Editor’s Note: With these Ride Impressions Twenty Nine Inches riders do not imply that these bicycles are ultimately good, bad, or indifferent for you. We do mean to convey through our many hours of riding lots of different 29 inch wheeled bicycles over a period of years to give you, the reader, an indication of what you might expect from these new rigs. In other words, this ain’t no review, but hopefully it points you in the right direction.
Raleigh Talus 29 Carbon Elite Ride Impressions: by Guitar Ted:
Raleigh has been a long time player in the 29″er market and has been primarily a steel frame-centric company. That all changed this year. Now carbon fiber has hit the line up big time. Two upper end models exist and the aluminum line has been expanded to four models. The Talus Carbon Pro is also offered as a frame only. I rode the Talus 29 Carbon Elite, second down from the top “Pro” model in the 29″er range for 2012.
Raleigh USA marketing manager, Brian Fornes, gave me the run down on the new carbon frames, which borrow from Raleigh’s road carbon frames in that they are constructed using the “Direct Connect Carbon” method. The down tube and head tube are molded in a single piece, while the other tubes are molded in a size specific optimization to make sure the same ride qualities exist throughout the size range. These tubes are mitered and joined with carbon fiber over-wraps to make a complete frame. Furthermore; the down tube and the underside of the chain stays are reinforced with Kevlar to help protect against rock impacts. All cable runs are internally routed as well, leaving a clean, uncluttered final appearance.
Raleigh eschews the current trend toward Press Fit 30 or molded in bearing seats in favor of a more “traditional” outboard bearing set up. The frame sports an impossibly short looking head tube that is tapered, of course, for the tapered steer tube Fox fork.
While several carbon frames have popped up with suspiciously similar lines and look, Brain assured me that Raleigh’s Talus carbon frames are made from molds wholly owned by Raleigh and the construction techniques are unique to their carbon frames. 
Component-wise, the Raleigh Talus 29 Carbon Elite has the new Deore 10 speed DynaSys drive train and Shimano brakes which worked flawlessly and should be good performers for anyone looking at this bike. The green anodized Joytech hubs were maybe a bit polarizing for some, but I rather like green, so for me they were considered a good thing. 
Most of the contact points and controls are Avenir product, which is Raleigh’s house brand and are decent enough items. It’s not a super high end, or lightweight build, but it should be a reliable, great performing set up.
Ride Impressions: Out on Bootleg Canyon’s demo loops, I found the Raleigh to be a snappy accelerator under power. This is a consistent theme amongst most carbon frames- they have great acceleration and bottom bracket stiffness. The trick is getting them to handle well, and to make them comfortable.
How does the Talus 29 Carbon Elite do? Well, it has a nice, more-to-the-stable-side kind of handling that was well suited to Bootleg Canyon’s wide open, fast trails. It got around the tighter corners just fine, but this was a night and day difference to the Origin 8 Paladin I rode before it. Rough grounds did not upset this chassis. No wonder too, as the size Large is listed at 70* head angle which helped make the Talus feel sure footed up front. The Fox fork was equipped with the 15QR here which helped with front end calmness also, no doubt.
That said, the rear end of the bike was definitely muting trail chatter and the benefits of carbon fiber construction were well displayed in this case. One downer though was that the Geax AKA tires nearly took up all of the real estate in between the chain stays. One might get a 2.3″er in here, but it most likely would leave little room for mud clearance. A bike that is this well rounded would certainly become more trail friendly with more generous tire clearances, but as it is, this bike still generates a smile from me for hitting the handling and carbon benefits spot on. Raleigh has less of a racing carbon hard tail here and more of an all-day, great trail bike on its hands. If you want a carbon hard tail for more than just “go fast”, XC duty, this is worth a long, hard look.
P.S. Raleigh dropped off an ultra-rare sample of the Talus Pro 29 to Twenty Nine Inches for a short term test. Look for more coming on this bike soon….
Stay tuned for more ride impressions coming soon.
Molds wholly owned by Raleigh ? Yeah right !
This is ordinary catalog frame, identical to Marin CXR or Event 29er from Italy.
I really, really wish marketing folks would stop shoveling us with such BS.
@ Gilhooley: Strong words. You have any proof? Otherwise, what you say of the marketing guys could also be said of your comment.
It is entirely possible to submit that this frame could have come from the same factory as the other brands you name, but to say “it is the same frame” is quite another level of accusation altogether.
Without some verifiable source, I am left to believe your comment is more opinion than fact.
GT-With all the internal cable routing now pretty standard on carbon frames, do you ever have a situation where you feel the front or rear shifting is compromised? If running cable disc brakes, same question? Thanks.
This could be a great budget carbon hardtail for an ex-racer – the only drawback seems to be the weight. What is the weight of the frame?
It sure looks exactly like this Ibex at first glance (and in all the pics I can find!), which I know is a catalog frame: http://www.ibexbikes.com/Gallery_MRC29.html
More pics here, including one showing the same tire clearance issue pictured above, same angle and everything. Note all the tube shaping….it’s the same. The layup might be different…but even then I’d be suspicious. Why wouldn’t Raleigh just design their own bike for real??
http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-gear/on-test-ibex-maroc-29er-carbon-fiber-mountain-bike/
All the geometry numbers are the same for the Ibex Maroc and the Raleigh Talus carbon too.
Headangle is similar to G2 geometry, so I guess a G2 fork would do wonders…
@dgaddis: Similar, very similar, but the Ibex has a BB30, the Raleigh, no. Again, I am not claiming the bike isn’t similar, and I intentionally bring that out in the post.
While it is true that some companies with the horsepower to do their own designs look entirely different, the more common way to go is to source product from a known, quality producer which tailors the finished product to the brand’s spec. Call it “catalog design”, if you will. It is very commonplace in the bicycle industry. It costs less to do things that way.
Raleigh took the design here and “made it their own” with certain technical tweaks that either make a difference to you, or not. You must decide.
As with the various forks that look alike, (Exotic, Origin 8, White Brothers, Shimano Pro, etc), that seem to have their origins in the same company, they all have minor technical differences that make major differences, (longevity of product, ride quality, looks), and have different levels of “support” should something go wrong from none to full warranties. (I have looked into the fork thing far enough to be able to say that with some authority.
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Raleigh put out the Talus 29 models and they are decent bikes with a “heritage” that seems to be very similar to others, yes. However, that doesn’t say that they are “exactly the same frames” either. One must be careful to find the truth of the matter before declaring such things.
Yes, good eye on the BB, I missed that.
Know what I’d like to see? Some get several of these ‘catalog design’ frames that are very very similar and do a thorough comparision. Weigh them. Test for stiffness, and strength. Would be interesting to see the results. Why don’t you guys get on that?
Whats all the fingers about ? ride the bike then make comments GT did ! Some of us love new ideas like kevlar in the vital frame areas. Sounds like a great bike and forget raleigh makes the smiles . Happy trails
Yep it has the same geo as the GOTO China carbon 29er I bought but has some differences such as BB, Kevlar and probably the carbon layup as well.
GOTO supply the exocert TT bike that Planet X sold so well.
It is not from the same mould but I would suggest the same company as my GOTO and the others mentioned above which all have minor differences – catalogue design I think is right which is fine.
The difference a carbon layup could make to the ride is pretty big as well I would suggest – I would agree with the ride report here it is pretty well how I would describe the China 9′er I have.
Very comfortable ride, great acceleration, stiff but not a super sharp turning beast I am looking at it for marathons and getting a second quicker turner for some of the tighter slower tracks we have around here.
What would a G2 fork do to these similar slack HT angled bikes?
@Steve: The 51mm offset of a G2 fork would likely tighten up the slower speed, technical handling and also give the bike a better turn in on tight, twisty single track. Just my opinion based upon my experiences, but with the 70* head angle and the (as listed in the specs) 40mm offset of the fork, the Talus seems to ride like a bike with a high trail figure, which is traditionally how geared Raleigh 29″ers have always ridden like.
I see triangulated tubing used on the Raleigh seat stays. I see round tubing on the Ibex. I could be wrong.
@GT: Many thanks for the time to reply to my question.