review time
Well I’ve had 2 rides on the bike, on very different trails. There has been a few adjustments made and now it is time for a review. Overall I am very pleased with the way this build has turned out. The geometry of the bike suits my riding style and allows me to throw it around with ease (as per my last pic). I haven’t had a chance to weigh it yet but would guess it is heavy by modern standards, maybe around 15kg. Other than getting some newer and lighter forks further weight cutting won’t come easy. Naturally there are some negatives as well…but not too many.
The first ride was on my local trails (Glenrock Lagoon). The stuff I ride there is mostly smooth hard packed clay littered with ruts and occasionally gravel. There are plenty of small to mid-sized jumps as well. The bike was perfect for all this, even overkill given I usually ride it on my 120/100mm travel pivot m4x. My Thomson dropper came in handy while racing across the first half of xc/am trail. This was the first time I had used one off road and really liked being able to slam the seat out of the way when attacking the small pinching climb corners and one (almost steep) technical descent on the trail. The bike pedaled really nicely too, of which I am probably not the best judge…I find my Pivot pedals nicely.
The second ride was in Sydney on very different trails. These were rocky, sandy, loose, a few small jumps and drops, alternating between steep and flat. This was the kind of riding I had in mind when building this bike. I had been using my Intense 951 here for the last few months (one day on the pivot was enough to know it couldn’t cut it!) knowing it was excessive and eagerly anticipating the more appropriate bike. The rear end felt a bit chattery through the chunky stuff by comparison to the plough machine! Still it was a lot nicer than the Pivot, so I think it will be perfect. I was able to aggressively pedal through the flat sections with ease, which kept momentum for entering the next steep section. This efficiency along with reduced bike weight meant I was in a better condition to attack the bottom sections of the trails, railing the banked corners and sending the jumps nicely. The lighter bike was also really noticeable on the few mid-sized drops. The rear end ate up the trail in these situations and at speed was quite smooth through the (previously mentioned) chunky stuff.
Now the short list of negatives I’ve composed…
- There is loud annoying creak in the pivots. I suspect it is a lack of grease and will pull these out over the next week or so and take a look. This should be easy to fix.
- The finish of the frame seems to be of poor quality. The best example being a bubble in the paint on the top tube with a diameter of approx. 3mm. The paint is a high sheen finish it really stands out and constantly catches my eye while riding. There are other similar imperfections that I came across while assembling the bike. I haven’t owned a generic bike for quite a while this lower focus on quality control is something I’ll adjust to and
the damn thing is up for some scratching anyway!
- Shimano shifters are so much bigger than SRAM! This was one of the things about these guys that has kept me on SRAM for so many years. The saint is awkward and cumbersome, where the x0 was sleek. I’m not a fan of having a cramped cock pit. I have moved it around a bit and now have it in a spot that kind of works. I’m not constantly thumb bumping it while riding, but it is a little too far out of easy reach. I could try and get my hands shrunk down but that is bad advertising.
- The Thomson dropper has a kind of awkward routing where the cable joins the lever. It makes the cable protrude out in front of the bike and looks silly. Lucky it feels soooooooooooo good.
- Internal routing is fucking noisy! The constant rattle of cables is something I will need to get used to as I like the clean look.
- The grommets are stupid! It didn’t take long for the one I am trying to use to pop out and not want to go back in.
In all I like it! I like it a lot. Once summer is over and it stops snowing I’ll be sure to thrash fuck out of this thing and find out the limits. I feel a trip to the quarry of doom is on the cards. NS claim to have stayed true to their dj/fr heritage…
