RR First trip out

Andy Mullins

Some of you may have seen my previous post asking opinions on a bike. Well I
ended up with the Jamis Dakar Sport. This sunday I finally got the chance to
take it out for a ride. I rode the Sugar Hill trails in St Paul, VA. Nothing
tight or technical, mostly rails to trails type stuff, but gave me a chance
to try the bike out. It felt great to be out there pedaling away. A friend
of mine asked me to check on his geocache in the area. It was an easy find
and gave me a chance to check out the river. I continued down the river view
trail and found that sand can be tricky to ride in. I turned off that trail
to head up to the top of Sugar Hill. First thing I notice is how bad my
fitness level is. I was fine in the flats and downhills but climbing killed
me. When I got back to the truck I figured I had ridden about 10 miles.

Now I have a question. I noticed my fork leaked some oil. It was running
down the fork tube and made the cable guide come loose from the fork. Some
of it even got on my brake rotor. Is this a normal thing or do I have a seal
bad? One odd thing about this fork. Manitou says the Black Sport doesn't
have a rebound adjustment but my fork does have a rebound adjustment.

miles todd

Andy Mullins wrote:
> Some of you may have seen my previous post asking opinions on a bike. Well I
> ended up with the Jamis Dakar Sport. This sunday I finally got the chance to
> take it out for a ride. I rode the Sugar Hill trails in St Paul, VA. Nothing
> tight or technical, mostly rails to trails type stuff, but gave me a chance
> to try the bike out. It felt great to be out there pedaling away. A friend
> of mine asked me to check on his geocache in the area. It was an easy find
> and gave me a chance to check out the river. I continued down the river view
> trail and found that sand can be tricky to ride in. I turned off that trail
> to head up to the top of Sugar Hill. First thing I notice is how bad my
> fitness level is. I was fine in the flats and downhills but climbing killed
> me. When I got back to the truck I figured I had ridden about 10 miles.
>
> Now I have a question. I noticed my fork leaked some oil. It was running
> down the fork tube and made the cable guide come loose from the fork. Some
> of it even got on my brake rotor. Is this a normal thing or do I have a seal
> bad? One odd thing about this fork. Manitou says the Black Sport doesn't
> have a rebound adjustment but my fork does have a rebound adjustment.
>
>


Welcome to the club. I'm glad you had a good first ride.
Take the bike back to the bike shop- no new fork should leak that much.
Have them take a look at it. As far as the fork not matching posted
specs, that's pretty common for an OEM (original equipment manufacturer)
fork. Jamis can get Manitous however they want them, if they buy
enough. The Black is a good fork, but it may well be a quality control
issue and could be easily fixed.

About the fitness- it'll come. Just keep riding. As Eddy Merckx (the
greatest bike racer of all time) said when asked about training tips:
Ride Lots.

miles

S o r n i

miles todd wrote:

> Ride Lots.

Umm, like housing developments?

Bill "sub Urban" S.

miles todd

S o r n i wrote:
> miles todd wrote:
>
>
>>Ride Lots.
>
>
> Umm, like housing developments?
>
> Bill "sub Urban" S.
>
>

No, silly. Empty lots.


miles

Xtc

<snip> Is this a normal thing or do I have a seal
> bad?
Yes you have a bad seal. You may have to change your brake pads if oil got
on your rotor. I had it happen to me and it runied a good pair hayes pads.

ZeeExSixAre

> bad? One odd thing about this fork. Manitou says the Black Sport doesn't
> have a rebound adjustment but my fork does have a rebound adjustment.

You may be thinking of a compression adjustment.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training