I still ride my 2004 Specialized Enduro S-WORKS, which despite being many generations behind in bike years, is still really good.The XTR brakes and drivetrain are working as smoothly as they ever have, so no complaints.

Well, except for the Fox Brain rear shock which has been slowly leaking oil for years now. More recently it has started leaking air pressure as well, slowly collapsing during a ride. Specialized and Fox haven’t been servicing these for ages now and I have not been able to find any replacement shock that fits into this frame.

For a while I was adding air pressure before each ride but it’s leaking too fast now, not really usable anymore.

So what to do…

Found these rod ends in McMaster-Carr which are a good fit so I have a hardtail mountain bike now!

Of course, the width and the bolt hole diameter were not a match, but here is where having a 3d printer comes in handy!

After measuring and drawing the suitably sized spacers, ready to print:

And here is the printed version ready for mounting:

I was thinking one benefit of converting to a hardtail would be to save some weight on the bike. And while it is a little lighter now, I was surprised how light the Brain shock actually was!

The whole Brain shock assembly with the hose and remote reservoir only weights 1.26lbs!

My rod end based replacement weights 0.84lb, so only really saved less than half a pound.

But the bike is rideable again! Went for a test ride with my son and it felt fine and no issues observed. I’ll see over time if the 3d printed spacers hold up or wear out, but in any case it’ll be easy to print more.

As I was searching details to write this, I now found a place in Oregon which seems like they can service the Brain shock. I’ll look into that and perhaps later I can convert back to full squish, but at least for now I can ride the mountain bike again!