Submitted by
smglasbiker
a Racer
from Bloomington, IN, USA
Date Reviewed: July 4, 2009
Strengths: Full Titanium, Flawless metal work, Spot on handling, Pride of ownership, Amazing suspension feel and performance, Durability.
Weaknesses: 27.2 seat post size(rather at least a 28.6). Initial bushing squeak that was solved completely with bearing upgrade. Red loctite your head tube badge. Only made 3 years.
Bottom Line:
This is one of the finest handling cross country full suspension bikes I have ridden. It delivers a very precise and efficient ride do to the design of the M-Arc suspension. I never have to ride it locked out due to its efficiency. I was a dedicated hard tail rider before demoing one of these for 2 weeks. I realize the limitations of the bushings, as mine came with them, but I personally did the work upgrading mine to sealed bearings and now it is flawless(I would not recommend doing the upgrade yourself unless you are good with a lathe). This bike was over 8 years in the design process. It was designed by legendary bike genius Kent Eriksen and it shows in its performance. I feel the frame was technologically ahead of its time, but now that we have the Fox RP23 and Talas it has really come into its own. I normally run it at 100mm and with tubeless pythons the handling is so good it is almost like cheating. My bike is not set up light, it weighs 27 lbs and I am a 220 lb rider that rides at an expert level, so it gets ridden hard and fast. My friend has the exact same Mootaineer and we have ridden the frames to failure(all frame break eventually if they are really ridden). Only long term weakness we have found is the drive side chain stay near the bb pivot which was fixed by Moots for a smoking deal($60). It doesn't get any better than that for a second owner. We also broke the bar that goes through the top of the shock, which has been redesigned and is stronger. I absolutely love this bike and after two years it puts a smile on my face every time I ride, can't ask for more than that. Do to the expense of production for Moots and the cost to the consumer there were less than 150 of these produced, very cool. Given the expense of fabricating all the Ti and Aluminum parts, length of developement plus the quality of ride, I feel the bike is priced right and is a deal. Feel free to email me if you want to chat about Mootaineers: smglasbiker@hotmail.com. This bike has found a permanent home with me, if society and the economy all go south I will ride out of town on this bike forsaking all others...ok maybe towing my custom hard tail Cherry Bicycles Dear John on my Bob Trailer. The Dear John and I have a history, can't leave it behind.
Similar Products Used: Intense Tracer, Cannondale Super V, Santa Cruz Super light, Specialized FSR, Scalpel, Jekyll, Trek Fuel, Klein Mantra among others
Bike Setup: 08' XTR Dual Control, 180/160 Discs, Crossmax SL, Moots Riser Bar Stem and Post, Gobi Saddle, Tubeless Pythons, King, 09' Fox Talas RLC and RP23
Strengths: Takes a coil, 4" of travel, can be retrofitted with bearings, can be built for any use.
Weaknesses: You have to know what you are building it with
Bottom Line:
This is an update. I have changed the bike - put a romic shock in the rear. It completely eliminated very small bobbing bike had. Bike now bombs down the trail. Very plush. What is important, you cannot just borrow this bike for a day and get an impression. Moots says that it is optimized for 465mm crown to crown forks. This is not 4" fork for most fork manufactures, so you got to be careful here. I used to have wb at-4 on the bike, and the handling was faster that my sola. Now I put xfly on it, and the handling is neutral, it fits me perfect, since I glide through rock gardens now. If you want a trail bike, not a race bike like smoothie, go with mootaineer. I "race" my ss seven anyway, but when my back hurts, I cure it with a dose of mootaineer.
Similar Products Used: all moots bikes except rogor mootis, seven sola, seven duo, merlins, you name it
Bike Setup: romic, xfly 2002, hope, king ISO etc
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Karen
a Cross Country Rider
from Costa Mesa, CA
Date Reviewed: September 13, 2002
Strengths: Light and plush
Weaknesses: a little slow on steering
Bottom Line:
The bottom line on the Mootaineer is it is an incredible riding bike. I especially liked it after riding for a day. I could get off the bike and still feel like I could ride some more or ride the next day. What I didn't like about it was I felt it was a little slow in the turns when going downhill on singletrack. However, I really didn't come to this realization until I rode the Smoothie, which for me is the perfect bike. You get comfort and fast handling. My husband had originally bought me the Mootaineer but I decided I liked the Smoothie better. By the way I did not "settle" on the Smoothie I just liked it better because it's more aggressive and I only ride with the boys.
Strengths: Well, it is a MOOTAINEER, and there is no substitute!
Weaknesses: Well, for the price I have paid it got none
Bottom Line:
Just build it up and this bike rocks. I have always lusted for my wifes mootaineer, and now I can ride my own. Thanks to John who made it all possible. Stop kidding yourself, this is the best XC Fs bike money can buy. It can do everything titus, ventana you name it can do and it will not brake. And if it will, just say it is possible - it got lifetime warranty. Mine weighs 5.1 lbs and gives 4.1" of travel. Did I mention that it rides like a dream? It also has only three lincage points - less maintanance. Get one if you can afford it, do not settle for a smoothie, heh, heh, heh.
Similar Products Used: seven sola, titus SB, merlin mtn
Bike Setup: 18.5" 2001 frame, king ti hs, wb at4, hope minis, king hubs bontrager mustangs, moots stem and post, monkey lites, odi grips and xtr drivetrain
