The annual post Interbike post

Yeah, I have been a slow blogger lately.  In fact, I have even been slacking on all the social media lately...no Facebook, Twitter, etc.  It is freeing.

But I have been working hard on article writing, email writing, video editing, and picture tweaking for twentynineinches.com and thecyclistsite.com, so it is not like I have been hiding.  I am pretty caught up now.

So, that said, let us talk about I Bike.

Vegas sucks.  I think I have said that.  And to get there to all that suckage, it is a 5 hour drive across the desert for me.  I never did get around to getting the AC repaired on my family truckster, so I left at early evening with temps in the high 80s and the radio turned up.  No worries.  At 9:00 at night I rolled through Baker, CA, home of the world's tallest thermometer, and it was 100 degrees F.  Ooofh!  thanks goodness that did not last long

At the airport, I collected GT and we headed to the Strip to get to our 99 cent hotel room.  It is amazing at 11:00 at night, just how many people are walking around the Strip in Vegas.  Crazy.

The trails of Demo Days are held at Bootleg Cyn, a dedicated mtn bike area that rocks...and rocks of all sizes.  Crashing here is a really, really bad idea.  The heat this year was just killer.  Temps into the low 100s, wind, dust, wind, dust, heat, etc.  By the time you rode a few bikes, you were pretty done for the day.  Tuesday afternoon the winds really cranked up and guys were hanging onto the pop-up shelters to keep them from flying away.  Riders were actually crashing from being blown off line on the XC course.  Nice.

I really enjoyed a  few bikes this year, but my fav was the Giant Anthem X 29er.  It really will be a contender in the 4" fast trailbike world.

One of the highlights of the show was talking for quite a while with Joe Breeze.  The Joe Breeze as in Breezer bikes.  He is all over 29ers right now and had just turned the fastest time ever on a Fuji 29er FS that is five pounds heavier then his 26" hardtail.  Joe is getting pretty stoked on 29ers and his Cloud 9 Pro carbon 29er hardtail was a unique ride.  I liked it.  It is not a me-too bike.  I am expecting a test ride on an aluminum version soon.  Looking forward to that.

Overall the show for me was a lot of work.  Riding, walking, talking, filming, networking, etc.  It really is a chore to review things in that you hardly ever can just relax and ride.  You are always thinking about how this is working (or not working) and why or why not.  Only on long term tests can ya just lay back and let time leave an impression on ya.  30 minutes per ride is just a quick peek.

But, the work is balanced out by the great people you meet.  Bike people are most always cool.  Hanging with GT, the Salsa Guys, Joe Breeze....and all the guys and gals that took the time to meet and greet and talk.  It was all good and it buffers the pain and sore legs and feet.

Highlights:

• Finding the best bakery in the known world (or at least on Tropicana Ave) on the way out to Demo Days.  The health nut cookies and the raspberry tarts were unreal.  Thank you, kind bakery ladies.

• Getting back on a bike...ANY bike...after surgery recovery at Bootleg was tenuous at best, but it was still a great feeling.  Man I missed riding bikes.  Thank you, God.

• Seeing people like Joe Breeze that, after all these years, are still unashamed bike nuts.  I hope to make that mark as well.

• Seeing my editor and international man of mystery, Guitar Ted, again.  It is always so weird and surreal at I Bike.  We talk all the time, then see each other once a year for a couple of days, then back to a thousand miles of separation.  I sure wish we could just go for a ride some day.  Make it gravel, OK?

• Getting a lot of bikes and equipment set up for the next year to review and talk about.  New stuff is always neat to play with.

• Finding out that we are well thought of in the industry as fair minded, honest reviewers.  That speaks of not only skill and knowledge, but integrity and consistency.  That means a lot to me.

So now I am back to the life at home.  Back to work and family and riding bikes.  It is good to be home.

Men on a Mission and other things of national importance.

Guitar Ted is on the right, me on the left.  Pretty sure.

Well pretty soon here Guitar Ted and I will descend on LV-town like two men on a mission, not like a mission from God, but a mission to seek out the goodness of what is new in 29er stuff on display at Interbike.

I doubt we will look as cool as the two righteous dudes in the pic and my Suburban is certainly not the chariot that theirs is.  Regardless of all that, we will do our best to suffer through the few days of bike riding and walking the show, taking pics, talking bike stuff, arranging tests or product, etc.

It is fun and I would not miss it for all the tea in China (which, I take it, is quite a lot...I dunno).  But it is a lot of work.  Relaxing it ain't and it is just part of the job of keeping your finger on the pulse of the 29er world.

This season will see huge interest in Europe for big wheels.  The coverage by c_g on twentynineinches.com was pretty deluxe and the difference between last year over the pond and this year is stunning.  It seems to be mostly hardtails, as everyone tests the waters with biggy toes dipped in 29" deep pools of water. There is a lot of carbon right off the bat, something that took a while here in North America.  The Euro market seems very, very performance focused, like everything has to be weighed and engineered within a fraction of a nano-gram or it is verboten.  Interesting.  Is everyone over there a hardened (or wanna be hardened) racer?  Maybe.  Don't they just ride for fun?

I wonder if, in order to get around the lingering impressions that 29ers are slow and heavy, that they are overcompensating with euber-stiff and light bikes to get folks looking and riding?  I mean, where are the EU versions of a Vassago Jabberwocky?  I imagine they are there, somewhere, but maybe not getting the press right now.

The boon to 29er riders will be huge from this.  Already there are getting to be a lot of tires that I have only seen at EU-Bike.  Some of them will stay over there, but not all.  More bikes to put parts on means more reasons to invest in new parts and products, things that we will get to buy as well, perhaps even resulting in falling prices, but I would not hold my breath for that.

I am going to I-Bike in waaaay less than prime shape.  My fitness is OK, but my mobility and strength is nowhere near Bootleg Canyon ready.  Shame, that, but it is what it is.  I will do what I can do.  Maybe I will need to be a bit more selective in my riding or take more pics/vid than ride bikes. 

The Rockhopper SL 2011 SS frameset is going back to the mother ship as testing is wrapped up on it.  Even though I had limited time on it, Ed the Tall came in and pinch hit for me, logging multiple hours of trail time.  He had some kind words for this budget frame as he compared it to his much beloved Selma SS.  No, he is not stepping off his Selma for the Rocky, but it was not a huge loss for the $440.00 frame from Specialized.  I wanted to see if I could solve the twisty steering issues the 2010 complete bike had, and I did.  the Recon fork and my own decent quality wheelset made a huge difference in ride performance as far as coloring between the lines with confidence.  I was actually considering making this my primary SS ride to replace the Jabber, but I just have not been able to feel the love from either of the alu SS frames I have spent time on.  There are good things about them, but I just cannot get past the ride and nearly intangible quality of steel over alu.  I guess I am set in my ways.  Until Ti romances me or I give in to carbon, I doubt an alu hardtail is ever going to be my dance partner.

This showed up on the doorstep the other day.  A 140mm Reba RLT Ti 29er fork with 20mm Maxle Light.  Wow.  Surprise, surprise, surprise.  Now I am working on obtaining suitable test platforms.  A Lenz Moth is in the works, but that will take a while.  Not sure what will be up first, but I sure would not mind building up a Speshy FSR frame.

I kinda consider the 140mm Reba a long travel XC/AM fork rather than a real heavy Freeride fork.  Lots of room for forks like this Reba.  I can totally see having a bike like this in the quiver; something at 30 lbs with long legs and the hope of riding to the top of a hill.  Moab, baby.  It would be a killer bike for Burro Down. 

What is interesting to me is the continued interest in bigger duty 29ers.  MC's thoughts on the MTX-33 rim and bikes like the Lenz Lunchbox and especially the PBJ are pushing the limits of 29ers as DH bikes.  If there is a rim now, and perhaps even a tire like the WTB Dissent that will survive, the Manitou Dorado fork converted and the White Bros 150mm are pretty much the only game in town.  I am not sure if that will change at I-Bike.  I bet we will see a longer travel fork from Manitou in some way or another to compete with the Reba 140mm, but anything bigger?  Not sure.  Where is Marzocchi?  They are the AM/Freeride guys, aren't they?  We shall see, now that White Bros is re-doing their forks for 2011.  Maybe there is a surprise there.  I bet this will not hit harder till 2012, but I could be wrong.  I have been a skeptic regarding 29ers and 7+ inches of travel as a good idea.  It looks like I will be eating crow.

Speaking of skeptics, the belt drive is once again seeing improvements and refinements from Gates.  I hope this gets sorted out, even though I take issues with many of the talking points that the belt drive proponents spout, I would like to see it actually work for the masses, should they choose to use it.  Hopefully I can swing a leg over one at Demo Days.  I am not sure that this channeled belt and cog is that much of a change as there still are the issues of tension, racheting, cost, 'cog' selection and sizing, and getting a frame built around the girder like chainstay specs that Gates calls for.  I dunno.  It still sounds like a lot of trouble to just NOT have a chain.

Well, more later from the quest for knowledge, knobbies, and schwag at I-Bike.

Interbike Ramblings

I left So Cal at 17:00 and pointed the Grannygear family truckster toward Nevada and sin city. It was gonna be hot and I only needed to be at the Vegas airport by 22:30 or so to meet the Most Interesting Man in the World, Midwest version, Guitar Ted.

I wanted to avoid running the air on the Suburban to do as well as I could fuel wise, so windows lowered a bit and tunes cranked up was the rule for the night. Watching the temps drop toward the low 90s was bliss until I rolled though the night toward Baker, CA, home of the world's tallest thermometer. Really...no kidding. Just at the edge of town the temp had crept up to 99* at 20:00. Ouch! What will Vegas be like mid day at the outdoor demo? However, the climb up to Nevada gave me low 80s temps and hope for the next day.


At the airport I scanned the arriving flights board for GT's flight number. Nada...zilch. Uuummm. OK. Thinking to myself, "there is only one airport in Vegas, yes?", I wondered what the deal was. Turns out that Delta and Northwest Air had partnered up or something and the flight number had changed. Ah. Soon enough I had GT tucked into my version of the 'dirty blue (bigger) box' and off we went to our VIP digs at Circus Circus, complete with a turbo-charged AC unit and a view of the parking lot. Oh well. No chocolates on the pillow here. If they had been there, GT would have inhaled them mid-snore. That Iowan can saw logs, I tell ya. God bless the man that invented ear plugs. I love you and your foamy, snore silencing devices.

The next day we hit the local Mickey D's for breakfast and drove out to Boulder City, but not before we had to stop at the Sands Convention Center and get our badges and wristbands. That was when I nearly got in a fight with an entire family from who-knows where that was staking out a parking spot with their bodies. Luckily the man of the family (loose term here) was all show and no go or the week would have been a demo of a Vegas jail cell most likely. Sigh. Later I ran into the family in the halls of the registration area where I went up and apologized for my part of it. They were marvelously ungracious. Oh well. I tried.

The Demo Days were a marvelous combo of crowds, lines, gambling on what bike would be available to ride, sun, dust, wind, more sun dust and wind, and rocks of all shapes and sizes. There were more than a few boo-boos seen on display as many riders found the limits of the equipment or the skills and gravity tossed them into the unforgiving soil of Bootleg Canyon. One vendor was overheard saying, "Well the good news is there have been no Lifeflights yet today. That is a first." Oh goodie. Mental note to self: Skin and bones intact good...Lifeflight bad. Check!

I rode lots of fun bikes but not all I wanted to, was disappointed by some, thrilled by others. What would I have taken home from the dance? Well, the Santa Cruz Tall Boy and the Specy Epic Marathon 29er would be 2 to pick from...tough choice there.


I also loved riding the Specy Stumpy Carbon S-works Wunderbike. Wow. Soooo fast.

There was a big difference between the level of care and attention some bike makers put into the set-up of each test bike. Getting high marks was the Specialized booth. JT, shown here working on a bike for me, was like having a personal attendant and I saw that for all riders in line. Contrary to that was the indifferent approach of the GT tent where I was handed the new and relatively unknown Sensor 29er with a "here ya' go!" No questions, no set-up. OK then. Fun bike in spite of the dumb approach to handing it out.

JT is a star!

Speaking of being ignored, This Tomac 29er SS was at the booth. GT and I stood there and looked at it, snapped pics, etc while JT himself and several booth workers said nothing to us. Odd. Don't ya' want folks talking about your bikes in an intelligent manner?

EBB on the Tomac bike...well, I think that is an EBB...they would not talk to me about it.

Along the way are some highlights:

Mountain Unicycles, possibly the largest herd ever captured on film.

Fat Tire Bikes are soooo cool, these are Fatback frames

Want to be a marketing guy for a bike company? Then you need to master the right hand gestures, demonstrated here by The Jamis and Banshee guys in the above pics. Well done, boys. Just like Vanna, only much more masculine.

Joe Meiser's personal Fargo. He camped out in the hills of Bootleg before the Demo.

How does he do it? Devin, the man behind all the Lenzsport goodies and the PBJ bike.

FRS gets the taste test winner from me. Dave and Sonya agree.

BBQ cooked personally by Chris King (yes, that Chris King) and his loyal minions. Tasty.

The last day and the last bike I rode was the Salsa Selma SS. After pedaling all the boingy, squishy, shifty stuff around the hills, it was awesome to get back on an SS again. I spent most of the loop passing other riders on FS bikes with 40 or 50 gear choices (or whatever it is now). SS bikes are amazing, really, even on the hardscrabble up and down of the XC stuff there.


At the show, we just did one day indoors. A lot of that was business stuff and the rest is a blur, but a few things:

The food is ridiculously expensive in the show venue at the convention center. I made do with a bagel and cream cheese, smuggled in trail mix, and some killer samples of this stuff:

Clif Bar White Chocolate Macadamia Nut bar. Ooohhh. That was good.

I had been wanting to check out the new tubeless ready wheels from American Classic and here they were. I am bummed that they decided to go with red hubs only for pre-built wheels. Hmmm. Still I am looking at these with interest.


I had a great conversation with Lynette from White Industries about how SSing and the whole urban fixie thing has kept companies like White, Phil Wood and Pauls, etc, not only in business, but vibrant and thriving. Huh. I figured years ago they would all go away or just go very niche, but nope. Isn't that too cool, though?


I leave you with this final image, which, after days of sensory input, sums up my thoughts about Interbike rather well, I think. Asian marketing guy, I salute you:

Hit the Road, Jack

The Interbike pilgrimage begins today. I head for Vegas this afternoon to pick up Guitar Ted at the airport and then to our palatial digs for the eve. Monday and Tues are all about the Dirt Demo. It looks like the weather will be hot (duh) but not as bad as I had thought. Not much shade out there at Boulder City. Just rocks and dirt. And more rocks.

And bikes. Good lord yes, bikes everywhere. The plan is to focus on the rising tidal wave of carbon goodness coming from the Asian lands. Lots of new hardtail and FS composite stuff hitting the shores this year for those who can afford them. Me? Not likely, but it is fun to dream anyway.

Hopefully I will post up some stuff over the week but most of my efforts will go to twentynineinches.com and The Cyclist. But, the bloggage will be more indiscreet, if that is called for. I will save the juicy stuff for here, where I am free to be me. Scary, that.

Loading up the family truckster soon. Bye bye So Cal, hello Babylon.

Part Four: Interbike - Let's Make a Deal!

The last day of the week long journey dawned hot and bright as only the desert can do. When we had rolled into Vegas the night before, it was still over 90*, quite the change from when we had left where the evenings were very pleasant. But hey, the halls of the convention center were air conditioned and so was Steve M's Honda, so we were good to go.

I still was walking like the Tim Conway character, the old man, remember him? Maybe Festus on the Gunsmoke program? Yeah, I know, the age is showing, ain't it? I had the challenge of walking for hours through the show, so I popped way more Ibuprofen than normal and headed out with the gang. I figured I could always find a place on the floor or some abandoned hallway to lie down in if I had to.

It is funny how these type of events go, usually I just hit the top 6 or so booths that I really want to see and then the rest of the show fades into a blur of stuff, none of which I need and little of which I want. Inevitably I forget something or walk right by the 'gem of the show' only to read about it later on some other persons report. "Hey, did you guys see the Zero G cycles booth? They had the new Sputnik XC bike there with super secret declassified Russian mystery metal that actually weighed LESS than nothing. It leaves black holes whereever you ride it!". Nah...must have missed that one.

However, this show was a bit different. You see, I was being educated by a member of our group, who's name will be kept confidential so I don't embarrass Cliff by talking about him. He is a super shopper. If there is a deal within 200 square miles, hectares, kilometers, or light years, he will find it. The boy has talent, he does. SO he revealed to me that I-Bike can be a shoppers dream. Really? I had no idea. I had never even thought of actually buying anything there, but I had not been to the show in years, so maybe it happened while I was away or I just was clueless.

Now, I am not talking schwag or free stuff, or even scamming. I mean, "Hey, are those for sale, and if so, how much?" I won't even touch on his ability to get free stuff. The man's an artist, but I will leave that be. So now, with the thought of being able to buy some cool stuff at a good price in my mind, I was in another mindset altogether. I still had the living dead/zombie shuffle going on and my left hamstring was all messed up from the nerves getting zinged, but I still managed to do pretty well.

I already posted up the Deuter hydration pack. Sweet deal. More to come on that once I have used it for a while, but I also picked up the new DVD 'Seasons', a couple of insulated water bottles, a sweet pair of Serfas glasses with 4 lenses, and the usual samples and catalogs, magazines, etc.

Now, we were there on the last day. And in the last hour of the show, on the last day, things in the swapmeet heat up to fever pitch. Bikes, wheels, tires, etc, hit the chopping block. Shimano was selling the high zoot shoes which included a custom fit (done right on the spot) for silly prices. I heard of all kinds of stuff bought for cheap. I wanted to come home with some amount of money in my pocket, so I sat, rested my back and watched the whole thing wind down.

God was gracious and I was able to get through the day with a lot of discomfort and some pain, but hey, I ride mtn bikes. That is SOP for me. Felt like normal!

Some highlights of the show other than shopping:

Talking to Jason at Salsa about his Fargo adventures and touring plans he has for next year, then turning around and meeting Guitar Ted standing right next to me. VERY COOL. Heck, I would rather meet these guys than Lance Whatever His Name Is.

The booth that had those energy food bites that looked like malted milk balls...was it Clif Bar? Can't remember. Cookie Dough flavor....mmmmmmMM!

The entire Salsa line-up. I may need to blog just about that all by itself. How can they get so much, so right?

Watching Jeff Jones of Jones bikes, yes the swoopy $$$$ Ti ones, take his bike and stand it sideways on the front wheel, then jump on the center of the wheel to show how strong the set up is. I guess so!

Meeting the owner of Rawland cycles and training myself to look at him sign (apparently he is deaf and mute) his words while I listened to the interpreter off to the side. Now I only mention this as a point of self realization. At first I was looking AND listening to the interpreter. Then it occurred to me that that was a bit rude, so I focused on the owner, Sean (more about him here) and I could see the passion in his eyes for what he does. Very cool stuff, definately out of the box.

One negative thing. Specialized thinks I don't rate. Hey, they may be right, but how come I don't get into the inner sanctum of their bike display? Dealers and media only, I miss on both accounts. I guess this is nothing new for them, but it ticked me off. Makes me glad I don't own a Specialized bike and I doubt I will again. Salsa liked me. I buy stuff from folks that like me.

Anything else? A few things I will blog about all on their own, but the rest is all fuzzy, just one big mash of lights, banners, and shiny, expensive things.

Now a couple of pics just cuz. Salsa goodness, The Santana bike-as-fence-rail booth, The Lenz 6.0 and a quiet statement of faith, and Rawland steel, not in any particular order.

Part One: Demo Days 2008

So begins the 4 part saga of a week centered around bikes and bike stuff...riding, examining, exploring, hand shaking, and schwag gathering. Part one are my thoughts from the Demo Days, an opportunity to ride yourself silly on nearly any bike you have on your dream list. Part two is Moab, part 3, Thunder Mtn Trail, and finally ending at Interbike.

Part One:



I had never been to Demo Days before and I only had 4 hrs to ride as much as I could. Stepping off the air conditioned bus at the expo was pretty impressive. It looked like a tent city laid out in the shimmering air. An oasis in the heat of the desert, an oasis of goodies. Oh boy! Riders were already crawling around the XC course like ants at a mtn bikers picnic. The course wound through the desert hills offering an XC and a DH option. I rode the same XC loop each time, about a 20 minute ride, that way I could keep the comparison as fair as possible. Each bike was set up by the vendor, I never changed a thing on the suspension. Many bikes would remain untried as I simply ran out of time, but I was focused on one thing: Riding as many FS 29ers as possible to see what the newest suspension offerings were bringing to the table and to see how my Lenz stacked up. Had I made a good decision or should I have waited for a newer wunderbike? Time will tell. Read on!

Ride one: Salsa Big Mama - Can the Mama dance?

Much buzz about this one. I was pretty sure that Salsa was coming out with a FS 29er and I was hoping it would be reasonably priced. When it hit the net, it was quite the stirrer up of stuff as it was well priced and good looking AND innovative in subtle ways. I was really looking forward to this one as Guitar Ted had really liked it and had left the impression that it rode better than the sum of it's parts would lead you to believe.

I got a red one, and Steve M. got a black one.





After introducing myself to Jason from Salsa (I link to his very fine blog), I checked out a Big Mama, LG size if I remember correctly. Right away it felt good to pedal, but I could tell it was a bit heavier than the Lev. However, compared to my Lev, it had burlier tires and more heft overall as befit the trailbike aspect of the build (true of most of the bikes I rode except the Pivot). I got to the first rolling hill and stood up and pedaled. Very nice, stiff and responsive. Nothing amazing, just solid. And that feeling remained throughout the ride. It was solid, predictable, accurate, comfortable, nuetral, and very, very fun to ride. I have been riding bikes for a long time, and if I can get on one and feel right at home, I count that as high praise. No adapting, no wondering, "is it me or the bike that feels a bit off?"

Oh, one more thing...I am an advocate for shortish CS length but I had heard that the Big Mama was pretty long back there. I had also read that it was easy to wheelie and manual, something that many other 29ers I have ridden were unwilling to do. Darned if it was not true. I never pulled out the ruler, but it was simple to wheelie and very easy to manual, as least as good as my Lev.

Nice bike. Very balanced, no suprises.

Ventana El Rey - Old Standard gets judged.



When I was trying to decide if I liked 29ers a year or so ago, I rented an EL Rey and rode it for a couple of days. I loved a few things about it. It was beautifully made, pedaled in and out of the saddle like it was built to run fast, and handled like a school bus in the tight trails around home. I figured maybe it was me not being used to the subtleties of a 29" wheel, so I figured I would grab one and see if I felt any different this time.

[NOTE: This one was set up with narrow bars and stupid angles on the brake levers. Why narrow bars on a FS 29er? It felt wrong. I ride wide bars and all the other bikes I rode had wider bars as well. Hmmmm...how can that happen that a test bike can be built up that way? Bummer.]

Was it all better now that I had a few hundred miles on 29ers? Nope. Still gorgeous, still sexy, still stiff, still clumsy and odd steering with a floppy front end and a very hard to manual, unbalanced ride. Huh. My first impression stands, and after the Big Mama, I was thinking I would not spend another 1000 dollars for less fun on the trail. When I rode by the Salsa booth, I called out to Jason that the "Big Mama won", at least so far. Impressive.

Still mystified about the manual-ing (sp?) issue. What is the deal? I had the same issue with the Fisher HiFi. I dunno. Cockpit position? Weight balance? Magic spell? All I know is that I can manual my Lev pretty easily, the Mama was about the same, maybe easier, and the El Rey was waaaay harder just like before. Huh.

Pivot 429: My first shot at a DW link bike.




Man, was I putting a lot of hope in this bike. I have a, well, you can't call it a vision exactly, but it is a feeling I dream about when I rise out of the saddle and pedal an imaginary FS bike and it scoots forward like it was a hardtail, but rides like an FS bike. So far, that exists only in my mind. Would the Pivot be the fulfillment of that dream?

Looking at it, it is a very well made bike, very sexy links and struts connecting it all together. To me, most DW bikes look cluttered and clunky but the 429 looks organic. After more setup time than the other bikes, including careful measurement of sag with a calibrated little tool, the Pivot guy blessed the set up and off I went.

Sitting and pedaling along it felt the equal to the others, maybe a bit 'deader' feeling, but it scooted when prodded. It certainly did not feel plush, but I like that anyway as I am slanted towards a firmer ride. Standing on the first rise, I thought maybe I had a low tire or the suspension was moving under pedaling force. Nope, the links were not cycling at all and I was moving pretty fast, it just felt odd. I was to find that all the DW type bikes felt like that to one degree or another, the JET-9 the least. I got used to it, but it felt very different than my Lenz and the El Rey and the Mama. Not a deal breaker.

One other thing that bugged me about all the DW type bikes: I would stand and pedal, look down at the BB area and see all that stuff hanging out there and my mind would say, "hmmmm......un-sleek" Yeah, I know....but there it is.

Another thing I noticed when I dropped into the first twisting section of trail was that this was one of the finest feeling front ends I have ever ridden. It just was dead accurate. Wow. I never quite got into sync with the rear end though. It was a fast bike and it was not a plush ride, but it never felt balanced between the front/rear. The rear would kick a bit on a ledge that the fork just flowed over. When you went fast and the bumps racheted up a notch, it was a firm but fast ride and it just railed the turns. I liked it a lot and I would not mind owning it if only for the fine front end and the cool looks. Still, it had not knocked off the Mama as the #1 fun bike.

Jet 9 - Ready to make me sad about buying my Lev 3.0?




OK, not a trailbike for this area of the country, but as a fast, lighter and more race oriented version of the RIP-9, many folks in some parts of the world would make this their one and only bike. How would it compare to the Lenz? Both have the same travel in the back (3" or so) and 100mm forks.

It was the best pedaling bike of all the DW-type bikes as you might expect since it is designed to be racey. It was obviously less plush, but it handled the trail with grace. However, you better keep an eye on the front end as it was a bit quick, especially on the scrabbly and rocky trails of the demo course. I liked it, but the Lev feels more slanted toward the trail bike feel, but with light weight and responsive pedaling of the JET. The JET is what I would ride if I liked a right-now type of steering or I needed to dance through the roots and rocks where quick turning is desired more than stablity. I would buy this bike, but I would not get off the Lev for it.

Sultan - Did Dave get it right?



Man you would think that the Turner folks found a new way to suspend gravity or something, the way that the internet buzz was going on about the turn to DW link frames. We shall see. I always held the Sultan in high regard but never got to ride one before I bought the Lenz.

Right away, I liked the bike as I pedaled out of the tent area. It was a bit short in the TT (LG size), but close enough. I actually got to swap to an XL halfway through the course and it was a closer fit to me at 6'2" and long arms. Somewhere in between as the perfect size?

Remember the fine steering 429? Add that to the Sultan, make the rear end feel as good as the front, have it track on rails, steer effortlessly, climb better than all the DW bikes except the JET (and it was close), run the DH sections so fast that I was scaring myself but let me pull it off anyway...well you get the idea. Simply amazing bike.

When I got back to the Turner tent, I mentioned it was the best trailbike of all I had ridden, but it needed a better fork to match the superb rear end. He looked at me with a wry grin and said, "you mean better than a Fox F29 120mm?", like I did not know what I was riding on, and I just replied, "Yeah. Better than that." Maybe a fork with a little bit more travel, I am not sure, but if it made the 120mm Fox look a bit less than excellent, that is kinda amazing.

So, the final tally?

Bike I would buy if someone else was writing the check or I just was flush with cash?

Sultan.

Bike I would buy if my Lenz broke and I wanted to stay racey for endurance stuff, etc? Niner Jet-9. I never got a chance to ride the RIP-9, obviously the more trailbike of the two.

Bike I would take home from the dance? The Big Mama. Not the best in any one area, but the cost, the fun factor, and the simple design and excellent performance all added up to top the charts IMO. An excellent everyday, weekend warrior bike for the average Joe (or Jill). Basically most everyone.

It has got me thinking about a longer travel bike, but I really can't justify it in my area. For around Vegas or areas with this much chunk, 29" wheels and 4" plus is the deal. I also figured out what the Nevegal tires are for. Trails like this. I hated them in my town, loved them here.

The Lev? How did it stand the comparison test? I made a great purchase with my Lev and no bike made me feel like I missed the boat.

A few more pics from the gallery:

The new Selma SS from Salsa, the beef on the RIP-9 front end, and the revised cog set-up on the Spot Longboard followed by the 69er El Chuco.










My only regret was that I ran out of time. Next time I will be there for more hours if not days. Frankly, I would cut back on time spent at the I-Bike show and be at the Demo more. I wanted to ride a Selma, a Spot Longboard, a Fargo, a Moots YBB, a....well, next year.