Forum menu
New to this forum folks Looking to upgrade my stumpy fsr and liked the look of the Remedy 9 in 650b
Anybody own one that can give me their opinion and pros and cons of them??
Thanks
I test rode a 9.9 at the FoD, really liked it, but the 9 spec just didn't look like good VFM compared to other brands. Would be worth trying to pick up in the sales with 20% or more off, if any are left then.
I rode an 8 at the last glentress demo day... It was brilliant fun, wanted to jump off every root and compression, even made the climb fun, but I was timing parts of the descent and it was the slowest bike I rode on the day by miles- like, 20% or more slower, all the time, on every descent section. Whether you find the same, or care, is a different question mind.
The 29 was bloomin awesome though. Stupidly fast and composed, but still fun.
Northwind
I'm currently in a dilemma between the 650b and 29er remedy. As someone who's ridden both you seem to be a fan of the 29er, were there any elements when the 650b was better than the 29er? Even in the tight twisty stuff? Or did it win on all counts?
Also why do you think the 650b was so much slower than the others?
Thanks very much
I think try them both, they're surprisingly different- for me the 29er's better but that's going to be a personal call.
The 29was a 9-spec not an 8 so a fair bit nicer. The test loop was glentress falla brae so nothing very techy or tight, but a reasonable testtrack still, some rocks and jumps and wiggles and drops and roots and that. I'm going to try and nip up to nevis range next week and see if I can try them on the world cup, better test 😉 The other comparos were a really nice Five 29er and a Whyte T129 so all good bikes, well specced, stiff competition. And my own Hemlock which I love to bits.
IMO 29er was better at absolutely everything except maybe jumping- my jumping is just "get to the other side", nothing clever. Can't fairly judge, not my thing.
The 650b just felt a bit imbalanced and, not unstable exactly but uncomposed and nothing like as confidence inspiring, brasher over rough stuff and generally harder to manage. The same thing that makes it fun to pop and jump and manual I suppose.
The 29er, OK less fun, less playful but more grip, more stable, not noticably bargey or cumbersome or anything- it didn't feel like a massive bike or like the old idea of a 29er (neither does the Five btw), I could put it exactly where I wanted to go with no real effort. Massively confidence inspiring and planted. Matched my Hemlock to the second on the main descent bit, despite being a first run vs 1000000th run 😉
Nothing wrong with the 650b I don't think, good bike. Just not superb, 29er imo is better than the 650b and most other things.
I rode both the 29er and the 650b back to back and I much preferred the 650b. The 29er was a good, fast, bike but dulled the ride and was not as nimble or flickable as the 650b(I'm a 95% wheels-on-the-ground rider!)
I rode the 29er Remedy on the same day as Northwind. I wasn't a fan of it ... It felt too.... XC... for me.
It felt almost like a 26er, quick, nimble, twitchy.... Not like a 29er.
I was coming off the five29, which felt like a bonkers joyous fun bike to me, felt like it would eat children. The remedy 29 felt like it would push sugar in kids and shake them up.
[i]I rode the 29er Remedy on the same day as Northwind. I wasn't a fan of it ... It felt too.... XC... for me.[/i]
The 26er Remedy I had a for a day a few years ago felt the same too, really steep compared to my 456Ti.
FWIW the demo was in steep mode, flip the chip over and it slacks off to 67.5 degrees, so slacker than a Covert 29 frexample, bang on the same as an Enduro 29 or a Codeine. Five is a degree slacker, new WFO half a degree, think pretty much everything else is steeper. It's pretty sensible in reach too. All just numbers mind, I'm used to a 66 degree 26er and tbh I didn't feel either the big Remedy or the Five felt much different to that.
If you're thinking of a big 29er you've got to check out the Five, it's really impressive too once you fix the spec ****-ups. Orange at their best, and possibly worst too, the stock build I rode last year was pretty much ruined by the beancounters (but still expensive)
Think I'm going to try and demo one before I hit the buy it button! Leisure lakes are doing a limited edition orange 5 650b with reverb and pikes for similar money so this might be an option.
Thanks for your opinions on the Trek fellas