Today my Guardian finally arrived! And let me tell you, this bike rocks!
Because of the melting snow on the ground after a rain storm here in Nebraska, I wasn't able to take it out on the trails, but I was very impressed on the first ride around the neighborhood. In fact, this bike exceeded my expectations in almost every way. I thought the bike was going to handle like a truck, and I had heard that the bike gets "snappier" if you put the handlebar down a few spacers, but I did not need to do this at all.
While I wasn't able to ride it on dirt, I did my best to simulate trail riding conditions by making sharp turns from the street to driveway entrances and back, going around trees in the local park, and riding around lightpost islands in a church parking lot. The bike turned on a dime, but did not feel "twitchy" like the $1,100 Rock Hopper Comp I test rode a day or two before I ordered the Guardian. In fact, I think it felt more like a 26er, not too much different than the Breezer I had test ridden a few weeks ago. At lower speeds, it did feel sluggish when I rode it on the snow and rain soaked grass, but as I read not long ago, the bike accelerated very quickly as I spun the pedals faster to build momentum.
The bike felt very stable. On my previous mountain bikes, it felt very odd for me when I 'stood up" on the pedals to climb up a hill, but on the Guardian, it felt like home. As other 29er riders have reported, this bike climbed like a goat. At first I was like, "wow, this is amazing", but after about 10 or 15 seconds of the first hill, my out of shape lungs kicked in and I was not able to go very fast up hill. However, about 20 minutes into the ride, I was able to move relatively quickly up a hill, perhaps even faster than on my cyclocross, but I will admit I started to climb this particular hill from a side street, about half way up. Still, the Guardian performed extremely well in this area.
While time will tell how this bike performs on dirt and "real" singletrack conditions, I have no doubt I will beat all of my speed records fairly easily from the time trials I did on my 26ers, and I think I'll be able to do that even if I'm in half as good a shape as I was then. While all of my twist and turns were in the street or grass, it should be noted that I was being a little cautions, because I was clipped into the bike and didn't want to take a spill on the ice in the street, which leads me to believe that this bike will have an edge cornering on dirt. In other words, I'm pretty sure I could have pushed the envelope a lot more, had there not been snow and ice on the roads!
At first I wasn't so sure about the cockpit, and felt the same way about the 9ish degree backsweep on the handlebars, but after about 10 or 15 minutes of riding, I was already used to it. I was a little bit surprised about how high I had to raise the seat to make it feel right, but after I figured that little puzzle out, the fit was ON. :thumbsup:
Unlike my last 26er, the rear end of the bike felt heavier than the front end, but I think that might help with overall weight distribution, and that might explain while I felt more comfortable than I usually do in the standing position. Despite the long top tube, the bike felt surprisingly upright, which I'm ok with because of my lower back problems. I did realize later on, however, that this might be perhaps because I had not adjusted the seat, which was a tad more forward than I usually ride, and because the backsweep of the handlebar shortens the cockpit.
Before I installed the seatpost and seat, while attached together, these items weighed a ton, and I'm pretty sure the handlebars are heavy too. The seatpost clamp did not have a quick release, so these are obviously areas that Airborne cut cost on, but I have no problem with that at all, because like I said in the beginning, this bike rocks! :thumbsup:
I was hoping for one finger breaking, but had to apply more pressure on the brakes than I thought I would. That being said, I'm 90% sure that this was probably because I did not set them up correctly. Based on the setup I did do, I'd say these brakes are similar to Avid BB7s. On that note, I had a heck of a time getting the brakes adjusted properly so that there was no "shimming" noise coming from the rotors when the wheels were turning. It took me about an hour and a half just to get that part of it right, and I didn't even bleed them. In fact, I'm planning to create a thread about how to get the basic adjustment right so there is no shimming noise, but I'm pretty sure my technique is flawed. If you are experienced in that area, please feel free to chime in on that thread after I create it because I don't want to give BAD advice (Cat).
I'll post a link to it here after I write it, probably this weekend.
Shifting was excellent, and I didn't even bother to adjust the derailleurs, so I suppose someone may have dialed this bike in prior to shipping it. I did experience a couple incidences of chain suck, but that may have been because I was shifting with the wrong gear combinations between the front and rear derailleurs. There was an extremely annoying noise when coasting, almost like a screeching sound. Still not sure what that was about, but I noticed it more when I was setting up the bike and stopped turning the crank (while the bike was in "freewheel mode", so to speak) than I did while riding. The noise also seemed to go away when in the lower gears (bigger cogs) on the cassette.
I haven't yet played with the rebound adjustment on the fork, but the Rockshox XC28 seemed to perform quite well, at least on pavement, in spite of the fact that I weighed in at a hefty 229 pounds (OUCH) at the doctor's office on Monday. Not to go too much into this, but my weight is at an all time high (I was about 200 pounds in June after riding 355 miles of BRAN), but once the weather warms up, it will be extremely easy to jump on this bike and go for lots of rides to burn excess calories. The Guardian is really fun to ride, and I wasn't even on dirt! The point I want to make here is that if this bike performed this well at my current weight, I'm stoked to think how well this bike might perform when I get back down to 185ish!
If I had waited until today, I could have purchased the better equipped Airborne Goblin for $600 more, but I'm extremely pleased with the way the Guardian performed, and I'm also glad I'm not stressing out about finances because of the extra investment. I'm turning 41 on Sunday (well, 41 going on 25), and while I haven''t yet found the right girl (not counting my ex girlfriend who can't make up her mind about me, who I still go on mountain bike rides with), I think I can honestly say I've found the perfect bike!
One more thing I'll say. The guys at Airborne really have their "shyte" together. These guys really know what they are doing. I've ordered from other mail order bike companies, which had well equipped bikes for the money, but the difference in frame design is noticeable with the Airborne. I've heard that subtle changes in geometry can make a major difference in your ride, and now I understand why. The Airborne research and development team got the geometry RIGHT! Previously in this thread, I estimated that the Guardian is a $900 bike store bike. I take that back. That might have been true a few years ago when bike prices were lower, but I'll put the Guardian up against any $1,100ish bike store bike! Sure, Airborne had to cut a few corners to get the cost down to $600, but crap, where the bike lacks in fancy parts, it makes up in frame design and handling! :thumbsup:
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By the way, I'm 5'7.5" tall on a good day, and the 16" frame feels great!