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Submitted by
Scott Willson
a Racer
from Madison, CT
Date Reviewed: December 13, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
B-17 | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
Lots of travel (something like 3 inches in the front and 5 in the back).
Nice, stable ride at all speeds.
Feels light for a downhill-worthy bike.
Nobody else has bikes that look like this. | | Weaknesses: |
Feels soft if you try to handle out of the saddle.
Uniquely plush ride is pretty, well, unique.
Industrial styling. | | Similar Products Used: |
Various Softrides
Cannondale Ravens
Pro-Flex | | Bike Setup: |
One shock in head-tube, two in back (newest versions have Fox shock, I think).
Mix of LX, XT, and XTR. | | Bottom Line: | This bike instantly made me a much better off-road rider. It's amazingly forgiving of harsh terrain, stupid lines, hard braking, and poor body positions.I'm not a full-suspension sort of guy at all. I've tried lots of them over the years, but always came away unimpressed and went back to riding old minimally-suspended mountain frames or my 'cross bike.This bike converted me, though. It's remarkably stable inching around tricky stuff and yet rock-solid at 40 mph, too. I've done all sort of stupid stuff -- bad lines, lousy balance, too fast through rough trails -- and this bike just takes it no problem. I used to get dropped by any half-decent off-road rider, and now the tables are turned. And I know I haven't gotten any better.This isn't a bike for everyone, though. It looks like nothing else out there. It's built by one guy, J.P. Morgen, a machinist in San Francisco. I think J.P. goes to the hadrware store to get letters to glue on to the frame. I think the bike looks cool, but if you want that snazzy Colnago-style paint job or get tired of people asking, 'what the h-ll kind of bike is that?' look elsewhere. I also don't know how this bike compares to others on, say, a long fire-road climb, as it weighs in at 26 lbs. But I've seen lots of people have good success with them in cross-country races, and J.P. used to drop me all the time going uphill. | Overall Rating: |
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