Yeah, Shimano cranks in general are straightforward and bombproof, great chainrings and their BB's last better than most. More than I can say for sram - oops - typo, that should be some.
I love the polished legend. Wish it was an option when I bought mine. I was one of the first batch owners (preordered in 2009) and still love it too much to even consider anything else. There will be some changes over the winter - new shock and probably a fork repainted black with new stickers. With Ti spring and old formula oro's managed to get it as low as 16.4kg on 2ply tires with no carbon but with a ti spring. With the new front wheel (799g on stans ztr) and early season fr casing schwables and a planned ccdb air I'd probably go way under 16kg. Now I have a few heavier parts (need to get my dura ace casette from the heavier rear wheel to the new one, and the heavier casette to the training spare wheel)
This is my bike. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My bike is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I master my life. My bike, without me, is useless. Without my bike, I am useless. I must ride my bike true. I must ride faster than any enemy who is trying to drop me. I must drop him before he drops me. I will... My bike and myself know that what counts in this war is not the air we catch, the whips we throw, nor the manuals we pull. We know that it is the Strava points that count. We will flow... My bike is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weakness, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its drive chain and its suspension. I will keep my bike clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will.... Before God I swear this creed. My bike and myself are the defenders of my trails. We are the masters of rock gardens. We are the saviors of my weekends. So be it, until victory is mine and there is no brake checking, but flow.
The Legend is definitely a pretty stunning ride. I've spent time on the Giant Glory, the Norco DH and Aurum, and the Legend. I've also had a short amount of time riding the Devinci Wilson and the Pivot Phoenix. The Legend is certainly my favorite of all of these bikes.
The Legend is very stable at speed, like any half decent DH bike should be. However, it is still very nimble and capable of quick line changes when necessary. This surprised me a bit, since I had expected the low and slack geometry to make it feel less nimble than the DH or the Glory, both of which have taller bottom brackets and steeper head angles. If anything, the Legend feels more nimble than either of those. Admittedly, this is possibly because the Legend always seems to be goading me to go faster, and it really comes to life when it is going fast. The low bottom bracket feels really planted in the corners, and the low center of gravity makes it very stable in the air. I also feel like the low stand-over height gives it an edge in the air compared to most other DH bikes I've been on; this thing is really fun to through around. The top tube sits so low that it always looks a bit funny to me how high the seatpost is raised up for a DH bike, just to get it to a reasonable height to be able to sit down occasionally.
The suspension is happy to eat up decent sized hits at speed or on steeps without bogging down, probably largely due to the initial rearward axle path. This also creates a fair amount of chain growth which contributes to great pedaling efficiency, but I have never really noticed much in the way of pedal feedback. The Legend really responds when you put the power down coming out of a corner or getting up to speed.
I do notice that there is a bit of a click as the suspension compresses from the clutch mechanism of the SRAM type 2 derailleur breaking free due to the chain growth (which was not as evident with the same derailleur on the Norco DH), but it is not noticeable while riding. Still, it bugs me a bit when I am just tooling around on the bike, and I may end up switching to a Saint derailleur and shifter next summer because of it.
All in all though, the Legend just kills it, and I'd highly recommend one if you get the chance to get your hands on one.
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Originally Posted by bbmmtv
