Jump to content

Echo Lite 2016


Recommended Posts

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.

IMG_20160504_193311446_HDR.jpg

IMG_20160504_193337453.jpg

  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Canardweb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

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!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

She's a beauty and a bargain for £599 :o 

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!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

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. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's good to hear Dave (Y)  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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

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 by Aritz00
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...