Joris748

On rocky terrain my Epic climbs better than my Scale 30. Loads of traction available. On gravel I prefer my Scale.

Ofcourse, that is the key. But with the steer at the same height as the sadle, it is impossible to achieve the correct body posture. I think a race=oriented fully or hardtail does climb better than an AM-bike.

Geometry and traction. You must be able to load the front, without loosing grip on the rear. A little change (e.g. drop the bar 15 mm) can be the difference between staying on the bike or walking.

On my Epic Marathon '09 I've used a Shimano XTR-FD970-E without back plate as an DMD derailleur. And used the backplate of it to change a XT-FD770-DMD into an E-type. Do not know it for sure, but I would say the boult spacing is the same, as my bike can also be fitted with SRAM DMD derailleur.