After my weekend in Cape Town I headed back to Hermanus on Monday and left my MTB behind, thinking I needed to put in some road miles. However, after my Tuesday night road ride my mates decided a MTB ride would be in order for Wednesday. Being without a bike, I dropped crashtestdummy a mail Wednesday morning and asked if the offer to take his new steed out for a spin still stood. An hour later he dropped it off at my office. Great service....told him to give himself a raise! Now if CTD is known for one thing(besides injuring himself while riding) it's the fact that his bikes are not the best maintained ones. There were some minor brake issues. Firstly, the back brake makes a hideous noise while riding, a result of some discrub. I put it down to either a badly warped rotor as the rub is inconsistent or a slightly bent but still usable rotor combined with a stuck piston. The front brake has hectic squeel and when you press through the squeel you encounter....absolutely nothing. There's ZERO bite. It's pretty useless. None the less, the bike was ridable so I thought I'd leave the repair work to him and just get on with it. My first thought once hitting the road on the way to the trail was that the bike felt very sluggish. Granted a 29er is always going to feel ever so slightly slower under acceleration, but once it's up to speed it's generally easier to maintain momentum. I have ridden a few 29ers and none of them felt as sluggish as this bike. I'm not quite sure what the cause for this would be. I suspect that the brake rub might play a part, although judging by how freely the wheel spins when I lift the bike I think not. I suspect it might have something to do with the wheels. He bought one of kiwi's rolling chassis kits which include the frame, RST M-29 fork, and wheels and tyres. The tyres are Kenda Nevegal 2.2's. Now these are not known to be the easiest rolling or lightest tyres around. I think he also runs it with tubes as opposed to tubeless, will have to confirm. This all adds a lot of additional rotational weight that might be why the bike feels so sluggish and take so much effort to keep momentum up. Perhaps TitusTi will be kind enough to lend the man a set of his vast selection of 29er treads so we can see what this baby feels like then...? As for the bike itself, it was more of what I've come to expect of a 29er. As usual it rolls over rocks with ease and makes for much easier going over any sort of trail imperfections. There are some that expect it to compensate for the lack of rear suspension. I wouldn't take it quite that far, but it certainly is easier to get over obstacles in your way. I was hitting technical sections with confidence in no time. When it comes to cornering, the bike had a lot to live up to. I'd ridden an On One Inbred 26er and loved that. It was one of those bikes that just feels right under you and I was kind of expecting this to feel the same. I was once again impressed by how well these 29ers carve. They really do feel more stable and secure when you lean them over in a turn. It's hard to explain, but you'll know it when you ride one. The bike responded to steering inputs very well. And I don't mean 'for a 29er'....I mean compared to any bike. It's not quite as precise and responsive as the Niner EMD9 I've tried, but very close. The fork was very impressive, especially at the price. R 2372 including remote lockout. I'd feel bad complaining about anything. Truth is that there is nothing to complain about. It was very smooth and seemed well damped, soaking up big and small hits as best as you could expect of an 80mm travel fork. It can be set to 100mm if you so wish. One other standout component was the On One Fleegle bar. Although I had been keen to try one for some time, I wasn't sure how I'd cope with the serious sweep on this bar. I'm still not sure if I'd go for it. It certainly didn't affect handling at all, whether seated or standing. It provides a more natural wrist position and as such makes perfect sense. It might just take a bit more time on the bike to get better acquainted with it. Overall, a lovely performing bike that is beautifully made. I didn't quite manage to bond with it the way I did with the 26in Inbred, but I was nonetheless very impressed with the overall feel of the bike. Hopefully we can experiment with some lighter tyres and/or wheels. If the bike can be made to feel a bit more lively under power it will be an even more impressive ride. MintSauce2009-02-19 04:26:02
