Kinda cool but not
that impressed I guess. I don't want to sound too negative because I like the look of it, the cabling is interesting etc, but it's not heaps lighter than a Scott which has been available for quite a while now and will probably weigh less by the time the next revamp happens. Not only that but anyone can buy a Chinese carbon 29er frame for not much over 10% of the cost with only a bit over a 10% weight penalty. I know it's a totally different issue but that gives you lots of pennies to save more weight elsewhere. Those just wanting the absolute lightest frame could get something custom which would weigh somewhere in the same vicinity. I just get the feeling I'm getting a
we're better than everyone marketing story. But hey, I'm a grouch
OPENCYCLE wrote:This bike will be the lightest 29er hardtail on the market, but it passes all of the testing here in Germany. We didn’t understand why 29ers, and hardtails in general, had to be so heavy. We wanted to make one that competed on weight with the lightest 26″ model.”
“It was an advantage that we didn’t come from the mountain bike side. We could question everything that seemed logical. It’s still a double diamond design, but it’s in all the little details that makes it special.
OPENCYCLE wrote:Yes, our engineering background isn’t in mountain bikes, but good engineering is good engineering (not to mention that thanks to its bigger tires, a mountain bike sees lower impacts than a Paris-Roubaix-winning frame)
What a load of rubbish. People with light bikes don't always stick to 'smooth' world cup style trails. Try some decent drops or real rock gardens, not the almost ornamental stuff used in lots of XC races.
nspace wrote:First thought is the proprietary BB thing really sucks.
BB Right should work with 24mm spindle cranks so XTR and XX should fit fine. Some other external BB, 30mm spindle cranks may also work too. THM maybe? SISL would work with the 'external' spindle. So yeah, not much of a big deal, probably even less so than on the road bikes because you have more room to 'fudge' things with the wider chain line and Q factor.