Specialized
1998 GroundControl FSR Extreme

My Second full suspension bike. Again, I got this one from Supergo on a close out deal. The best part of it is that a couple of weeks after I got the bike, I went back to SuperGo just to check things that, and I found out that the price has went up $100~?! Which means I paid $100 less ... haha~ And I forgot about the reason, but I've traded in the stock specialized pedals for a pair of shimano 636s new in box for either the price of the wellgos or for free ... anyway, I had a good deal.

The ride quality of the FSR is a huge step up from the Joshua Z1. The 4.3" fully active rear suspension eats bumps a lot better than the URT. A lot less pedal feed back. It's not like you don't feel the rock anymore. It's more like it won't bounce you off your pedals as much. Better traction on climbs. So, I can only blame myself for not being able to go up a climb. haha~ And on the down hill ... oh boy, it's a dream. I gained a lot more speed on the down hills. And on a lot of the occations, I went a lot faster than I should have. And I've learnt my lession by the hard way ... which cost me to pay a little visit to the emergency room ...

I liked this bike a lot. I can't complaine about the ride. The only thing I can say is the stiction of the pivots. I've took the rear shock off the bike once and the stiction of the pivot was amazingly high. This is partly due to the fact that it was after winter rides and I haven't been taking it apart to lube. But still, I won't mind have a set of sealed bearing for the rear linkage pivots.

At some point, I got tired of rear suspension and the fact that I MUST have smooth stoke all the times. But at the same time, I don't think I can live without a rear suspension anymore. So, my next bike is a logical step for me ...

Here is the spec.