Siren Song SS 29

The Siren Song has been a project that I have been eagerly awaiting for some time now. I am an avowed fan of the soft tail design from a long ride/back country/endurance riding standpoint. To me the idea just makes a lot of sense. Less to go wrong, lighter weight than a full on dualie, and mated to 29″er wheels, there isn’t a whole lot to dislike here. So, it was with great excitement that I took on the testing of this Siren Song single speed 29″er.

Now of course, it should be mentioned that Siren didn’t invent the soft tail and that this particular idea of a flex plate has also been seen before. What is new is the blending of these ideas with a custom designed aluminum frame and 29 inch wheels running a single speed drive train. That’s a lot to consider right there. First: Siren can build the frame to suit you and your riding style. You don’t have to suffer, as I did, from a slight misfit in tubing choice and rider weight/riding style. (More on that in a bit) Secondly, the frame can be configured in a few different ways. Say you don’t like Siren’s signature bent top tube. No problem, it’s a custom after all. Thirdly, it is a single speed, which makes the soft tail feature more intriguing, in my opinion. (Siren will also do geared versions of the Song) There isn’t much available in dedicated single speed 29″er soft tails. Finally, you can have your very own Siren Song in 8 weeks, maybe less. Pretty fast turn around on a custom design, I’d say.

Before I go on, I have to explain that this bike I rode is a “demo fleet” bike, not specifically designed for me. Since that is the case the frame that I rode was a bit too flexy in the front triangle for my liking. Brendan told me that this would easily be rectified in several ways, so not only is there a solution, there are options! Other than that little niggle, I was pleased over all with the Song’s performance. Let’s get into it!

The trail I rode in El Paso Texas is littered with rocks, loose gravel, exposed bedrock, steep climbs, switchbacks, and fast downhill sections. Basically everything nasty imaginable plus cactus and spiny vegetation thrown in, just to make things really interesting. Leaving beside the front triangle flex, which I honestly forgot all about halfway through the ride, (so you see, it wasn’t all that bad!) the steering was spot on for this sort of trail. Not too twitchy, but stable and predictable with all of the sketchy rock strewn downhill pitches trying their best to knock me off line. I don’t even know at this writing what the head angle is, and I didn’t want to know before this ride. I wanted to just go into it without prejudice. Well, with the 38mm offset Reba, whatever the head angle is, it worked a trick on the Song. I felt confident on all of the tight, narrow, exposed trail the loop had on offer here.

Climbing was really good. Of course, we are talking single speed here, and to be quite honest, this trail wasn’t a place to ride a single speed unless you wanted to do a fair share of walking. What steeps I did clean were done with no real drama, and standing and grinding it out would go on as long as you had legs and lungs for it. The 1 1/2″ of rear wheel travel helped a lot here keeping the wheel going over big rocks, step ups, and in the loose stuff.

What impressed me was the rear suspension performance. I checked several times to find that I was bottoming out, or very close to it, but I never felt the end of the travel while riding. The rocks were felt at times, but very much muted and the whoops were done with no bother. I didn’t feel any sort of strange sensations from the rear of the bike either, suggesting that the rear end is decently stiff laterally, at the least. A funny thing to note: Brendan suggested I run the rear damper at 125psi, but I ran it at 115psi instead. Heh heh! I’m such a rebel! Anyway, it didn’t have any negative effect and quite honestly, I wouldn’t want any more air in the can on a trail like that one I rode.

While we won’t have much more time with the Song, I hope to get out on at least a couple of other types of trails before it has to go back to ferret out the personality of this bike further. Until then, I will withhold my final thoughts on the bike. What I will say is that for now, it is a custom bike worthy of consideration for sure. Stay tuned!

Until then go visit Siren and take a look. You can get more information on the full custom Siren Song there.