I'm overdue for an update here.  I've been waiting until I had a little bit of seat time to give a ride report, and it took until now.  Work was really busy for a while, then when I was ready to go for my first long ride on the bike, a branch took out my rear derailleur at the start of the ride, so had to wait for a new one to arrive, etc.

Anyway, I've now had several short rides and one somewhat longer ride over my normal trails, plus one long gravel and paved road ride when the trails were wet.  First, I can say that the bike seems like a great carbon drop-in upgrade from my old bike (2010 Gary Fisher X-Cal).  The geometry is very similar, and I'm using the same G2 fork (51 mm offset), but with travel extended from 80 mm to 100 mm.  I've adjusted the cockpit to match my old setup as close as possible, so the handling feels very natural - a slam dunk.  The chinese frames that share this geometry should be a safe bet for a lot of folks.

Second, the stiffness and lightness of the carbon frame are noticeable - it feels very efficient and responsive to pedaling input.

Third, the carbon does seem to have some vibration damping on rough asphalt and gravel.  It may also take a little edge off of larger bumps, but it in no way feels like anything but a hardtail.

I just built my first FS bike this spring - a Devinci Atlas Carbon with 120/110 front/rear travel - so I now have a comparison between suspension and hardtail.  They both have their place, and I can ride either on our local trails, but the FS is more comfortable on the extended rooty sections in our trails.  On rocky, rooty technical climbs the FS is easier to keep pedaling, letting the suspension sort out the bumps and keep the wheel on the ground.  The hardtail takes more technique to keep from getting hung up, but it's lightness and efficiency are apparent.

For short, high-intensity workouts or races, easier trails, or for long gravel rides, I'll go for the CS-041.  For longer or rougher rides, I'll go with the Atlas.  But it's a luxury to have such nice options.  For anyone looking for a very light, raceworthy, carbon hardtail with decent comfort (as hardtails go) and proven geometry, I think the CS-041 fits the bill.  I'll try to post back periodically with any updates on the long-term reliability.

Ted

Hey cmh, I'm interested in any more info you can share about these bars. Do they have a standard sweep angle (~9°)? How do they look (finish, quality, etc.)? Did you get weights on them?

Thanks,
Ted

Not exactly the same, but I've found the BB92 on my two recent builds to be very easy to install and remove with the right tools. I'm using Shimano bb's and so far have no issues.

I was interested in those handlebars, too. I was looking at the B7 since it comes in 720 mm width, but I hadn't noticed the dimple feature. Not sure what to make of that. What I'd really like to know is the sweep and rise angle of these bars. Just hoping it's standard ~9° sweep.

I keep getting a message saying the uploader is full.  The pics I'm trying to upload are only ~200kb each, and I'm only attaching a couple (2-4) to each post.

Well, I took the bike to my LBS to have the rear brake bled (one of the few things I don't do myself), but they had a week's worth backlog of repairs.  So I took the bike home and did a few more finishing touches - wrapped the drive-side chainstay with an old inner-tube, attached a bottle holder, put some clear stickers on the headtube to protect from cable rub, and installed my speed/cadence sensor.

I rode it once around the yard, and the initial impression is that the handling seems very similar to my old GF X-Cal (it should based on geometry numbers).  But it will definitely need more seat time to sort out a comparison and ride report.

Here are a bunch more pics.  These show ample tire clearance around a WTB Bronson 29x2.2.  Ultimately want to put an Ikon 29x2.3 back there - should be fine. :

Tried uploading pics, but kept getting error messages.  Will try again later.