As there's a thread over there about a first ride on a 29er (Santa Cruz Tallboy) I thought I'd post up my thoughts on my new 29'er HT.
So I headed out for the first time Chumba HX2, not really knowing what to expect from the bike (bar the obvious it's a bike type stuff) I took a trip into my local forest onto familiar terrain.
First impressions were that the bike got up to speed just fine, no lack of acceleration. The bike handles the twisty/rooty/muddy single track we have round here just fine, in fact it felt a lot like my Cove Handjob, just faster.
Once on smoother trails it really covers the ground quickly, to be fair it just covers the ground quickly.
It handles really well, and now I've got the Reba RL's dialled in nicely - if you're interested I'm 185lbs kitted up and have 110psi +ve and 100psi -ve with rebound 6 clicks from slowest.
The bike climbs very well too and it's easy to pop the front wheel up to clear roots, rocks and other trail obstruction that crops up and the rear wheel follows over nicely.
There's tons of mud clearance round the tyres on the seat & chainstays, but the front mech doesn't have a lot of clearance, probably 10mm tops, so it creates a bit of a mud shelf, but it's not an issue that affects the riding or shifting.
The tyres - Specalized S-Works Ground Control 2Bliss 2.1" - are pretty good too, nice traction, predictable slip, clear well, decent rolling resistance, all round pretty decent tyres for the kind of riding I do. Pressures are 30psi front & 32psi rear.
Anyway enough of the words, here's a couple of leafy autumnal pictures.
