I had the chance to visit the Salsa Cycles HQ in Minneapolis for the unveiling and riding of Salsa’s two new full suspension bikes. The bikes were designed to have a similar ride with wheel size being the main difference. The 26er called the El Kaboing has 5 inches of rear wheel travel and the 29er called the Big Mamma has 4 inches.

Salsa said they designed the bikes with three things in mind: performance, reliability, durability. The most notable features, which enveloped these three things, to me, were: the post mount rear brake tabs, three sealed main pivot bearings (two drive side one non-drive), one piece linkage, no rear end pivot, and maximized weld areas. I found it admirable that salsa was able to admit a weakness in their own products specking a Race Face seatpost and stem (they said they were working on getting their own products up to par for performance).

Here are some pictures of the more notable features on the bikes:

For more specs and pictures of the bikes visit Salsa’s website.

I had a chance to ride each of the bikes over a few days in Northwest Wisconsin (See issue 115 for more on the trail system). Salsa set up a deal with Western Spirit Cycling Adventures to take us (the lucky individuals who got to sample the new bikes) riding and camping for three days and two nights.

The first day we left Minneapolis and arrived a few hours later at the trailhead, applied sunscreen and bug spray, ate lunch, then rode bikes. I had the chance to ride the Big Mamma. The trail was tight, twisty, rocky, and in some spots, swoopy. The Big Mamma was a new experience for me as I hadn’t ridden a full suspension 29 inch wheeled bike. The bike handled better than I had expected—begging to be monster-trucked through the rock gardens and leaned into corners. The first ride was roughly ten miles. After the ride we packed up the bikes and headed to the camp site. There we set up our tents and ate dinner. After dinner we had chocolate fondue with fresh fruit as a dessert (Western Spirit fed us amazing food—especially for being out doors).

I missed hot breakfast the next morning and had to settle for cereal and milk. This day’s ride was scheduled to take five or so hours. I got to ride two bikes this day. For the first half of the ride I rode the El Santo (I was allowed to choose two other bikes aside from the two new ones to ride) then I got to ride the El Kaboing. To me this bike felt like a younger, more hyperactive sibling to the Big Mamma. The bikes had the same personality, but a different attitude. The El Kaboing liked to be jumped and maneuvered more so than the big wheeled Big Mamma, which is best off as point, shoot, and ride over everything kind of bike. I also learned a valuable lesson during this ride—mosquitoes easily bite through spandex. I’ve decided baggy shorts are a good idea for areas such as this. Post ride dinner was fajitas and guacamole—simply awesome. After dinner we enjoyed some good brews and tequila courtesy of Salsa.

The next day we packed up then rode one last time before heading back to Minneapolis for showers and one last dinner out with the Salsa crew and their families.

All said it was a more than great week of riding fun bikes, eating awesome food, drinking good beer (and tequila), and making new friends!

This summer has been rather rainy here in Pittsburgh and the trails somewhat soggy. We were in for a bit of luck though when Jeff Jones dropped by for a visit and ride. It was hot and humid, but mercifully the rain had held off for another day. Jeff had brought along several bikes, including his new steel frame, and we were some of the first on this side of the country to ride the new designs.

The 3D Spaceframe is a gleaming spaceship of a bike. Gracefully flowing lines that hide their real purposes, clean and unfettered with loud graphics. But would it ride as well as everyone was telling me? I’m not a connoisseur of bikes like the rest of the Dirt Rag team, so I wasn’t sure Jeff’s re-engineering would make any difference to a less experienced rider.

Justin, Karen, Eric and Jeff had taken off on their own in the park to put their Jones prototypes through their paces, leaving me to a secluded ride on the Spaceframe “Fat Front” set-up. Under the canopy of the trees in Hartwood Acres, the sun seemed less intimidating and a breeze wandered through the woods on occasion to keep things cool. At my leisure, I was able to experiment with the bike’s new geometry and try it out on familiar singletrack as well as a newly discovered trail that wiggled off through the trees into an open meadow and up and down the banks along our resident creek.

It took only a bit of warm up on the trail before I started feeling right at home on the bike. I can’t say that the Spaceframe instantly made me a better rider, but it was easy to adapt my riding style to the new specifications. That alone speaks volumes for the frame design. So many adjustments and re-engineering, but you just don’t feel it. It all works together and makes for a better ride. In the end, I even found myself willing to be a bit more daring on descents and larger obstacles thanks to the large Surly Endomorph tire on the front.

Jeff has also extended his redesign beyond the frame and the bike I rode had a few different accessories worth mentioning.

The set-up on the Spaceframe included a simple thumbshifter system. You flick the lever on your right handlebar up or down. Up for uphill—low gear, or down—high gear, for downhill. Flicking down was a little tricky at first, but much easier on my artsy left brain than the traditional gears that require all the two-lever stuff.

I was also running with only six gears and you might think that would limit performance on steep climbs, but the gears I did have served well enough and I didn’t miss the extra rings. This again has something to do with the bike geometry and the rider’s position in the saddle. Here’s a link to more details for you gear heads. I’m just as happy to call it magic.

The handlebars are a Jeff Jones creation as well with the handlebar sweep bringing your hands and arms in closer to your body. It felt slightly odd for about two seconds. After that, my only other thought was how sturdy I felt standing on my pedals and balancing on them.

Some lucky Dirt Rag staff member will have the chance to test ride one of these Jeff Jones bikes so look for more detailed review in the future. From experience, I can say that this bike is easy to ride and a real pleasure as well, no matter your skill level. It’s definitely going on my wish list.

For more information on Jeff Jones and his frames check out the latest issue of Dirt Rag (#136) and this interview from issue #105.

Shimano hosted press test rides on their new Saint component group in Whistler last week. Whistler Bike Park to be exact. Lift assisted downhill mountain biking, yessir.

The plan? Journalists (And I use that term loosely) bring a frame, fork, shocks, and cockpit. Shimano to install the drivetrain and wheels. Well, actually, we scribes did a lot of the installing ourselves, thus becoming intimate with the parts and the way they attach to the bike.

Being gravity-bike-challenged, I did not have a suitable seven-or-eight-inch-bike on hand, so thanks to Kona a Stinky was borrowed for the occasion. Since Kona provides the official rental bikes for Whistler, and they are located right down the road (construction) in Vancouver, it seemed like a natural.

So let’s get down to business. Shimano’s Saint group has been updated to address the needs of gravity riders. It has been discovered that the gravity set needs their bikes lighter as well as stronger, so this is what Shimano has been working on since the first Saint introduction in 2004.The rear derailleur now enjoys the low-profile Shadow configuration, which tucks the mech inboard, reducing the chance of being smashed on rocks. This means that guys who used to carry spare derailleurs in their backpacks might no longer need to. Plus, the derailleur is not attached to the axle as in the last version of Saint, this results in a 100 gram weight savings and much more flexibility with it’s conventional mounting method. This mech was a big hit when I brought the bike to the local shop for a little shock adjustment. It’s also worthy to point out that the spring is stronger and the mech is now designed to NOT bang the chainstay anymore. And that it’s adjustable for road or mountain cogsets, making it a good choice for downhill as well as all-mountain (still not sure what that means) applications. Shifters. The two way release introduced with XTR has found itself here. More options, more better. They worked great for me the entire two days of riding. And the positioning is easy and adjustable to either side of the brake lever.

The brakes are awesome. One need not touch them until the last possible moment, resulting in more speed for meeee. The four piston, dual diameter design has more oil in it than the previous version, allowing for better temperature management. On the trails of Whistler Bike Park, they never faltered. And I really liked the easy-to-use-by-hand reach adjustment.

Cranks? Hollowtech II is the buzz. They say 150g lighter, and now available with single (34-36-38-40-42) or double (22-36) chainrings. A matching double-specific front derailleur is also now available in Saint and SLX. While a bashguard is included, we used a E-Thirteen SRS chain retention system, which did just that.

As for the hubs, better seals and wider, angular contact bearings are the order of the day. The centerlock disc mount was easy to use as we built the bike up (had to try several different rotor/adaptor combinations).

But what about the fun part? The ride? With a solid machine under me, there was nothing left to chance but the rider’s skill. It’s not without a few butterflies that this rider went up the chair for the first run. And there was even more trepidation as I saw Francesco Maggiorelli of Mountainbike World (Italy) break his ankle on the first run (See gallery). But managed to escape unscathed, even improving my jumping skills on Crank It Up trail. Other favorites were Devils Club, Karate Monkey, Ho Chi Min and Heart of Darkness. Thanks to Shimano and Kona.

Click here for the Saint press camp photo gallery.

This is the first in a series of posts leading up to the Dirt Rag Stuff Review of the Jamis Dragon 29. I’ll informally keep you posted not only with my experiences on the bike, but also with my indoctrination into the 29” machine. This ongoing journal is also an exercise for me to get enough written before my review is due, so I can actually get it in on time.

Yes, folks, it’s true. I admit it. Up until yesterday, I have never done a proper ride on a 29” mountain bike. There are a lot of reasons why I’ve stood by my 26”…and 26”…for so long. I’ll spare you the details, but the main reason is that I love my personal bike. It’s a custom rig, and I have a strong bond with it. But I know that after some time on a 29” bike, I would want one for my own. Thus my current beloved bike would fall by the side.

Sure I’ve done a spin or two on a 29”, but nothing long enough, or with enough substance, to truly convert me. Or for me even to appreciate any differences from the 26”. But now I have to ride one for an extended period of time. Karen put a Jamis Dragon 29 under me, and it’s time to go for it.

So I consider yesterday to be my first true ride on a 29” bike. My friend Dave billed it as a ”leisurely four hour ride” at French Creek. And since I like to punish myself, I decided to run a 5k race a few hours before we rode. (I finished 12th overall, thank you very much). Of course, Dave’s promise turned into a fast and hard three-hour ride instead. It was a tough day, but a lot of fun.

Especially once I got semi-comfortable on the bike.

Aside from already being half beaten down before the ride even started, this was the first ride in a long time where I had gears on a bicycle. After not using them for so long, it took some time to get used to. The bike also feels a lot heavier than what I’m used to. I haven’t put in on the scale yet to find out for sure, but I really don’t want to know just yet.

But the fun doesn’t end there. I didn’t bother to look at the Reba fork before my ride…let alone adjust it. It needed some air, and I had no shock pump on me. Thankfully the fork still worked fine, though I wasn’t able to lock it out.

As for the feel of the ride, I immediately noticed that I felt like I had more momentum with my pedal strokes. Kind of an odd, but cool, feeling. I also have to agree with all the people that have told me that 29” wheels roll over and through things much easier. I liked that, and got used to it quickly. The first several log hops…ok, pretty much all of them…proved to be tough. Getting the front wheel up and over obstacles proved to be more of a challenge on this bike.

But the big challenge for me yesterday was that the bike handles differently than I’m used to. It doesn’t seem as nimble as a 26” rig. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it is taking some time for me to get used to.

Overall, yesterday’s ride was great. I had a very rough first hour on the bike. Not only was I getting used to many new variables, I was also dealing with a lot of descents and a lot of climbing. Once I got over that part of the park, the next two hours went much better.

Later this week, I’ll be taking the bike to ride some of the tightest, most technical singletrack in and around Philly. I’ll also get you some of the numbers and measurements for the bike

The news on 650B continues to roll in. New tires, rims, wheels and bikes have all been announced.

In our own news:

The 650B Heckler (code name: Beckler) is built and rolling, and things are starting to dry up finally, so expect a real ride report soon. The White Brothers 130 thru axle fork is installed now and the bike it ready to ride, and the trails are ready to go now too. If my math is correct the rear travel is right at 120, we might be able to eek out 5-10mm of travel. Stay tuned!

Tires

Kenda has announced a 650B version of the ever popular Nevegal, in both 2.35 and 2.1 sizes. A mid-summer release date is planned. Read more about it here.

Rims

Sun Ringle’s Equalizer 27 rim should avaliable in 650B as I write this. See the Hayes Bicycle Group blog for more details.

Wheels

American Classic has wheelsets built up around the No Tubes 650B rim mentioned in this blog post.

Industry Nine has 2 wheelset avaliable, both using their proprietry hubs and spokes. The lightweight version uses the ZTR 355 rim and the Enduro version uses the Velocity Blunt. Nothing on their website yet.

Bikes

Haro has pulled the trigger on TWO 650B Bikes for 2009. See Haro’s product manager Jill Hamilton’s blog (here and here) for more info.

Other stuff

Kirk Pacenti passed on news from the Taipei Bike Show. 2 of the major suspension fork manufactures will have 650B compatible forks in the coming years. It looks like they will be a shared platform with the 26″ wheel size, which is great news for 650B.

If most manufactures start designing forks to use either 26″ or 650B wheels the fork selection will skyrocket quickly.

I’m sure most of you saw my World Tour report from the 24 Hours of the Old Pueblo (OP), but if not check it out here. As I mentioned in the report, Kona hooked both Shannon and myself up with bikes for the race. Shannon rode Kona’s newest addition to their Kula 2-9 lineup––the Kula Deluxe 2-9. Meanwhile, I had the opportunity to sample Kona’s new-for-2008 Hei Hei 2-9.

The rainy/snowy conditions on the Friday before the race had us behind schedule (shocking, I know) so Shannon and I picked up our bikes from Kona’s Kevin Hall only a few hours before the noon race start time. Fortunately, Kevin had our bikes ready to rock. After a quick scramble to get saddle position set, controls dialed, and suspension setup we were ready to “race.” I say “race” simply because we were there to “work” after-all. We can’t spend all of our time focusing on our personal race, eh Maurice?

I asked Shannon to weigh in on his experience aboard the Kula Deluxe 2-9:

CJ Vincent Photo.

The Scandium frame seemed remarkably solid, stiffer than my personal bike. I noticed the stiffness most when locking out the Reba SL to stand and hammer up the Seven Bitches. It felt like all the energy I expended was put to use and not wasted in flex while climbing the rolling hill with seven distinct steeper sections. Handling was super smooth, I pretended like I was going Jedi Knight style on an Imperial Speeder Bike as I weaved through cactuses that popped into my headlight during a night lap. I could really lean into the turns and whip the bike straight up again to make passes in areas that left little room for mistakes. The 17.3” chainstays precision tracked the front wheel in sections where I could pump, flow through turns, and climb all without turning the pedals.

There was only one notable downhill section on the course, a rock face descent with a small drop back to the trail, but the bike handled this fine at speed. Pulling up the front wheel and popping over pieces of cacti that became scattered along the trail was done with a quick action and usually followed by a turn in the trail. The bike responded fast enough to stay on the trail and not over shoot me into the waiting thorns or the three black cows standing trail side.

The parts package gave me no trouble, minus some shifting issues and a few loose spokes. But hey, the bike was taken out of the box and raced with very little setup. The Slime filled tires rolled a little heavy, but were worth not getting more flats than I had. The color scheme’s cool, although some Brit’s said I was cheeky, because my Dirt Rag Elements jersey matched it. I would have liked to spend more time aboard the Kula Deluxe, this bike was race worthy and was asking for a beating. –Shannon Mominee

Singlespeeders take note; the Kula Deluxe 2-9 and Kula 2-9 both feature sliding dropouts for one-gear use. Retail price for a Kula Deluxe 2-9 is $2,199.

2008 Hei Hei 2-9:

CJ Vincent Photo.

Have to say, I was more than a little nervous about “racing” for 24 hours on a bike that I’ve never ridden as I’m notoriously anal about my bike setup. For me to be happy on a bike everything has to be dialed exactly to my liking. Fortunately for me, the Hei Hei worked right out of the box.

Out of the gate on my first lap I was amazed at how well the Hei Hei rode. The faster I went, the better things felt, so I had to consciously pace myself. Having ridden loads of bikes over the years, I can develop a feel for a bike pretty quickly, but was truly impressed with how quickly and easily I was able to connect with the Hei Hei. The OP course is best described as mostly smooth, fast, and swoopy; not necessarily a course that caters to a 29” dually. Having said that, I was impressed with the efficiency of the Hei Hei. As for suspension setup, I have an 80mm Reba in my personal stable so setting it up was cake. As for the Fox RP2 out back, I set it up with roughly 15% sag initially, and later experimented with 20% sag. I ran the RP2 on the open (non-Pro Pedal) setting for the entire race, never feeling the need to stiffen things up by flipping over to Pro Pedal mode. Lateral stiffness of the rear suspension felt great throughout the many g-out washes on the course. On the other hand, the Reba is feeling a little less stiff than some of the other 29” forks on the market today, though certainly acceptable. Cornering was awesome on the tacky desert soil. The Maxxis Ignitors hooked up beautifully and the bike did a great job of communicating just what was happening where rubber met ground.

Climbing on the Hei Hei was a pleasant experience, though the slime tubes––installed to combat the prickly Cacti pieces that had been knocked onto the trail––added a noticeable bit of rotational mass. Though the OP course doesn’t gain or loose a great deal of elevation, there was a nice fast––if a bit short––downhill back to the start tent where one could really let things roll. Line selection didn’t really matter through the roughest sections of this downhill, just ease back and let those big wheels and suspension do their job. Overall, the Hei Hei seems to be all about momentum conservation. Asking one not to bother with the brakes, just keep your speed up and let the bike roll. Though when it was time to scrub some speed the Hayes Stroker Carbon brakes put their 160mm rotors to good use, biting hard and consistently. This was my first ride on Shimano’s new generation XT components, and I was dually impressed with the group. Shimano’s dual release trigger shifters are a vast improvement over single release versions of the past. I like being able to keep my index finger on the brakes and shift simultaneously.

All things considered, this first ride was better than I could have hoped. As I write this the Hei Hei I rode in the OP is being shipped to me for a more deserving review. I’m certainly looking forward to a long-term test of this bike. Keep your eyes peeled for the full review in print later this year. MSRP for the Hei Hei 2-9 is $2,499. – Justin Steiner