Had a chance to get out and demo 3 new bikes this past tuesday. I was on a Specialized Stumpy FSR, Marin Mount vision wm8 and a full carbon GT Force. I had an opportunity to ride a Cannodale 140 3 but just didn't have the legs to push it around.
Gotta say that a new bike is just like a new car - what a difference a few years and lot less miles make :thumbsup: . Can't say a bad thing about any of them.
Jumped onto the Specilized first thing and I was grinin' ear to ear and giggling like a little girl. The set-up was with the Brain shock Fox RL 140 fork, elixer brakes and X-0 shifter/derailer. A very flickable bike. Typically I'm a wheels on the dirt at all time kinda rider but after 20' of ride time I was hopping, dropping and launching everything I could find. Very fast bike too - the brain shock is like riding your living room couch of the trails.
The Marin was very much like my DW link bike. It has the slackest head angle and it made a noticable difference on the decents - very stable. Althought the "platform" was stable and the bob wasn't bad for a 4-bar suspension, it felt a little too familar - too much like the DW link/VPP. I was looking for plush.
The Force was stiff as can be and the I-drive does what it is supposed to do but in the end the Stumpy was stuffed into the car for the ride back to my house.
I passed on the niner - more for budget reasons than anything else. I'd rather spend the coin on the compents than the stickers.
The best part of the day - when the wife found the bike in the back of the car, she says, "I thought you were going to demo bikes today not buy one. How much did that cost?" when I told her the number, she's like, "that's not too bad". :yikes:
I guess all that talk around the table about $5000 bikes payed off.
Man what a great day that was.
mtv