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Submitted by
Jason
a Cross Country Rider
from Boise, ID, USA
Date Reviewed: May 21, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Flank Trail, Whistler | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1099.00 | | Purchased At: | Price Point | | Strengths: | Great suspension design, nice componentry for the most part (Truvative, XT/LX, Avid). SID shock works flawlessly. Light, quick, climbs great. Disk ready wheelset. Quality frame construction. Price!!! | | Weaknesses: | SID fork clunk (first though it to be headset or loose spokes), common prob with this fork and riders over 85 lbs. Seat like a brick. Cheap Deore front derailleur pain in the *ss to set up, tends to either drop the chain or rub the cage regardless of what you do. Chain questionable. Tires are a little skinny for fast rails. | | Similar Products Used: | Fisher Sugar, Fisher Cake, Kona Kikapu and all the hard tails I once knew. | | Bike Setup: | WTB Laser V Ti saddle, Time ATAC XS peddles, Race Face Deus stem, LX front derailleur, SRAM PC-69 chain. All else stock. | | Bottom Line: | Can't beat the quality of this bike for the price. Was going to buy a Cake 2, but the 4 link suspension design on the KHS wins over Fisher's single pivot design (SPV or not). Lighter than the equivalent Kona, with more bling. Can't describe how great it works, blends sooo well with the fast geometry of this bike. A couple of minor gripes, but fixable: Gave up trying to adjust the junk Deore der and replaced w/ a LX and SRAM chain (stock chain doesn't shift very crisp), all seems good now. Cured the SID knock with lighter weight oil in the Pure Delight Damper. Might swap in a Psylo later and Ebay the SID, but it actually works pretty well for most agressive XC as is. In short; looking for a great XC race-oriented bike at a steal? Buy this one. Don't worry, the color will grow on you. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Jesse
a Cross Country Rider
from Crawford, TX, USA
Date Reviewed: May 21, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Cameron Park, Waco Texas | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1099.00 | | Purchased At: | Pricepoint.com | | Strengths: | Great bike, excellent components for the money. Excellent value. You can tune the suspension to the type of ride you desire, stiff or plush or anywhere in between. | | Weaknesses: | It took awhile to tune the suspension. The Rock Shox SID had a little rattle that sounded like a loose head set. I called Rock Shox and they advised me to adjust the rebound and that solved the problem. No weakness to speak of really. | | Similar Products Used: | First full suspension bike I've ever ridden. Hard tails Trek, Marin Nail Trail. | | Bike Setup: | Stock with the exception of tires. Replaced the stock Panaracer Trail Blaster with Huthinson Spider, a little more aggressive tread | | Bottom Line: | The is a great bike for the money. I almost purchased a similar Trek (Fuel 90) from or lbs, but I found this deal at Pricepint about $400 less and no sales tax. I have always heard that riding a good full suspension bike you don't get as tired, or fatigued. This is true. With a hard tail, alot of energy is expensed due to vibration and rough ride. Also, you have much better control on rough, rocky down hills, so I find myself going much faster. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mel Yee
a Cross Country Rider
from Auckland, New Zealand
Date Reviewed: May 4, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Whakarewarewa | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$1330.00 | | Purchased At: | Dealer | | Strengths: | Fast and responsive steering, yet stable and forgiving handling. Great climber. Bang for the Bucks. | | Weaknesses: | Had problems with the stock shock. This was promptly upgraded under warranty. Unbranded or not well known manufacturer on some of the parts, eg. seat post and handlebars. | | Bike Setup: | Changed brakes to '04 Shimano Deore discs, and added Fizik Nisene CP saddle. Now has Rock Shox U-Turn rear shock. Rest of the bike is stock | | Bottom Line: | Excellent all round bike. Used for cross country/trail riding 2-3 time a week and the occasional race. Very forgiving of mistakes that would have seen me on the ground with previous bike. Addition of disc brakes well worth the money. Still playing with fork and shock pressures, though haven't experimented with the suspension travel adjustment that the Rock Shox U-Turn rear shock affords. Though some parts are unbranded or of obscure origin (in this part of the world anyway) they have held up well so far. Throughly recommended purchase. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Steve
a Cross Country Rider
from Brisbane
Date Reviewed: April 23, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | Bunyaville | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$1100.00 | | Purchased At: | Astrobike Alderley | | Strengths: | Excellent geometry and specs for the price. Comes 'disk brake ready'. Reasonably light at around 12kg (26.5 lbs) | | Weaknesses: | very few | | Similar Products Used: | Giant NRS | | Bike Setup: | Only changes I made were swapping the SID Race front forks for Marz Bomber MX Comp w/ ETA and putting shimano clipless pedals on in place of the cheaper VP Clipless. | | Bottom Line: | I moved from a hardtail to this bike and don't regret it for a second. It suits the cross country/ trail rider and basically rides very similar to the NRS in most ways. The rear SID shock can be set to eliminate 'bob' but still has a small amount of sag for comfort.
This bike does all I wish it to do for my level of riding which is around 4 - 5 rides per week on trails that see the suspension using all it's travel. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Scott x
a Cross Country Rider
from Malibu
Date Reviewed: April 9, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | crosses | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$1000.00 | | Purchased At: | ebay | | Strengths: | I love this bike. My first full suspension... I enjoy messing around with the rock shock sid race air pressure settings (front and rear). and a bigger front tire improved stability. The good folks at Switchback cyclery in Orange are very nice helping me learn and very generous with their excellent knowledge. | | Weaknesses: | headset- fsa dl. already destroyed. I do small jumps and rocky stream crossings which beat it up a bit, but I don't think i'm too harsh on it. Or maybe I am? | | Bike Setup: | all stock | | Bottom Line: | glad I decided on last years model for 1/2 price. Not too worried to thrash and learn now... | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
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