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Dirt Rag Articles
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Rider: Maurice Tierney
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 225lbs.
Inseam: 34”
Twenty nine inch wheels? You’re talking to one of the converted. While Gary certainly did not “invent” the 29 inch mountain bike, he is probably the one man that has done the most to promote big wheel vision, by bringing a 29” hardtail and two full suspension models to the broad market. He’s even succeeded at getting 29ers approved for international professional mountain bike racing, but that’s another story.
With the Excaliber 29” hardtail coming in at $1050, and the full squishy Sugar 293 at $1870, the 292 is the top of Gary’s twenty nine inch line at $2750.
Out of the box
First impressions are important, so I take note. The 292 sports a somewhat tribal black and silver paint job, accentuated by a bright yellow Marzocchi Marathon SL fork and carbon fiber seatstays. Spec is full Shimano XT (including pedals), with Bontrager providing a bunch of stuff as well: trick-looking Race Lite 28 spoke disc-compatible wheels, Jones ACX 2.1 tires (See issue #106), stem, handlebar, grips, and a well-endowed 31.6mm seatpost. Suppliers filling in the blanks include Avid with their Single Digit Five direct pull V-brakes, Titec with their Ithys Amore saddle and Cane Creek supplying their S-6 Aheadset. And of course, a Float R rear shock from Fox. Top notch, Danny.
Tech
The 292 uses Fisher’s proven Sugar suspension design with four inches of travel front and rear. I would describe the design as a single pivot plus linkage. The great thing about this design is the bonded carbon fiber and aluminum swingarm. Trek tells me that bonding is actually stronger than welding, and by taking advantage of flexibility of the carbon fiber, it’s possible to eliminate the pivot that would normally exist near the rear axle.
The other thing is the leverage ratio. The 292 is not like a couch when you sit on it. Sag is set at about 10%, so you’re not really using much of the travel until you really need it. Consequently, the relatively simple Fox shock is fine for the job. This is an efficient cross-country-capable design.
Geometry
That’s Genesis geometry to you, Bucko. The XL bike I’ve been riding sports a 21” seat tube (center to top), which is quite normal for an XL bike. On the other hand, the top tube is what I’d consider long at 25.5” effective, with the short 105mm stem making up for it. Toss in half-a-degree-steeper-than-normal 71.5?deg; head and 73.5?deg; seat angles, and you’ve got Genesis. While the 18.1” chainstays may sound longish, the 292 climbs just fine. With a bottom bracket height of 12.4” above sea level, there’s little chance of bouncing off rocks except in the most technical of situations. Other pertinent numbers include the 110mm head tube and 175mm cranks (I’d probably go for 180mm if I were building it up from scratch).
Modifications
While the current spec is great, I’m not afraid of a bit more weight. So I’ve installed Avid mechanical disc brakes, (since they’re compatible with the stock Shimano XT shifter/brake lever, they are the only choice at my current disposal) and I’m bringing along two sets of disc equipped wheels, the original 28 spoke wheelset with some road tires and a 36 hole White Industries wheelset for heavy duty use. While the ride started out at an enjoyable 28.25lbs., the addition of a riser bar pushed it up to 28.5. Avid discs (along with a free adapter supplied by Fisher) pushed the weight up to 29.5 and, finally, a set of White Industries 36 hole disc hubs with Salsa Delgado X rims pushed it right up to 30 lbs. even. About right pour moi.
Again, there’s nothing wrong with the original spec. I’m just a big guy and I need disc brakes, a riser bar, and more spokes. And maybe a super beefy 20mm axled fork, but that’ll have to wait.
Alleycat! Pittsburgh
A bunch of punk-ass messenger types, racing through city streets like bats out of Hades. I hold my own, actually in the lead at stage three due to my navigating skills, until the front derailleur somehow gets caught on the big ring, rotating 90° to the left and bringing me to a grinding halt. A bunch pass me on fixed gears. The points? One, any 29er becomes a road bike with the addition of skinny tires. Two, check all bolts for tightness on a regular basis, and three, there’s a reason them punks run fixie.
Chubb Trail, Saint Louis, MO
Finally, a chance to ride the Niner in a real mountain biking environment. The Chubb trail is rooty, rocky and technical, with very steep pitches and tight switchbacks, a perfect test for bike handling skills and bike design itself. Oh, did I say it’s been raining all morning? Make that wet, rooty, rocky, shiggy...
The big question is, does it handle like a 26er? Of course not. It does feel different, but to say “slower” would be wrong. Sure the large rims make for bigger gyroscopes to get started, but once they get going they roll over almost anything. And while the handling is , should I say “bigger,” the technical advantage of the larger wheel-to-wet-root contact patch is quite obvious.
Interface
The Shimano bits. Love? Hate? It’s been going on for years. Love the cranks, they make me think of Rodger Fawcett and his Bullseyes. What a great design. Material in all the right places, easily serviceable and functional.
Shifters. XT Rapid Rise of my temper when I forget which way to push. But it does make sense. Push down for harder, lift up for easier. Once you get used to it, they’re pretty darn cool. Downshifts are dreamily easy, although one-click-at-a-time. Nice. Upshifts are more problematic, sometimes the brakes actuate when trying to upshift. As for the integration of shifters and brake levers, I could do without that, as I’d like to have some freedom of choice as to what brakes to use.
Moore Fun Trail, Fruita, CO
Super tech, yea, and the 292 proves once again that it’s tops in traction and slow speed handling. I’ve been trying for the life of me to figure out what the limit of this bike is. And I have to say, when you’re trying to fit a big bike in between two rocks only pedals apart or negotiating a really tight switchback, you can tell that there is more bike there. The wheelbase at 45.25” is long, but with the added wheel diameter, the front-to-back actual length of the bike measures in at 74”. Not a dimension one usually measures, but I thought I’d throw that out there. And while the Marzocchi is performing otherwise flawlessly, I’m wishing for that beefier fork, as I’m getting into some extremely technical slow speed situations where it’s getting just a little floppy up front.
Nits
While I never noticed it on trail, looks down the center axis of the bike revealed that the alignment was slightly off, with the rear wheel not lining up perfectly with the main frame. Fortunately, the left side bushing of the main pivot is a rotatable eccentric to allow for alignment correction. Unfortunately, when you correct the horizontal alignment, you throw off the vertical alignment. Nor does this explain why the alignment could be off in the first place.
Then there’s the wheels. 28 spokes? Holy smokes! Kudos to Keith Bontrager for designing light, fast wheels. They are great wheels, I’d even recommend them to most people. But I have to say that most XL sized frames are going to be ridden by XL sized people (over two hundred pounds); that said, XL sized bikes should be spec’ed with a heavier wheelset. I’ve been seeing this problem on many different production bikes since I first started riding and reviewing.
Bottom line?
Big, versatile, fun. If you’re looking for a reasonably-priced, dual-squishy, big-wheeled all-around cross country bike, the 292 is pretty much the only game in town.
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