I’ve gotten a few rides in on the GT Peace 9er now. Did a ride through some pretty slow, muddy, slippery stuff and also riding on some faster singletrack.

So far all of the rides I’ve done have been with the 16T rear cog, which has limited the amount of climbing I’ve been able to. I’ll be changing that out over the next couple days (I have to go buy the tool first).

On the flat, fast track the Peace really shines through as a 29er. I was able to go a bit faster than the other SS I’ve been riding due to the small rear cog, which really had me pushing the speed through the corners and it held like a champ. The bike felt completely natural hitting the lazier turns at high speeds. Also, bombing down the hills felt pretty good as well.

One of the things I’ve trying to figure out is at slower speeds through tighter turns I keep hitting them to wide then over-correcting. Not sure if I’m just not doing something right, but this isn’t a normal problem for me. The headtube angle is at 72 degrees with a 45mm fork offset.

I’m comparing the riding to the Redline Monocog 29er and the Raleigh XXIX I’ve been riding pretty consistently over the past six months or so. The XXIX has a 71 degree head angle with 45mm fork offset. The Monocog has a 72 degree head angle with 1.5″ (38.1mm) fork offset.

Since this is a “first impression” I’ve got a good bit more riding to do and I’ll be able to do a more diverse set of trails once I get a bit bigger rear cog. Stay tuned…

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