So I’ve managed to get about 5 hours of singletrack riding over the last couple days. Good variety of technical climbs, rocky steep descents, flowy jump lines, and everything in between. Interestingly, the bike garnered a ton of attention at the crowded trail hub I was at. I mean, A LOT. I was snappin necks like I was Pamala Anderson in her prime strutin a skimpy bikini. People on their 15k yetis were swooning over my $600 chiner bike!!
Most importantly: no cracks yet. I rode the thing pretty hard. Did a bunch of drops with the biggest being about 8 feet. A few 4-5 footers to flat. I also cased a very large double quite hard at one point – and both the frame and carbon rims are just fine.
Disclaimer: the ride characteristics are not all down to the frame’s design, but also largely to the build spec. Other builds may feel different. Needless to say, the beefy wide carbon bars and ultra short stem, beefy carbon rims, and fox 36’s on this bike would feel very different than a set of alloy XC wheels, 32s, and some noodlely narrow XC bars hanging off a stem longer than your….
In summary:
I am very happy with the performance. Pretty much rides as expected with the geometry/suspension design/build spec. it’s a VERY stiff bike, in a good way. It’s a fun poppy and playful bike, but not twitchy. Def more on the stable side than twitchy. It was happy to allow me to pick my lines very precisely, yet didn’t complain if I was lazy and wanted to plow through a rockgarden. Climbing was obviously not XC-like, with a hint of pedal bob, but it was actually pretty good. Good enough for me. If I was a western company trying to market this frame, I’d spin it as an everyday fun bike for the average weekend warrior. Something to go put a smile on your face and encourage you to climb back to the top just one more time. A trail bike with a focus on making you feel like a boss on the descents.
Climbing:
It's a single pivot design, so yes, there is a bit of pedal bob. It's not as bad as other single pivots I've ridden though. The climb switch on my fox dps mitigated the bob pretty well. It felt fairly efficient climbing, felt like the energy that I put in was pretty well transferred to forward momentum. All in all the climbs felt similar in efficiency to my previous bike - a santa cruz bronson. The main issue I had was pedal strikes. The bottom bracket is stupidly low, 325mm, mainly because I put 27.5 wheels in a frame meant for 29ers. I did suffer from more pedal strikes than normal, but so far I'm OK with it. I think I’ll be able to adapt. 170mm crank arms, 54 engagement points in the hub, a bash guard, and thin pedals will in part mitigate it - the rest will be up to line selection and technique.
Descending:
Yes, there is a hint of brake jack, and a little pedal feedback. However, you don’t notice these things unless you try to – and ultimately I had more fun on trails I know best than any of my previous bikes. The bike was very balanced - it was smooth and stable yet at the same time I always felt in control. I was able to mindlessly plow over rock gardens, but it still felt easy to point the bike where I wanted - I never had a problem changing lines at will. It was intuitive, very easy, confidence inspiring. The suspension is very supportive and poppy no matter where I was in the travel - a welcome change to the dullness and mushiness of the VPP on my Bronson. I was popping off everything – I felt like I was in one of those mtb films... And OMG… the corning. The low BB and stiffness of the frame made the berms feel like heaven. Felt like I was carving a snowboard. So good. The bike was awesome through the jumps as well. I was clearing quite big doubles easier than I normally do. After a few tweaks to the suspension, the bike popped off lips in a composed and balanced way. I was also pleasantly surprised with the ease of which the bike manuals. It has 444.5mm chain stays, but honestly was no fuss getting the front wheel up. I think with such a long wheelbase it might actually be better having a slightly longer rear end to balance things out.
Anyways, I’ll come back in a few weeks or so and give any updates after more trail time and maybe the new bike love affair is over.
So far, so good.
