Hungry Monkey Part 4: The Ride

[Brian Fantana]

Bliksem, this even better than what imagined. The best looking and most sensible (for my type of riding) bike I have ever seen.

 

Awesome mountain bike. I will take on any marathon, XCO, Enduro or aggressive trail ride on this machine.

[Shebeen]

ok my third post here, just shows I keep coming back to look.

 

finally worked out where it jiggled my memory. I pity the fool who mock this bike.

http://www.starcarhire.co.uk/UploadedImages/172_1large.jpg

[Iwan Kemp]

Thanks, all credit to BogusOne and David Mercer. It's been a fun project.

 

Bliksem, this even better than what imagined. The best looking and most sensible (for my type of riding) bike I have ever seen.

Awesome mountain bike. I will take on any marathon, XCO, Enduro or aggressive trail ride on this machine.

 

You get this bike! It's all of that and more. 

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Awesome bike Iwan, really one of a kind.

Just a question, what is hanging off of the bottom of the bottle cage?

Love those wheels, they must sound amazing with the I9 hubs.

[Iwan Kemp]

Awesome bike Iwan, really one of a kind.

Just a question, what is hanging off of the bottom of the bottle cage?

Love those wheels, they must sound amazing with the I9 hubs.

 

Thanks. It's Spez bottle cage with multi-tool. 

 

[rock]

you know what would have been cool, for Mr Mercer to fit a 3rd rivnut so you could get the spez cage with the lunch box.

[the nerd]

Are you going to get the through axle sliders?

[Chro Mo]

Awesome!!

[Iwan Kemp]

Beautiful bike, that paint wow! 

 

 

Just one question, and its a good one...

 

Why you running QR on the rear, why don't you have the thru-axle sliders on there? 

 

We looked into the option of going with 12x142 dropouts, but they were VERY expensive. After a long chat with Dave we settled on QR. 

[the nerd]

We looked into the option of going with 12x142 dropouts, but they were VERY expensive. After a long chat with Dave we settled on QR. 

 

What is nice is the fact that you can change those dropouts later for 142x12

[popcorn_skollie]

That's cool as **** Mister. Only one theme song comes to mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo8Qls0HnWo

[Iwan Kemp]

I'm somewhere between

 

 

and

 

[SimpleDom]

What a machine. I have no words.

[johanpre44]

Those wheels do almost look fatty sized!

 

Very nice...

[Iwan Kemp]

What a machine. I have no words.

 

 

Those wheels do almost look fatty sized!

 

Very nice...

 

Thanks 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I'm borrowing the monkey from Iwan for a while, and I took it to Hoogekraal for a quick spin in the wind yesterday evening.

 

What follows is an accurate representation of my experience and thoughts on the bike...

 

Oh. My. ****.

 

Wow. Just, wow. The stiffness of the frame fork & wheel combo was evident from the get go, and I didn't know quite how to react. It's easily the stiffness bike I've ridden, and I include my old schwinn carbon roadie sled in that list. Granted I'm not the fittest rider out there, and Raydek blasts me on the climbs but it truly was evident in it's climbing prowess. Took a bit of time to get used to, and a bit if time to get used to climbing a hardtail again (bounce bounce bounce over imperfections instead of just absorbing all of them with the rear squish) but when I got enough energy to get out of the saddle, this thing just took it as an invitation to mimic a top fuel dragster. The very short (but adjustable) chainstay length meant I had to keep my wits about me on the steeper switchbacks and hunker over the bars to prevent the front from lifting, but that for me is just a sign of how playful it could be on the way down, and something I can live with in the pursuit of more smiles.

 

Again, it took a bit of getting used to being on a hardtail again, but on the way down this thing excels.

 

The numbers say that with the pike set at 150mm, the head angle is 66 degrees. What those numbers don't tell you is that even though its slacker than most modern day trail / all mountain bikes, this thing turns in like an xc weapon with a 71 deg head angle and the wheelbase of a mosquito.

 

The combination of the Pike, 750mm carbon bars, 50mm stem & ridiculously stiff 40mm carbon Derby wheelset on that sublime steel frame means that the turn in is razor sharp and almost surgical in it's precision. So much so, in fact, that I nearly lost it about 3 or 4 times by over-turning - having to correct my course out of a corner because the bike had been that quick to change direction that it had caught me by surprise.

 

To be honest, I truly don't know how much of that stiffness and accuracy is as a result of Mr Mercer's wizardry in designing such a sublime frame, or whether it's got something to do with those ridiculously stiff Derby wheels, carbon bar & pike, but it's something that I'm going to have to determine by swapping out the wheelset with something a little bit less... boutique. If Iwan lets me, that is.

 

What I do know is that this bike is a RIDICULOUS amount of fun to ride, and (like the reign) is just begging for a fitter rider to be able to wring its neck.

 

Just on those Derby rims... 34mm internal, 40mm external. Almost plus sized dimensions. Hans dapmf tyres, which i don't normally like as they don't grip as well as the magic and muddy Mary. Running them at about 1.3 bar... The grip, she is amazing. I was expecting more grip than usual with the write ups that we've seen on wider rims and their qualities, but goodness gracious this was a surprise. Grip. For. Days. I NEED those rims. I don't just want them, I NEED them. After just 60 minutes on the bike, they made themselves that well known. The hype is real.

 

In closing though, this is one helluva bike. Capable (in the right hands) fun and just razor sharp. I'll be taking her out again tomorrow afternoon and Sunday, as well as through the next few weeks as I borrow her from Iwan. I really am looking forward to my time with this black vixen