I've had the 2020 Slayer since September last year, and have a hundred or so days of riding on it in Squamish. It's been a great bike, but so far the main pivot has had to have the bearings replaced, the XT derailleur filled with corrosion and had to be rebuilt, the XTR rear hub was replaced once after the freewheeling began to go both ways, and now the second XTR hub is beginning to do the same thing. The XT drivetrain is seriously worn and I'll probably have to replace it soon too. Of all of that, only the pivot bearing situation really has anything to do with Rocky at all.
I started with the Fox X2 in it w lots of tokens, and it felt great but not crazy supple, then switched to a coil w a 450 spring (I'm 180 lbs) and it had way more traction but felt a bit dead and popless, so I put a MRP progressive 400-480 spring in, and it felt great. Then I put a DSD Runt dual positive air chamber in my (Marz Z1) fork and matched the progressive feel of the rear end (best fork mod ever IMO). I ran the rear in position 3 with the 450 and the X2, but have moved to the postion 2 with the progressive spring, so I don't pedal strike quite so often. I've got 29ish percent sag with the new spring. Then I put Cushcore in both wheels and I'm currently running Assegai DH Maxxgrip front and rear. It's slow and heavy going up, but it's now a savage machine going down. I'm casually rolling through the toughest and steepest stuff I've ever dared to ride and dropping stuff I'd never had the guts to do before.
So, it's still a far from perfect bike, in my opinion, but it's a ton of fun when the going gets rough fast and steep.
I can see why Enduro racing might not totally match this bike. It doesn't squirt forward when you hammer on the pedals, but when it's steep it pumps well and moves in a happy poppy way through all the chunk.
July 30, 2020, 11:20 p.m. - Paul Watt
I've had the 2020 Slayer since September last year, and have a hundred or so days of riding on it in Squamish. It's been a great bike, but so far the main pivot has had to have the bearings replaced, the XT derailleur filled with corrosion and had to be rebuilt, the XTR rear hub was replaced once after the freewheeling began to go both ways, and now the second XTR hub is beginning to do the same thing. The XT drivetrain is seriously worn and I'll probably have to replace it soon too. Of all of that, only the pivot bearing situation really has anything to do with Rocky at all. I started with the Fox X2 in it w lots of tokens, and it felt great but not crazy supple, then switched to a coil w a 450 spring (I'm 180 lbs) and it had way more traction but felt a bit dead and popless, so I put a MRP progressive 400-480 spring in, and it felt great. Then I put a DSD Runt dual positive air chamber in my (Marz Z1) fork and matched the progressive feel of the rear end (best fork mod ever IMO). I ran the rear in position 3 with the 450 and the X2, but have moved to the postion 2 with the progressive spring, so I don't pedal strike quite so often. I've got 29ish percent sag with the new spring. Then I put Cushcore in both wheels and I'm currently running Assegai DH Maxxgrip front and rear. It's slow and heavy going up, but it's now a savage machine going down. I'm casually rolling through the toughest and steepest stuff I've ever dared to ride and dropping stuff I'd never had the guts to do before. So, it's still a far from perfect bike, in my opinion, but it's a ton of fun when the going gets rough fast and steep. I can see why Enduro racing might not totally match this bike. It doesn't squirt forward when you hammer on the pedals, but when it's steep it pumps well and moves in a happy poppy way through all the chunk.