RR: Short bike comparison

[Jonathan Bond]

So after begging for money for our road/crit/TT race for a while, the girl from my cycling team I
was with asked if I minded stopping into a bike shop (ace wheelworks in somerville MA) for a while
to pick up some arm warmers and miscellaneous stuff. Me mind hanging out in a bike shop? NEVER!

We ogled bikes for a while, and my eyes fell upon the klein palomino, santacruz superlight, and the
titus locomoto sitting next to each other. Drool. I asked one of the workers if they had a blur out,
and she said no, that santa cruz was mostly special order. Damn.

Anyway, a guy just a little older than me comes over, asks if he can help, and proceeds to get me
hooked up with short test rides of the SL and the Locomoto (I passed on the klein, don't like their
geometry too much). Sweet.

Take the superlight out for a ride... its set up NICE. XTR (last year's), Spinergy wheels, XT discs,
Marathon SL. Very light bike. Responsive, did notice a little bit of bob (especially without
clipless), took any potholes I could find and a couple small curb drops pretty well. Back to the
bike shop, he's got the Locomoto waiting.

Locomoto is set up with XTR, rim brakes, manitou. Not quite as nice components, but a nicer ride
overall. The front was harsher, but the rear was just sweet. Still a bit of bob, but definitely
smoothed stuff out a lot better. Could tell it was heavier though.

I spin back to the shop, and the guy goes "Hey, thought you might want to try this out.... We've got
a large blur in the basement that some guy put a deposit on, got here a few weeks ago, and he hasn't
picked it up yet. It was in the basement so nobody touched it, but you can take it for a test ride
if you want... here..." SWEET!

XT, Fox Vanilla 100 RLC, Hayes discs. Definitely a heavier bike if you pick it up by hand. Hopped
on, bounced up and down... Wow, this has a lot of travel. Pop off a curb, barely even feel the
landing. Nice. Sprint into the potholes, it just sucks them up, and still feels stiff while I'm
pedalling. Up and down sharp edged curbs, and it just sucks them up. I can feel it bob if I stand up
and sprint, but I can rail on it sitting and as long as I try to stay circular motion, the
suspension stays rock solid, the bike just MOVES. I totally didn't notice the extra weight, even on
the hill climb I sprinted (standing up) from a stop light. Hayes were squealing like scalded
monkeys, but the bike felt sweet. Carved down a road, and the bike definitely CARVED. The rear was a
teensy bit flexier than the locomoto, but stiffer than the SL. Very nice handling, much better than
my Fisher hardtail. I didn't want to bring it back.

Overall ranking: Blur, Locomoto, Superlight. Definitely liked the Marzocchi the best in front,
even if it was still breaking in. Another bike shop's owner is going to let me take his brand new
Rocky Mountain Element SC out for a test ride in the fells after he gets it, major props to Brian
at JRA cycles (formerly Travis Cycles) in Medford, MA; and there's a guy from RAGE on boston bike
club who's going to let me try his medium blur out, so I'll get a better test of the suspension
before i ride.

I think I'm almost sold on the blur. Yeah, its not quite as much of a race bike as would be ideal,
but if I want efficiency, I'll just hop back on my hardtail. If its a rough course, the blur will
definitely let me go faster, and shouldn't hurt too much on the climb either.

Jon Bond

 

[Slacker]

"Jonathan Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]... <snip>
> I spin back to the shop, and the guy goes "Hey, thought you might want to try this out.... We've
> got a large blur in the basement that some guy put a deposit on, got here a few weeks ago, and he
> hasn't picked it up yet. It was in the basement so nobody touched it, but you can take it for a
> test ride if you want... here..." SWEET!
>
> Hopped on, bounced up and down... Wow, this has a lot of travel. Pop off a curb, barely even feel
> the landing. Nice. Sprint into the potholes, it just sucks them up, and still feels stiff while
> I'm pedalling. Up and down sharp edged curbs, and it just sucks them up.
>
> Jon Bond

That's jacked up! I just had a vision of that bike's owner driving down the street seeing this
skinny kid hucking his bike off every curb, slamming into every pothole and back up the curb.

--
Slacker - hope he didn't get your license plate #

 

[Jonathan Bond]

Slacker wrote:
> "Jonathan Bond" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]... <snip>
>
>>I spin back to the shop, and the guy goes "Hey, thought you might want to try this out.... We've
>>got a large blur in the basement that some guy put a deposit on, got here a few weeks ago, and he
>>hasn't picked it up yet. It was in the basement so nobody touched it, but you can take it for a
>>test ride if you want... here..." SWEET!
>>
>>Hopped on, bounced up and down... Wow, this has a lot of travel. Pop off a curb, barely even feel
>>the landing. Nice. Sprint into the potholes, it just sucks them up, and still feels stiff while
>>I'm pedalling. Up and down sharp edged curbs, and it just sucks them up.
>>
>>Jon Bond
>
>
>
> That's jacked up! I just had a vision of that bike's owner driving down the street seeing this
> skinny kid hucking his bike off every curb, slamming into every pothole and back up the curb.
>
> --
> Slacker - hope he didn't get your license plate #
>
>

yeah, well, For the most part I was passing cars...

They said they couldnt' even contact the guy, so its his own damn fault I was nice and didn't put
any scratches, dings, or dents in there... well, except for the cracked downtube, but he won't
notice that for a while I'm sure.

unfortunately, most of the curbs were obscured by snow piles. I would have attempted to jump off a
few, but I didn't have my helmet with me, so I was playing it somewhat safe. I'm surprised they let
me test ride without it, but I wasn't going to turn the offer down

Jon Bond