nervous, great geometry for endurance riding, nimble on downhill

weight (but is sturdiness really a weakness?)

I got mine in Hong Kong where the frames are engineered by a team of french engineers and endurance athletes (who I use to ride with). The bike is made in Taiwan in one of the leading factories (where Ibis is made I think, but I can be wrong). Chiru is a small bike company that specialized in endurance racing products. Sadly it's not distributed in the US yet.
This frame was sold to me for it's endurance capabilities. I wasn't interested in an ultra-light XC racing frame made for 160pounds XC rider who must be passed on at the end of a racing season like a hot potato before if finally brakes.
Since I met the engineers who made it I had the opportunity to ask questions about how it's built: this model is an OEM frame mold with a custom carbon layup. It is reenforced around the BB and the chainstays. I also has a base layer of kevlar so it doesn't shatters as easily and respects European Union norms for bike frames (therefore slightly heavier).
It has square tubes for the front triangle and an oversized headtube and wide chainstays. It's laterally extremely rigid laterally but it is relativly soft vertically. The vibration dumping is excellent. I had the opportunity to compare it with some highend Specialized and cannondale hardtails and the difference was very noticeable: the other bikes were making me feel the terrain like if there was no interface between hands, feet and butt and the ground.
One of the most amusing particularity of this bike was it's downhill capabilities – for a 26er hardtail. It was very confident, this despite some very light wheels, relatively narrow tires (Maxxis Xmarks exception series) and very average forks (RS sid). I lent it to a friend for a local Xterra competition – he is racing at world level ranking top 20 – and he agreed with this statement. I had similar comments from competitive adventure racer friend who I lent it to for a 24 hour race.

I got a full bike with the SRAM X0 level combo (so with Truvativ Noir and Rockshox components). It had some super light wheels from Alex Rims (not imported in the US), the "A-class" series. The rear hub broke shattered after a year an a half – lesson: don't ride a lot with race wheels. The full bike with everything on it was around 21 pounds – I'm not a weight-winie!

The life of this frame ended with a sad note: I backed up my car over it and broke the frame! A dumb accident. Since I got the 29er hard tail from Chiru – the PULSE. A brilliant bike which was on highest step of last year's World Adventure Racing Championship with Team Thule. I would love to review it but it doesn't show up in the list.

A shame CHIRU isn't distributed in the US because this brand is one of the few bike manufacturers who really understand the world of ultra endurance - its owners and engineers are among the best endurance athletes in Asia and they make bikes to ride hard, far and for a long time. If any of you wants to follow these guys the best way is to get follow " CHIRU Bikes " on Facebook, there site is outdated.

Similar Products Used:

Yeti ARC (ok, it's not carbon fiber), Specialized SWORK 29er (long demo), Niner Air9 (demo), CHIRU PULSE 29er (current bike)