Random buddy bike... Check out the prismatic paint!

[Voltron]

Usually when a buddy says "hey could you assemble a bike for me?" and doesn't even know what kind it is, that's a bad sign.
This one turned out to be a 2020 Specialized S Works full carbon beauty with trippy purple/green paint that changes as you move you head.... In the pictures, what looks like areas of different color is just the contours of the frame, and shifts as you move around the bike...

 

[Balmorhea]

Yeah, that used to be a thing. I worked on a roughly 20 year old Raleigh road bike day before yesterday that had the same kind of paint. It’s referred to as “flip flop”. There are other color combinations that do the same trick.

 

[Voltron]

I've seen other bikes with prismatic paint (and cars, and a building in LA, and whatnot) and it was hard to capture in stills, but the illusion of depth it had as it shifted, on the curvy contours of the carbon was really eye-catching.

 

[Balmorhea]

I've seen other bikes with prismatic paint (and cars, and a building in LA, and whatnot) and it was hard to capture in stills, but the illusion of depth it had as it shifted, on the curvy contours of the carbon was really eye-catching.

The shape of the composite frame is especially good for showing off the paint color effect. The straight-tubed road bike frame I worked on didn’t look nearly as good.

 

[HK12K]

Nice paint job, but I'm curious... How did they manage to purchase that thing without knowing what it was, and why did it need assembling?

 

[MadRhino]

S-Work Turbo Levo.
Top of the line Specialized MTB 29er ebike.
For the price they sell it, a nice paint job is really a must. 8)

Maybe stolen in the freight. Normally it is delivered fully assembled and tested at a Specialized dealer. And, people who are buying those expansive ebikes usually know what they are buying.

 

[Voltron]

Def not stolen... But thanks for suggesting I hang out with bike thieves
It's my buddys rich ass brothers bike. Neither of them are bikers, so the brother prob bought it just because it was the most expensive one... And my buddy doesn't know Sworks from Huffy...

The brother mostly bought it to keep in his 80ft sailboat he barely uses , where it will sit and also barely get used.

 

[MadRhino]

Def not stolen... But thanks for suggesting I hang out with bike thieves

Come on. I didn’t suggest anything.
And, anybody can buy a stolen bike, especially when he knows nothing about bikes and it is new in the box.

So, did he tell where he bought it?
If it was at a Specialized dealer, it would be assembled, fully tuned, with the best guarantee of the industry.

 

[Voltron]

Maybe stolen in the freight. Normally it is delivered fully assembled and tested at a Specialized dealer. And, people who are buying those expansive ebikes usually know what they are buying.

I was half kidding, but don't say you weren't suggesting theft was a possibility...

 

[MadRhino]

I never suggested that you or your friends had anything to do with it. It is just some eventual explanation for this bike being sold in the crate, which is not supposed to. There are other possible explanations, reasons why I did say ‘maybe’ and not ‘probably’.

 

[Voltron]

Maybe is what makes things suggestive... And if we ended up with the bike then we would have had something to do with it, no?

I just hate bike thieves, and also think anyone who buys a bike that they should know from the too cheap price that it's stolen is an enabling turd of a cyclist, and refuse to be suggestively grouped with anyone like that!

Anyway, not stolen, rich guy who got it shipped to him because he was flying here, didn't "fall off a truck" anywhere then brought to my chop shop... Sorry it's such a boring scenario
But so light! The asymmetric shock mount! And the trippy paint!

 

[Voltron]

But aside from the prettiness, it still shipped with the plastic of the gear shift housing so shrunk back from wire layer that the shifting was impossible to index because of the mushy end, which of course is terrible on crank drive.
The inner wire was super kinked too, like it was already in the full length housing when it was pulled thru the frame...
So it was roughly $9000 brand new bike that needed the old cable pulled out, the housing trimmed, and new cable and shifting resetup before it was ridable,

 

[MadRhino]

That is why those bikes are supposed to be assembled, tested and tuned at a Specialized dealer. Boxing and shipping is subjected to many hazards, and a client paying that much for the best ebike of the brand deserves the quality control and service that comes with it. Here they sell it 15000 CAD. One of my employees who ordered one last year, received it ready to ride at a local Specialized dealer, with the usual gift CF helmet and riding gloves. I like this bike very much.

 

[Voltron]

That's how it usually works, which I know from having been service manager at an SWorks shop (not every Specialized shop is allowed the SWorks models, and they come and check on your quality control), but I know also that if you're a rich guy, buying it someplace like Hawaii where it's not in stock, and you ask them to drop ship the bike to you in CA instead of sending it both ways to Hawaii and back, they'll do that for you, esp if you've already dropped a lot of cash on them in the past for other bikes. Plus, the brothers are Canadians, so obviously of the highest moral fiber.

Aside from all that though... as you wrote, it's a pretty likeable bike, aside from only going 20

 

[MadRhino]

It is a good ride at 50 down the hills. :wink:
Sure not competitive with my motorcycle powered ebikes, but a different trip that is truly bicycle feel. It is the kind of bike to please MTB cyclists. I didn’t find it nearly as much fun as mine climbing, but it is definitely better in descent.

 

[Voltron]

That is where it shined.. Plenty enough range and speed for climbing all morning then light enough to forget it's electric coming back...
The smoothness and quick engagement of the torque sensing was pretty superb also.