Coming Soon……by Guitar Ted
With the Winter, (and a crazy one at that), going on at Twenty Nine Inches HQ, I have not been able to get much of any test riding done, like Grannygear and c_g have. To get everyone up to speed on my end, I decided to give a foretaste of what is coming up, with any little updates I might have on each item here.
Specialized Camber Comp: Actually, I’ve gotten a couple rides in recently again on this bike, but the last update, (here), was the First Impressions, so look for an upcoming Mid-Term on that bike after things clear up on the trails. I will say that I’ve gone tubeless and made a tire change since you last saw this bike here. This bike has a certain suspension feel which I also have found out was intentional by the engineers at Specialized, so stay tuned for more about that…..
Michelin Wild Grip’R 29″er Tires: I just posted an Out Of The Box on these tires, (here), but I have ridden these a bit and it won’t be long before I will have had enough time on them to start talking about First Impressions.
The tires have a very similar look to the Michelin Wild Race’R tires, (seen here), and not surprisingly, a similar feel. Set up tubeless, of course. Look for the First Impressions soon…
Diamondback Mason HT: This interesting hard tail bike was last seen when I gave my First Impressions, (here), and there have been some rides beyond that point, but Winter shut down any more meaningful testing for this bike. I have been graciously allowed to continue doing a long term test on this bike after things clear up out on the trails, so look for some more posts coming on the Mason.
The bike has a rather interesting trait, which is that I seem to like the steering better at the longer travel setting on the Fox Talas 29 fork. The fork itself has been a lot of fun to ride, and along with this bike’s geometry, I have found the Mason to be a bit of an eye opener. Stay tuned….
Shimano XT 29″er Wheelset: This wheel set is a very interesting component with some unique features. I have had some time on them, but the last posting here was the Out Of The Box post seen here. I have the XT wheels set up with the Michelin Wild Grip’R tires, mentioned above, and all of that on a single speed which I have been mucking about on when the weather allows. look for a First Impressions post on these UST wheels soon.
Magura MTS Brakes: These hydraulic brakes are set to have their Final Review done here yet this week, so look for that very soon. These brakes were last posted on here. In a bonus, c_g will be doing his Final Review on the Magura MT8 brakes he has been testing for some time now.
These brakes are a mineral oil based design with a “Cabotecture” master cylinder/lever perch that is unlike anything else out there. Do they pass muster? Stay tuned to find out soon.
Stumpjumper Carbon Expert EVO: This bike has generated a lot of buzz on the site and with Grannygear and myself. Grannygear has a similar frame with the Stumpjumper SS, (just posted on here), however, the Stumpy EVO has the Chisel rigid fork, and is a 1 X 10 set up, so it is quite a unique bike. You can read the Out Of The Box post again here.
Once again, we’ve been granted some leeway on timing for the test on this bike, so look for a lot more on the Stumpjumper Carbon Expert EVO coming soon.
And Now- Announcing….. The latest rig to land at TNI HQ is a unique rig from Airborne Bikes which we will have on long term testing. This one will be waiting in the wings for nicer weather, so look for the “official” introduction soon, but we thought you might like a look at what is up around the corner.
So, while Winter swings from mild to wild here, you can look forward to these tests/reviews being started up again in the near future. Until then, enjoy what Grannygear and c_g have to offer in the coming days and weeks. As always, thanks for checking in to Twenty Nine Inches.
Thanks for the heads-up – looking forward to the Magura reviews. Because I’m a resolute 2-finger braker – I love the lever of my MT6’s, but otherwise I’m not blown away and have been spending way too much time with maintenance and swapping rotors and pads to get the brake power and smoothness I want for long steep downhills. I just read that Magura designed these with less power and more modulation than Martas – I wish I’d known that before, because I’m happy with the modulation of my Martas and could easily have just upsized the rotor for more power and fade resistance.
. . . may I suggest an article for the soapbox – how you winterize your bike and self to deal with cold, snow, ice and salt/de-icing chemicals.
While you are twiddling your thumbs
YES! A HobGoblin! So excited for your posts on that.
Regarding the Mason, I read an interesting thing on MTBR today where someone claimed that the chainstays are actually 433mm long, and not 426 like Diamondback advertises. Have you measured the chainstays on your demo?
@Motivated: look at the next new post. While it won’t be about bikes, it will be about riding in winter.
@Forest: The prototype Mason we saw at Interbike over a year and a half ago was said to have had a 426mm chain stay length, but the specimen we have matches Diamondback’s spec on the website of 433mm, (look in the geo chart, not the description)http://www.diamondback.com/mason-mountain-29er
The blurb up top is errant, but the geo chart is correct. Hope that clears that up.
The winter riding articles have been great – thanks! I do hope you can fit in an article regarding bike preparation and maintenance.
The EVO just looks great. Pure 29er hardtail bliss. Suprised they didn’t just throw an XX1 drivetrain on it – better range and cleaner lines. I would be interested to see how capable the machine is if some of that saved weight was put towards decent 2.35 rubber. Any plans to try different set ups on the 2EVO ?
@Professed: Agreed- XX-1 would make a lot of sense here, but likely this bike was spec’ed before it was available. Yes- there will be some slight tweaks as we go along with testing- once the snow gives way!