Submitted by
Kenji Scott
a Cross Country Rider
from Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Date Reviewed: December 2, 2001
Strengths: Light as hell, quick, gut-wrenching handling for all terrain.
Weaknesses: Dent-able, low nose...?
Bottom Line:
I got this bike 2nd hand and it looks to be 10+ yrs old. I've tried a few '00- Kona hardtails along with some brodies but performance wise, i gotta say it matches hardtails well after its time. I do mostly city riding and some occaisional trails and it takes it all np. I recently replaced the original straight bars to raised ones cuz I thought the low bars were literally a pain in the back. I can only speak for the older models but i'll say the frame's for the financially concerned, the long-term trail rider or a wannabe extreme trail-ripper. The paint sticks well & the bike generally holds toghether well despite all the dents in it.
Similar Products Used: Rigid Velo Sport Access, rigid Nishiki Expedition, some hardtail Brodies.
Bike Setup: Rock Shox Judy fork, XT & XTR brakes et al. Mavic & Rhyno Lite Rims. Aheadset w/Radical bars.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
John Legere
a Racer
from Farmington, CT, USA
Date Reviewed: July 4, 2000
Strengths: Excellent Climber and descender. It changed my riding style completely and helped me move from beginner to expert class in just one year.
Weaknesses: None that I am aware of.
Bottom Line:
With this bike you just point and shoot. I ride some of the steepest descents the Northeast has to offer. In just two race seasons, this bike has helped me move from weekend warrior to placing in the top ten in the expert XC catagory. Buy this bike if you want to ride anything. Don't buy this bike if you are a light freak.
Submitted by
Bill
a cross-country rider
from pittsburgh
Date Reviewed: January 6, 1999
Bottom Line:
i just picked the frame up from the shop i work at genisis rules it is stiff and climbs like a champ the short stem really improves handling i would recomend this for anyone
Submitted by
Dan Clifford
a cross-country rider
from Essex, London
Date Reviewed: December 10, 1998
Bottom Line:
This is the phattest bike I have ever ridden, superb geometry, disc brakes f+r, what more can I say, I fell in love the first time I saw it, fell deeper in love, first time I rode it. Superb. Try it. You'll love it!! I'm talking about 1999 X-Caliber.
Submitted by
John
a cross-country rider
from Sonoma County CA
Date Reviewed: July 5, 1998
Bottom Line:
I ride three times a week and race in about five events during the season. The type of ridding I do is almost all narrow single track. Lots of technical climbs and steep bombing decents. My Ex-caliber w/ XT groupo and Bomber Z2 fork eat it up. The handling is great and durability is there for me. Bent a deralier hanger and LBC in Cotati was good to me cuz it was a fisher- new frame! Love passing up those techno-geeks on +$2500 Ibis at Annadel and Boggs Mtn. See ya on the Sonoma County single track at 4:20!
I LOVE THE GARY FISHER SUPER CALIBRE!!!!! I have the 97. One flaw i saw.. just like adam mentioned is.. the so called denting =( I did a steep drop off and the handle bar turned all the way around towards the top tube and dented my top tube=( its about 2 millimeters deep. Do any of you know if my bike will be alright? If people out there want to do some riding in vancouver b.c. canada, please check out http://www.angelfire.com/va/extrememtb/ and it might do a little convincing for ya=) read the NORTH SHORE section and check out the pics! I gurantee if will hype you up and MAKE YOU come do some riding in vancouver=) Latez! and if anyone knows anything about my dent, plz e-mail me=) RiDe On!!
Submitted by
Adam
a cross-country rider
from Portland, OR
Date Reviewed: April 15, 1998
Bottom Line:
well cross country would best describe my riding style of those that I had to choose from, but I would call myself a trials and trick rider that rides and races cross country whenenver I can, but I mostly do tricks, do A LOT of jumping and hopping, and to tell you the truth I crash everytime I ride, cuz I'm always trying new and difficult tricks and trails. I actually have a 96 Paragon all upgraded to full XTR, ESP 9.0, and Kore Elite 2 and I switched to a Manitou special edition Shaun Palmer Stroker FS Ti w/80mm of travel for my jumping cushion, so the bike is decked. Well, to the point, I do all that harch riding on my bike and he thing holds up great! The frame is strong and yet just flexy enough to give you nice cushion on the trail or wherever. the paint is scratched really badly but that is just because I ride a lot and go down hard a lot, and after all the abuse I give it, the only flaw in the frame itself is when I wheelied over backwards off a curb and the seatstay smashed into the curb's edge and gave the frame a nice dent, but oh well, whatever. Even with this big dent in my frame the frame is still just as strong as before the dent, I always forget it's even there until I clean my bike off. This just shows how great the bike is built and I am sure that the X-caliber is just as great of a bike because of the new technology for the Fisher bikes in 98 so the x-caliber has got to be a great bike, so from my assumption about the bike from the performance mine gives I give my bike and the x-caliber 5 huge chilli's.
Submitted by
Chris Barnes
a cross-country rider
from Nova Scotia, Canada
Date Reviewed: March 20, 1998
Bottom Line:
The Gary Fisher x-caliber bike I have this pictular bike and on of Gary Fisher's other bike but the x-caliber is my favouite bike of the two.i like to use my x-caliber as ofter as I can. I usally just stay i the woods with it on my oun trails but next summer I'm going to start raicing Chris Barnes Speedking66
Submitted by
P.K.
a cross-country rider
from Franklin, MA
Date Reviewed: November 3, 1997
Bottom Line:
Although I say I'm a cross country rider, that's not quite true. I use the x-caliber for everything a bike shouldn't be used for; jumping over people in groups of ten, crashing at 40 mph into piles of rocks, and racing on bmx tracks. Oh yeah, I do a little XC to. But the bike is still there, over time the parts have died, the wheels came close to blowing up, all thats left original is the f. Derailleur, BB, and headset. But that's alright because the frame is still perfect. Scratched beyond recognition, but still the best all around hardtail I've ever ridden. Get this bike and beat the hell out of it, it can't be broken!
Submitted by
P.K.
a cross-country rider
from Franklin, MA
Date Reviewed: November 3, 1997
Bottom Line:
Although I say I'm a cross country rider, that's not quite true. I use the x-caliber for everything a bike shouldn't be used for; jumping over people in groups of ten, crashing at 40 mph into piles of rocks, and racing on bmx tracks. Oh yeah, I do a little XC to. But the bike is still there, over time the parts have died, the wheels came close to blowing up, all thats left original is the f. Derailleur, BB, and headset. But that's alright because the frame is still perfect. Scratched beyond recognition, but still the best all around hardtail I've ever ridden. Get this bike and beat the hell out of it, it can't be broken!
Submitted by
Don Demick
a cross-country rider
from Madison,WI
Date Reviewed: August 20, 1996
Bottom Line:
I just picked up a new X-Caliber last week for a low price of $750. The bike is LX except the rear derailer which is XT. I also swapped the Gripshift and the diacomp brake levers for rapidfire and XT levers. For the price, I don't think this bike can be beat. The welds look perfect and I love the 535 pedals. My only complaint is the BCX1 rims. They appear to be a little weak.
Thoughts? Comments on reliability?
Does anyone know why none of the above list the weight of the bike on their website, and where I could go to find out?
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