AM Mojo Geometron G15

BB1

Likes Dirt
Hi 'Burners

I was looking for a new rig and had demo'd some of the new carbon wonders, but wondered if I was missing something. I was also a little tired of getting ever increasing prices from the LBS and thought it might be fun to build my own. I got a little bit inspired by Zaf and Datnat and looked into the whole Geometron concept. Long story short, bit of a leap of faith, but after bouncing back and forward with Mojo (who were excellent to deal with) and pondering pros and cons of exchange rates, I went ahead and ordered the G15 from Mojo. For those not following the other threads, essentially a Nicolai G15 - but mine's the regular version, not the gearbox GPI.

Frame itself was relatively cheap (on sale with it being winter in the UK and the new G1 due out), but once I'd decided there was no way I couldn't not go the EXT shock which bumped up the price. And I'd hoped to fly under the customs radar to make it really good value but of course there is no way the government is going to miss its cut :) Still, in the end, for a hand made frame and what I got I'm very happy with the price.

My original plan was to raid my Intense Primer for the build, but by picking the eyes out of most of the Aussie online retailers, with some other finishing pieces from CRC., it ended up being relatively cheap to buy new and leave the Primer minus its fork and its custom wheelset for now. The G15 is running a Pike at the moment, but I'll probably put in a DVO Beryl in the next few weeks.

Build itself was relatively straightforward - external cabling rocks! Frame comes faced and required literally no preparation other than a wipe over and grease to install all the major components. The rear brake mount uses a weird Ikea inspired bolt system, but apart from losing, and then finding those nuts, the whole thing went together over two nights and a dozen beers (with thanks to my mate Matt who knows how to do things properly).

Shipping was super fast, and it was pretty cool to be able to call the owners of Mojo and get either Chris or Paul answering the phone to answer questions and provide baseline setup.

First ride is yet to come, but first impressions are very favorable. Weight looks to be about 14.5kg pending proper calibrated scales. Any other questions fire away!

Build spec below:

350559
350562

350560
350561


ComponentDetails
FrameGeometron G15 (large)
ForkRS Pike (for now)
ShockEXT Storia Lok
HeadsetHope
Seat ClampHope
Thru axleNicolai
BarNukeproof carbon
GripsNukeproof Horizon Race
StemSixpack 35mm
CrankXT 170mm boost
Chain ringHope 30T
Bottom bracketXT
DerailleurXT
CassetteXT 11-46
ShifterSLX
ChainXT
BrakesXT M8020
PostBikeYoke 185mm
WheelsDT 240s/XM481
TiresMichelin Wild AM (F) Force AM (Rear)
SaddleWTB Volt
 

BB1

Likes Dirt
First impressions - where have you been all my life?

Took it to my local loop yesterday and again this morning for confirmatory ride. Bit of everything, tech little uphill, rooty single, and a couple of quick fire road grinds. I’m running it in high mode for starters.

Definitely not too long, just feels... comfortable. I’m curious how it will go on the flat, may feel a bit cumbersome, but any degree of up or down and it just makes sense. Can’t say I’ve noticed the slack head angle at all on the climbs, no flopping, but I’ll need to try some log rides to see if I can hold a straight line at low speed.

As I’ve read the longer reach opens up your chest and makes breathing easier. Climbs incredibly well, cleaned a tech loose switchback that I rarely get. Downside to that wonderful length is the extra effort for a wheelie or manual, but once it’s there it’s actually easier to hold.

Rear shock is simply sublime, a real magic carpet ride. Given it has baseline settings and I have yet to work out half the dials there should be room for more improvement! I need to do some fettling as it feels like I have some pedal bob. Coming from VPP not sure how much is suspension design and weight being more centred when mashing on the pedals.

Feels like the front end is slightly too low right now, but a 160mm fork will help there.

On fast swoopy downhills it can generate amazing speed. I can’t say I’d want to race XC on it, but it’s a nice place to be to just sit and spin your way up a hill. Looking forward to taking it out to some more tracks.
 
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BB1

Likes Dirt
And a longer term review and race report from Derby will go here...

Here's a long-winded report on how she went at the Derby EWS round. I had never been to Derby before, this was my excuse to get down there to ride the trails and be part of an EWS event. Not having raced an EWS before I entered the EWS80 so I didn’t bite off more than I could chew. It was a wise move. Meant only one day of practice (Friday) before the race kicked off at 0800 on Saturday. Essentially we did the same course as the pros and EWS100 folk, minus the awesome Trouty. It also meant I had Sunday free to watch the pros and ride some of the other tracks.

Some updates on the build from how it’s pictured above. I’ve replaced the stem with a Deity version as I didn’t like the look of the sixpack one, and it now has a nice set of DVO Beryl’s on the front end. I only got the DVO’s two weeks out from event and didn’t have a chance to test them, so it was factory baseline settings. I also added a OneUp bash guard and chain device as I’d smacked the big ring a couple of times with the low BB and wanted some protection.

Managed to fit the long beast into a standard EVOC bag, but she’s up tight up against either end of the bag. Rear rotor got bent on the trip down (I’ll take them off next time) but otherwise travelled fine, even with it being a Deathstar flight.

Friday was the practice day, and I ended up doing 31km and 1100m of climbing, covering four of the five stages. I started off with Shearpin and wondered what the hell I had got myself into, but that was by far the hardest track and everything seemed to settle after that. I ended up riding with a couple of blokes from Tassie, cheers for giving me tips fellas! How good is the MTB community when you can just rock up to an event and find someone to ride with.

Race day itself was a big day, but conditions were pretty much perfect. Bit of rain the night before meant the tracks were running sweet, overcast all day so it wasn’t too hot either. Rode with a different crew today who were great, and we kept ahead of the cut-offs which paid off at the end. Detonate was fun and my best stage despite a dumb crash in one of the corners, Kingswall was a flat out blast, RTS was great but I was running out of legs and talent. Then back up the hill to ride Shearpin, got through the rock garden cleanly, but was completely stuffed for the pedally bits. Then back up to the top of the hill to ride the final stage (but first stage for everyone else) Kumma Gutsa. This was the stage I hadn’t ridden the day before, and it came back to bite me when I went down hard on one of the big rock slabs at speed about 1/3 of the way down. Idiot me had worn short sleeves without arm guards so I left a lot of skin on the rock. Knee guards did their job admirably though. I think I tore a muscle in my left arm which meant hanging onto the bike was difficult, and it’s here I have to apologise to the spectators who were treated to me swearing my head off every time I hit a bump or dropped off anything as it was agony. This was about every 1.5 seconds for the next seven minutes.

Finished the race, handed the transponder in, got patched up at the first aid tent and then wheeled the bike back to the van. Pushing it back is when I realised I had completely pretzeled the front rotor in the crash. Impressively the bike was otherwise unmarked, not sure how I managed that! Lucky the final stage was all downhill.

How’d the bike go? In short, very, very well. I honestly wouldn’t have wanted to do this on anything else. Not knowing the tracks meant I defaulted to plough mode, so tended to ride through rather than over everything. I had confidence to just point and shoot, let the bike do the work, and it'd get me through. Remember when I spoke about the first practice run of shearpin? I rode straight down that sucker. Not very well, and not very fast, but for how intimidating that section was I was pretty happy to just get down it the first time! So yeah, as an enduro bike, no complaints. And the transitions? This was actually some of the most fun for me. I really enjoyed just using the thing as a trailbike to get to the start of each of the stages. It was easy to pedal uphill, and every time there was a fun bit I’d hit it. Until the very last transition I rode the whole time and had a smile on my face. GPS tells me I did 38km with 1400m climbing on Saturday, and apart from crashing my brains out on the last stage, which I put down to fatigue more than anything else, I had an absolute blast.

What would I change? Not much really. I’ll go back to lighter tyres for the local tracks, but am tempted to keep the front 2.5 on, with a Minion SS on the back. The DVO has been flawless out of the box, and although I’ll play with the settings as I get used to it, it seems to be pretty damn close with the recommended settings. The G15 itself was amazing – having two days riding it meant that I’m more in tune with it than ever. I’ll change the spring to the higher rate (it comes with two in the box) as I managed to bottom it out a few times, but that’s also due to my unrefined riding style. I’ve also managed to bend the axles on both pedals smacking rocks, so I’ll need a new pair of flats too. The fact that I spent two days on the bike in unfamiliar conditions riding up hill and down dale, without getting any back pain, and not uncovering any weird handling traits, validates my original thinking for getting this rig.

I wish I had a chance to ride again on Sunday but my arm was cactus and I couldn’t hang on to anything, so I spend the day spectating instead. Derby itself was great fun, I’m trying to organise a trip back down there just to ride, but this time I’ll shuttle just to get more tracks in! The EWS event was also great, if you get the chance, get down to it, even if just to watch how the pros do it. How they ride some of those sections will blow your mind.

Thanks for all those I met down there who let a total stranger ride with them in a race.

If you’ve got any questions on anything above, fire away!

351965
 
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smitho

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Nice. Raw alloy is the matte carbon of 2018/19.


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datnat

Likes Dirt
Welcome @BB1!

Lovely build, notice Chris is selling the Formula forks now...

(Actually rode Derby on the G16 over Oz day W/E, had a blast!)

They handle everything with exceptional manners...

Enjoy
 
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maimed

Squid
Very keen for the long term review and Derby race report. I have a G16 which I picked up recently and I am loving it so far. It was very hard to decide between it and the pole, but the fact it could take a triple crown fork and 175mm rear shock sold it for me.

I am loving it so far, but I have started thinking that maybe the front end is a little lower than I would like (160mm currently). The stack height is significantly lower than the Pole Machine for example, have either of the 2-3 geometron owners here felt that and perhaps tried a 50mm bar or something to counter it?
 

BB1

Likes Dirt
I had read a review where they commented that the bike worked better with a taller bar. It's one of the reasons I've run all the spacers underneath, but it's something I intend to experiment with over time. At the moment I'm still learning to ride this thing, really looking forward to spending some back to back days on it. The speed it can carry is amazing.
 
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