Brendan Fairclough's 2011 Specialized Demo 8 Race Bike: A closer Look!

 i think the grip is a lil unnecessary

 at the british national round at the weekend, it pissed down all saturday, and i found myself slipping off the saddle everytime i tried to sit down... that grip is not unnecessary atall

 personal preference i suppose but when im riding dh or racing the adrenaline keeps me up out my saddle all the way down

 Try doing fort bill sat up all the way

 if i ever do go ill try it and get back to you on that

 agreed

 dude you are completly rigth, the guy who wrote the note at the bottom of the picture is wrong because he is not considering all the ingenerie you are talking about.
Supporting what you say i also would like to say that the point to have those spacers under the upper crown, is to lift the upper crown clamps that holds the extensions of the fork, so we can hold the extensions from a longer and stronger length, giving us safer and stronger points to hold the fork from the bike, and that length neeed to be at least the length of the frame headtube thsi will be reducing the leverage forces that can break a frame or the extensions. And because of the horse-shoe shape especifically of this upper crown and a very short head tube with a zero stak at the bottom of the head tube, the distance in betwen the upper clamps and the lower clamp gets very short ( shorter than the length of the frame headtube. and we dont want this because it could became a very weak part of the bike when we want to do it stronger.

if they change the horse_shoe upper crown for a flat upper crowm without spacers and with the same direct mount and the same bars he will be riding tha same low. and that is already very low. and last thing those bars are almost flat bars. same as the atlas race face.

this are very studied technician set ups, but some people just judges of what they see, not understanding the great ingeniering behind all this. just one spacer and his ubication can do big diferences.

 and I also fid out that this set up is actually lower than the flat upper crown. just like that. othe wise just read the article in the specialized 2011 demo launch. check it out.

 and at the same time they are lowering the front end of the frame consecuantally the bottom braket (lower gravity center) and at the same time using the whole length of the extensions. even more. this set up was taked to the very very max performance with those carbon fiber spacers.
and becasue of the the lower gravity center and the whole length use of the extansions the geometry stills the same

its just awesome!

 I agree, but fads are a big thing in this industry and most of the trendy kids running super wide flat bars are probably doing it because everyone else is.

 Flat bars did not make you any faster , it just made you think you are faster because the adverts told ya so

 props to that man its so true, i also run flat bars and seem to be faster/more confident rider, and any money half the people that hear Fairclough said get rid of your flat bars they will,

 yeah. I feel more confident and ride slightly better every time I change something up on my bike, weather it really helps or not.

 what adverts? i think pretty much all the WC riders run riser bars , but i must say i prefer the feeling of my half inch rise 768mm azonic bars , its all down to how you like your bike to ride i hate the way everything has to be labeled as fashion, like neck braces and bars.

 Flats are good for slack bikes on flatter tracks. If I had the chance to ride a WC track every day Id ride risers but on flatter ground I need to weight my front wheel more because of the slack head angle.

 Spaced your are not spaced out you are exactally right

 The thing he says is stupid, is when kids run flat bars, because they are trendy, then they dont lower their ride height at all because they still have spacers under the stem. Totally pointless.

 bigburd: yes they did actually, I have timed it. The race courses here have bits of pedaly sections, I can truly get more leverage in a more aggressive and efficient riding position while cranking across the flats. I also feel my center of gravity is lower so I can hit off camber and flat corners faster. Though I admit the cornering may be in my head.

But look at roadies, lower wider bar= more power and keeps your lungs more open. It's fact and it's been proven

 Timlake is right - he's not dissing flat bars as such. What he thinks is stupid is when people run 0 rise on their bars, but then boost their stem up with spacers.

 wider bar = parachute effect with your body, why does nobody bring this up ;oo

 Your body is lower so it may negate itself. Ask trek guys. They made aero tests for their bikes. I think they still went wide for cannbera.

 lol.. ask the road world..

 Yeah, so lets go the fixie fashion way - 500mm bars, close our chest and die of lack of oxygen after the first 500m Also the benefits outweight the slight disadvantage IF ITS REAL.

 it is a sick choice but its his only choice... He rides for specialized.. remember.

 Yeah and?... If he want, He can get another brand i'm sure, but he choose specialized

 damm, did you see his stantions

 dont be racist

 LOL

 LOL samu183, you're wrong. While he's sponsored by specialized he can't even be seen in public on another bike. In fact, he can't be seen using products that have nothing to do with biking if those products are made by a bike manufacturer other than specialized.

 Lol, I know that I'm not stupid. But he can change companie, like maybe he can takes Intense. In the world we didn't have only specialized

 not strictly speaking true archi...
Athertons have been seen riding on different tires as their sponsors didn't make a tire suitable for the track. I've seen Sam Pilgrim riding a Dmr whilst sponsored by Diamondback/ashton...

 biggest understatement^

 we got craazy bike in here with dope parts...

 that 88MPH must be a type-o......then again it's a Specialized Demo so anything is possible

 Troy Brosnan also was using this in the garbanzo DH race

 I love that, "Hidden behind the modified guard" and theres just an e13 bashgaurd thats been ground down to f*ck aha

 Well spotted IronHorse-Chris. LOL.

 "pants covered in shit" great to see he took the interview seriously

 haha "just take them off, it's not cool", I am in full agreement about flat bars

 "...just an e13 bashgaurd thats been ground down to f*ck aha"

More like an e*13 bashguard that was precisely cut down and chamfered on a lathe, then pocketed from the backside on a CNC mill so it will sit in the correct location for the "special" chain ring.

This stuff wasn't made by a monkey with a grinding wheel...

 You'd be surprised how much bodging goes on on these bikes. I genuinely think they probably just ground it down.

Love Brendands opinion on flat bars. So typical.

 EYE-GASM!!!!!!!!!! much more attractive then the 2010 demos...

and i just realized that this is the third time i have used eye-gasm about bikes...

 those forks make me horny

 brendog = god, i'm away to make my bike more like his...

 Bikebasher. If you ever look at prototype things . Generally there bodged or made cheeper because 9 times out of 10 they will only be used once or twice. It doesnt need to be accurate. It just needs to work. Then the end result is produced at a higher standard to ensure reliability for joe public. Super sick bike by the way!!!

 when you hit 88 mph on that bike to you travel through time... like when driving the Delorean!

 lol that seat looks like something from an octopus!

 ahhhhhhh.. it sucks on your balls - thats why he likes it really

 How the hell does he ride CB 50/50 pedals?!! I nuked mine soooooooo fast (2 weeks)!! You couldn't GIVE me another pair of them!!

 Seriously could not be more right about those bloody stupid flat bars!

 yeah I have the same choice but im also interested in the intense m9

 New GT Fury or Superco Silencer over any of them.

 the 2011 demo comes in red and white and red and black

 I saw a yellow and black one on sunday at northstar

 the frame is also going to be available in blk/monster green

 they aren't selling the yellow and black one anymore. They looked sweet though I thought.

 where did u hear this? no more black and green?

 a specialized rep told me no more black and yellow

 You've obviously not ridden in thick mud then. I was at a race start of the year and when I sat down mid race I slid right forward on my seat because my pants were covered in mud along with my seat. It's a great idea. People have been zip tieing spike tyres to them for years. Now there is a properly made seat for it.

 sitting down in the middle of a race run huh? here is your problem

 dude, you have no idea how unfit I am!

 no excuse! fight the pain

 How did he make Atlas bars flat? did he have a big hammer and an anvil. I really dont think they will be safe to ride unless he heat treated them afterwards.

 yeah... but,
who's opinion could you trust more than a wc racer about what works well? there is a trend of flat bars and he's taking the time to point out how its lacking in function as well as goofy looking. cheers to him for being straight up, thats more useful than protecting peoples feelings.

 Castle; I don't think you should criticize him until you learn how to spell his name.

 Castle; So you think Brendan should conform to the MX Style of interview and just say what everyone wants him to say? "So yeah season has been good. Now i'd like to thank all my sponsors"

 I'm saying it seems to me as if he doesn't know his own set up and I'd rather here from someone who does know; especially in a interview of this format. He's running 20mm rise bars not 30mm yet spews false info about the set up and then goes on to knock other peoples set up...

He's also running about 15mm worth of spacers under his top crown and then knocking people for doing the same. Listen to the interview again.

Yeah I think it shows a lack of professionalism. But on the other end he's only a "professional" mountain biker.. so what do you expect. He does seem like a good kid overall.

Tim, I don't want him to do that. I want to hear what he thinks I just think it looked/sounded bad.

 My two cents, as well as some clarification...

I personally love the candid feel to these sorts of interviews, especially when compared to soundbites that that are really just a sponsor prop list (although its good to say thanks!). I want to hear how a rider feels about something, not listen to him tiptoe around the subject and not be candid about it. I want to hear a pro's opinion, especially if he isn't hesitating to take the piss out of something.

About his take on flat bars, there is a bit of a misunderstanding. Brendan was referring to riders who have a stack of spacers under their crown, but are also rocking a flat bar, as well as the current trend to simply slam everything as low as possible just because. To each his own, I'm sure Brendan would agree with that, but it is important to think about your setup as well.

 I'm sure he probably is running a proto bar with different rise. It wouldn't be the first time a pro ran a product which isn't a production model...

He takes the piss out of kids for running spacer, yet buying a flat bar when they could just remove the spacers.

 Mike and Castle; who the f*ck is Brandon?

 Your telling me!

 ive never gona over the bars with mine- touch wood ;D

 Strange the only times I went OTB on mine was when Id go with any - ie front wheel blocked on a boulder, tree or sth the way. 1 year on mine and no OTB problems. Brendogs comment is as much fashion as the ppl who go for flats. I went for my flats before most of the companies offered them and all the ppl bashed me for it but I like my front end as low as possible because most of the local tracks are flatter.

 fair enough , i think with any bars you would go otb if you hit stuff hard enough , i bet the bar company told him to say it to increase sales on thier product

 Naaah its just a new cool thing to say and Brendog seems to laugh from most ppl setups that are different than his >>> Ie. At Canberra WChamps.

 No way dude! Have you seen Brendan ride? He's like he's on a flux capacitor!

 DLC coating RS has been experimenting with. Only top riders have it right now, it's super slick.

 take a look at any of the high quality stanchions marzocchi uses and they're all like that too. stanchions like that come from moto forks, and its not bad to look like that I think, it's just how they are. I really want one of those forks in red. does anyone know when they might come out? 2011 or 2012 production model?

 It's just oil reflecting off the surface.

 yeah but it stains the stanchions, so those lines don't come off i think. my friend had a 888 wc that was like that. its just cosmetic though.

 It's the DLC coating rockshox has been experimenting with. I got the chance to play with a lyric that had the coating, feels good.

 love the black chrome look in the 6th pic!

 tyler, everything ive seen on 2011 boxxers say its staying they same on stanchions, there just changing the internals, DLC is probbly for 2012

 2011 stuff is already online. The coating may not be produced, is super expensive and is still in prototype mode.

 I'm wondering that... 88mph? never been in such a fast circuit, is that possible?

 holy shit, do they ever look loose

 yea i wonder if you can buy them, cause there sick

 yep you can

 cool it shall be an early birthday present aha ;D

 To be fair he wouldn't even be able to do 88kmph that's 55 mph even down the smoothest of gradients! The guys doing tour di France was only hitting 100kmh on their 15lb bikes and a 52tooth chainring up front and that's on the road!

 Back To The Future reference.

 Justin je bent zelf een flatbar

 is sick

 he's got a lisp dont be harsh

 my s button wasnt working for some reason. haha.

 thatsth disthpicable

 Haha, flat bars. Setup looks sick.

 especially if you're running them 500mm wide

 They work but only for flatter tracks and really no spacers. For steep tracks Rise is good. Though I have too agree - ppl with flat bars + spacers are silly.

 yup completly agree with him on that subject

 @spaced you're the only guy here thats aloud to talk about headset spacers

 Spaced = not really. I like that I can choose the upsweep and backsweep just by tilting the bars. Plus they are lighter and stronger than bent bars. Why? Because bent bars use more material for the same width and the aluminium gets stressed when the material is formed into the bends.

 I have to agree on the strength. Im suprised how many tree stops had taken without bending while most of my friends riser bars are a bit off line. Though it probably depends on the company - element technic FTW. 299g 760 and no problems after over a year.

 actually it's just a demo. hence the name of it.

 think that may be a back to the future joke

 They was taking the mick when saying 88 mph mate!

 88 kmh

55 mph

 yeah that may be true, but they did in fact say mph. just saying. it would make more sense if it were kmh though, or they were just exaggerating to get the point across.

 Roads? Where Brendan Fairclough's going he doesn't need roads.

 ...keep the BTTF quotes coming

 flux-capacitor

no punchline i just figured i'd type that

 "lets see if you bastards can do 90"

 Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a nice bike... out of a specialized?

 1.21 Jiggawats!

 He used his continuum transfunctioner DUH.

 hahaha. thats funny.