Editors Note: Yeah, yeah…..another year end review! Tis the season! So, here are my favorite things that have passed through the Twenty Nine Inches review process during the past year. I want to point out a few parameters that I used for what I chose here.
1. The product had to be in the review process during the time period of December 2008 through to the end of November 2009. Reviews that are currently in process I did not include and will be eligible for my 2010 Top Ten list.
2. They had to be products or bicycles that I personally used during this period. Nothing any of the other Twenty Nine Inches staff reviewed on their own could be considered for my list. This list doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone but me, Guitar Ted.
3. The reviewed products were provided to Twenty Nine Inches at no charge for review. I was not paid or bribed for this review. I will give/gave my honest opinion or thoughts through out.
That said, let’s get on with this
Number 8: Lynskey Performance Design’s Ridgeline 29″er Single Speed: Last winter Lynskey announced a new “budget” titanium rig dubbed the Ridgeline that was made available in geared only or single speed-able formats. Featuring Lynskey’s tubing manipulation prowess, the Ridgeline Twenty Nine Inches checked out arrived in the spring decked out in an array of top notch equipment.
Why It Made The List: The titanium beauty was a lightweight, smooth riding bike that featured a heavily manipulated top and down tube, and meticulously applied welds. The appearance of the bike was only outdone by the smoothness and responsiveness of the ride, which titanium bicycle owners can attest to. Of course, the fully rigid set up was finished off in a killer parts list that most any 29″er freak would approve of. The price of the frame was very reasonable, in my opinion, for the amount of tubing manipulation here and especially for the ride quality. Added to that is the “forever” nature of titanium and it is hard not to add this bike to the Top Ten List for 2009.
My Two Cents: I loved, loved, loved bombing this bike down descents and riding back up was usually good due to the light weight and responsiveness of the Ridgeline frame. However; I never was able to sus out a problem with the titanium sliders. They would pop audibly on occasion. Every time during out of the saddle grunts common with single speeding. I would then find that the chain was inexplicably loose. Really loose. This happened despite my best efforts to arrest the problem. Admittedly, it only happened a few times during the test, the last time on the last ride I had on it before it had to go back. If the sliding drops could have been relied upon not to cause this issue, the Ridgeline would have been a lock for a top five placing on this year’s Top Ten list. However; due to this one, but glaring nit, I have relegated this awesome riding machine to Number 8.
Coming up next, the #7 pick for the Top Ten 29?er Products of 2009.
Don’t forget to add your pick for the 2009 Reader’s Choice Award! See the post here to vote.
How does a bike that has drop outs that slide during hard efforts make the cut in any way shape or form? Linskey has made some good products over the years, but this product obviously needs a lot of work so how can this possibly be a 10 best under any set of reasonable criteria?
@Yourdaguy: Because the rest of the time it was a #1 ride.
That and because it’s my opinion. I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I really, really liked that bike, with the exception of three times.
As I said, I didn’t have time to figure it out, due to the fact that the bike had to go back to Lynskey, so I am giving it the benefit of the doubt as well.
No figuring out needed.
Lynskey was aware of this problem and redesigned the sliders and revised some material there to 6/4 for more strength. 2010 models all have the new slider version and folks who had problems were taken care of.
I was also able to exploit another area of concern which was redesined and is included in the 2010 design frames as well.
I feel the 2010 frame is as perfect as can be made within it’s “production” status.
al
So now I see why you like(or at least don’t mind) EBB’s. Were they Paragon Slider’s?
@NONE: Thanks for that update. I know it will make the Ridgeline a really hard to beat bike for 2010.
@Willie: I believe the Lynskey’s make their own drop outs, but they were a Paragon style.
Keep in mind that every tensioning system for single speed 29″ers has its drawbacks.
Unfortunately for me, I feel the geo changes to the 2010 version are not for the better. I can’t get a custom, because their process shoot up fast if you go that route with them.
I will be interested to see what (if) Salsa’s SS version will look like, since their geo is probably preferable (to me).
Oops, I meant prices shoot up…
What is their 2010 geometry?
.5 degree slacker HT.
There are actually many small number changes, not just the HTA.
Hey guys,
First I want to say we’re thrilled to be a part of the “best of” conversation. We’ve put a tremendous amount of time into 29er developement and we’ve learned so much. The sliders are a perfect example. An important thing to remember is that just because something works well for a 26″ wheel does not necessarily translate to 29″ wheels. Until this past summer the slider version we were using was basically what had been around for years…a well proven design….for 26″ wheels. However by mid summer it became clear that the design we were using simply wasn’t holding up the way it needed to. To keep a long story short we beefed up the design considerably. We upgraded the alloy, eliminated the windows ( they were pretty and light but…), increased the thickness, and beefed up the chainstay/seatstay dropout connection. And so far so good.
Thanks to the customers that had issues and found the patience to let us get the problem solved.
All the best,
Mark Lynskey