A riders review. Enjoy!
The Frame
The frame itself is beautiful to behold. The welds are impeccable, as are the details on the frame - such as the full piece of outer where it matters… on the rear seatstay. It’s a good idea to do that, since you are limiting the amount of mud and water ingress sprayed from the rear wheel.
The front end is a single thickness tube, so you know it will take some abuse – courtesy of the great thinking of Canadian Spirit – and you know that flaring at the headtube [where the headtube becomes ovalised instead of round] will be fought off for a considerable amount of time… if at all! I hope!!
From the headtube, the frame which begins from being square [synonymous with
The rear stays are a lovely sweepy set of curvy s-bends which as you know [or not], makes the rear end that little bit easier to get your feet past [handy for me with size 14 feet!], and increase the all important mud room and stiffness.
Speaking of stiffness [now, now… don’t be naughty!], that set of rear stays are a tad on the stiff side, which makes it a tad skippy on the long rides and rocky/rooty sections. However, if like me you like chunkier tyres, then that is what I would recommend, since it would make it less tiresome. The rear stays are nice too though, as they are disc only and that makes them look good and be less prone to mud collection.
One thing that I always thought though, was that it would make a frame super uncomfortable if the rear seatstay were welded to the seattube, since the vibration from the trail would transfer along the seatstay to the seattube and up the seatpost to your arse… but, so far I can’t feel anything, but that may be due to the trails I ride since I don’t spend much time sitting down – it’s mostly singletrack - going downhill!
I have to say the design features like the hydraulic hose routing is nice, with U-shape clips holding it on. I do wish that more manufacturers would spec these, because it makes it a hell of a lot easier! Although another feature which frames would benefit from would be the ability to clip the hydraulic hose in the centre of the frames’ top tube – which would also be nice.
Have you seen the rear mech hanger yet? No! Well take a peeky then, since that is one beast of a mech hanger… I bet if you tried to bend it, it would tell you where to go!! Nice shape too.
Kit I am using is:
Forks: Magura Phaon CP 125
Bars: Raceface Deus XC [Low Rise]
Stem: Raceface Deus XC [90mm]
Headset: Chris King NoThreadset
Headset
Saddle: WTB Rocket V
Seatpost: Raceface Deus [Black]
Seatclamp: Hope QR
Groupset: 2007 Shimano XT/XTR
Pedals: Shimano M647 SPD’s & DMR V8's
Wheelset: Magura Pro Disc [DT Hubs on Mavic XC717 Disc Rims]
Brakes: Magura Louise FR [180mm Front Rotor & 160mm Rear Rotor]
Tyres: Hutchinson Python Air Light Kevlar 2.3"
Forks
The Magura Phaon forks, which were purchased from where I used to work [before I left for University], are the 2005 version. They retail for £360, but they were available for £280 in 2006. Typical. However, they have now been superseded by an air fork, of which Magura now do not do a Coil/Oil fork. The new ones haven't had the best of reviews so far, with many of the forks leaking air and/or having an oil leak. Not good!
They are super plush, work well and are nice and stiff to boot. A lot of magazines have given these a so so review, but I think that they deserve more credit than that. They work flawlessly [in the 18 months I have had them], and they are smooth and I have had no trouble with them as yet… certainly not like certain Fox Forx owners, which have had many a problem with their bushings buggering up faster than they care to mention.
Before the Marzocchi's, I owned a set of forks by company called Rond… namely what you should know now as Magura. They were called the Rond Quake 105’s. They only had preload, were coil and oil and lasted 3 years until their bushings wore and I couldn’t be bothered to fix them… so I bought the Marzocchi MX C’s [now
Back to the Phaon's… these forks seriously give the more expensive Fox a good run for their money. The Phaon retail for the princely sum of £360, where as the nearest specification Fox Vanilla, is more than £100 more!! Well worth the money in my opinion. Oh, and another thing… main forum members of a site called Single Track World or known as STW for short, all swear by their Magura Phaon's. Many of which have actually owned a set of Fox Forx, and although some do say that they aren’t quite as plush… they do say that they work well, and most importantly they outlast a pair of Fox forks. If that is true or not i am unsure, but after having mine for a year and a half, I'm inclined to believe them.
However, it's hard to ignore just how good other companies are, especially the Rockshox forks which have had some amazing reviews and owner reviews alike. Fox are also well regarded, but are super expensive and have less features than comparatively priced forks. For '07, they have dropped a little in price, but still aren't anywhere reasonably priced as its competitors. IMHO, it would appear that Rockshox rule the roost for '06 and '07... and possibly '08 by the sound of their innovations to come.
If i had the money, i think i'd like a set of Rockshox Revelation Dual Air. At 3.75lbs, they are light, but not cheap at £320 (ish) RRP. Some online retails are doing them sub-£300, but that would mean fitting them to which i don't have all the tools. If i did, i would personally fit them, as i have fitted many in my 8 years of working in the bicycle industry. The tools aren't cheap though!!
The Magura Louise FR disc brakes are a set of discs that many don’t see as top of their list. Well, all I can say is more fool you!
These are a set of some of the most fool proof, easy to set up, well made and well powered disc brakes I have used. They have great modulation and although sometimes they can be a tad grabby in slow situations, but you know that the power is going to be there when you need it most.
The shape of the lever blade is great – Magura have really done well with this design – plus the “feel” of the brake is nice and solid, with no brake pump [as yet] on the downhill sections of singletrack at
One thing that I will say against it though, is that lever blade does suffer from some movement in the up/down direction… not huge, but at £135 per brake, you would think that they would have this sussed by now.
Oh, and finally on the brake subject… damn do they look nice in black! Yum!!
Nothing major you may say [or not], but wheels are an important area of your bike… so take notice; because these wheels may change your life… they did for me. Well, kind of.
Anywho back to the hubs. They a lovely piece of workmanship, but best of all they are made by DT Swiss… Yes, the same company who make the well renowned DT Swiss Hügi hubs and DT spokes. The front is nice and smooth, but the rear has that better than Hope Bulb clicky sound... which makes you go ‘ah’. Coincidentally, that clicky sound denotes that the hubs are spec’d with the DT ‘
The wheels are also blessed with none other than DT Competition Black DB ['DB' stands for Double Butted – which means that the ends are thicker than the centre of the spoke, hence double] spokes and they are laced to my favourite companies hoops… Mavic. The Mavic rims are [unless you actually read the spec] XC717 Disc rims. The term disc means that they have no braking surface to which a V-brake would brake against [although the XC717 is available in a V-brake surface too]. There are some differences, but other than the obvious none V-brake surface, they are slightly wider and the disc version is slightly heavier, due to it using more material in it's design. After riding the said rims, i do yearn for something a touch wider to increase the overall width profile of my 2.3" tyre.
A major advantage of this wheelset is that it is very light, and that it is hand-built… so it comes ready built to you, the customer, without having to choose spec. Some maybe disappointed to hear that Magura don’t do a Tubeless version, but you could get another option built, as it was just easier for me to do this.
A point I would like to go back to, is the “Hand-built” claim. I don’t know how hand-built they are, but when I got on them the started to “ping”. This “pinging” usually means that the spokes have not been correctly tensioned and “bedded in properly - where the person tightens the spokes, then once finished, the builder then places some force at the side of the wheel to stress the spokes to lengthen them, which loosens them off a tad and makes the builder go over the wheel again tightening them and truing the wheel once more. This is done a few times, to get the correct tension. The correct tension, is where the spokes are tight, but not so tight that when you go over a bump, the stress of the bump makes the spokes snap… which I have seen happen to many people! Tut! Tut! Moral = get a good wheel builder… your wheel is only as good as its wheel builder. So make sure they are damn good.
Raceface have always been on the top of my stem/bar/seatpost list for a while now, simply because;
2] The are made in
3] They look damn nice!
4] Being made in
Let’s get it straight, the bars are not super stiff… but in the event of a crash you know they won’t snap either. They are beautiful bars though, well made and the slight flex that they have makes it more comfortable in the long run, which having such a stiff frame, will come in handy. They are shot peened too, to take any stress areas off them, and the black makes them look nice and clean too. Graphics are nice and simple, but they work really well with… the stem.
The stem is lovely, being nice and light, with opposing bolts “to even the stress on the clamp and steerer”.
It’s a 90mm stem, which I think may be about 10-20mm too long, but since I had to guess the length, I thought I’d go for a safe bet and go for 90mm.
Nothing too exciting, but the Raceface seatpost is worth special mention, simply because it has to be one of the nicest seatposts around, and it works a treat. A problem that does occur with them is them though, is that the spray of mud/water, etc, can affect the way it the clamp system works… so make sure you have a mudguard on!
The Hope QR seat clamp is a joy to behold. The only thing in my opinion to come out of their factory in T’
After using LX for such a long time, i then upgraded to '04 Shimano XT, in which i got on OK with but still wanted something stiffer and slicker in terms of chainset stiffness and gear slickness. I now have 2007 Shimano XT and XTR kit. The chainset and cassette are Shimano XT and the rest is Shimano XTR, which absolutely superb! It is without a doubt, the best groupset i have every used and is worth every penny - if you can afford it.
IMHO, Shimano is the best drivetrain manufacturer, but don't let that put you off SRAM, because as with everything, it's all down to personal preference. Plus, SRAM owns Rockshox (well made and work very well, plus they are much cheaper than the opposition), Avid (great brakes, that have some serious power!) and Truvativ (not great, but getting better), so they do make some great kit other than drivetrain kit.
I haven’t had much chance to get them into some slop as yet, but hopefully soon!
As for what I have tested them on - dry[ish] singletrack - on Nant Yr Arian’s stony tracks - where they have some fast areas, they gripped really well. Also, as far as I know they can handle wet ground well and don’t clog up too fast, but what they are like in the gloop... only time will tell. First impressions say that I think they can handle it – after all, I have used Hutchinson for many years, and they are without a doubt one of the tyre leaders.
OH MY GOD!! Yep, that phrase pretty much sums it all up. Why? Well, let me tell you!
It's approx 4.5lbs for the frame only, which isn't bad since it's designed to take a lot of abuse. With the material it's made from (Easton and RAD tubing), it has enough flex in the frame to not be too uncomfortable, but is stiff enough to take the drops, and not have to worry about breakage. However, the inherent flex isn't so much that you don't need a wide high volume tyre, as you'll still get beaten up without one. So be aware, you will need a wide 2.2-2.3" tyre.
I can't express just how good this bike rides. I would seriously suggest - as with all bikes - is to try before you buy, but it's an amazing, self inspiring frame that really eggs you on. The geometry isn't nervous, and with a reasonable travel fork won't be so slow to feel like it's slowing you down on the corners. Personally i think keeping it around 130mm should give it a balanced, responsive feel that should aid your riding style... whatever it is!
So, if this hasn't inspired you to buy one yet, then take a test of one, as you won't be able to get your wallet out of your pocket fast enough. lol!
posted by The MTB compendium at 1:16 PM
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