I’m on the hunt for a new bike. Currently ride a Mojo 3 and eyeballing a switchblade really hard. But the rascal and new rail29 have me very curious. I like a good pedaling bike but my main trails are not extreme ups and downs, but very rocky lots of embedded square edge rocks. The switchblade feels pretty good but I keep hearing about some CBF Voodoo magic. I rode a v1 Hightower a few years back and it peddled great and felt so smooth in the rocks. How do the revels compare? I also rode a stumpy evo but didn’t like the way it pedaled, it pedaled like a big bike to me compared to the switchblade. I think I might like the slacker STA compared to some other bikes too. I get wrist pain a lot and think the newer bikes don’t help that.
How good is CBF?
desertwheeler
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This is a good summary. Nothing climbed like the V1 or V2 Ripleys I had ....except.,..on ledgy stuff and square-edged hits. Tried a few different shocks including tunes from Avalanche or the Inline IL with tons of adjustability and never quite got it to my liking. That goes for the DW-link Turner 5spot and RFX. RFX was best with a coil but then went Delta on an Evil Offering. So much fun on the down but not even close to the climbing prowess of DW-link the edge-effects notwithstanding.
I'm now on a Revel Rail Mullet and it's that good of an all-rounder even at 165mm rear travel.that I'm selling the Offering.
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i actually feel quite lucky to have the two bikes as they both don’t give up too much to each other in their own regard, but the moment the rail29 was announced i put one on order. ill be selling the mach 6 come summertime for my rangers big brother. the ranger is the only bike i’ve ever kept longer than a year so i’m hoping the rail29 gives me that same sort of feeling!
oh and by the way my personal anecdotes on the mach 6 handling is with a coil shock.
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997 Posts
For me I have always had 26/27.5 so it’s hard to tell what I gain with the 29r by itself let alone with a different suspension design. I just know I want 29 and something that eats up my rocky trails. If that means I’m over biked I’m good with that It’s a give and take. I just don’t see myself going any less travel.
I’m anxious to try the rascal, the shop tells me it’s not as snappy as the pivot but smooths rough terrain nice.
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I’m anxious to try the rascal, the shop tells me it’s not as snappy as the pivot but smooths rough terrain nice.
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6,240 Posts
Square edge performance is going to be more dependent on your shock than suspension kinematics.
Sounds sick! Where you riding? I'm hoping the Worldwide I'm PA gets (or has) one so I could check it out. That's what I said when I bought mine. Do I really need this? Nope. Is kashima worth it? Absolutely not. Too much bike? Definitely.
I'll take it!!
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997 Posts
I ride the SoCal desert. Pro bike supply in Newport has several demo bikes and trying the ones that strike my fancy. They have a rail and a rascal to try maybe they will get a rail29 soon to try.
Have fun. Report back please!!
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Here is a picture for reference of my terrain.
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Thank you. Nailed it, especially this: "that weird hangy feeling DW gets on ledgy climbing." (Coming from someone with 2 Ibises, a Rascal and a Transition.)
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i’ve got the first rail29 frame on order from pro bike. i doubt they’ll have the new bike as a demo for a while as the new frames probably aren’t showing up til june.
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Yeah that’s what they said when I talked to them. I doubt I’m gonna wait that long before I get a bike but I might.
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I’ve ridden a fair number of suspension designs, DW, Split Pivot, VPP, Trek, single pivots, and though I’m fairly competent at suspension set up, I’m not one to compare kinematics; I just ride the bike and if I like it I keep it.![Image]()
Here is a picture for reference of my terrain.
My two current rides are a Guerilla Gravity Shed Dogg (Hirst Link) and the Canfield Lithium (CBF). Both bikes ride very well, I don’t know that I prefer one over the other, but I’d say the GG is more poppy and more “reactive” whereas the Lithium is smoother and more consistent.
For a daily driver, I’d take the CBF, it just rides nicer and I feel like I can ride further without feeling as beat up. My rides are generally rocky, steep, technical, anywhere from a quick jaunt after work to an all day epic.
It’s funny that you should post that picture, it looks a lot like where I was riding yesterday above Carson City:
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They do look similar. Looks like some good riding too.
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Out of curiosity what’s the real world tire clearance on the rascal? Says 2.4 but will it fit a 2.5 aggressor or other 2.5’s?
It really depends on how hard you push your bike. There is pretty good clearance with a 2.3 but I still have rub marks on the seatstays.
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997 Posts
So this has got me thinking. I’ve only had 3 styles of bikes single pivots, Horst links (Ellsworth) and my DW Mojo 3. My epiphany had a push tuned rp23 and felt great and I never felt like the ibis handled the sharp edges quite the same. I’ve never felt like it took the square hits as good as my Ellsworth but everything else was great. This has me second guessing even if a switchblade is right for what I want.
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2,180 Posts
I'm running an aggressor 2.5wt on my rascal with occasional rub, but the frame saver is fine so not too worried. I'm currently riding in Az
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I had the chance to ride the Rail 29 a couple of times this past weekend out in Sedona for the festival. I was strongly encouraged by my local shop to get some miles on it, so it was the first bike I took out once the demos opened up. I'm currently on a Yeti 5.5 with the Float X and a Fox 36 with the Grip 2 damper. I am an XL rider, and am about 235 rider weight. When I hopped on the Rail for the first time - also my first time on a Revel or CBF, it was pretty subdued. In pedaling down the road to the trail head, there was no pedal bob at all. Just kinda low key. The demo was spec'd with a Debonair Ultimate and a Zeb Ultimate. Again first time riding these two. We took the path up Teacup and down Grand Central, to Adobe Jack. When it started to go uphill, the bike was really confident, and reminded me of my Yeti, but climbed better and the rear end came alive to a degree. Going down hill, the bike was more lively, but again, the term that came to mind was "competent" To me the bike felt like it was saying "I got this". The Yeti and the Fox fork loves to go over the chunky stuff, and it doesn't do the best job of smoothing out the small bump stuff, but does gobble up the bigger hits. The Zeb was way more plush off the top, and was like a magic carpet over the chunk. I tried to hit as many bonus lines as I possibly could to see if I could get myself out of my comfort zone, and I didn't succeed on the Rail. It seemed like a very confident, but a quiet bike in its temperament. It doesn't feel super fast or snappy as far as pedaling goes, but it is FAST.
To contrast it with the other 2 bikes I rode during the festival - the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO, and my Yeti 5.5 - I was really shocked at how confident the Rail was on the climbs. For being a bigger bike, it climbs REALLY well. Better than the Evo and better than my 5.5. The Evo struggled with the back end over chunky climbs. I felt like I was dragging the back end up with me at times. Descending on the Evo is typical FSR - it does ok. Its not great, its not bad, its just there. The 36 on the demo bike didn't have the same spacer set up like mine, so it was a bit more harsh, but that's to be expected. If I didn't know any better, and if I was only going by specs, the Evo is a good bike, but its so many compromises overall. My Yeti is feeling a bit out dated when it comes to climbs, and that's my biggest goal with getting a new ride - to get more modern geometry, and to let me climb a bit better. It still descends like a lunatic, but it doesn't feel as refined and controlled as the Rail did. I always feel like the Yeti can go faster than I am comfortable with, downhill, and that's totally fine.
To contrast it with the other 2 bikes I rode during the festival - the Specialized Stumpjumper EVO, and my Yeti 5.5 - I was really shocked at how confident the Rail was on the climbs. For being a bigger bike, it climbs REALLY well. Better than the Evo and better than my 5.5. The Evo struggled with the back end over chunky climbs. I felt like I was dragging the back end up with me at times. Descending on the Evo is typical FSR - it does ok. Its not great, its not bad, its just there. The 36 on the demo bike didn't have the same spacer set up like mine, so it was a bit more harsh, but that's to be expected. If I didn't know any better, and if I was only going by specs, the Evo is a good bike, but its so many compromises overall. My Yeti is feeling a bit out dated when it comes to climbs, and that's my biggest goal with getting a new ride - to get more modern geometry, and to let me climb a bit better. It still descends like a lunatic, but it doesn't feel as refined and controlled as the Rail did. I always feel like the Yeti can go faster than I am comfortable with, downhill, and that's totally fine.
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All I'll say is that I just sold my Ripmo V2 frame b/c no matter what I did with the suspension, I could never get it where I wanted for the type of riding I bought it for. I sent my Topaz into DVO for custom tuning and ran a CC Kitsuma air, and I just couldn't get through chunk like I can on my HD5 I still own (and love) and the Transition Sentinel that replaced the Ripmo.
I think suspension design is really personal and should be judged or based by what kind of riding you're doing. I've owned 2 Knollys and to this day, I think they are the best technical climbing bikes I've ever owned. Hands down. Thins are billy goats. CBF is next in line tho, and is much more efficient platform than Knolly. I think DW climb the best as far as efficiency is concerned and are super poppy and responsive, but sacrifice suppleness at high speeds and can kick back in chunk/against ledges. The Sentinel is my first official HL and only have a handful of rides on it. TBD as I'm still working on setting up the suspension, but I'm clearing stuff the Ripmo used to bounce me off of and it's so crazy comfortable at speed.
I am not a suspension guru or a pro or semi-pro rider but I ride a lot and have been riding since 1992. Been on a lot of different bikes with different suspension designs. I went out to Moab Sept 2020 and rented a Rascal for 7 days and I'm going to say that it was the best rear suspension I can recall ever riding. I don't know if it was just the terrain that made it feel good or the design itself. I'm not sure how it would translate to my local trails in SW Pa but I honestly couldn't have picked a better bike for Moab, IMO.
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