This bike needs its own dedicated thread for owners to discuss and for prospective buyers to ask.
I bought one with my own money and literally picked it up on the drive from CA to CO (via YNP in WY) to race in Breck Epic. I was supposed to have it months earlier but there were delays in getting the frames to the US. I got 4 rides/63 mi in prior (Downieville, Teton Pass, Jackson, Denver Front Range) to the three 40+ mile stages that I completed and used a ShockWiz to help me get set-up.
Purchased from Cyclemonkey
https://www.cyclemonkey.com/bikes/zerode-taniwha-enduro-bike
A modified "Performance" build
He are the spec highlights:
Size Large Frame (I'm 5'10")
Pinion C1.12 gearbox
Cane Creek DB AIR [IL]
Dual Position Rock Shox Pike (currently 2017 loaner, non-boost. Waiting for the 2018 DP boost in black to become available)
CushCore in the rear wheel (I’ll eventually have it in the front)
hand built alloy wheels.
Why this bike? And why now?
I’ve been riding substantially the same bike for over 12 years, the Intense 5.5 EVP (M) in a 2x9 configuration and recently I found a size 5.5 FRO (L) front triangle on ebay for cheap… It’s had about 6 different front forks, ranging from 100mm to a 160mm triple crown, and most recently a 150mm fox 32. It’s been a great bike and affectionately become known as my “franken-bike” due to its mismatch of parts and overall age. So yeah, it was time to replace my trusty quiver of 1.
I admit very much to having lusted after both a Yeti SB 4.5 (as an ideal BE bike) and the Yeti SB 5.5 as the ideal bike for most of my local trails and definitely in the 1x12 configuration since 1x11 couldn’t even match the range of my 2x9 Intense. I have a predisposition for doing things differently and I went to college with the owner of CycleMonkey so when I saw the announcement of the Zerode and read between the lines about the Pinon, it seemed like a good match. I loved the gear range, the lack of drivetrain maintenance, and purported incredible suspension suppleness/capability that the reduction of rear wheel weight makes possible, and well dang, it just looks COOL and is intelligently different.
So I’ve had the bike for a little over a month now and done a little over 200 miles on it.
This is NOT the ideal bike for a race like Breck Epic… BE is just too smooth and fast and not technical enough for a bike like this. However, it would be great for a race like BCBR (finisher, 2015) and of course it would be great for Enduro racing. For me, it’s going to be perfect for the rowdy rocky trail we have here locally and will be just fine as an all-day adventure bike on mixed backcountry terrain.
But back to the BE since 50% of my miles so far are from there. I lost track of how many times I heard “Whoa… a FS singlespeed???” At BE there are several long climbs that turn into hike-a-bike sections: The 11 speed drivetrains were walking when I was in gears 2-3, racers with Eagle still spinning when I was in 2, but then usually everyone was forced to walk and my spinning in 1 was still slightly faster than the walkers. Until eventually I had to walk as well just to rest my poor chafing butt. There are several reviews that all claim this bike descends incredibly. I don’t have much to compare it against but would agree. I would get generally passed near the bottom of hour long plus climbs by everyone and their little lightweight xc racer bikes but then on the downhill I would catch most of these people again by the bottom of the descents. I would yo-yo with the same group for 5-6 hrs each day. The comparison was amazing. On wider doubletrack dh’s, they’d be gingerly picking their way down the A-line and I’d throw the Taniwha into the gutter and just fly through the b-line option without slowing down or worrying about anything. There was one super technical descent at Breck Epic on day3 where I was feeling the flow and I really felt the bike finally came into its own. It was everything I love about mtn biking, dare I say primitive BC or New England style downhill. Big technical loam covered boulders, wet roots, tons of them at all different angles, relentless wet mossy rocks embedded in wet damp dirt, chunky, very technical singletrack. www.strava.com/segments/12902876 It was AWESOME and definitely the race highlight for me. I was 20th for the day on that segment, handily beat my friends, and was only 1:16 off the likes of pro downhiller Tomi Misser (though his xc bike probably held him back…)
Since I’ve been back home, I’ve only been able to get it out on 1 of our local downhills for its first “true comparison.”
I flubbed the attempt with the climb switch engaged on 1 lap and about 10 psi too much pressure in the shock on the 2nd lap, but was still able to come within 10 seconds of a PR I set on my buddies Nomad 2 years ago and was faster than I ever road it on my Intense. I remain very confident that I will definitely be setting lots of downhill PRs on my local trails. I am very interested to see what the dataset on the climbs will tell me. I am hopeful that I will be in the same ballpark as my old worn-out Intense. TBD
OK so onto the Pinion specifics.
The reviews out there are mixed but sometimes with the caveat, “With a few more rides, I could probably figure it out.” Once you get “retrained” it’s faster. The "let-up" in certain gears when going up, is more pronounced, but then the shift is instant. No waiting for the chain to move and soft-pedaling, while it ca-chunks and pings while it moves under load. And as many gears at a time as you want, instantly. It will upshift under torque while pedaling 99% of the time, downshift under low to medium torque, 75% of the time. The other 25% it won't downshift period under any torque, the gripshift literally won’t turn. This necessitates a more pronounced "let up," as in a very quick 100% reduction of torque that can easily be timed at the top of a pedal stroke followed by a quiet and instant shift (or shifts) and then pedaling at 100% power. OK, so how about that grip-shift? It works just fine. I can brake and shift at the same time and it works. Would I prefer a paddle-style shifter? Yes. At the long days of BE, I did notice that my right hand was starting to fatigue. While the shifter is effortless when coasting when shifting under pedaling load it can take more effort, especially if you’re trying to force it. Probably not an issue for 2-3 hr rides, but noticeable on 5-6 hr ones. I also have noticed that my right grip is already showing signs of wear from the twisting motion.
For me the biggest negative is this: The degrees of engagement of the pinion is not that great and combined with the engagement of the hub, engagement can be sloppy and inconsistent if you need to make technical see-saw moves with your pedals to avoid rockstrikes and then quickly re-engage for power. I have the stock Zerode hub and would recommend buying one of the better higher engagement hubs that are out there in order to minimize this slop. It’s noticeable and will be significant for some people. I will probably do a swap out since I really enjoy technical climbing and tight punchy trails that require precise timing of pedal strokes.
The other downside related to the Pinion is occasionally the internal pawls will slip a single engagement. Maybe once per ride and usually after a see-saw technical section. But never more than one partial rotation at a time. So it’s recoverable and the gear doesn’t change, it just means your feet rotate ~15 degrees (or whatever the rotation between pawls is). My guess is there must be some instances where the pawls don’t get a full solid engagement and then sometimes slip. I’m curious if anyone else has this issue. The mechanical engineer in me thinks that long term this could wear the engagement surface and cause more slipping long-term.
Shoot that’s about all I have for now. I’m hoping to get onto some of our good local rowdy downhills this weekend (and some climbs) and start getting more Strava comparison data.
If you’re in the Southern CA area, Zerode will be bring their Bay-Area fleet down to San Luis Obispo later this fall for a demo day with Bike Church Shuttles www.facebook.com/BikeChurchShuttles/ Or you are welcome to demo mine on a shuttle day in SLO.
I bought one with my own money and literally picked it up on the drive from CA to CO (via YNP in WY) to race in Breck Epic. I was supposed to have it months earlier but there were delays in getting the frames to the US. I got 4 rides/63 mi in prior (Downieville, Teton Pass, Jackson, Denver Front Range) to the three 40+ mile stages that I completed and used a ShockWiz to help me get set-up.
Purchased from Cyclemonkey
https://www.cyclemonkey.com/bikes/zerode-taniwha-enduro-bike
A modified "Performance" build
He are the spec highlights:
Size Large Frame (I'm 5'10")
Pinion C1.12 gearbox
Cane Creek DB AIR [IL]
Dual Position Rock Shox Pike (currently 2017 loaner, non-boost. Waiting for the 2018 DP boost in black to become available)
CushCore in the rear wheel (I’ll eventually have it in the front)
hand built alloy wheels.
Why this bike? And why now?
I’ve been riding substantially the same bike for over 12 years, the Intense 5.5 EVP (M) in a 2x9 configuration and recently I found a size 5.5 FRO (L) front triangle on ebay for cheap… It’s had about 6 different front forks, ranging from 100mm to a 160mm triple crown, and most recently a 150mm fox 32. It’s been a great bike and affectionately become known as my “franken-bike” due to its mismatch of parts and overall age. So yeah, it was time to replace my trusty quiver of 1.
I admit very much to having lusted after both a Yeti SB 4.5 (as an ideal BE bike) and the Yeti SB 5.5 as the ideal bike for most of my local trails and definitely in the 1x12 configuration since 1x11 couldn’t even match the range of my 2x9 Intense. I have a predisposition for doing things differently and I went to college with the owner of CycleMonkey so when I saw the announcement of the Zerode and read between the lines about the Pinon, it seemed like a good match. I loved the gear range, the lack of drivetrain maintenance, and purported incredible suspension suppleness/capability that the reduction of rear wheel weight makes possible, and well dang, it just looks COOL and is intelligently different.
So I’ve had the bike for a little over a month now and done a little over 200 miles on it.
This is NOT the ideal bike for a race like Breck Epic… BE is just too smooth and fast and not technical enough for a bike like this. However, it would be great for a race like BCBR (finisher, 2015) and of course it would be great for Enduro racing. For me, it’s going to be perfect for the rowdy rocky trail we have here locally and will be just fine as an all-day adventure bike on mixed backcountry terrain.
But back to the BE since 50% of my miles so far are from there. I lost track of how many times I heard “Whoa… a FS singlespeed???” At BE there are several long climbs that turn into hike-a-bike sections: The 11 speed drivetrains were walking when I was in gears 2-3, racers with Eagle still spinning when I was in 2, but then usually everyone was forced to walk and my spinning in 1 was still slightly faster than the walkers. Until eventually I had to walk as well just to rest my poor chafing butt. There are several reviews that all claim this bike descends incredibly. I don’t have much to compare it against but would agree. I would get generally passed near the bottom of hour long plus climbs by everyone and their little lightweight xc racer bikes but then on the downhill I would catch most of these people again by the bottom of the descents. I would yo-yo with the same group for 5-6 hrs each day. The comparison was amazing. On wider doubletrack dh’s, they’d be gingerly picking their way down the A-line and I’d throw the Taniwha into the gutter and just fly through the b-line option without slowing down or worrying about anything. There was one super technical descent at Breck Epic on day3 where I was feeling the flow and I really felt the bike finally came into its own. It was everything I love about mtn biking, dare I say primitive BC or New England style downhill. Big technical loam covered boulders, wet roots, tons of them at all different angles, relentless wet mossy rocks embedded in wet damp dirt, chunky, very technical singletrack. www.strava.com/segments/12902876 It was AWESOME and definitely the race highlight for me. I was 20th for the day on that segment, handily beat my friends, and was only 1:16 off the likes of pro downhiller Tomi Misser (though his xc bike probably held him back…)
Since I’ve been back home, I’ve only been able to get it out on 1 of our local downhills for its first “true comparison.”
I flubbed the attempt with the climb switch engaged on 1 lap and about 10 psi too much pressure in the shock on the 2nd lap, but was still able to come within 10 seconds of a PR I set on my buddies Nomad 2 years ago and was faster than I ever road it on my Intense. I remain very confident that I will definitely be setting lots of downhill PRs on my local trails. I am very interested to see what the dataset on the climbs will tell me. I am hopeful that I will be in the same ballpark as my old worn-out Intense. TBD
OK so onto the Pinion specifics.
The reviews out there are mixed but sometimes with the caveat, “With a few more rides, I could probably figure it out.” Once you get “retrained” it’s faster. The "let-up" in certain gears when going up, is more pronounced, but then the shift is instant. No waiting for the chain to move and soft-pedaling, while it ca-chunks and pings while it moves under load. And as many gears at a time as you want, instantly. It will upshift under torque while pedaling 99% of the time, downshift under low to medium torque, 75% of the time. The other 25% it won't downshift period under any torque, the gripshift literally won’t turn. This necessitates a more pronounced "let up," as in a very quick 100% reduction of torque that can easily be timed at the top of a pedal stroke followed by a quiet and instant shift (or shifts) and then pedaling at 100% power. OK, so how about that grip-shift? It works just fine. I can brake and shift at the same time and it works. Would I prefer a paddle-style shifter? Yes. At the long days of BE, I did notice that my right hand was starting to fatigue. While the shifter is effortless when coasting when shifting under pedaling load it can take more effort, especially if you’re trying to force it. Probably not an issue for 2-3 hr rides, but noticeable on 5-6 hr ones. I also have noticed that my right grip is already showing signs of wear from the twisting motion.
For me the biggest negative is this: The degrees of engagement of the pinion is not that great and combined with the engagement of the hub, engagement can be sloppy and inconsistent if you need to make technical see-saw moves with your pedals to avoid rockstrikes and then quickly re-engage for power. I have the stock Zerode hub and would recommend buying one of the better higher engagement hubs that are out there in order to minimize this slop. It’s noticeable and will be significant for some people. I will probably do a swap out since I really enjoy technical climbing and tight punchy trails that require precise timing of pedal strokes.
The other downside related to the Pinion is occasionally the internal pawls will slip a single engagement. Maybe once per ride and usually after a see-saw technical section. But never more than one partial rotation at a time. So it’s recoverable and the gear doesn’t change, it just means your feet rotate ~15 degrees (or whatever the rotation between pawls is). My guess is there must be some instances where the pawls don’t get a full solid engagement and then sometimes slip. I’m curious if anyone else has this issue. The mechanical engineer in me thinks that long term this could wear the engagement surface and cause more slipping long-term.
Shoot that’s about all I have for now. I’m hoping to get onto some of our good local rowdy downhills this weekend (and some climbs) and start getting more Strava comparison data.
If you’re in the Southern CA area, Zerode will be bring their Bay-Area fleet down to San Luis Obispo later this fall for a demo day with Bike Church Shuttles www.facebook.com/BikeChurchShuttles/ Or you are welcome to demo mine on a shuttle day in SLO.
