Stephen Maeder's Echo ES4 - BikeTrials.com

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Stephen Maeder's Echo ES4
(new photos with bike leaning against car added May 12, 2002)
(some pictures taken April 16, 2002)

More info: www.EchoBike.com

How does it ride? - Like a dream! I've never had this much fun on a stock trials bike! The super-short chainstays (15") make balancing on the rear wheel extremely comfortable, and make the bike feel extremely flickable - it's so easy to pedal-kick to rear wheel and feels great for smaller gaps... Really fun!! With such short stays, you can forget about running a real seat... The low standover height takes some getting used to: if you sit, you're very likely to have you pants caught on the rear tire (already did that once)! However, the benefit is more space for your knees, which is very welcome for me, since I used to hit my knees on stock-bike frames... I also like the extra clearance for crashes, in case I want to have children some day... :-) The bike, in it's present form, is about 22 lbs, and is practically effortless to ride. I'm really enjoying this bike right now, and look forward to slapping some new parts on it to make it even better... If you're looking for a competition frame, I think this is it (provided that it'll hold up... 3.4 lbs is a good 0.7 lbs lighter than most every other trials frame out there... I think it will - It's surprisingly stiff and the welds and overall design look good...)

Tires - I have finally found the best tire setup for me... Michelin Hot S 2.1 up front, Michelin 2.2 Trials tire in the rear... These grip really well on nearly any surface, and provide the shock absorption my body and back needs (~18 psi for both front and rear). Unfortunately, the 2.2 trials tire isn't currently sold in the US... I'm going to attempt to convince Michelin to bring some in for sale, though...

Echo ES4 frame - 7005 aluminum - 3.4 lbs (on my scale)
Sticker with the Chinese dragon on it (looks sweet)
The frame is not pure white: it's a pearl white with little speckles... Great paint job!
Take a look at the CNC chainstay yoke...

Easton MG60 Magnesium Stem (100mm x 0deg)
Easton MonkeyLite EA70 riser bar
Michelin Hot S 2.1 front tire
GT grips (from a friend until I can get some Monty grips)
Monty Milk pads on the front
Magura HS-33 brakes
Chr-Mo Echo fork (until Aluminum one comes)
Mavic 517 rim laced to a DT hub with DT Revolution spokes and DT alloy nipples

Middleburn RS7 cranks with 20t ring (square taper, to be replaced with Echo ISIS cranks (the Middleburns are great, though!))
VP Pedals (I'll ride nothing else...)
FAG bottom bracket

Custom grinded-down UNI seat - small enough that the rear tire won't rub it
Michelin 2.2 Trials tire (yes, the hard to get trials tire... My new favorite!) ~1150g
Spanish Fly pads from Trialsin - loving them, with their confidence-inspiring grabbiness, high-pitch squeaks and all...
Check out the plate welded between the seat-stays (no booster necessary, in my opinion - the frame doesn't flex much)

Think the disc tabs can take disc use? I think so... We'll soon see... :-)
Chris King Classic hub laced with black DT Competition 15/16/15 261 mm spokes to an Alex DX32 (1/2" diameter drilled out holes - saved 1.5 oz) with DT 16 mm aluminum nipples

Shimano Tiagra rear derailleur (replace with SRAM X.0?)
Shimano Ultegra 6500 9-speed cassette (only 5 gears used - 13-17)
SRAM/Sachs PC69 chain

Here's a nice look at the gussets at the front of the frame...
Silver Chris King Headset
Interesting thing about the head-tube: where the headset cups go in, it dips in towards the center (so the headset fits a little better).
One warning about the frame: Use chromoly M5 bolts to clean up the dedicated magura mount threads before putting in aluminum bolts... Echo let a bit of paint get in the threads, and if you put an aluminum bolt in, you're likely to strip it (I did a little, but stopped in time to catch it on the first hole...). I'm just using the oh-so-heavy (not!) chromoly M5 bolts from a local hardware store...