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La Bruja owners

1K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  1962 
#1 ·
anybody here own and ride the 7" la bruja. what do you think of it. lets hear some comments la bruja owners.
 
#2 ·
I had one for a season. I liked it a lot. Very stiff frame that was great in the corners. The previous year I had a Terremoto and thought the Bruja climbed just as well. They had the same build kit as I transfered most parts from the TM to the Bruja. For climbing I pretty much kept it in the granny and was always impressed with how well it climbed really techy/ledgy stuff. If I was building a new one it would be with a Hammerschmidt. Probably the best bike every made for a HS.
 
#3 ·
hey scott

so scott it looks like you own different bikes. are the giant and turner dw link type frames as active as ventana frames. i've owned eight ventana frames not at once of coarse only one at a time. i started with the marble peak FS . i also owned an ellsworth and turner back in 98 and 2000 but went back to ventana because ventana just soaked up the rocks going up hill and down hill, blew turner out of the water. but turner did climb better on the road and the geo was great, better than ventana. that was back in 2000 is ventana still a more active frame than the new DW link type frames nowadays.
 
#4 ·
If you're looking for a big bike that can climb the super chunk then the Bruja is a strong front runner. None of the DW link bikes handle that very well. The idea behind the DW link is that chain tension stiffens the suspension. So when you're digging deep and hitting that fourth or fifth ledge the Ventana is able to absorb it while still staying on the gas while the suspension works to help you over the ledge.

Given that, of the three DW link bikes I've spent time on, 5-Spot, Mach 5, and Mojo the Pivot was the most active while climbing, but didn't feel as spry as the Turner or IBIS in flat out accelerations.

As weird as it is to say, the Pivot felt very Ventana like. The Turner and IBIS were very much similar. The Turner felt to me that is was very rigid under accelerations and blew deep into it's travel quickly on the descents. I will give the Turner a pretty big thumbs up in the cornering department though. It tracked very well. I just couldn't get over how much the bike was like Jekly and Hyde, under power climbing like a hardtail, then powering through it's travel on medium dh hits.

Those are my observations only. Not substantiated by any lap rats and computer generated models.
 
#5 ·
I'm of the same thought as Myke (Internal14).. My rides on a Turner and an Ibis I could most definately feel the chain tension holding up the rear wheel over sharp edged rocks/ledgy stuff. I think for folks coming from Ventana's especially long time users, we can feel the difference more,

And since I'm not racing up the Mt. Just trying to get up there for the bomb down, I don't care if it's .1% less effecient or whatever it is.
 
#6 ·
I gotta disagree with you here...

VPP relies a lot more on chain tension to stiffen the suspension. My experience with DW Link bikes (Turner Sultan, Pivot Mach 429) is that when pedaling through chunk, the suspension stays active and traction (especially with the Turner) is much better than my old 4 bar bike (previous generation Sultan). You're also the only person I've heard that thinks the Mach 5 is more active than the 5 Spot. My understanding is that the Mach 5's suspension was tuned to be optimized to be less active for better pedaling and the 5 Spot to be more active for bumps.

Not trying to say that you're impressions are wrong, just that others have had different experiences.

And yes, the 5 Spot does blow through its travel quickly. There is a lengthy thread discussing how to tune the volume of the air chamber of the rear shock to minimize that.
 
#7 ·
jedi/bruja

ok what about the jedi link type frame is that as active as the la bruja or is it closer to the DHR link frame. anybody with lots of time on these bikes ?
 
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