After a month of being on order from my LBS, this guy finally rolled through the door on Friday. Took it out on a couple of rides and I have some feedback for you all.
This is a size XL for my 6'3" frame and 36" inseam. It felt big at first coming from an XL Epic but for good reason. The front end is tall to help the rider be in a neutral position on the bike on gnarly downhill segments. It just felt a lot different from the Epic Expert Carbon 29 XL I was coming from.
My first ride I noticed climbing was a little awkward compared to the Epic I came from (more on this later). The front end is TALL, the stock stem is pretty long, and the handlebars are WIDE. This all made exaggerating the turn a necessity as it took more in the form of turning to get up the technical switchbacks I was climbing. Upon descending, I noticed one thing immediately... the suspension is awesome. I opened it up, adjusted the rebound to fast and switched from climb to descend on the Fox Float CTD and it responded amazingly. I also was a huge fan of the Revelation fork. Very plush and adjustable for climbs and descents. The actuation of the dropper command post is smooth (NO seat wiggle this year either!). For the downhill I did, the middle position was perfect. It was very easy to actuate the dropper on the fly no matter where you were on the trail. Very well placed trigger. The DH section that usually took a lot of body english and effort on the EPIC seemed like a stroll through the park on the stumpy evo. I didn't really push the bike since we were just getting acquainted. At the bottom of the hill I checked Strava and was disappounted to find that I finished considerably slower that my PR I had set for that DH segment on Strava. I knew the bike could be pushed hard and wanted to go faster... it was totally rider error and getting used to the new rig.
Before heading back up the hill, I wanted to make a few adjustments to achieve a similar fit to the Epic that I felt so comfortable on. First I adjusted the seat position. I moved the seat as far forward and down as it would go. This was necessary especially with the XL frame, the seat tube angle makes the seat angle back more than a M or L size frame. This new position for me helped me still feel "in" the bike (especially with the post dropped) but gave me that sense of control and power of being on "top" of it while climbing. It also helped with my sore taint. I was definitely feeling it from that first climb. Once that was done I went back up the hill. I instantly felt more at home and my taint was thanking me. I crushed my PR on that climb that I set on my Epic! I was shocked. Consider that... with my new stumpy evo, I demolished a PR I had set the week before on a pure XC carbon bike ... needless to say this thing holds its own on climbs. On the second go on the DH section, I PR'd again. Not by much, but as I get more comfortable on this bike I can see that time getting lower and lower. I was still holding it back. The adjustments were spot on. This bike rips once you get a feel for the geometry and make the adjustments you need to.
GRIPES. The brakes. I did not bed the brakes in like I should have but thought they would be fine given that they weren't the Avids this time around. About half way through my second ever descent on this bike (the PR one) the front brake started a high squeal but still braked well, but the back brake sounded like a donkey in heat and vibrated the whole bike to the point of losing control. I will update the review on this once I get this figured out. I'm going to take it in and have it looked at, but this makes me nervous. The shiftings need to be adjusted on the X9 in the back. Not too sure the kid at the LBS spent a lot of time lining them up. Other than that, its all good.
Oh, and the Black on black is dead sexy. I'm going to slap some red CB mallet 3's on here next week too. Not that it really matters, but I like looking at the bike when I'm not riding it.
This is a size XL for my 6'3" frame and 36" inseam. It felt big at first coming from an XL Epic but for good reason. The front end is tall to help the rider be in a neutral position on the bike on gnarly downhill segments. It just felt a lot different from the Epic Expert Carbon 29 XL I was coming from.
My first ride I noticed climbing was a little awkward compared to the Epic I came from (more on this later). The front end is TALL, the stock stem is pretty long, and the handlebars are WIDE. This all made exaggerating the turn a necessity as it took more in the form of turning to get up the technical switchbacks I was climbing. Upon descending, I noticed one thing immediately... the suspension is awesome. I opened it up, adjusted the rebound to fast and switched from climb to descend on the Fox Float CTD and it responded amazingly. I also was a huge fan of the Revelation fork. Very plush and adjustable for climbs and descents. The actuation of the dropper command post is smooth (NO seat wiggle this year either!). For the downhill I did, the middle position was perfect. It was very easy to actuate the dropper on the fly no matter where you were on the trail. Very well placed trigger. The DH section that usually took a lot of body english and effort on the EPIC seemed like a stroll through the park on the stumpy evo. I didn't really push the bike since we were just getting acquainted. At the bottom of the hill I checked Strava and was disappounted to find that I finished considerably slower that my PR I had set for that DH segment on Strava. I knew the bike could be pushed hard and wanted to go faster... it was totally rider error and getting used to the new rig.
Before heading back up the hill, I wanted to make a few adjustments to achieve a similar fit to the Epic that I felt so comfortable on. First I adjusted the seat position. I moved the seat as far forward and down as it would go. This was necessary especially with the XL frame, the seat tube angle makes the seat angle back more than a M or L size frame. This new position for me helped me still feel "in" the bike (especially with the post dropped) but gave me that sense of control and power of being on "top" of it while climbing. It also helped with my sore taint. I was definitely feeling it from that first climb. Once that was done I went back up the hill. I instantly felt more at home and my taint was thanking me. I crushed my PR on that climb that I set on my Epic! I was shocked. Consider that... with my new stumpy evo, I demolished a PR I had set the week before on a pure XC carbon bike ... needless to say this thing holds its own on climbs. On the second go on the DH section, I PR'd again. Not by much, but as I get more comfortable on this bike I can see that time getting lower and lower. I was still holding it back. The adjustments were spot on. This bike rips once you get a feel for the geometry and make the adjustments you need to.
GRIPES. The brakes. I did not bed the brakes in like I should have but thought they would be fine given that they weren't the Avids this time around. About half way through my second ever descent on this bike (the PR one) the front brake started a high squeal but still braked well, but the back brake sounded like a donkey in heat and vibrated the whole bike to the point of losing control. I will update the review on this once I get this figured out. I'm going to take it in and have it looked at, but this makes me nervous. The shiftings need to be adjusted on the X9 in the back. Not too sure the kid at the LBS spent a lot of time lining them up. Other than that, its all good.
Oh, and the Black on black is dead sexy. I'm going to slap some red CB mallet 3's on here next week too. Not that it really matters, but I like looking at the bike when I'm not riding it.