A couple of weeks ago I rode the Scale 29er and Spark 29er at a demo day on my home track Stromlo. It was fun trying out some new technology but the guys running the demo really blew it because the bikes were poorly maintained and were not setup for the local trails.
Firstly both bikes were fitted up with Schwalbe Rocket Ron tyres (old version with no cuts in the nobs), this tyre provides the least grip in dry gravel to sand of any tyre I have ever tried. Straight away the tyre traction fell well short of what the capability of the frame/fork geometry.
My experience was slightly better on the Scale, the forks worked but when it came to pushing it through the corners I immediately realised that the front tyre wanted to roll itself off the rim and only had about 20psi holding me on line. I did get to push the bike through some rocky climbs but I already knew it would perform in these conditions, it was mid corner speed, short technical uphills and switch backs that I really wanted to test as these are the places where the so called modern 29er performs nearly as well as 26er.
So after spending about 50mins on each bike I was more then happy to return to my Scale 26er with its super handling and ability to take a serious thrashing.
I give my Scott demo day experience 4/10. Fail.
Stewy's Superfly 29er hard tail
I thought about it for a week, and demo'ing bikes that aren't really setup is a tad foolish. It was my fault for having high expectations of what a demo day experience could give me. But that's ok, because I remember Stewy offered me a ride of his Superfly 29er (9.8kgs), decked out with all the XTR chrome bits that you'd expect from a guy who works at On the Rivett bike shop.
Less then a week from the up coming XCO club round might not be the best time to thrash out some laps on an unfamiliar bike but sometimes you just have to do what feels right.
It only took a quick phone call to Stewy and I was setup and on his bike that afternoon. Stewy is about the same height as me so after a quick pressure check in the forks and tyres the bike was ready to go. I had a rest day in the bank and had made sure my fuel sources were full well before ride time. Game on, its time to really understand what a race 29er feels like.
Cockpit
Seating position is similar to my Scale, but felt a tad relaxed, maybe a little less angle in the seat tube. Stewy's bars are pure XC race, with a fair bit of sweep back and felt skinny, I'm guessing 640mm wide max. The hardest thing to get use to was the SRAM gripshift, 2x10 setup. I found I unintentionally changed gears when the going got rough and didn't quite know where to hold the bar. Also I sometimes use my middle finger on the brake levers and that resulted in more random gear changes. I may have felt better about gripshift if you changed up gears when you rotated downwards like a moto throttle, but thats not the case. Generally the cockpit was familiar enough for me to hook straight into stomping the pedals and pushing the corner speed a bit.
Handling
The Fox fork felt good and was working fine on the small bumps. The Maxxis Ikon tyres were holding the traction through the undulating single trail. Naturally the first thing you notice with these bikes is the smooth feed back you get when you're rolling over rocky outcrops and roots. That has to translate to speed and this is the well known area where the 29er really shines. Climbing through tight switch backs felt a bit slow, the power required to keep the bike going felt more consistent under foot then riding my 26er. Not sure why that is but maybe I wasn't quite getting sufficient momentum through those tighter sections to feel like I was ahead of the gears. Going up the steep rough sections felt like less effort on the handlebars to get over the terrain, but more effort on the pedals to keep the thing moving. Up and over the hill and I hit some fast firetrail descents, hopping over ruts no problem, hooking into flat fast corners no problem. Braking on loose gravel, whoa, XTR brakes are powerful. They actually scared me a number of times. I'm used to my Avid Elixr 5s that don't compare very well and are in a totally different market. The XTR stoppers probably just require a refined finesse to find the feel and sweet spot. I wasn't going to get that in a 90min session.
Race-ability
I had the fun of being Race Director and setting a course for a local XCO round last year. The course is my idea of a great race course, for tactics, for skill and for fitness. So to test the Superfly at race pace and on a race track I decided to do two laps of that very course. Also I knew it was posted on Strava as a segment so gave me another tool for comparison.
Up through the continuous switch backs the bike gained and held momentum very well but I couldn't find a flow through the tight corners. I was trying to get low and aggressive but would push wide and lose my front end. I still need to find the correct riding position for these corners when riding a 29er.
500m of uphill fire road sprint and the bike felt fast. Standing out of the saddle felt like I actually stood into a new cockpit of power and aggression. With the seat just brushing the backs of my legs, the bike felt built for this type of riding.
On and into the nasty climb of the course, a 1km steep fireroad. I didn't feel fast up this climb, I just felt like I was tractor climbing out of a bog pit. It wasn't until I checked Strava when I realised that I punished that hill and blew my last pb by a big margin.
Up and over and into the Luge, rightly named, especially now after track developments have formed continuous steeply banked berms. Some very tight, some more open. You can
be so creative through this section, Low/High, High/Low, rail the whole berm, cut the berm on the inside. On the rail the bike worked perfectly and held line, anything else and I was working really hard to keep the bike low and cranked into the corner. It felt like I needed a motogp style of riding, hanging right off the bike to the inside to get it around some of the berms. But the Superfly performed ok in the BMX track type conditions, not quite the performance of my Scale but it wasn't that far off. Keeping it on the ground over roll overs required a little more flexibility on the bike but again it wasn't much slower then the more agile and easier to ride 26er.
The Ride
Conclusion
In a racing world where you spend more time climbing then descending, more time pedalling over rocks then cornering, the sub 10kg 29er hard tail makes sense. Its not as fun to ride through fast technical sections as the more nimble 26er. However in this case I can probably improve handling a little with a slammed stem and wider bars. When I consider that 90% of my competition are on these big wheelers then any disadvantage can be nullified because they are at the same disadvantage. As a young Michael Jackson said to himself while standing as the man in the mirror, its time to "Make that change!".
