A Specialized S-Works Epic frame was my lifetime decision I did when I escaped a hardtail concept to a full-suspension race mountain bike. Nowadays, looking backwards, it was a very good decision, although it was one of the first Epic frame concepts (the year 2004) with a proprietary FOX Brain suspension technology.
I had been riding this frame for some time when I decided to experiment a bit. I was looking for something special, and unusual, thus I took airbrush design in the year 2006. At the same time, I decided to change my helmet as well as the frame’s design. That was my first experience with bike tuning by airbrush.
The next design change came in the year 2008 when I was repairing the final finish of the frame and I "airbrushed" the FOX Float R Brain shock. The custom shock design followed the factory design of the FOX F100RLC fork in all details. The last change rose with a Specialized 3D badge on a head tube. More information about shock tuning and custom head badges you can find in the section "project".
Thanks to my previous experience, I chose an "extralite" cockpit, seat post, and seat clamp by Extralite again, Mavic CrossMax SL cross-country race wheels, and still reliable an "old-fashion" Shimano XTR M952 group (inc. shift and brake housing and cables).
I used my "old-school" Shimano XTR V-brakes with ceramic pads. They came from a newer Shimano XTR M970 group (like SPD pedals) and I was quite satisfied. A Shimano XTR M952`s combo set of brake and shifter levers was replaced by the SRAM X.0 system, thus the shifting was under SRAM X.0 Twister control and brake levers were taken from Extralite.
Red Chris King NoThreadSet headset was a perfect choice, as well as red X-Lite Titanium quick releases. Selle Italia SLR saddle with titanium rails did its job well.
