monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 It's been a good few years since I had a silly bouncy bike but Dan Jones convinced me (didn't take much) that I should get a mod again so treated myself to an Echo Lite from Tarty. Seems like a really good value bike! Big thanks to Tartybikes for their awesome service as usual (and also for not installing the bars upside down). Bike is totally stock except for changing to Trialtech pads. Had a quick play in the woods and it's definitely different to the Arcade! Good fun though and good to be back on a mod. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Good to see one out in the wild How are the brakes working out for you? Was going to say if you feel you need to scrub/bed the rotors in more (Echo rotors are pretty hard so take a little more bedding in than Hope rotors do), it'd probably be worth chucking the original Echo pads in for a bit to just focus on doing that, then unleash the TT pads when it's good to go. Saves you possibly putting a load of wear and/or glazing the TT pads that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Yeah I was thinking that. They're definitely still not overly bitey so will stick the other pads in and have a proper crack at bedding the rotors in with water and if all else fails I may just get a pair of RT66's... I haven't really seen much about the brakes except that the rotors are, as you say, pretty hard material- should they do the job like a Hope or similar once properly bedded in or with different rotors or will they always be a little weaker than the big brands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Yeah, they're reasonably Hope-y once bedded in, but they just take a lot longer. I wouldn't necessarily go for the RT66s with those calipers. I think most of the issues with my Hope brakes came from me using a rotor with smaller bandwidth than the pads were made for (so it kept making the pistons gradually sit an angle, stop returning properly and so on). I think the rotors I'd go for for a bigger piston brake like that would be the Trial Zone V2. Way better design than the V1, but still made out of the usual Hope material so should bed in a lot faster and perform well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Cool beans, thanks again for the info. I'll stick with the Echo's for now and give them a harsh bed in and see where that gets me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canardweb Posted May 5, 2016 Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) That bike looks very nice! Great build. What's the geo and how tall are you? Very interesting information from Mark. That will help a lot on my next disc brake to not make any mistakes like I have with mine. Edited May 5, 2016 by Canardweb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 That bike looks very nice! Great build. What's the geo and how tall are you? Geo as far as I know is Wheelbase: 995mm Chainstay Length: 350mm BB Rise: +80mm Headtube Angle: 73° Reach: 595mm And I'm about 182cm (that's how you Europeans do it isn't it?!), 5'11.5" in old money. Didn't even look at the geometry to be fair, just swayed by the bargainous price!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom2015 Posted May 5, 2016 Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 She's a beauty and a bargain for £599 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 She's a beauty and a bargain for £599 It really is. When you take shipping into account you can't even get one for that from some dodgy dude on Aliexpress! There's basically nothing you need to upgrade from what I can tell- all good quality parts with sealed hubs, pimpy rims, Maxxis tyres etc. I changed the pads to Trialtech's because I've got some on the back of my Arcade and have been amazed by how much difference they made (went from a 180 rotor on standard pads to a 160 with Trialtechs with no issues) but I imagine once bedded in the standard pads are probably fine with the 20". Really can't complain! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted May 5, 2016 Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 Splined sprocket and freewheel too which has made the lightest batch super nice to put together. The only ever question mark with Echo's bikes seemed to be their brakes, but they seem to have got on top of the leaking issues the early bikes had and they've been consistently good for a while now. I think if the rotors were a similar hardness to the Hope (or equivalent) rotors they'd be pretty much ideal straight out of the box really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alastair34 Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 looks good, is there anything you would change on the bike? how are the brakes compared to say the hope setups, think about going back to a small bike from my 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 I gave the brakes another quick water bed in and took the bike to Portland a couple of times at the weekend and to be honest I'd say they're very comparable to Hope Trials in power and feel. I haven't found anything else I'd change. I didn't think I'd get on with the grips (quite thin foam ones) but having ridden the bike a few times I'm quite happy with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted May 13, 2016 Report Share Posted May 13, 2016 That's good to hear Dave Cool to get some good feedback on them, and of course it's rad you're enjoying the bike too Thin grips are where it's at. Nothing kills the feel of a bike off more than big fat b*****d grips on there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted May 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 My only issue is that I feel guilty for not riding the Arcade! The Echo's so much easier to throw around over rocks though! I am kind of agreeing with the grips. Don't think I'd go to something like that on the Inspired but am tempted to try some thinner grips on my full bounce MTB. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted May 14, 2016 Report Share Posted May 14, 2016 The Sensus Swayze grips sound pretty thin so could be worth a punt if you want to go down that route. Seem to get generally good reviews too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87Monty Posted May 20, 2016 Report Share Posted May 20, 2016 Nice bike and aggressive looks With those tires and rims Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aritz00 Posted January 8, 2017 Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 (edited) Geo as far as I know is Wheelbase: 995mm Chainstay Length: 350mm BB Rise: +80mm Headtube Angle: 73° Reach: 595mm I'm about 180cm and I would like to know if is ok looking to the size or if is small. Thanks for the answer Edited January 8, 2017 by Aritz00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyseemonkeydo Posted January 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 5 hours ago, Aritz00 said: I'm about 180cm and I would like to know if is ok looking to the size or if is small. I'm about your height, possibly a touch taller, and find it fine. Obviously as a mod it's always going to feel smaller than a 24 or stock but it's not stupidly small or anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted January 9, 2017 Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 Plus it comes with a 150mm stem as standard so you've got scope to scale it up to 165mm or 180mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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