did a car park / curbs test ride and was very impressed but a couple of questions

with its slack head angle, what is is like on steep climbs?

coming from a 2007 santa cruz superlight , how stiff is the ride?

the back tyre is an advantage race, is this any good for this time of year?

anything else worth noting

thanks

Had mine nearly a year. Front end not wandery at all on steep climbs. I think its a great all rounder. Ive happily ridden up to 75 mile Chilterns rides, Aston Hill, the Dyfi Enduro and other riding in Wales and some back to back all day rock fests in the lakes. Mine came with Ardent from, crossmarks on the rear. That is great in the dry and OK on slippy routes and mud. But prefer minion dhf front ardent rear, esp in winter and for rocky rides.

Thanks jezletley, just what I wanted hear

I remember it being the best climbing bike I had owned, better than a very traditional 4″ hardtail I’d owned previously and (perhaps not surprisingly) better than the 5.5″ travel ‘hardcore’ hardtail I owned after that.

Also great fun on descents, singletrack etc. Only got rid as I was moving somewhere with almost exclusively steep rocky rooty descents and fireroad climbs.

Can’t remember how stiff it felt, the previous bikes were both also relatively stiff. The big seatpost and ‘tight’ rear stays would maybe suggest it’s relatively stiff for a hardtail, I would have gone tubeless and stuck a Ti post on there eventually if I’d kept it.

They’re great ‘do anything’ bikes. I’ve ridden a friend’s 26″ 905 a number of times and I absolutely loved it. I’m 6ft and his is a large with 70mm stem and I didn’t find it wandered on climbs at all. Descending the bike was very confident and composed.

The only problem with the current 905 is that, like Whyte’s 29er hardtail range, they’re massively overpriced for the kit build.

Picked up bike yesterday. Jumped on it and rode home after adjusting the saddle height – don’t think I have ever had a bike that felt so right in over 20 years over mountain biking

Thanks for the feedback

How’s the 905 after two months use? Looking for a fast 650 for one day South Downs / enduros maybe west highland way.