vinuneuro

Anyone in the market for a current Roubaix or Diverge should be aware of this.

My bike shop got back to me about what the service requirements are for the Future Shock. They had to get information from the technical team at Specialized.

Specialized calls for the Future Shock to be serviced every 500 hours. And by service they mean replace the entire Future Shock cartridge. It is not intended to be taken apart and cleaned and regreased.

Part cost is $55. The part cost is much less than I was expecting, but 500 hours isn't a lot depending on how much you ride. What I'm most concerned about is completely proprietary nature of this design and whether we can count on Specialized carrying the parts for this 10 years from now. This something I will need to think about before pulling the trigger on a new Diverge (which I'd like to buy because it does ride really well).

FlashBazbo

I wonder how much the LBS's labor is going to be for that service. Does it require a special tool? (Does Park sell it?)


For me, that would be a new cartridge about every 8 1/2 months. Planned obsolescence. Pretty annoying. I wish I could say I'm surprised.

vinuneuro

The install is super easy, no special tools. There's a video of the process online I can post when I get home. It's a 10 min job at most. Shop says they'd charge $30 in labor. My biggest concern is long term parts availability. Maybe the bikes will sell well and consequently the parts will be well supported. But that's a big risk to.

What annoys me even more is that there is no mention of this anywhere in owner's manuals for these bikes and Specialized never communicated it to their dealers either.

What this means for me is that I even though I love Specialized bikes (a lot), I am now seriously considering the Domane SL. Trek told me that 1. Front Isospeed is covered by the frame warranty and that 2.the wearable parts are not proprietary. And someone correct me if I'm wrong that Trek does have a good history of parts support.

memebag

A good reason to ride faster.

motosonic

#MoneySink
Believe me.. if that tech gets discontinued at any point, parts will be hard to get AND super expensive. I dealt with that.. never again.

FlashBazbo

That would be my concern, too.

Marcus_Ti

If? Try when.


See it happen all the time with bizzarro proprietary parts.

dddd

Could the bike be assembled without the cartridge in the future if the supply of them runs out?

I would retain any replaced cartridges in my stash as they might well become precious in the future as a spare part.

What would be the consequences of extending the replacement interval? Might these last virtually forever under the use of lighter and/or less aggressive riders, and those who aren't crashing the bike?

Has anyone noticed any signs of wear on this part to date?

Are these offered in different firmness?

Racing Dan

Now Im not defending anybody, but 500 hours 7500 miles at 15 mph. Sure its unexpected added expense, but is service cost really that big a deal, in relation to initial purchase price. I mean if you want cheap miles go for an alloy bike with 9, 10 speed gears. The proprietary nature of that particular part is a concern.

datlas 

I am shocked, SHOCKED, to hear this.

(hides)

Marcus_Ti

And That was when I shot him, Your Honor.

Doctor Morbius

One could stock up on the part ahead of time anticipating any future shortage. Then if they sell the bike before all of the parts have been used, they could sell the discontinued parts for a premium on ebay.

... or, one could avoid the bike like the plague and buy something that doesn't have a proprietary gizmo.

vinuneuro

Never said the $55 is an issue. It actually seems pretty reasonable. 500 hours is probably a year's worth of riding or less for people who live in areas where climate is temperate in winter. Even this is fine.

Considering how well their new bikes ride I'd be ok with all of it if 1. It was designed such that servicing the part didn't mean replacing it. 2. That we know this proprietary part would be supported in the long term.

Racing Dan

Come to think of it. The way this shock is positioned in the frame is likely to produce load and wear in specific spots inside the tubes, due to the lever action of the stem and handle bar. If possible, im betting you can extend the service life of the cartrige by turning it 1/4 turn every X (you decide) miles, to even out the wear.

Edit: "Lever action" may not be a precise description, Im not native English speaking, but compressing the tubes via a long perpendicular arm (stem and bar) does produce some torque that, Imo, will result in uneven wear, as opposed to compressing it like on a floor pump.

WalksOn2Wheels

To be fair, it took Cannondale something over a decade until the lefty shock wasn't a complete PITA to own. It's pretty solid now in terms of service, but things like the early headshock used consumable parts that don't exist anymore.

But still, given the might of the engineering department I'm lead to believe Specialized has, you would think they might know better given the database of knowledge they had to dig into. Suspension on road bikes has been done repeatedly with mixed success. Lots of history to look at and examine before marketing your own. I would think number 1 on the list would be "needs minimal maintenance and preferably lifetime parts if possible."

airforce1

I am not familiar with Specialized but if parts are NLA, can you drop in a standard stem and handlebar as a replacement?

Racing Dan

Its not the stem and bar that is the issue. Its the headset assembly with the future shock. However, given the simple design of the cartridge, Im betting a non-spring replacement could easily be manufactured by a 3rd party. There are other proprietary parts in the headset assembly that are just as vital as the cartridge, but these are not, it seems, consumables.

Racing Dan

Except its not, if it has a 500 hour service life. Then its a consumable. The Cannondale story should serve as a warning or cautionary tale, rather than as an excuse.

kingston 

My guess is that most guys buying a new Roubaix or Diverge couldn't care less if the future shock needs to be replaced every 500 hours, and if customers don't care, Specialized doesn't care. As far as I can tell, the future shock the main reason someone would chose one of those bikes over the many other less expensive available options. Everyone knows you are going to pay a premium for cutting edge technology that may or may not quickly become obsolete.

exmechanic89

That's my feelings as well. There's little chance imo, you'll find that part easily and cheaply in 10 years, maybe not even 5 years. I hate stuff like that, I would definitely not buy one of those bikes.

British

Do they just mean replacing the spring, or is there more to it than that?

dmanthree

Hmmm.....every two years for me. I wonder if they'll offer a part that's solid to permanently replace the shock? I doubt I'd even notice the difference.

znomit

I assume the team that came up with the name have been fired for naming it correctly.

TakingMyTime

From the lack of disclosure and to buyers who have already purchased these models, Specialized should at minimum make the first replacement free of charge. I know I'd be upset if I found out after the fact that the bike I bought last year was going to cost me $55 in parts after every 500 hours of use.

Seattle Forrest

That's every year or two for me.

I suspected there would be something like this. It's a complex engineered part, it can't be completely without maintenance. I thought it would be more like hubs, though, and less like tires - throw it away when it's done, don't repair it.

What happens if you don't replace it? Most owners probably don't know they need to, half the rest probably don't track hours of use.

I wouldn't buy a road bike with a shock absorber before learning this, I definitely wouldn't now.