No not Aladdin, but me on a hardtail. I've been on full suspension 29ers exclusively for the past 6 years with most of those having 120+mm of travel. So to say that moving to a hardtail, albeit a carbon badass one, was somewhat frightening especially without the option to demo one first.
Background: I live and ride in NW Georgia with frequent trips to Chattanooga, TN. If you've ever ridden here, you'd notice that a lot of folks are on hardtails with a large percentage of those being rigid SS. This got me to thinking, am I missing something here? Am I buying and riding bikes that suit my trails? Don't get me wrong, if you want to find a trail that has punishing long climbs and sustained DH you can, but I find myself riding mostly trails that are punchy with quick/steep ups and just as quick downs. Generating as much speed as you can in about 50 yards or less is the difference between jumping those rollers or just pumping them.
I was one of the first people to get on the Riot pre-order list because the geometry simply blew my mind. I was very familiar with that category of bikes in terms of travel, but had never seen one with such perfect geometry. The Riot was my first Canfield bike and I must say I was blown away. I made several trips over the course of the fall to trails that I had ridden on lesser bikes, but the Riot is so capable and comfortable that it made it seem almost too easy. Fast forward a few months and I've got kid #3 coming in May, my soon to be 6 year old is wanting more and more to come along for rides(which I'm super happy about) and the frequency with which I was making those hour long drives to Chattanooga and the like was getting less and less. On the weekends I'd rather ride with my son and the Riot was sadly under-utilized on those types of trails as you could imagine.
In the meantime I keep reading review after review about how awesome the Canfield hardtails are and the thought of owning an EPO became more and more tempting. After a series of PM's with EPO owners(you know who you are) and emails with Vin and Sean, I took the leap.
I got my frame this past Monday and had my first ride on Tuesday. Going from the Riot to EPO was both familiar and polar opposite at the same time. The fit and geometry of the EPO felt immediately natural to me, yet the lack of 140mm of Formula suspension was...lets just say noticeable.
Now not noticeable in a bad way, just different. I was now paying attention to the trail more, picking lines, standing up and attacking, pumping etc. Skills that I was getting somewhat lazy about honing since the Riot is the ultimate mistake-eraser. All that aside, the end result was a sigh of relief. I knew that I was onto something good.
Second ride was today, twice as long as Tuesday, and much more rocks and sections of flat-out eye watering flow and berms. In the car on the way to the trailhead I started second-guessing myself. Did I make a huge mistake? Am I a moron for selling the Riot? Within the first quarter mile there is a short downhill that is littered with rocks and roots. I hit it at Riot speed and was quickly reminded that I was on a hardtail. Not horrible, but definitely different. Luckily, I felt at ease as soon as I hit the first section of twisty, undulating trail. I found myself standing with the dropper down for the first 2 miles, trying to get in as many pedals strokes as possible before tucking and diving into the berms. I was carrying plenty of speed and the handling was superb. I had to pay much more attention to those occasional rocks and roots, but with the razor sharp steering of the EPO I was able to navigate them without much trouble. I noticed today that I skidded my rear tire more than ever(sorry) since I was able to bob and weave through the woods at a higher rate of speed than I was used to.
It's still early and I know some of this is seen through the eyes of new bike stoke, but I'm excited about what's to come.
The obvious question is, which is better the Riot or the EPO? The answer is simple. Both. Neither. They really aren't comparable in my opinion and depending on your wants/needs/terrain one will definitely be better than the other.
I'd say the closest comparison that I could make would be to my old Evil Following. Geometry wise the EPO fits me better (long legs/short torso) and I'm faster on the EPO on the same trails. I do think the EPO handles more precisely with a 140mm fork than the Evil did with a 130mm fork in the High setting. The Evil obviously is more forgiving, but for my 2.5-3 hour ride today I don't feel any more beat up than usual.
TLDR version: The EPO is legit. If you haven't ridden one, you are missing out on some magic from the Canfield boys.
Background: I live and ride in NW Georgia with frequent trips to Chattanooga, TN. If you've ever ridden here, you'd notice that a lot of folks are on hardtails with a large percentage of those being rigid SS. This got me to thinking, am I missing something here? Am I buying and riding bikes that suit my trails? Don't get me wrong, if you want to find a trail that has punishing long climbs and sustained DH you can, but I find myself riding mostly trails that are punchy with quick/steep ups and just as quick downs. Generating as much speed as you can in about 50 yards or less is the difference between jumping those rollers or just pumping them.
I was one of the first people to get on the Riot pre-order list because the geometry simply blew my mind. I was very familiar with that category of bikes in terms of travel, but had never seen one with such perfect geometry. The Riot was my first Canfield bike and I must say I was blown away. I made several trips over the course of the fall to trails that I had ridden on lesser bikes, but the Riot is so capable and comfortable that it made it seem almost too easy. Fast forward a few months and I've got kid #3 coming in May, my soon to be 6 year old is wanting more and more to come along for rides(which I'm super happy about) and the frequency with which I was making those hour long drives to Chattanooga and the like was getting less and less. On the weekends I'd rather ride with my son and the Riot was sadly under-utilized on those types of trails as you could imagine.
In the meantime I keep reading review after review about how awesome the Canfield hardtails are and the thought of owning an EPO became more and more tempting. After a series of PM's with EPO owners(you know who you are) and emails with Vin and Sean, I took the leap.
I got my frame this past Monday and had my first ride on Tuesday. Going from the Riot to EPO was both familiar and polar opposite at the same time. The fit and geometry of the EPO felt immediately natural to me, yet the lack of 140mm of Formula suspension was...lets just say noticeable.
Now not noticeable in a bad way, just different. I was now paying attention to the trail more, picking lines, standing up and attacking, pumping etc. Skills that I was getting somewhat lazy about honing since the Riot is the ultimate mistake-eraser. All that aside, the end result was a sigh of relief. I knew that I was onto something good.
Second ride was today, twice as long as Tuesday, and much more rocks and sections of flat-out eye watering flow and berms. In the car on the way to the trailhead I started second-guessing myself. Did I make a huge mistake? Am I a moron for selling the Riot? Within the first quarter mile there is a short downhill that is littered with rocks and roots. I hit it at Riot speed and was quickly reminded that I was on a hardtail. Not horrible, but definitely different. Luckily, I felt at ease as soon as I hit the first section of twisty, undulating trail. I found myself standing with the dropper down for the first 2 miles, trying to get in as many pedals strokes as possible before tucking and diving into the berms. I was carrying plenty of speed and the handling was superb. I had to pay much more attention to those occasional rocks and roots, but with the razor sharp steering of the EPO I was able to navigate them without much trouble. I noticed today that I skidded my rear tire more than ever(sorry) since I was able to bob and weave through the woods at a higher rate of speed than I was used to.
It's still early and I know some of this is seen through the eyes of new bike stoke, but I'm excited about what's to come.
The obvious question is, which is better the Riot or the EPO? The answer is simple. Both. Neither. They really aren't comparable in my opinion and depending on your wants/needs/terrain one will definitely be better than the other.
I'd say the closest comparison that I could make would be to my old Evil Following. Geometry wise the EPO fits me better (long legs/short torso) and I'm faster on the EPO on the same trails. I do think the EPO handles more precisely with a 140mm fork than the Evil did with a 130mm fork in the High setting. The Evil obviously is more forgiving, but for my 2.5-3 hour ride today I don't feel any more beat up than usual.
TLDR version: The EPO is legit. If you haven't ridden one, you are missing out on some magic from the Canfield boys.