Just attended a excellent demo day at Peaslake organised by Freeborn bikes in Horsham. What a really nice group of people. Really friendly and helpful and a great demo day with plenty of bikes and choices of style.

They sensibly organised rotating rides on the same route – climb 3/4 of the way up Pitch, then down T trails (I think), passed the G’yard and into WB CP. Gave you a really good chance to try different styles of bike on the same terrain (and for no fee- other shops please note!!)

Tested a epic 29er, camber 29er, stumpjumper 26 and davinci dixon 26. Interesting to find that XC set-ups suit me much better and how much I prefer 29ers!!! First time that I have seen a davinci and for me, at least, the best of Trek Fuel EX, stumpy and davinci – and they have a good price…..tempted!!

Amazed at how well the epic climbed – breezed up the hills with hardly any effort, way better than the others (obviously) and better than the Anthem 29er I tried a few weeks ago. Not much to choose between the epic and the anthem on the way down, both fast and so easy to manouver. But quite a price difference!!

Camber was the surprise at the end – a really, really nice ride despite my crash. I had always thought of them as a poor-man’s stumpy but for me it felt a much nicer ride and a sensible mix between the epic and a stumpy styles.

Anthem 29 vs Epic 29- latter much better climber but a lot more money. Not sure the spesh is worth that much more for similar fun on the way down and among the roots?

Camber – damn, made the choice harder. Really nice ride and that extra bit of fun and not a bad climber. I hadn’t considered before, but a real possibility now.

Stumpy goes in the same category as the Trek Fuel EX tested last week – great bikes but just don’t suit me. If I wanted a trail bike per se it would be the Davinci, especially with F’born’s offers on the 2011s.

Great to watch Darren take people up and down on his tandem – what skill!!

Thanks Heather, Jo, Jim/James, Lance, Darren, and the other great members of Freeborn staff for a brilliant day. After 2 big spills I am aching badly now but I think I can now narrow the choice down. If its a Spesh I will definitely see you soon, but will buy stuff from you for sure in the future. A great, friendly and knowledgeable team. Awesome!!

Was a great day – nice to ride with you and I hope you aren’t too beaten up! I didn’t get a chance to see what you thought of the Camber 29er but I know it was a certainly a popular choice with many including me.
Don’t forget if you want to re-test anything just get in touch with Freeborn. They also offer one-on-one demo rides at a time to suit you and no charge, or join them for a Sunday morning ride (8.30am car park number 3 – the top one up by the Windmill)

Thanks again and happy trails

Jim

Cheers Jim, I wondered if you were there. Where you Jim/James who led the first group out ( when I wiped out on the stumpy)? Really stiff last night and today, that fall was quite an impact. I feel like I have been hit by a bus today – funny that we look to spend all this money to suffer so much pain!?!

I must repeat that you all did a fantastic job yesterday and I will def recommend friends to seek you out. I might even join you on a Sun ride (if I can keep up!)

I thought I had really narrowed things down to a XC 29er but was glad to fit the Camber in at the end. I was surprised just how nice that felt. Ok, not as great a climb as the epic (that blew me away) plus Jo took us up the steeper fire road which made it feel harder! But felt the extra fun factor! As my skills (sic) improve perhaps I would get more out of that. But the lasting impact for me was (1) on the epic I was catching up guys who left me behind on the other bikes, (2) it ripped the ascent (have I said that before!!!) and (3) it was bloody good fun to ride and so easy to flick about through the roots.

The interesting thing for me was how different everyone’s tastes and requirements were. Really reenforced the need to demo bikes. Coming from an XC hard tail ride, I immediately feel at home on XC bikes but trail setups feel alien to me. I haven’t got on with stumpy or fuel ex despite the rave reviews that they get. The Dixon was a nice ride and tempted to have that as well but did it make me grin like an epic, camber or an anthem????

Completely sold on the 29ers though!! One section tells all for me, the final descent from the graveyard. On a 29er, it’s like a basic bit of trail but on a 26er I have to think about it. Simples!!!

P.S. hope the guy who concussed himself on the jump at the top was ok in the end. I wondered if I needed to drive him home at one stage as he seemed really shaken up. Then just as I was leaving he had recovered for another ride. Chapeau, mon brave!!!

Not sure I could say the same for their wheel builds though.

Bought a Pro2 Flow 29r wheelset around 1 yr ago, been nothing but a nightmare since the start. Spokes continually coming lose resulting in a wheelset that needs to be trued every other ride. Research here and everywhere points to a bad build. Really disappointed !.
In fact on delivery the rim had paint damage, their reponse on complaining “It’s ok it will suffer paint loss once you run them on the trail”, refused to pay my postage to return them or refund, just denied it was their fault. It must therefore have been mine and I damaged them when I opened the box…..yeah right !
Rubbish.

Hope your demo day was a better experience than my wheels !