The Tall Boy hit the 29er world like a shock wave, rippling through the online community with sneak pics and tidbits from the Santa Cruz blogsite. Santa Cruz was making a 29er. Not just a 29er, but a 4”travel FS made from carbon fiber and using the VPP suspension design. It was great looking, it was expected to be light and fast and it was a bold step right out of the gate.

We have ridden examples of this bike at Interbike Demo Days and it was one of our top bikes of the week. Now Grannygear is getting a chance to ride one on local trails for a month or so to get a second and more extended look at the Tall Boy. First, let’s take a look at the bike and what it brings to the trailhead and later we will follow up with our thoughts plus some comments from Mike Ferrentino of Santa Cruz cycles.

First of all, just unpacking this bike is enough to get the heart rate up. The orange color is striking and the molded carbon shapes are dead sexy. Hydroformed aluminum can make for some good looking shapes, but carbon is king of swoopyness. Just the head tube junction is enough proof of that. And, beyond good looks, there seems to be a pretty good chance this frame is stiff and stable as well. We shall see. The carbon link at the shock is very cool. This bike had been ridden many times before I got it and I noticed that there is an area at the rear of the bike where the chainstay guard does not quite cover. I think I would wrap something around this…inner tube…etc as it is obvious that the chain is hitting the frame here. I don’t think I want the chain chipping away at my carbon frame.

This XL example was set up with mostly XT 9 speed with an 11-34 rear cassette. The brakes are Avid Elixir CRs with 160mm rotors front and rear, the wheels are Mavic TN719 Disc rims laced to DT Swiss 340 rear hub with a DT Swiss 5mm RWS but the front hub is a Chub hub set up for 15mm QR. The Chub is one of those things that draws a lot of comments: “Man, that is a big hub!” Indeed it is. The front fork is a Fox 100mm F29 FIT/RLC 15QR. Whew. Other bits and pieces are all good quality equipment and represent a smart, non foo-foo build that is right in there for the average Joe and Jill. The scale showed this bike to be 27lbs 15oz with SPD pedals.

Tall Boy Geometry hyperlink http://www.santacruzmtb.com/tallboy/index.php?geometry=1

Ready to ride after some wrenching, I set the rear shock at 190psi and the sag seemed to be in the zone. The front fork felt good to go. Spinning around on the street the Tall Boy felt pretty agile and quick steering. It would be interesting to know how many buyers are setting the Tall Boy up with a 120mm fork right off the bat. With the 100mm Fox if feels pretty racy. I also noticed some pedal bob with Pro Pedal off and I could see the linkage cycling. Pro Pedal was set to the number 2 position and that stopped that.

I am very curious to see about the advantages of VPP. I have some time on short link bikes, but this will be the most consistent saddle time on one and VPP makes some claims that are pretty significant.

From the Santa Cruz website.

VPP Linkage:
-VPP suspension designs balance different forces to eliminate unwanted compression without limiting bump absorption.
The downward force on your pedals pushes most full suspension bikes down, resulting in unwanted suspension compression.
-VPP bikes use a patented link configuration and axle path to apply some of the pulling force from the chain to counteract that motion caused by pedaling.
Because the forces are balanced, VPP bikes remain able to absorb bumps when pedaling, unlike other designs that effectively lock out the rear suspension by applying too much chain pulling force. What you end up with is plush travel with no pedal-induced compression or lockout and no need for manual lockouts or other compromises.

Will the VPP win me over as all that and more? Will the promises that carbon fiber construction whispers in your ear be realized on the trail? I dunno. We will be back with our thoughts and impressions soon.

Note: The reviewed bike is being provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Stay tuned for the “Out Of The Box” post coming in a couple days!

A new Alfine with 11 speeds is set to bow in late 2010.

Shimano Goes To 11: No, not on a derailluer set up! The ever popular Alfine, which some users have pressed into off road duty with the current 8spd version, will gain three more gears in it’s newest incarnation, lose a bit of weight, (reportedly), and be operated by the trigger shifter shown here which will have some features found on Rapid Fire shift pods including Rapid Release and Dual Release. Also of interest is the reported switch from grease for internal lubrication to an oil bath type. Shimano is shopping this version around now to some European bike brands, but you can expect this to show up on U.S. shores later this year as a 2011 product. We’re guessing it will be a hot product on commuter rigs, but with a range of gearing that reaches a bit lower than current Alfine, this will certainly end up on some mountain bikes as well. Will it work for a 29″er? That is yet to be determined.

Update On Euro-Carbon Rigs: The carbon fiber craze has been seen on 29″ers before, and now European brands are starting to jump in. We reported that On One is one of these brands last week. We have some questions in to On One headquarters which we are hoping we will have some answers to shortly concerning this project.

The “other brand” we mentioned is actually not new to carbon fiber 29″ers at all. In fact- they were the first brand to bring a carbon fiber rig to market with big wheels. Orbea is the name, and a re-designed Alma is the subject of this news. Stay tuned for exclusive details on this mid-2010 model coming soon!

New Euro Source for 29″er Goodness: We were tipped off that a new European based source for 29 inch bicycles and products is now up and running. Touting themselves as an “e-shop dedicated to 29ers”, you can find plenty to get your 29″er up and running there including frames from Niner Bikes, tires, forks, wheel sets, and more. You can check out the site here at 29squadron.com. The site is in English, Dutch, and French languages.

Schwalbe To Intro Two New 29″er Treads: We also were tipped off that Schwalbe is going to introduce two new 29 inch sized treads already in the catalog in 26 inch sizes. The Rocket Ron and Nobby Nic are to be made available soon. No word on exact sizes or when, but our guess is Sea Otter.

Schwalbe’s Markus Hachmeyer has this to say about the Rocket Ron: “This Rocket fulfills racers’ wishes all at once: Low weight and a lot of grip – both straight-line power and traction in curves – and it works just as well in wet or dry conditions. The lugs are widely spaced and provide a great self-cleaning action as with Racing Ralph”. (quote from Schwalbe’s website) Schwalbe’s Nobby Nic is its test winning tread design with a bent towards grip, but in typical Schwalbe fashion, claiming to have good low rolling resistance.

No word on what, if any, technologies Schwalbe possesses will be applied to these tires in 29″er sizes, but judging from Schwalbe’s past efforts we would not be surprised if they were fairly basic.

(Thanks to the 29Squadron for the tip)

As always, stay tuned for any further news as we get it………

By “c_g”:

Part 1 – INTRO: Who of you has heard about the Rohloff Speedhub 500/14? For those of you who have – it probably holds the image of German engineering par excellence – and of high pricing probably.

For those of you who haven’t I will give you a very brief wrap-up of the thing:

The Speedhub is an all German made, internally geared hub with 14 gears spaced evenly at 13.6 % resulting in exactly the same range as a standard MTB 27-speed drive train. By following extremely low tolerances and keeping the system completely encapsulated Rohloff claims to have comparable power loss by friction to an externally geared system (aka derailleur driven) and will run virtually forever with minimal servicing (only an annual oil change recommended). The hub has been in production for over 10 years And yes, it is costly, even here in its homeland.

(Before you readers start raining a myriad of technical questions, I herewith redirect your enquiries of such kind to the Rohloff website: www.rohloff.de. There is tons of technical info to be read about the working, on Rohloff´s – including compatibility charts, gearing ratios, exploded drawings. They even have done a book covering the Rohloff story)

fig. 1 The ROHLOFF Speedhub 500/14 in the test – condition like it should be: spotted with dirt. The labeling is laser etched into the black anodized hub shell. Each hub is individually numbered.

What motivated Bernd Rohloff, the man behind the hub to build this? – Before the Speedhub Rohloff has been producing (and still is for that matter) premium bicycle chains including several precision tools in that area.

There is a neat anecdote about it (rephrased to keep it short): “He was doing a vacation on the French Atlantic coast, riding along the sandy beach … or at least trying to as it only took two breakers to completely foul the drive train. It was there and then that the idea for a ever-running system was born. Two years and countless hours with technical drawings and engineering later, Bernd was pedaling it away happily without a second thought to the drive train-hostile environment. That was 1998 and by now there are over 100.000 Speedhub units in use on all kinds of bikes.

Here comes a bit more tech talk though:

The Rohloff 500/14 Speedhub basically consists of three units:

1, The 14-speed internal geared hub (available in a disc- or v-brake specific, and a QR or through axle version). Consisting of a hugely oversized hub shell housing the transmission unit (32 and 36 holes available in the colors silver, black and red anodized with laser etched logos), interchangeable side-plates on both sides and a screw on cog (standard is 16 teeth, 13, 15 and 17 teeth are available separately)

2, The mounting hardware: It takes special attachment systems to compensate the rotational forces induced by the internal gearing. Depending on the drop-out and frame design these can be simply a plate (if the frame is Rohloff-specific like in fig. 2), or varying torque arms (depending if the frame has disc brake bosses or not, one version shown in fig. 3)

fig. 2 This set up shows Rohloff specific dropouts, where the torque is taken up by the long slotted dropout and a special plate (only visible by the “in the know” near the lower end of the slot). Chain tensioning here is done by the sliding dropouts. The shifting commands are transferred by dual cables and the external gearbox.

fig. 3 Here a version with the long torque arm is shown. This version is needed when the frame is not suitable for disc brakes or when the disc brake tabs are not on the seat stays of the frame like on this frame. Why? -Think about which direction rotational forces will work.

3, The twist shifter proprietary to the system. This shifter is driving dual cables to the hub – usually in full length housing. The attachment to the hub can be by an external gearbox, like shown, which is recommended when running disc brakes or by an internal system which is about 100 g lighter. The shifter is not indexed like all other bike gearing systems but the indexing is happening directly at the place of shifting, inside the hub.

(Bikes with no built-in chain tensioning option or suspension bikes will need a chain tensioner) The rest of the modifications is like converting into a single chainring crankset and a specific 4-bolt disc rotor, as the standard systems don´t work with 6-bolt rotors.

Fig. 4 The shifters are like any twist shifter – only these actuate two cables. Yes, they are a bit clumsy looking.

So much for the marketing talk.

What is the Speedhub really all about? Does it work fine? How does the planetary gearing react when put through its paces? What about the total weight or weight distribution on the bike, compared to a standard derailleur system or SS? Is the system really bomb-proof and maintenance free – regardless of riding and climate?

And most important to many reading this site: How does it work when used in a 29er set-up?

Ps: … and if you want specific info, let me know – I will see to incorporate them in the course of the review.

Look for further updates from “c_g” in the near future!

Recently I had the chance to throw a leg over the 2010 flagship, bigger travel 29er, the FSR Stumpjumper Expert. Priced at $3300.00 suggested retail for a complete bike and $2000.00 dollars for a frame/seatpost/front der. combo, the FSR Stumpy brings 130mm of Brain Shock controlled rear travel to the trail and on the complete bike is paired with a Fox F29RL, 120mm, compression and rebound adj. w/ LO, tapered steerer, 15mm thru axle equipped fork. Five inches of rear travel is a pretty good number for a 29er trail bike, and although ‘trail bike’ is a different thing to different folks, the FSR looks to be competing for trail space against the Niner Rip-9, the Turner DW Sultan, the upcoming Intense Tracer, and the Lenzsport offerings like the Behemoth. It is a step up from the likes of the Tall Boy, Big Mama, etc with only 4” of rear travel among them.

As well, there will be inevitable comparisons against the lighter weight and slightly less travel Epic 29er from Specialized. I have quite a bit of time on the Epic Marathon version and it makes a very fine light to mid weight trail bike. I am looking forward to answering a couple of questions that have been on my mind: Can an FSR Stumpy, built up from a frameset with lightweight parts, say to 27-28 pounds (it can be done…27lbs in the one I saw) be a suitable option to a stock-ish Epic at the same weight? How much of a penalty is the extra inch of overall travel? Is it to the point where the travel does not matter and the performance of the bike needs to be considered by the ride alone…leave the tape measure in the drawer and see how it feels? I have stated that 4” of travel had become the sweet spot for 29ers in that it represented the point where it is the amount of travel that meets most folks needs, is not a burden for climbing and feeling ‘fast’, and can be dressed with parts to meet a pretty wide variety of conditions. But, will the FSR woo me over with the 130mm travel package? Can this be my everyday bike for relatively smooth but fast, loose and rocky So Cal?

We shall see.

Some of those questions will need to wait for another day for enough saddle time under different conditions. The ride was somewhere around 9 miles of twisty, up and down but pretty much smooth-ish trail. Combine that with heavy rains for the last week, including the day we were riding, and it added up to limit my scope of riding and was not a great test of the FSR’s capabilities. Be that as it may, there were sections of decent ruts and rocky outcroppings, lots of slippery corners, and fast bermed sweepers so I did get a pretty good feel for the flavor of the bike and I am willing to make a few statements based on that.

Compared to the Epic, it is a bigger feeling bike. The front wheel is further out in front with the 69.5 degree head tube angle (the bike I rode was an XL, just like the Epic I have at the moment), the handle bar is wider and the overall feel is one of a more substantial feeling scooter.
The Brain on the FSR is de-tuned a bit compared to the Epic. Eric from Specialized, who rides an FSR running a 1×10 combo of SRAM XX shifty parts and is one of the 29er developers there, basically said that the Brain goes to ‘7’ or ‘8’ on the firmness scale while the Epic Mini-Brain goes to ‘10’. Not his exact words, but I think I captured the intent. Regardless of that, the FSR pedals very well seated or standing although I could notice the 30 lbs approx weight (I did not weigh it) over the Epic’s 27 lbs. It felt quite good seated and spinning a small gear up techy stuff, much like the Niner Rip-9 in that regard. I think I would give a slight nod to the FSR for out of the saddle pedaling compared to the Rip-9 and the DW Sultan. Slight, but it was there. The Brain is quite unlike anything else in that regard.

130mm rear and 120mm front combined with a 69.5 degree head tube angle feels pretty good in anything that gets rough or jumpy. No surprise. The big wheels and that amount of travel are really inspiring. I have my doubts about the need for or the resulting sales figures of a really big travel 29er like many are clamoring for. But I sure could see a bike one notch up from this being loaded into the back of pickup trucks around the country: Maybe a Specialized Enduro 29er to go up against the Niner WFO and the Lenz PBJ?

Is there a head tube angle that does not work for a 29er? I was amazed how agile the slacker head tube angle felt. In fact, it loves to carve turns. At least this day, I actually liked it better than the Epics steeper set up, even on the smoother trails of the ride.

Get this…after riding SRAM XX 2×10 for a while now, the very nicely spec’d 3×9 Shimano/SRAM 9 speed mix felt slow and vague. Never thought I would say that. What is a big ring for anymore on a trail bike? 2011 will be the year of the 2×10 equipped bike, like it or not.

Beyond this I will have to wait for more time on a more appropriate trail to get a real in depth feel for the bike and that should happen in a couple of months. I do predict that this is a very good bike for anyone that is coming from a 5-6” travel 26er and expects the deeper trail bike feel that an Epic does not provide. It would be a great second bike in a quiver for trips to Moab or Sedona and days at home when you feel like playing rough or it could the perfect one bike solution if you ride rougher trails all the time and require the extra travel to begin with. The FSR is another option in a part of the 29er market that previously did not exist and I think options are a good thing. Specialized hopes you think so too.

Thanks to Specialized Bikes and Nic Sims for the arrangements to make this visit possible.

The image of the new J.E.T.9 as it appears on Niner’s February e-newsletter.

Niner did a lot of work behind the scenes while the the re-design was being accomplished. Frames were analyzed, destructive testing was done, and everything was on the table for re-evaluation concerning the new version of the J.E.T.9. Niner also was developing new ideas alongside the J.E.T.9 with the update of the R.I.P.9 and the new W.F.O.9. Some of the new ideas incorporated into the longer travel bikes was brought over to the J.E.T.9 for this new update.

Niner beefed up the head tube area with a tapered head tube and hydro-formed top and down tubes on the new J.E.T.9.

The most prominent feature of the new J.E.T.9 is the head tube area. A combination of a tapered head tube and hydro-formed top and down tubes now promise a much stiffer and robust front triangle. The tapered steer tube compatibility means that you can run a standard 1 1/8th steer tube fork with an adapter or a tapered steer tube fork. Niner will be offering Reba XX forks in black and white colors along with this frame in tapered and straight steerers. The tapered headtube also allowed Niner to produce a massive hydo-formed downtube which will minimize torsional flex which should translate into a more precise handling feel. Niner states in their February e-newsletter that: “This new tube puts up stiffness numbers much higher than that of the original with little to no penalty.”

Niner also re-evaluated the small frame parts in the process of re-designing the J.E.T.9.

Niner didn’t just use hydro-forming technology on the J.E.T.9, but they also brought over a couple other things learned in the update of the R.I.P.9. Here’s a quote from the February e-newsletter:

We explored every small detail of the new Jet 9, including re-evaluating the smaller frame pieces. For our final design, we created new forgings for the chainstay and seatstay yokes to provide increased stiffness and strength. These are based on FEA and real world testing we did while re-designing the RIP 9. Forged pieces include: left upper linkage, right upper linkage, left lower linkage, right lower linkage, BB/lower pivot area, seat tube pivot, drop outs (l & r), seatstay yoke and chainstay yoke.

Niner Bikes expects frames to start showing up at dealers in early April. The new J.E.T. 9 is available to pre-order now from authorized Niner Bikes dealears. For more details see www.ninerbikes.com

Most notable of the modifications so far are to be seen at the front and the rear of the frame. Here we can see that the Intense Cycles has used “G2 adjustable drop outs” that offer two chain stay length adjustments. (17.7″ & 18″) It is also claimed that there will be different axle options for all the popular combinations made available. The image we have here shows the new 142mmOD with a 12mm quick release.

Intense also went with the full 1.5″ head tube to “be compatible with all steerer options”. Also of note is the direct front derailluer mount and a slightly different looking down tube. An ISCG tab is also new. Changes are said to be working well, but the frame has not yet been signed off on for production. Stay tuned for any further developments.

I set the Velocity P-35’s up with these 2.4″ Ardent tires we are testing and they are tubeless. The P-35 has the effect of stretching out the casing by about a millimeter over a more common 28mm wide rim with the effect of a slight flattening out of the tire profile in the process. This does two things over a narrower rim: It puts more tread on the trail without running lower pressures and it also brings the tire beads out wider, more underneath the tire tread edge, which gives the tire more support, especially under lateral loads.

In regards to tubeless set up, I used a home brew rim strip which worked beautifully on the P-35. Velocity does not recommend you do yours this way, but would rather see users going with a 32mm Stan’s tape or in the future, use the system they are developing for the P-35. That said, setting up these rims tubeless was a snap. Very easily done, and the bead seat works very well in terms of getting a good tire/rim interface. The Ardents set up on these with a short blast from my air compressor and have been trouble free so far.

Note: The Ardent by Maxxis is not a tubeless tire and running it as such is done at your own risk. Twenty Nine Inches does not recommend running your Ardent tires as such.

For disc brake rotors I set up the Velocity hubs with these Ashima rotors with which I have had good performance from in the past. I used a 185mm up front and a 160mm rotor out back with Avid BB-7 mountain calipers doing the squeezing here. I spun on a ACS Claws 18T free wheel for a rear gear. That wrapped up the set of wheels as complete units, ready to ride, and riding was done, even though it is very cold and snowy here.

Here are the wheels on the bike they will be tested with. A Soul Cycles Dillinger Gen III frame. The set up with a Rock Shox Reba Team with a 20mm Maxle Lite is pretty fun to ride, but I’ll get into that when we introduce the Dillinger a bit later. For now, I’ll focus on the wheels.

The tubeless set up had a bit of a hiccup due to a poor rear tire, (Not a 2.4 inch Ardent), but after matching the front with another 2.4″ Ardent, things have been trouble free. The amazing hub bearings spin really freely, reminiscent of the Easton XC-One single speed wheels we tested last year. The wheels have been noise free, and laterally pretty stiff. With rock hard frozen ice chunks, ruts, and some off camber bits that I could find, I have not been able to discern any lateral flex. When the trails become ride-able, I will put this to the test better in situations at speed.

So far the P-35’s seem as if they should be, at the very least, decent and on par with the Gordo from Salsa Cycles. This will be the inevitable comparison product, as there are no commonly distributed rims in this range out there. Yes- There is a Kris Holm branded rim, but it is quite a bit rarer. My next update will not be for a while yet until the trails open up and I can get these properly ridden. Stay tuned!

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

By Grannygear:

I have around 25 hours of riding the Epic Marathon 29er on typical So Cal trails and roads and I think I have a pretty good feel for the bike as a whole and in part. When I first took delivery of the Epic Marathon, I was very curious to see if it could replace my Lenzsport Leviathan 3.0 as an all around XC FS ride. The answer to that will come later. As we have written about in the out-of-the-box article, the Marathon is equipped with a pretty high end parts list, mostly SRAM XX, a Rock Shok Black Box fork, and some Roval wheels. I want to break out my thoughts into a few categories as I think there is enough here to talk about individually.

The frame and fork: The M5 manipulated aluminum frame looks well made and seems to be quite stiff enough. I mounted a Captain Control 2.2 on the rear wheel and I still have enough clearance at the asymmetrical swingarm/BB shell area for my needs. The understated color is nice if you decry flashy, blingy looks. The flip side? It does not look like a $6k bike in many folk’s eyes. The dropped top tube is sweet for stand over. Very nice. However it barely allows for one water bottle location and that requires some fiddling to get a bottle past the shock. In fact, there is only one WB braze-on on the frame so it comes with a set of adapters to mount a bottle on the back of the extended seatpost. It seems a crime to limit the H2O carrying capacity of a bike so well suited to long XC endurance rides. It came to me as I was assembling the bike that, if you rearranged the cable housing fasteners under the downtube, you could have them do double duty as WB bosses as well. Just a thought. The overall look is unmistakably Specialized Epic.

I had wondered how the lack of a thru axle would affect the front end stiffness, but that does not seem to be an issue as I have never felt any wandering or vague steering from the Epic’s Custom SBC/RockShox Reba S29 Carbon with100mm travel, a one-piece tapered carbon crown/steerer tube, Rockshox Reba Team lower, titanium motion control damper and lock out with floodgate adjust.

Now, you may remember that, across three rides on three different Epic Marathons, I had felt a strange and scary sensation in the front end when braking hard and turning in a downhill corner. Now that I have had time on the Epic, I figured it out. It was the set-up on the Reba that was freaking me out. Compared to the settings and behavior of the classic Reba on my Lev, this particular Reba needs to be treated differently. I was getting way too much brake dive and the fork was just blowing through its travel, even with the air pressure where the sag seemed to place it for my weight. I ended up increasing the PSI by 10 pounds pos and neg compared to the old Reba. From there, with the compression damping all the way open, I set the rebound till it came back fast enough for my taste. Then I closed the compression damping all the way, set the Floodgate to where it opened up on a moderate bump, but was pretty well resistant to movement, then opened the compression damping about 3 clicks. That set up was perfectly balanced to the rear end and completely did away with the diving feeling. I had been thinking that the Epic needed a Fox fork but now I have come to appreciate the versatility of the Reba.

The Brain shock went through teething issues in earlier generations, but with Fox shocks taking over the manufacturing and QC, things look bright and cheery. The Fox/SBC remote Mini-Brain, inertia valve, w/ Brain fade adjust transforms the normally soft and sometimes too compliant FSR rear suspension into a XC delight and can provide the closest thing to a hardtail like feel to out of the saddle pedaling and yet still give you 100% suspension travel when needed. That is hard to beat. The biggest negative I can see is the slight ‘clack’ feel that can be heard-felt when the Brain lets go and the issue of the proprietary design. It needs that Brain to be what it is. Sometimes the rear suspension can feel a bit odd compared to the typical Pro Pedal feel. On my Lev, using Pro Pedal on the RP23 basically gives the bike a very muted but linear feel to the travel. So, while I may not get all the travel and it is not plush, it feels very predictable. Most of the time the Brain is pretty seamless, but every so often the on-off characteristic of the Brain will result in feeling firm, then let go on a compression dip and sink far into the travel. It feels kinda’ odd when that happens. I think I will keep playing with the shock pressure as I do get full travel pretty regularly, perhaps too often.

The XX drivetrain/Avid brakes: When it first debuted, the SRAM XX stuff made a lot of waves with its no compromises engineering shown in parts like the 10 speed cassette almost completely made from a single piece of billet steel. It also came into the market as a dedicated 2X10 set up with a 39/26 front chainringed double crank drilled in a new BCD to improve stiffness and shifting combined with the blingy 11-36 rear cassette. So what do I think overall? It is quite frankly, better than anything else I have ridden on in overall shifting performance. It spoils you. You can really hammer the up-shift on the crankset and it will just move the chain up to the 39T ring with little complaint. I can see the appeal of 2X10. I have been running 2X9 for quite a while now, but I just removed the 42T ring and kept the 22/32 and the 11-34 rear gearing. That shorts me on a top gear every now and then, but it has been very, very good for my area and my fitness level. For me, where I live, the 26/36 combo is not quite low enough. I get by on fireroad climbs, but slow, techy trailwork just bogs me down and saps my legs. However, I am not you. If you are very strong or do not have the type of climbs I do here, then it could be all you need. Other parts like the low q-factor carbon crank and the BB stuffed with ceramic bearings just do what they are supposed to do.

The Custom Avid Elixir R CR MAG brakes have been 99.99% fabulous and it would be 100% if it were not for a light pulse in the rear brake. That could just be a matter of cleaning the rotor and I have been lazy about getting around to it, but I have had issues with that on other Avid brakes sets in the past and I do wonder about the consistency of the thickness of the rotors. Other than that, they have been smooth, quiet, fade free, and simply a pleasure to use, especially with the 185mm front rotor that Specialized specs on the LG and XL versions of the Epic 29er.. They are a huge improvement over the Juicy brakes travesty that inspired the dreaded turkey gobble noise. Good job, Avid.

The Roval Control EL XC Wheels: When I first saw the Roval front wheel and the radial lacing on the non-braking side, I thought “well that is a dumb thing to do.” I also shook my head at the lack of any thru-axle option on the fork. However, both of those things have not been an issue at all and I have been pretty impressed with the overall performance of the wheelset. For one thing, the hubs are made by DT Swiss and that is a good thing. The rear hub has an alloy free-hub body and is smooth and quiet, especially compared to many of the more popular buzz bomb hubs like the Hopes, Kings, and I9s. I have not tried to take it apart, but I am told the hub is comparable to DT Swiss S240 model and if so, should be a snap to maintain and service and uses straight pull spokes. The front hub has end caps that are easily removed and can convert to 15mm and 20mm thru axles. To compensate for the lack of a thru axle in the stock set-up, the end caps for the 5mm QR (made with a Ti skewer) hub have 28mm OS faces on the area that meets the fork dropout. That seems to be a nod to the ‘suspension hubs’ of yore and it is effective and light. The rims come with blue rim tape installed and tubeless valve stems to go the full monty and toss the inner tubes. The stock tires are good to go tubeless but I ran into some issue with the conversion. I did get the front rim to seal finally after I re-taped it and I suspect that it was the supplied valve stems combined with a fairly oversized hole drilled into the Roval rim that were giving me issues. It is not quite Schraeder, but it is larger then the Presta drillings in the Stans rims I have.

I recently obtained some compelling information on the OS end caps and how they compare to a 15mmQR thru axle, the thoughts behind the radial lacing, and including numbers from the lab that may surprise you. Watch for an article about this wheelset in the future.

Are they comparable to a high end, pro built wheelset? Well, I think you would need to compare them to a set of DT Swiss hubs on Arch rims (or a nice Mavic rim), assuming that the normal DT Swiss hubs offer the flexibility of the Roval front hub’s conversion potential and the 28mm OS end caps that is. That would not be a cheap wheelset to have built, so although the Stan’s Arches are dead simple and proven in the tubeless world, the Roval wheels seem to be a contender.

Bits and Pieces: The bars are 660mm (26”) wide and I like wider bars. This bothered me, but I also liked it on very narrow trails so some give and take there. The grips are Specialized Thick lock on grips. The Specialized stem is kinda neat in that it has an insert between the stem and the steerer tube that can be flipped to give different rises to the stem. That could save you from buying a new stem or handle bar to get the fit you want. The seat post is a Thomson set back post and there is none better for reliability and value. The Specialized Phenom SL BG saddle was quite a surprise. I am a dedicated WTB saddle user (Pure V) and I have been tortured by some saddles lately by Bontrager and fizik. The Phenom saddle was a bit thin in padding (apparently it is the ‘thin padding’ model), but I have logged a 5 hour day on it and never even considered it to be anything but comfy. It looks light, too, with its Ti rails. The tires are S works versions of the Captain 2.0 front and Fast Trak 2.0 rear. They make sense as a choice for this bike, but I swapped to a WTB Wolverine 2.2 front and a Captain Control 2.2 rear combo for more flotation. I have learned to love the Captain tires as an all rounder, but I still cannot warm up to the Fast Traks. Not terrible, but they lack traction compared to something like the Conti Race Kings.

Overall thoughts: The Epic models, both the Marathon and the Comp, raise the bar in the XC/Endurance racing-riding category. The Brain shock is the real deal and allows for a fabulous pedaling response without losing much else in the process. Pro Pedal, see ya’ later. I won’t miss you at all. The Epic is a dead aim at the all day riding XC crowd and seems like it would make a fabulous endurance platform. As a trailbike, it could be all you need if 100mm/90mm of F/R travel is all you require. If in doubt about that, perhaps a light build on an FSR Stumpjumper 29er is the best choice or even a Tall Boy, something that lends itself to a 120mm fork if desired. On trail, the Epic is quite steady and not at all flighty. It will handle everything I ride in my area and is more agile than my Leviathan in its current form while giving me the same or slightly more travel.

The Marathon, for all its high end parts, is kinda’ heavy. Where is all the pork hiding?: I have no interest in stripping down the Epic’s frame to get it weighed, but I bet the M5 aluminum frameset is not a lightweight, especially compared to the carbon fiber FS frames like a Superfly 100 or a Santa Cruz Tall Boy. But, there are some advantages to a bit of weight in the right place and I think there needs to be some perspective here. The Epic frame looks well built and not at all wimpy or speculative in any part I can see. I would bet that the Epic frame would shrug off a hit to the chassis that would kill a lighter weight carbon frame. It is stiffer than the old model JET-9 I rode, especially in the rear triangle. You may remember that the JET-9 was called out as being too heavy to be a race bike as well. We shall see how the new JET-9 comes out, but I think the same person who would like a JET-9 would love the Epic Marathon.

Is it a pure XC weapon? I guess it could be, but frankly that is what the carbon Stumpjumper hardtail is. Where the Epic would come alive is on a 12 or 24 hour race when the chassis is providing an efficient but forgiving ride and you feel fresher than you might with a 2 lb lighter hardtail. I bet there is a carbon Epic Marathon in the future.

Is it worth the money? That depends. This is an expensive bike, but the carbon Reba with Ti goodies, the XX suite…it is nearly a showcase bike in many ways and that level of componentry will never be cheap. Value is in the eye (and wallet) of the buyer. However, you have to hand it to Specialized to spec a bike like this and roll the dice that folks will see the value and write the checks for the XX package. This is not typically the price level I would jump into. XT or XO is more my style….but….I have ridden some very nice XT 9spd equipped bikes lately and frankly they pale in comparison to the XX stuff. Sometimes good things cost more and I think you do get standout performance out of XX. If you want a very high performance parts package that represents the cutting edge of today and you don’t want to assemble it yourself, then maybe the XX stuff is the ticket. It is exclusive and it works very, very well. And, some parts like the custom Reba are not even on the aftermarket.

So, in some ways, the Epic Marathon is a bit of a conundrum: A bit heavy for a pure XC race bike, a bit lightweight in travel for a take it nearly anywhere trail bike. However, it runs the middle ground of those two extremes very well. The slight hit it takes on the weight scale feels like less of an issue rolling down the trail. It fits my needs overall, despite some of the component choices. What might I do if I was a product manager for the Big S? Keep the Comp as is, make the Marathon an XO platform with a non-carbon fiber Reba, keep the nice Roval wheels and drop the price way down. Pair the carbon/Ti Reba Fork with the frameset only offering. Then, when and if the Carbon S Works Epic 29er gets ready for market (I have no special knowledge that it will), replace the Marathon frameset and complete bike with a carbon S-Works version. Then let the buyers bling it out as the best of the best with XX if they so choose. Oh, and I think this bike would rock with a Specialized platform fork of some kind….just sayin’.

The Epic 29ers were first a rumor, then a promise, then something many riders were impatiently waiting for. I think it was, with a few reservations, well worth the wait. And to answer the question of whether it could replace the trusty Leviathan as my FS bike? Yeah. It sure could, and that is high praise indeed.

Grannygear and I will be doing longer term testing on this and the Stumpjumper Carbon Expert. Stay tuned for further updates.

Note: These products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for reviewing. We are not being paid or bribed for this review. We will give our honest opinion or thoughts through out.

Carbon Fiber 29″er From Across The Pond: On One, the company that brought us the Inbred steel hard tail, (more about that in a minute), is working on its carbon fiber 29″er frame. The 26 inch version is already on the way. In the image above we can discern a couple of features on this new model.

It appears as though On One is going with a direct mount derailluer which allows much more freedom in shaping the seat tube, as you can see that they have taken advantage of here. Also it appears as though they are in the tapered head tube camp. One thing that isn’t yet apparent is whether this will be compatible with single speed drivetrains. Our guess would be that it will be somehow, perhaps with an eccentric bottom bracket. On One has a history of producing some fine single speed rigs and we would be surprised if they didn’t offer this as a bike that could be geared or set up as a single speeder.

On One says that sample frames will be going out to sponsored riders in about three weeks. Stay tuned for any further updates.

No More Inbred 29″ers? In a surprising announcement, On One reveals that its longstanding steel hard tail model, the Inbred, is no more. Apparently the frame failed to pass the much more stringent new CEN testing procedures. This news was particularly about the 26″er version, but it is unclear if it also pertains to the 29″er as well. It was revealed in this posts comments section that the Inbred will perhaps be re-designed to pass the CEN standards, but again, it isn’t clear as to what the fate of the 29 inch version will be. Stay tuned for any updates we may get.

More Carbon 29″er Goodness From Europe? That is what we are hearing. News has reached Twenty Nine Inches that a top level World Cup athlete is helping a Euro based brand develop new carbon and aluminum 29″er hard tails to be released later in 2010. Rumor also has it that more 29 inch projects are in the works besides the hard tail line.

This may be part of a growing trend we are noticing in Europe that signals a new acceptance of big wheels as viable trail bike choices. Not only that, but with the news of top flite athletes becoming involved in these projects, we have to wonder if it won’t be long before we see some of these athletes using 29″ers on some select World Cup dates in 2010.

Salsa Cycles Titanium: We have posted on the new titanium El Mariachi here before. Now we will be getting our first up close and personal look at this frame in a few weeks at Salsa Cycles parent companies open house for dealers called “Frostbike”. We will be asking about the rumor we have heard regarding the future single speed version and steel El Mariachi re-designs that we are hearing will use sliding drop outs instead of the eccentric bottom brackets Salsa has employed in the past. Stay tuned for more information on this and other 29″er news coming from Frostbike in February.