(Editor’s Note: This is a review of the Misfit Psycles diSSent by Captain Bob. This will be his final review for Twenty Nine Inches and we thank him for his work here.)

What defines the differences between a race frame and a normal frame? Is it the ride quality, weight, price, looks, tubing material, the company that actually fabricates the frame etc…..? I don’t really know the answer to that. Do we decide this by reading reviews? Sometimes we do I guess. It sure might play some role in decision making, for me at least. Some frames get written off just by being inexpensive maybe. Others get the ax by being too pricey. Well, I guess I would have to admit that I didn’t express too much interest in the Misfit Psycles Dissent. Not much interest at all, even after seeing it at the shop where Guitar Ted works. Then one day I was talking about the hassles I have when testing different wheels/tires but having to use one bike. Having to readjust brake calipers and chain tension at the trail head in order to get in all the reviewing needed. So, Ted said, “Hey Captain. Why don’t you use the diSSent as a second test bike until get your new race bike.” I thought about it for a few minutes and decided to take him up on the offer.

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This frame and fork ended up at my house with the complete build that Ted had previously been testing as a budget build. I rode it around the yard and on my 3/4 mile single track that is in my back yard and thought, what’s going on here, this is aluminum? Really? Something is different here. Ok, more on that in a bit. I decided that I should do a very contrasting build to the “budget build” that I was looking at. Why not bling this thing out a bit. Could this entry level rig make a quality race bike? Hmm….. So granted, I wasn’t going to go buy new high end parts to throw at this project but I would put all the good stuff on it that I have not been using. So, now we have project “Misfit Race!”

Ok. Let’s get into the parts end of this mini-review:

Misfit Psycles diSSent Frame. (claimed weight 4lb 7 oz)
Misfit Psycles diSSent Aluminum Fork (claimed weight 1lb 10oz)
Cane Creek S3 headset
Cheap seat clamp
Thompson 70mm stem (botched anodizing job turned flat black)
Thompson seat post (botched ano again)
Salsa Moto Ace 11 degree flat handlebar
Ergon E1 grips with bar-ends (my favorite single speed combo)
Quad Hydro disc brakeset 180mm rotors
San Marco Caymano saddle
TruVativ ISO Flow cranks and bb
Bontrager pedals (yeah, I know they are old)
32t Generic chain ring and bash guard.
Easton XC-One SS wheels
Misfit Psycles 18t aluminum cog.
Specialized Fast Trak S-Works 2Bliss tires 2.0
inner tubes
Bontrager bottle cage

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I will let you know right now that this complete bike (yes, with pedals and bottle cage) weighed 22.28 lbs on the shops Ultimate digital scale. I was surprised though since it felt much lighter. Maybe that’s because I have been working out…..ok, I don’t work out so that’s not the reason. Anyway, I guess that’s a respectable weight for a budget frame. Ok, enough with the small talk. Let’s get to the real issue here. The ride. The ride is what makes this frame and fork so special. First off, the Easton wheels make any bike ride a little more compliant than other wheels, but they are not the only reason. I would have to call this frame set steel with the looks of aluminum. Yes, it is aluminum but the feel is all steel. In fact it’s better than most steel frames I have owned or ridden. The fork surprises me the most though. It’s so compliant yet still rigid. When you grab a handful of front brake you can see the fork pull back. Even cruising along on a gravel road the movement of the fork is clearly evident. I did throw on an Origin 8 Black Ops carbon fork for one day and I realized quickly that the Misfit fork was way more compliant. The Misfit fork is lighter too. So, is it too flexy? I don’t think so. If there is lateral flex I guess I just didn’t notice it. Out on the single track I could really appreciate the softer ride from the front end. I believe there are many people out there that may discover in this fork that it’s what they have been longing for. It’s very light. Stiff enough but very compliant. Tracking is right on too. The price is right. I think it’s $90. (Editor’s Note: The Misfit Psycles site lists the fork at $90.00) Pretty cool. Quite a surprising fork for sure. Only one issue. With the vertical dropouts I am able to get the front wheel to pull out of the dropout ever so slightly when grabbing a big handful of front brake. I can see that the wheel is not straight and the rotor also rubs the caliper a tad. This mainly happened when the temps were below freezing. Weird I guess. I have had this happen on other forks too that have a vertical dropout but not forks with an angled dropout. Now that it is warmer I really haven’t had the problem as often. There was never an issue of danger since the dropouts have those little tabs to prevent the wheel from coming out without loosening the quick release. Just something worth noting.

So, how about this frame? “It’s very lively” is the best way I can describe it. I would say it’s identical to what a high end steel frame feels like. Much more compliant than the Jabberwocky that I no longer own. Both nice frames but one is stiffer than the other and that is the only comparison that I will make. The welds are very nice and the gussets are straight. Nothing worse than crooked gussets. Out of the saddle climbs with my 210 lb frame did show a hint of bottom bracket flex but nothing that smoothing out my pedal stroke didn’t correct. The head tube area felt stiff enough too. The sliding dropouts worked flawlessly. I do wish for a bit more length to play with gear combos. To get the wheel where I wanted it and with my gearing I did need to use a 1/2 link which works fine. The sliders never slipped on me at all. The washer was smooth so if someone were to get some slipping a knurled washer would for sure stop that.

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So, there are three nit pics with the frame. Nothing major again but worth noting. The seat post seemed a tad small for the seat tube. Once the seat clamp was loosed the post would drop all the way down under it’s own power. However; it did stay put with my cheapo clamp once it was torqued down. It never did slip down while riding. The other nit pit is the chain hit the back end of the chain stay with most of the gear ratios that I chose. It appears that the dropout put the rear axle a little lower than it maybe should be. When running a 32×18 gear combo I could get chain slap even with the really tight chain. I ended up putting a little electrical tape around the stay which helped silence the slapping noise. Not a big deal but would be if I were to run a 32×16 gear. My final nit pick would be the bottom bracket height. With the 2.0 S-works tires it left me with a bottom bracket height of 11.5 inches. A did have a couple pedal strikes but there is a learning curve with any low bottom bracket. On some trails I had to stop pedaling on one off camber stretch where I normally would be able to pedal. Not a huge deal though. I just swapped out the tires today to a Geax Barro Race rear and Geax Saguaro front. With the Saguaro being such a tall tire it actually raised the bottom bracket height to about 11.75 inches. That’s a pretty good jump and I bet with the Saguaro on the front and rear it would hit 12 inches. Something to keep in mind if bottom bracket height is an issue for you.

In conclusion I would have to mention one last impressive thing to note is the paint. It’s a nice powder coat. In fact, it looks and feels like the thinnest powder coat I have ever seen on a bike. However, I have yet to scratch through it. Even the brake cable rub is minimal, Very impressive since some high end frames come with less than perfect paint jobs.

I am still impressed with the diSSent frame and fork.