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Seemed to me to made out of some pretty soft material and we very easy to bend back. I rode a lot of bikes before I settled on this. Of course, others may have different preferences.
I always assumed RSD was a Taiwan catalog bike reseller and not really a credible brand. I guess i shouldn’t complain as it is the only bike in the test that I could buy if I sold my car and used the cash to get a new bike. Sad that when I had no money i dreamt about owning the bike in the shop window, now that i have money i dream about a bike a mid range bike that I don’t spit out my coffee when I scroll down to the price. For example, we’ve got Norco’s $4,000 Fluid in our upcoming trail bike Field Test where the other bikes cost twice as much or more. It’s very eye-opening and we’re usually impressed with how the less expensive bikes perform. IMO, what KONA should do is a Process 134 ESD, with a 150mm Fork and a 64 degree head angle.
Jokes aside, the factors that go into choosing bikes are pretty straightforward. First, they need to be new-ish or at least interesting, and second, they need to be somewhat available to purchase by someone somewhere in the world. As you can imagine, that’d been a difficult box to check over the last couple of years but availability is improving. BTW, having owned a 5.7 for about 6 months now I can say that it kicks a serious amount of ass. Best bike I’ve ever ridden, I can spank the XC spandex bandits on the local trails, go to Moab and absolutely crush dudes on 6″-7″ bikes on Porcupine, and jump it with almost reckless abandon.
I thought downcountry was just applying the latest gravity-inspired geo, that is finding its way onto Enduro and Trail bikes, to XC bikes. The Spur and RM Element are two that come to mind, but people don’t consider them XC bikes, for some reason. After the masses started using downcountry as a term, the definition seems to have been hijacked from the original creator and now seems to imply something between XC and trail. The way I see it, the gravity geo inspires confidence, which demands a heavy-hitting spec to tap it, making the downcountry bikes seem like short-travel trail bikes. The longer-legged conservative XC bikes seem to have no special name, so people just started calling them downcountry instead, I guess. The definition seems to be shifting slowly so that soon we’ll need a new definition for what initially was called Downcountry.
Video: Welcome to the 2022 Downcountry Field Test
“a cross-county racer with an all-day, marathon kind of mindset.” The Spur geo is the real secret sauce. You can configure it more toward Trail, or more toward XC… 1.Try a 130mm Pike on the front and a reservoir 120mm shock, and of course add volume spacers till you get it right. I beefed my Spur up a bit for the type of riding I pursue. Hi Sarah how ya been looking forward to the reviews great test btw.
Complete Mach 5.7s start at $3899 for the Shimano SLX build and top out around $6900 for SRAM XX and Shimano XTR options. I virtually never ride my short travel bike. I grab my 170mm coil bike for every ride, because I just prefer that style of riding better. FWIW, I rode the Mach 4 SL for a couple of years down in the Utah desert and cleaned every big descent on that bike without any real issues… And it’s the fastest XC bike I’ve ever pointed up the hill.
Not even poorly done, just not at all. The party of cheap credit is almost ended … Maybe we’ll only see wealthier folks riding the more expensive bikes. The RSD and Evil should not be in the same test category as an Ibis Exie.
I try not to buy into hypes, but the downcountry segment got me and got me a Spur. Lightweight package, good suspension and geometry really makes these bikes amazing trail bikes for just about everyone. My quiver is made up of 5 very nice bikes by most standards, if I had do narrow it down to one, it would most likely be the Spur . The last Field Test series saw the crew riding enduro bikes in Bellingham, Washington, but things are a lot more en français this time around, and there’s a lot less suspension to save our asses. That’s because we packed up our gear and flew to Quebec City, Canada, with six of the most interesting short-travel bikes to see how they compare and perform away from our usual trails.
For the race 180mm, 160mm and 140mm rotors. When visiting the Pivot site there is a close-up picture of the rear wheel with a 160mm rotor installed. But aside that the bike looks really nice. Up front, we found that 30-percent sag with 3 to 4 clicks of low-speed compression balanced well with the shock.
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That would be really nice and I’d have a hard time not buying one.. The USA bikes in this test are upper-crust small numbers production stuff. But there is no reason something like the RSD Wildcat couldn’t be made in the USA at a similar price point. The problem is there isn’t a bike company doing this. The other four bikes in this group include Ibis’ Exie and Allied’s BC40, both manufactured in the US and with prices that reflect that.
Set up with Pivot’s Shimano XTR build kit, our medium-sized test bike weighed 25.9 pounds ready to rock with Shimano XT trail pedals. Expect to pay around $6899 for a similar build. Even though they are both 120mm rear bikes, they couldn’t be more different. The Wildcat definitely feels like a trail bike and can handle big burly lines with ease but is kind of a pig.
BMC’s gorgeous green Fourstroke LT One is also here and it was almost a shame to get it muddy, and Lapierre sent us their new XRM, a cross-county racer with an all-day, marathon kind of mindset. The lower link is perfectly in line with the chainstay. It’s virtually useless in that there is no mechanical advantage on it. This looks just like the Turner 5Spot in that it is essentially a single pivot design with extra complexity. I don’t need reviewers or product managers manipulating me with the word ” FUN” to sell a bike for 7000$. ” Fun” is for jet skies., I understand that the new weekend warrior that is to buy this bike is the old Jet ski, motocross guy.
We did get out for some big laps, but most of our time requires more compact and concise test loops that allow for those back-to-back impressions that are so important. Instead, we wanted a couple of bikes that are all about efficiency and speed, a couple that would be just fine with your sketchy jumps and – here’s a crazy idea – how about one or two that don’t cost over $10,000 USD? Yes, some of these bikes cost a lot of money, but that’s why we also do our Value Bike Field Tests every single year; if you want outright bang for your buck, that’s the Field Test for you. And that’s also why we’ve got RSD’s $3,999 USD Wildcat in this round, so we can talk about what spending twice as much money does – and doesn’t – do for you on the trail.
Its still content, content that I enjoy. What is it about this article that disappoints you? Out of curiosity, Im not looking to argue – Im sorry if I came off harsh there.
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Now with Wolf Tooth assembling their seatposts in the US, you can at least get a US assembled seatpost, but the components are made overseas. I run revgrips that are made in the US, also. Of course there are competitors in the class… And each have their strengths and weaknesses. Some are https://cryptolisting.org/ short on rear travel, some have steeper HTAs, some have short wheelbases, some are too heavy, some are too light, some have weak component specs, some are too expensive. Its the most aggressive and most capable bike in its class, probably the best looking, and its hard to come by…
Which has a 12×142 rear-end so dunno what you’re on about w/10×135.. Seriously the best trail/all mtn bike I’ve ever ridden. You really can’t say anything bad about this bike like you can’t say anything bad about any of the high quality bikes out there. Reviews like this are great to give you more info to make more informed decisions.
- Finally, I have had the pleasure of riding with Richard, and I have seen him drop some pretty crazy shit at press camps where the vast majority of other editors wouldn’t touch it.
- If you buy the BMC FourStroke with the same spec level as the Allied , it’s notably more expensive .
- I do feel like it is hard to pedal Session a bit, and the XC bike is more fun on the climbing trails.
- GG frame, Cane Creek suspension, i9 wheelset.
- With sharp, Super D acceleration on tap for rolling climbs and corner exits, and its point-and-shoot turning skills, the Mach 5.7 gets going in a hurry when it catches the scent of gravity.
It’s not a crappy off the shelf soft hanger. I think this is the pooint RC was trying to make as well. Also, with regards to the bitching, I didn’t see anyone whine when Levy tested the ASR 5 which is an even more XC oriented bike. @joshleb, most hangers aren’t designed to protect the derailleur, they’re designed to protect the frame. So if something goes wrong your mech and your hanger get destroyed, but you don’t need a new frame… Hangers are really just an idea, I think….lol I’ve ripped plenty of rear mechs off my bike, and i still have the original hanger in perfect condition on my bike…
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Its double-butted main frame tubes are rectangular profiled to put more metal in line with the frame’s highest loads. The deeply curved top tube provides a lot of stand-over clearance (26.5 inches for the X-small frame) and also eliminates the need for a separate strut to support the seat mast. Like all top trail bikes, the Mach 5.7 has a tapered head tube, so if you don’t agree with its 67.6-degree head angle, you can add an AngleSet and try a home-grown version.
Because if you were in the minority type category… The angles that the elements pivot around each other, relative to one another, plays a bigger role to the overall rate than the lengths of the elements that make up the suspension linkage. Finally, I have had the pleasure of riding with Richard, and I have seen him drop some pretty crazy shit at press camps where the vast majority of other editors wouldn’t touch it. He can ride, he can write and he is a super talented engineer/designer, and builder in his own right..
Those broad-based elements probably address the “fawning over the Spur”. Added experimental payment spread function to the WooCommerce gateway, which helps webshops with 100s of sales per minute. “MyCryptoCheckout – Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 200+ altcoins for WooCommerce” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin. My comment xtroptions actually has nothing to do with defending RC or selling RC, it has to do with people making negative comments about something they assume to know something about but don’t. I apologize for my sarcastic tone, I’m just tired of people making silly comments for the sake of making a silly comment, especially people that should be old enough to know better.
Without devoting half our annual salary to do it like the kids on here who’s future include the words “would you like to supersize your meal combo today?”. Simonspragg – I’ll let you know, I’m getting a carbon 5.7, and my other all mountain bike is an endorphin! I’ll be it will climb better, since the endorphin isn’t the best climber. Right now I’d predict that will be as confident inspiring, but not as plush. We also just wrapped up a trail bike Field Test where we had the latest Trek and Santa Cruz, so expect that in the not too distant future.
The hollow, welded forging enhances frame stiffness and with its wide-stance pivot placements, promises to extend bearing life. On the subject of bearing life, Pivot doubles two sealed cartridge bearings in each location to be sure that the suspension won’t waggle due to premature bearing wear. Ibis Exie is their XC bike, the Ripley is downcountry. The geo of the Exie is way more steep than the rest.