Perhaps 'hate' is a little strong.
Silly big wheels, no suspension, no gears...
OK, a step too far with the no gears thing but I never did get the whole, "they roll better man," or "it's just back to basics and so pure dude" attitudes with, shall we say, non-standard modern day trail bikes.
Advances are there to make things better in my opinion so suspension and the likes are a must.
Well yesterday my outlook changed somewhat. I went up to the Wolftrax to demo the Mojo SL and the 5 Spot and managed to get a ride on both. I enjoyed them both but have to admit that I didn't enjoy them as much as I wanted to and shan't be replacing my Golden Willow with either of them. I did however happen to see a guy queuing for the uplift with a bike that just DID NOT belong there in the queue! There he stood awaiting the arrival of the the land rover with a Niner Air 9 Carbon. I'd seen the bike in mags and it's just a beautifully designed bike so I had to try it. Completely NOT what I was there to try yet I have to say I found it utterly fantastic! It climbed so well (even with me riding!) and wasn't as bad on the downs as I thought it might be but I will have to work on upper body fitness! I bought the Bionicon off the back of a demo at Laggan a couple of years ago and I think similar may happen this time! It will...nae... must have gears but I have to say that this bike has changed my opinion on several points that are regularly discussed on here that, by and large I would normally 'pfft' at and move on to the next thread.
As an aside it was a rather disappointing day as there were nowhere near as many stands there this year. Perhaps this is a reflection on the fact that there is less disposable income out there and the industry seems to be heading in the other direction?
as I said, hate was a strong and a little tongue in cheek. I very much dismissed it as opposed to hating it I s'pose.
