How many people have had a chance to ride the bike yet? Thoughts?
Anyways, I hope others are liking theirs and I get more excited once I can start rippin around some trails
This is my second chiner, the first one was an XC carbon frame 9 Kg, still working after 9 years abuse; in that case the build was very easy.
With this bike the build was challenging, many issues (frame hitting the fork,chainline,internal cable routing, rear shock bolts) but at the end the bike is real; I spent more than what I planned, due also to parts shortage covid related: no special sales, if you find the part you want you pay full price.
I ended up with approx 3000 $ bill,(roughly 800$ frame, 700$ wheels, 900 $ suspensions, 600$ the rest) that it is above my initial plan.
I wanted a bike that is good downhill but not too heavy uphill, and for now I am really happy.
First rides impressions: (consider that there is still a lot of fine tuning to do)
At 12.3 Kg it is probably one of the lighest full suspension 160-150 mm excursion bike in the market: even 10,000 $ bikes sometimes are heavier; it climbs really well, the DT swiss F535 shock is perfect with three position lever (open, climb, full lock) giving a stable pedaling platform; this aliexpress saddle is very light and it's the most confortable I've ever tried:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32766321631.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dc99TC2These pedals are also light, cheap and well made:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001829797106.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.27424c4dc99TC2I don't feel the bike worse uphill than my 9 Kg XC bike, except maybe for the tyres drag (minion DHF+rekon).
Downhill performance:
The bike is good, I like the position and being extremely big it eats the trails and the bumps; despite this there is still a lot to do in tuning: the fork manitou mezzer has two hair chambers and two hidraulyc dials, now it's decent but not perfect.
I think the 740 mm wide handlebar has to be reduced to 700 or 720 mm (I am 176 cm tall); the position of the saddle relatively to the post also is not perfect.
The only way to have a good setup in my opinion is to go in a bike park, dial in the suspension and repeat the easiest trail a couple of times, I don't think I will have a chance to do this before next spring.
Shimano XT brakes are powerful enough on 180 mm discs and no drags at all; I wanted formula cura as first choice but are sold out around the world.
To maximize the fun you have to trust the bike and on flow section increase the speed above your confort zone...and it pays back, it literally flies over obstacles.
Mistakes during build:The shimano chainring with 52 mm chainline it's too close to the frame: better to use an aftermarket chainring that has no bolts and then more clearance; I don't recommend the 55 mm chainline.
I Bought a 34 chainring, and while to me 34/51 is enough uphill, 34/10 is almost useless on this bike: a 32 teeths chainring is more than enough in my opinion.
Problems so far:
Rear brake hose rattles inside frame, probably not too difficult to fix; shifting up is good but not great, I have to study the hanger b screw position as per previous posts; for some evil reason my rear rim is true but the maxxis rekon tyre can't sit completely straight. (maybe defective tyre?)
After first ride one big bolt of rear suspension connecting rod got loose and the rear triangle become laterally flexy: I made up all four at the specified torque, added new thread locker and marked the bolts with paint to check movements: so far it's ok; with the bolts made up and the rear wheel installed it's not flexy, unless you push really hard.
And of course with such a new and nice bike I am not only afraid of hurting myself with a crash but also of damaging the bike itself
Last problem...the bike it's huge and doesn't fit my car trunk as other bikes did
