While looking for the best longer travel bike that had no compromises from my Tracer, I demoed the Motolite among many others in the 5 – 6.6 travel range. I was very impressed with the Motolight’s snappy acceleration, and very good bump absorbing rear suspension, and being no heavier than the Tracer. But I had modified my Tracer to 4.5 inch travel with the Uzzi link and found there was little difference in performance to what I already had, in fact the Tracer/Uzzi (Trazzi?) had a little bit better rear braking traction. So my quest continued noting that the Motolite qualified as one of the top 5 bikes available with about 5 inch travel.
I had demoed the Hollowpoint when it first came out (DW actually set up the proper sag for me at the Sea Otter expo). I was very impressed with the pedaling, being better than anything with that much travel. But I didn’t like the frame geometry, the seat tube angle was too slack for my home climbing needs. My Tracer handled and braked much better, and pedaled very well with almost as little bob and feedback as the Hollowpoint.
The Mkiii pedals about the same as the Hollowpoint, ultra smooth and efficiently. But the braking traction is much improved enhancing the handling modulation and straight line braking power. The seat tube is steeper for easy climbing power. But the steering is a bit steep for very rough technical and higher speed technical. Running a size larger than normal with a shorter stem might be the cure, but I already fit the largest size. The productioin ’07 Mkiii’s are tricking out now and it sounds like there is very little geometry change nor much bare frame weight reduction, although the parts spec is much improved. Other than the near extra pound of frame weight the ’07 Mkiii is as good performing as my Tracer/Uzzi and pedals even better.
I test rode many VPP’s, the 575, MotoLite, I-Drive, Wolf-Ridge, 5-Spot, Id, and others, but was always more happy returning to my Tracer.
I saw the Mojo a year ago at the Sea Otter expo in April and it was spectacular. So soon after I took a chance and ordered a Mojo Carbon because the specs were better than the Tracer in every way. And it proved to be true. I’ve had the Mojo since last August and have zero regrets, and a deepening appreciation every ride. The Mojo has the most current dw-Link design, it’s over 1 pound lighter than the ’07 Mkiii with the same shock, and ½ pound lighter than the Azure, has more travel, has better handling. There is no compromise in performance for an XC/AM bike. And it looks much better in person than pictures ever show.
The Mojo Carbon is a standout better ride than the Motolite and every other bike in the XC/AM class. Only the Nomad is better for more extreme AM use due to slacker handling geometry and the higher pedal clearance Putting a 36mm stansion 160mm travel fork on the Mojo would then surpass the Nomad in performance too.