Annotated one day later…
Short ride in Joaquin Miller. Really shitty dusty and loose conditions.
Fork pressure at my Wreckoning preferred pressure of 62psi. Tires at 23psi.
Rear shock with – tad less than 30%sag on 375lb spring. Minimum preload.
Initial Climb:
The bike feels poppy and lively. Climbs well.. something between the Wrecker and the Propain. Hangs up slight more than Wrecker, bobs less than Wrecker. Not quite as energetic as the Tyee.
Jibbing and poping this bike are easy. Feels good punching around on flat trail.
The carbon wheels are noticeable. Standing to sprint I can feel their lateral stiffness. Even seated I think I can feel them.
Seated position feels Very normal. 40mm stem, bars at about saddle height. (Lower than I usually run)
Downhill:
I dont feel bucked my antisquat, thankfully. But it’s almost more the opposite. I might feel like the antisquat drops off too fast.
Initially I felt way too deep in rear travel. Clickers at (from center) -1 HSC, -1 LSC. Rebound…? Need to check.
After clicking the Comp clickers and retesting a couple of times on a short section of rocky DH… HSC at 0, LSC still at -1.
The coil does not support me well enough. Mid stroke is dead. Front get really vague way to quickly.
I don’t think this will be remedied with a progressive spring. I don’t know how anyone rides this bike with this shock. It’s pretty terrible.
Longer DH test on Chaparral
Fucking scary descent. Brakes not bed in enough and the lack of feel from the wheels and vague steering made for a thoroughly crap experience.
Other notes
• Compared to every 1st ride on all my Evils this is bad, if the Wrecker got a A grade this is a C-. Even compared to the 1st ride on the Propain this ride was bad. The only thing that impressed me so far about the ride/ride quality is the jibbing.
• Rear of bike is noisy in a hollow sound. May just be the carbon. Hopefully alloy rims quiet it down. It’s bad.
• I have zero feel for losing the front traction. Alloy rims will probably help me with this. Next test will be with XM1700 wheels off the Pivot.
• I feel awfully slow and shitty today. Partly the dirt. Partly the bike.
• Gotta go to an air shock. But not until the alloy wheels test.
• New Sram Transmission stuff works flawlessly. Super quiet and quick. But I don’t care for the buttons or the batteries or the extra cost and extra weight. Probably will swap it all over to the ebike and install GX stuff on the Arrival if I keep it.
Summary:
Need to test with alloy wheels. And then again with alloy wheels and the air shock off the Wrecker. Might be great that way…. For now it’s a bike for someone else, possibly someone that cares more about how things look than how they feel.
As Much Dirt As Possible 