Raleigh XXIX+G First Ride Impressions
January 16th, 2007 by Guitar Ted
I have a few longer rides in on the Raleigh XXIX+G now and I would like to pass on my first impressions of the bike.
First, I am going to detail some of the changes I made to the bike, so that everyone is clear that I have personalized the bike a bit. One of the things I first had to do to fit the bike to me was to swap out to a 400mm seat post. I had an old Tamer carbon fiber one in the parts bin that did the trick. Next, I had to experiment with stems to get the cockpit length dialed. The stock stem had me too stretched out, so I found another old parts bin gem in the Control Tech with the funky orange hue. I will be getting a Salsa Cro Moto to replace it if I feel this length is good. Finally, the handle bars had to be changed to match the stem clamp standard, the grips are Ergon Team Green ones that I am testing, and the tires were swapped for Nanoraptor rear/ Ignitor front for the initial test period.
Okay, with that out of the way, I can say that this bike is a very comfy rig. I found the Reba to be nice, as always. The frame has that steel feel, and is pretty resistant to front triangle twisting for a steel bike. Bottom Bracket flex is negligable. The short chainstays, (17.25″) give it a snappy feel when you stomp on the cranks, belying it’s 30lb weight, (as tested). The SRAM bits performed just fine, and the Avid BB-5’s, while being fussy to set up, work just fine once you do get them dialed in. These brakes are not for those short of patience!
The one bothersome thing that I found on this bike was it’s steering geometry. If I was going at anything under 10mph, the turning performance suffered from wheel flop. Wheel flop is a term that indicates that the front wheel wants to fall to one side or the other and not stay on center, sort of like a chopper would, in an extreme sense. The Raleigh didn’t want to fall off center, but if you steered beyond a few degrees of center, you could feel the grip to the inside of the turn putting alot of downward pressure on your fingers, as if it was really heavy. This sensation largely was absent at higher speeds.
Once I got to the shop, I measured the head angle. I found it to be a surprisingly slack 70 degrees. Coupled with the offset of the Reba, the trail figure for this bike is in the 90+ millimeter range, which is rather high for a cross country oriented bike. As a means to give you a comparison, a “typical”, (if there is such a thing yet) 29″er with a 72 degree head angle and a Reba would yeild a 79mm trail figure. Less trail usually means quicker handling. This would account for the sensations I felt on my initial test rides.
I also discovered that the geometry for the geared version of Raleigh’s 29″ers was not changed from the rigid single speeds. This would make sense, since I found that the taller Reba fork gave the XXIX+G a slacker head angle than the single speed had.
So is this bike a klunker? Well, let’s say that I haven’t found it’s true home yet. I’ve a feeling the XXIX+G just might be more at home on really steep down hills and fast, sweeping trails, such as you might encounter out in the Western U.S. I will be doing alot of experimenting with the XXIX+G, since it has the most relaxed front end geometry I have encountered in a 29″er so far. I think it’s a good candidate for a rigid fork upgrade, which will allow me to tune the handling a bit more to my liking. Stay tuned! I’ll be updating this bike test in a month or two.
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I really hope Raleigh makes this available as a frame only…
I found it weird that the geometry was unchanged between the XXIX and the +G, as I thought I’ve read before(I think on this site) that the XXIX did NOT have a suspension corrected fork to begin with.
Not a bike question per se… can you show us a close of and give us your impressions of the Ergon grips? thanks
Just curious Ted, when you measured the HT angle did you account for the forks proper sag setup?
Toddre: Ergon write up will be coming. I probably will have Tim put that up on Blue Collar MTB, though. As for now, I can say that these grips have revolutionized my flat bar riding. I would never go back to round cross section grips again.
merckxman: Yes, sag was accounted for.
I have been riding this bike for a month and I will tell you that this bike does fly on the down hill.
I have been very happy with this bike. The only thing that I am concerned about is how close the front derailer is to the rear tire. To date I have had no trouble with this but I am waiting for some mud to test this clearance.
I am very happy that I sold my high dollar, full sprung, small wheel for a big wheel.
I will keep posting on the performance of this bike.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:20 am rockhound says…
I really hope Raleigh makes this available as a frame only…
Rock Hound
Do you want to buy my frame?
First of all, what size is it?
What’s your email address or how should I contact you?
It is a large wich is the same size as a 19 or 20 inch frame. You can contact me @ ryanallred4@msn.com if this size will fit you. I need an 18″ frame.
Thats the only problem with not being able to ride the bike berore you buy it. I do have a large XXIX but I thought that the frame would measure different with the shock being on it but the shock makes the bike taller, leaving no room for the tid-bits.
E mail me if you are interested and I can get it to you ASAP, or if you know someone who would like it let me know.
Thanks
Sorry, I need a 16 or 17…too bad.
Do you think this rig would be sturdy enough for a 6′6″ ~280 lb rider (non-technical single track at worst)? I’m contemplating this or a Surly KM.
Dave P: Of course, I don’t know your riding style, or the terrain you ride, but I’d say go for it, especially if you can consider yourself a smooth rider.
Great site.
I just acquired a Raleigh 29er G frame. I want to run a rigid fork for midwest x country riding. After reading your prior posts about the slack geometry, what are my best fork options re: a/c length & trail?
kev29: I’d look at a 468mm-470mm axle to crown fork with an offset of 43-47mm to help quicken up the handling a bit. Something along the lines of the On One Superlight steel or carbon fork will be awesome on this bike. I’ve got an ace up my sleeve on a fork for this rig that will be upcoming soon. Stay tuned!