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i finally just said screw it and took the new bike out anyway. odus was 100% behind me on this as he got to come along for the ride. we got on our gear and headed out the door leavin the truck behind for this one. nuthin like just ridin to the good spot instead of drivin to it.
first thing i noticed is it felt a whole lot like my h/t on the flats. this suprised me greatly but thats what i felt none the less. now before ya roll yer eyes and say "that guys a idiot", yeah i checked the sag, the preload, the rebound, the lockout switch and the ava can. all was proper. it rolled quite smoothly and never felt boggy as i expected it to on a 5" bike. even with the cheeseball signature series tensioner on it, it seemed to glide much like a road bike on hard surfaces. i gotta say though it felt like it wandered all over the place when pointed straight. maybe it was the taller front end and the slack geo as compared to my flux and all the other short travel bikes i own. im sure ill get used to it or make a change that will cure this feeling so i wont get bummed just yet.
on the downs it behaved quite nutrally but thats no suprise really. it was quite plush on the smal drops i took it off of and remained very tolerant of the impacts it saw even with a air damper on the back as opposed to the coil fork up front. even on the wet stuff it wanted to grab on and hold on tight, again much like a road bike might if circumstances were all alike.
on the climbs it really didnt feel like a 32lb sled as i was so afraid it would. now i see what pack owners are talkin about when makin comparisons to the flux. dt was right all along, this thing can go uphill without kickin this old mans ass. i did take the time to try the ecc knob and liked how it behaved when i got to the really steep bit but not before tryin it without to see if the front would float about and i was pleased it stayed put just as if i was on asphault. one thing that took me by suprise was the way the ecc didnt feel like it shot the fork up like a rocket when i turned it off. a fast pop, yes, but not a jaw breaking extension as expected.
in the turns it was kinda hard to say what i thought. with odus there and all the traffic out on such a beautiful day, the first nice day and the first day above freezing in many weeks, i found it tough to let it lose in the 50 deg sunshine for fear of runnin into him or some other user. speed will have to wait for the next test ride. what i did feel was a very stable bike even for a higher b/bkt than im used to. again alot like i was on the street.
brakeing was very good with the old hayes hfx mags, the position felt a bit tight but the new h/bar should fix that once it gets here. as i mentioned before, i was rather blown away by how smooth the heim/mrp roller worked. you can barely tell its there and i noticed absolutly no chain slap. no wonder cheesehead likes this combo so much!
the last thing i noticed, and maybe the biggest dissapointment was the lack of chop sticks. i had to use a plastic fork instead but i quickly adapted and got through the mid point of the ride without incident.
all in all it was a great but short ride down the street to the golden dragon chinese express at the bottom of the hill from my house. maybe later ill go to the kum n go for a sixer and leave odus home so i can REALLY see what this baby can do! i cant imagine how much more fun itll be without a 60lb lab leashed to my hand tryin to take me every which way but forward. ill just bet this will cure the twitchy handeling issue.
first thing i noticed is it felt a whole lot like my h/t on the flats. this suprised me greatly but thats what i felt none the less. now before ya roll yer eyes and say "that guys a idiot", yeah i checked the sag, the preload, the rebound, the lockout switch and the ava can. all was proper. it rolled quite smoothly and never felt boggy as i expected it to on a 5" bike. even with the cheeseball signature series tensioner on it, it seemed to glide much like a road bike on hard surfaces. i gotta say though it felt like it wandered all over the place when pointed straight. maybe it was the taller front end and the slack geo as compared to my flux and all the other short travel bikes i own. im sure ill get used to it or make a change that will cure this feeling so i wont get bummed just yet.
on the downs it behaved quite nutrally but thats no suprise really. it was quite plush on the smal drops i took it off of and remained very tolerant of the impacts it saw even with a air damper on the back as opposed to the coil fork up front. even on the wet stuff it wanted to grab on and hold on tight, again much like a road bike might if circumstances were all alike.
on the climbs it really didnt feel like a 32lb sled as i was so afraid it would. now i see what pack owners are talkin about when makin comparisons to the flux. dt was right all along, this thing can go uphill without kickin this old mans ass. i did take the time to try the ecc knob and liked how it behaved when i got to the really steep bit but not before tryin it without to see if the front would float about and i was pleased it stayed put just as if i was on asphault. one thing that took me by suprise was the way the ecc didnt feel like it shot the fork up like a rocket when i turned it off. a fast pop, yes, but not a jaw breaking extension as expected.
in the turns it was kinda hard to say what i thought. with odus there and all the traffic out on such a beautiful day, the first nice day and the first day above freezing in many weeks, i found it tough to let it lose in the 50 deg sunshine for fear of runnin into him or some other user. speed will have to wait for the next test ride. what i did feel was a very stable bike even for a higher b/bkt than im used to. again alot like i was on the street.
brakeing was very good with the old hayes hfx mags, the position felt a bit tight but the new h/bar should fix that once it gets here. as i mentioned before, i was rather blown away by how smooth the heim/mrp roller worked. you can barely tell its there and i noticed absolutly no chain slap. no wonder cheesehead likes this combo so much!
the last thing i noticed, and maybe the biggest dissapointment was the lack of chop sticks. i had to use a plastic fork instead but i quickly adapted and got through the mid point of the ride without incident.
all in all it was a great but short ride down the street to the golden dragon chinese express at the bottom of the hill from my house. maybe later ill go to the kum n go for a sixer and leave odus home so i can REALLY see what this baby can do! i cant imagine how much more fun itll be without a 60lb lab leashed to my hand tryin to take me every which way but forward. ill just bet this will cure the twitchy handeling issue.