super plush, can easily pedal through most ruts and hollows without any fuss.

No maintenance issues at all.

Worth every penny.
 
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