Monster, Monster, Monster

Had two rides on the new ride this weekend. I'm here to talk about the bike, not how I did.

**though, on a side note, I sucked ass on Saturday, but felt great yesterday - not the mileage I would have wanted (too short), but I'd rather be on a bike instead of in front of the jumping box any day**

So, got the bike all built up on Friday, ready to roll. I'm using the shop's wheel set as my hubs are due this week and hopefully built up for the weekend - so this is not a fair assessment of the bike's ability. One, the rear hub on the wheelset is loose and you can really tell in the fast, swoopy downhills - felt a little unstable at times. I know that this is the wheel, not the bike - the bike handled . . . I'll talk about that in a minute. Two, the White Magic 29 requires approximately a 10 hour break in period - so again, can't tell you the full potential of the bike. I'm also waiting on my bar and some lighter tubes. I should be able to knock off at least a pound once it's all done.

The first thing you notice is, "Man! I'm up a lot higher." No shit - you're on a bigger wheels. It takes some getting use to, but after my second day on it, you don't notice it - it feels right. Riding around a parking lot and riding on the trails are two different things. Felt good in the parking lot and bombing around my neighborhood, however on the trail it felt a little different. Lots of little bumps, rocks and roots to look out for. Riding a new bike, you're anticipating those bumps more - wondering how the bike will handle on it. I was very conscious on the 29'er - it's very different, how can you not be conscious.

I hadn't cut my steer tube down yet, as I wanted to play around with the fit. I had two spacers under the stem up until Champlain Lookoff on Saturday, when I decided to take one out and just run one. It lowered the bars and gave it a racier feel - I am finding I am more comfortable on a xc fit bike than a free-ride (like my Titus Motolite) and suits my riding style. I feel very much at home on a xc specific bike.

Climbing: Even prior to switching the stem down, the bike climbed really well - especially so over bumpy, rocky climbs. The big wheels rolled over them, even at a slower pace, and I didn't have to fight the climb - just "point and shoot". I've been spending a lot of time on my single speed lately, so going to a 1x9 (one chain ring in the front, 34T, and a nine speed cassette in the rear) felt like I was cheating. If I wasn't going to race this bike for 24 hrs solo, I would totally have gone to a single speed 29'er (I love the simplicity of it!). So I found myself pedaling in the 2:1 gear ratio, despite having some gear choice, just because it felt more natural to me. As a result, I stood for a lot of climbs. The wider bar gave me lots of leverage and the big wheels, like I already said, let me roll over stuff that I would normally try to go around or would end up wasting energy riding a 26". Climbing + 29" = good!

Downs: Was a bit hesitant on the bike going down, due to the fact the rear wheel that I am using has a loose hub. If I was on a full suspension, you might not notice it as much, but you get so much bike feeback riding a hardtail, it wa hard to ignore it. As a result, I don't feel that I have a true sense yet of what the bike can do. That being said, I let the bike hang out there as fast I could on the downhill sections of double track that I was riding. The more I rode it downhill, the more I felt confident on it. I would intentionally try to hit every rooty or babyhead section of the trail, just to see how it felt. And honestly, it felt more like a softtail or even like I had 3" in the rear. I had my tire pressure high for a 29" (41 psi) due to the double track I was riding on as I opted to go for the least amount of resistance. I know that you can run a very low tire pressure in the big wheels and if I had, I'm sure it would have even felt more smooth (another report on lower tire pressure and technical terrain to come). The fork made alot of noise - it has an initial break-in period and I was warned that this was normal. By the end of yesterday, it wasn't doing it so much and I started to get it dialed in with some trail tunning. The White has some inertia valving/magnetic doo-daad thing in it which allows you to stand and climb without it bobbing, but becomes active from hits from below. Felt like I was wasting no energy climbing. I'll finish with the "downs" with this . . . . I felt more confident on this bike, with a loose rear hub, heading downhill than I do on my 5" Titus. Honest. Anyone want to buy a 2007 Ttius Motolite?? Downs + 29" = good!

I'm still working out catching air on the bike. The past two days of riding gave me lots of opportunity to launch, at speed, off rocks and water bars. Felt a little unbalanced landing - I think this is more of a timing issue and getting use to the handling (operator error) than it was the bike. Braking was unbelievable once the Avid Ultimate's beded and I had lots of confidence in them. Loved the ability to tweak them just right - highly recommended!

I'll be heading out to South March Highlands on Wednesday (if it's not too wet) to ride some tight single track. From everything that I have read and heard about the Niners, they are twitchy (good) in the tight single track - so I am anticipating this bike coming to life on the trails out in Kanata. Will be switching the tires up to some Kenda Karmas 2.2's for that experience. I ran Kenda Small Block 8's the past two days - man, oh man, they are fast!! (side note: the Small Block 8's handled very well, even on some snotty technical stuff and loose soil) I'll have a better idea what this beast can do on technical single track then and I'll post a review thereafter.

Cheers.

** For more info on the pros/cons of a 29'er, head here.