i was not in the market for a new bike, but when some guys ‘borrowed’ the proceed i had no choice. sticking with the ideas behind the fst light i wanted something with long suspension travel to allow me to cruise down hill comfortably, while being light enough to let me pedal uphill easily.
well … sort of easily. this was not going to be a sub-10 kg cross country bike …

there were a few contenders. i would have liked to build the new bike based on the santa cruz nomad frame, but the cost would have been prohibitive. i also looked at the specialized enduro with the carbon fibre frame, but that would have meant spending another 2000 dollars only on the frame (shaving off less than a kilo) and i felt that that money would be better spent on some components.

i bought a 2007 enduro sl expert, the model just below the carbon range. this being last year’s model i got a good price … the bike came as usual without pedal; using the crank bros mallet m pedals was an obvious choice, since i’d used them on the proceed as well and was quite happy with them. a bit on the heavy side, but easy to get in and out of, and then there is the platform when things get tricky.

of course i’ve made some modifications.
i hate shimano hubs, they are a nuisance to maintain, so getting rid of the rear hub was a no brainer. in fact i got a whole new wheel built around a hope hub, with a dt swiss 5.1 enduro rim instead of the more xc spec 430. next i replaced the juicy sevens with mono m4s, and i got a crank bros joplin remote seatpost (which was great while it worked but over time i spent more time rebuilding it than using it).

the bike weighed 14.1 kg, just a little up from the 13.8 kg it had on the shop floor – without pedals. not bad, i’d say.

i had some issues – actually it disintegrated properly during a descent and the cartridge nearly hit me in the face – with the fork that were sorted out under warranty.

i never came to terms with the ugly brown color though.