Wow, looks so different. Even to the pictures posted in the online reviews I've seen. Keen for the ride report!
Might be that 95% of articles about Pole over the last year have been about the 140mm 29er, and not the 150mm 27.5 version? I think the 27.5 looks better!
That thing looks awesome!
Did you ever think so many people would be interested in your Pole?
Oh, had a feeling... It's not something majority of riders see every day! Personally I like seeing stuff that's out of the ordinary.
I like them, they looked funny at first but it's grown on me. Nearly like the Vassago 'wetcat' geo... long and low. You'll need good skill to hit lippy jumps on it.
What size of frame is that ? looks big even for the long wheelbase.
Man, I look at regular bikes, even past bikes I've had and they all look so cramped and weird now!
I was hitting all the jumps on ABOM at Buller except the first (newish) double, but only cause I fell a touch short on it last year and ended up having a minor crash. There's some jumps around the half way mark which have been built up a fair bit this year and are quite lippy now. I was finding they were kicking up the rear end a touch and I was coming down nose heavy.
However being so long and slack I never once felt like I was gonna go OTB. Even once when I far over shot the second one and came down super nose heavy. It just took it and I kept going like it was no biggie! Any other bike and I'd have gone over for sure.
Unsure if a little more rebound damping on the rear end would help reduce that kick or not, but yeah...
The frame is a large. It has a reach of 510mm, plus the 50mm stem. I almost got an XL, but thought the reach on the large is more than the reach on the XL Ragley MmmBop I was on, which felt pretty good to me. Based on Pole's guidelines, I was bang in the middle of L and XL with my height, and Pole advise to size down in such a situation, so I did and it feels perfect.
As for a ride report, I can only really talk about the descending at the moment as we were doing chairlift runs at Buller.
I could really feel the length of the bike along the straights, it was stupid stable. I felt more solid than I do on the DH bike, despite the lack of travel in the rear end to soak up all the rough.
Cornering was tough at first, I really felt like I had to muscle the bike through the turns and I was on the brakes a lot. After four or so runs though, I started to get it, and after some small body positioning adjustment I was able to rail the turns with more confidence.
I'm not too keen on the Monarch Plus, as I'm accustomed to coil shocks... I just found it quite harsh, even at 30% sag. I was using every millimetre of available travel! It's also nowhere near as adjustable as the CCDB Coil CS I had on the Spitfire. I think in time I'll sell the Monarch Plus and get another coil shock, or a nicer air shock like a Fox X2. I've just never been overly impressed with any RockShox components.
I'll be riding at Forrest in the Otways on Friday, so I'll have an opportunity to see how the bike goes on more undulating terrain and will be able to comment on climbing performance and more all-round riding.
More to come!
