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bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Mondraker Foxy XR
3/28/2013 12:01pm
Reviewed by Steve Wentz, Joe Schneider, and Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman With its unique "Forward Geometry" and super short 10mm stem, the Mondraker Foxy XR was perhaps the most unique ride in the 2013 Vital MTB Test Sessions lineup. Billed as an all-mountain bike (that's important given that Mondraker also has trail and enduro bikes), the Foxy XR has 140mm of rear travel, a 67-degree head angle, and a massive wheelbase. Mondraker says they made this ride capable of pedaling up and rallying down, and rally we did! In fact, this may have been...
This product review has 6 comments.
Krispy Added a comment about slideshow First Look: Inside the 2014 FOX 40 FLOAT RC2 and DHX RC4
3/26/2013 4:34pm
Pretty much everything we've wanted. A more compliant, tunable, 40 with all the little imperfections FIXED! The 2013 air system on the 34 is much like what's coming in the 40, and i am a big fan.
This slideshow has 12 comments.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Santa Cruz Tallboy LTc
3/25/2013 2:43pm
Reviewed by Matt Thompson and Jess Pedersen // Written by Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman The Santa Cruz Tallboy LT was released on April Fools Day, 2012. It's no laughing matter though. In fact, this long travel 29er is capable of taming the most serious descents. It does however, know have to have fun, and lots of it. The original Tallboy, introduced about four years ago, was among the first 29ers that people actually enjoyed riding. But the people wanted more - more travel, slacker angles, more fun. After weighing their options, seeing what worked...
This product review has 2 comments.
Yet another 29er with mediocre geo,flex, and a slow ride. It's no wonder most of us trail shredders have had bad experiencees with them. There are only a handful of big wheelers that are done right, like the Yeti for example that are stiff, short and fully thrashable. No wonder people think I'm a wacko when I say I actually like two niners!
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This product review has 1 comment.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Diamondback Sortie 3 29
3/23/2013 6:51am
Reviewed by Steve Wentz, Joe Schneider, and Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman Inspired by their already existing 26-inch Sortie platform, Diamondback super sized everything in 2012 to bring it up to 29-inch standards. One year and few minor refinements later, the 2013 Sortie 29 serves up 4.5-inches of travel via Diamondback's unique Knuckle Box suspension design and benefits in many ways from the big wheel. We've heard Diamondback DF5 team member Eric Porter say great things about the Sortie 29 in the past, and considering that he's the type of guy that likes to have...
This product review has 2 comments.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: GT Force LE
3/20/2013 7:48pm
Reviewed by Matt Thompson and Jess Pedersen // Written by Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman As of 2013, the enduro bug is officially upon us. To create a bike that excels at the discipline, one that's capable of killing it on the descents and hoofing it back to the top in record time, GT took their 2012 Force and Sanction platforms, mashed them together and tweaked the result to meet the enduro racer's needs. In this case, those were the needs of Dan Atherton and the recently signed young gun, Martin Maes, both of which...
This product review has 7 comments.
Krispy Added a comment about photo original_Screen_Shot_2013_03_11_at_10.21.28_PM_1.jpg
3/14/2013 7:31am
Damn that was so Rad!
This photo has 1 comment.
Krispy Added a comment about product review Trailfox TF02
3/13/2013 11:20am
At least at $6000...
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This product review has 1 comment.
Krispy Added a comment about product review Trailfox TF02
3/13/2013 10:54am
I would rephrase the leverage rate to rising, then falling, not the opposite like mentioned. The line falls on the chart but that is indeed a rising rate. This was well described elsewhere in the article, even in the next sentence. No big deal. Otherwise great, honest review. It sounds like the on the top of the bike feeling is a result of the firm beginning of the travel, and the likelihood of high shock air pressure to keep it from bottoming out harshly.
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This product review has 1 comment.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: BMC Trailfox TF02 Trailcrew
3/13/2013 10:49am
Reviewed by Matt Thomson and Jess Pedersen // Written by Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman The BMC Trailfox is a 150mm travel all-mountain rig that BMC lovingly refers to as the "Swiss Army Knife" of their lineup. Much like that beloved pocket knife, the Trailfox was designed to come in handy for a variety of uses. The do-it-all bike is something many companies try to achieve, but few actually succeed. When Switzerland-based BMC set out to make the Trailfox, that's exactly what they had in mind, but did they pull it off? We invited the...
This product review has 7 comments.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Norco Range Killer B-2
3/11/2013 10:56pm
Reviewed by Steve Wentz, Joe Schneider, and Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman For 2013, Norco has eliminated the 26-inch version of the Range in favor of a new 650B "Killer B" version. Yes, you read that right, another victim of the big wheel. They didn't do it to spite the 26-inch lovers among us, though. The reasoning behind the switch, according to Norco, was simply in the pursuit of making the best all-mountain bike. In their eyes the way to do that just happened to be with the 650B wheel size, so they rolled with...
This product review has 1 comment.
Krispy Added a comment about video X-Fusion Dual Crown DH Fork Spy Shots
3/8/2013 8:13am
Sweet!
This video has 5 comments.
Krispy Added a comment about slideshow First Look: All-New RockShox VIVID & VIVID Air - Perfect For Almost No One
3/8/2013 8:27am
I like the video more than the thought of updating my resume. The UCI doesn't recognize Underground Night Enduro either.
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This slideshow has 41 comments.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Commencal Meta SX 1
3/8/2013 7:57am
Reviewed by Matt Thompson and Jess Pedersen // Written by Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer and Brandon Turman When Commencal first reintroduced the Meta range in 2011, they did so with the aggressive rider in mind. Slack head angles, low bottom brackets, roomier top tubes and a fresh suspension linkage system made the bikes stand out. One year later Commencal pushed things even further down the aggressive path with the Meta SX. Now for 2013, they've refined the bike's parts list once more, making it ready to tackle the gnarliest of descents right out of the box. In...
This product review has 2 comments.
Krispy Added a comment about feature Spy Shot: Atherton Racing's Prototype GT Downhill Bike
3/7/2013 12:22pm
Looks like 26. Old Fox 40, not RAD version on that test sled. New I Drive with new upper linkage to stiffen the frame but not alter the leverage ratio? I hope the linkage alters the rate somehow... That's a hellova lot of formed aluminum- looks like carbon.
This feature has 28 comments.
Krispy Added a comment about bike check Intense, Carbine, 275, XX1
3/5/2013 9:29am
Sweet ride! Carbon, 27.5 and XX1. You're so 2013!
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This bike check has 7 comments.
The one i rode felt on the soft side while pedaling up a dirt road at Deer Valley's Dealer Camp. When i got into a lower gear and was creeping up rocky stuff it felt better. I think the VPP suspension requires some heavy chain load to exhibit some anti squat. I could see it being soft at the Moab Brand trails.
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This product review has 2 comments.
It's re assuring that the test riders felt it was stiff. Intense must have figured out some ways to improve the rear triangles. Awesome. Also, its the first bike in the test sessions that didn't bottom out constantly. I wonder if it has air volume reducing spacers installed in the can from the factory.
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This product review has 2 comments.
bturman Liked a product review 2013 Test Sessions: Intense Tracer 275
2/26/2013 6:32am
Reviewed by Matt Thompson and Jess Pedersen // Written by Brandon Turman // Photos by Shawn Spomer Born and bred in the USA - these aren't words we can often write about bikes, which is why it was a real pleasure to hop on the latest version of the popular Tracer platform from Intense Cycles. Already available in both 26 and 29-inch versions, the Tracer 275 aims to gain the "best of both worlds" by utilizing the in-between 650B wheel size. Rather than simply slapping some slightly modified dropouts on the bike and calling it good, Intense went back to...
This product review has 10 comments.