Bronson vs Nomad?

You have a Bronson and prefer it to your mates Nomad – he has a Nomad and prefers it to your Bronson? Wow STW shocker!

Yes, I know – shocking isn’t it – we bought bikes we liked. Seriously, if I didn’t like it, I’d say.

So in the interests of openness and honesty; I was going to buy a 5010 but there was no stock for 6 weeks and ubyk (actually my lbs, which is handy) had a tennis ball yellow bronson in large in stock, so I got that. No other reason than I’m massively impatient. I knew it was more bike than I needed but I reasoned I was going from 150mm 26er to 150mm 650b and the difference was minimal. I see the 5010 as the bike that’d be ideal for most UK riding, the nomad as a proper daft downhill bike that doesn’t complain when you point it uphill and the bronson as sitting in the middle of that. Given enough money & space, I’d probably have all three. Given more money & space I’d probably have the nomad and the 5010 – but I’m very constrained by space so the bronson is perfect as a general purpose bike (to my mind anyway).
Sizing on them is on the small side for both the bronson and nomad. I’m 5’10” and I’ll normally ride a medium/17-18″ frame but feel right at home on the large bronson and the large nomad. My mate with the nomad is 6′ and prefers a smaller frame (hence the large) but can quite happily ride the XL.

Thanks gardron – anyone want post up their pics of blue/pink Nomads? Or Bronsons for that matter (any colour!)

I have owned both. If I had to pick one to do everything I’d buy the Bronson. Despite the Nomad been so so good I cannot see myself using it all the time. Its far too much bike for somewhere like degler if I ever went and I would not fancy doing a big ride on it either. I got the Nomad for places like the lakes and if I do any DH it will be on the nomad. Ive got a Solo on order so now instead of one bike to do most things I now have two ❗

My old Bronson:

My new Nomad (fork temporary until I can get a new 36):

Thanks Rick, that’s kinda how I feel about my Meta SX. It’s super capable but rather than haul it around when I’m not doing DH I thought I’d go for a Bronson as a more do it all bike. Had my head turned at the last by the blue Nomad!
How did the Float X work out on the Bronson?

Float X was a good upgrade on the CTDK (I had it Pushed by FT as well and I’m sure a Pushed CTD would perform better than stock too) if I did it now I think I would buy a DBA CS. After trying one on my Nomad its a great piece of kit. With the Solo coming soon I have had the Float X modded to fit it but I am now thinking of getting a Inline.

As much as I want to like the blue Nomad, I can’t get away from thinking it looks like a (little) girls bike. Black for me….

Thanks Rick – CCDBa CS is on my spec list for the Bronson

Having ridden solo, bronson and nomad. I’ve got a nomad, would definitely be better on a solo with DPA pikes. However the nomad is a ridiculous jolly, it makes me grin whenever I ride it. It climbs better than my hardtail (which has an alfine on it) and you just hit things so fast on it.

The only downside is that for really tight twisty stuff, like when you’re running really narrow trails that are overgrown and off-camber, it’s a bit of a struggle although i suspect that is as much to do with the wider bars as anything.

Regarding sag set up, I ride with an ex World Cup downhiller, ( bike is 5010XL), and I struggle to compress the forks particularly, and shock, the reason he rides it so stiff is to maintain the geometry of the bike so it doesn’t wallow.
He also rides a lot faster than the average, pops the bike and floats over the trail instead of hitting it!!
He also take much bigger air time , than most would so needs to a avoid bottoming out!
So on that basis even with a Nomad, it would be set up very stiff, so until it was being ragged flat out downhill some of the suspension would hardly be used!!

Regarding sag set up, I ride with an ex World Cup downhiller, ( bike is 5010XL), and I struggle to compress the forks particularly, and shock, the reason he rides it so stiff is to maintain the geometry of the bike so it doesn’t wallow.

Does this not mean that the bike is riding a lot higher than it’s designed to be, which is at odds with the popularity of lower bottom brackets for better handling?

Surely, decent suspension can be set up with the right amount of sag and with decent high/low speed compression damping circuits, tuned to work in all conditions???

Obviously a pro will have his own take on set-up and I wouldn’t question that, but personally I make sure both ends are working all the time, even on small chatter.

Does this not mean that the bike is riding a lot higher than it’s designed to be, which is at odds with the popularity of lower bottom brackets for better handling?

Indeed, that sounds like a pretty amateur attempt to get a firmer ride. Better tuning of the damping would give him more what he wants I’d think. Certainly, watching the top guys riding their DH bikes the ride height looks normal so this can’t be a standard set-up.

Worst I know a ex pro racer look at me post ever.

Regarding sag set up, I ride with an ex World Cup downhiller, ( bike is 5010XL), and I struggle to compress the forks particularly, and shock

This was something I tried to get across earlier in the thread when people were getting discussing the amount of sus these bikes have vs the pedaling ability.

My point was…

I also can’t get my head around how a bike can be well suited to both a pro who runs 10% sag riding at considerably faster speeds and nastier terrain and a average Joe run 25-30% sag and considerably slower on more mellow terrain. The compromise seems to be for the average Joe while the Pro gets the great pedaling characteristics (10% sag on any length travel will pedal great) but they are still smashing everything on the way down and making full use of the travel left in reserve… whereas the average Joe is mincing and wallowing through everything… or the bike is designed for the average Joe to make a bigger travel bike worse at what it’s meant to be good for as you say. God I’m so confused. The marketing and pretty colours seem to have people convinced you can have it all… but I do agree that logically you can’t have everything without compromise. I just can’t work out where the compromise lies and for who! Depends on priorities I guess

Much like the responses above the reply was “b()llocks, pros don’t run such firm set ups etc etc”

Indeed, that sounds like a pretty amateur attempt to get a firmer ride. Better tuning of the damping would give him more what he wants I’d think.

Well to quote the Fox Factory Tuners… (from here)

About spring settings. Do you set the spring stiffer than a typical trail setup?

Yes, most racers run a stiffer spring setup with only 10 to 15-percent sag

About spring settings. Do you set the spring stiffer than a typical trail setup?
Yes, most racers run a stiffer spring setup with only 10 to 15-percent sag

Well, my apologies. I’m surprised, but now educated.

Just read that article you linked to DanW – not a lot of love for the article author/content from the comments!

i guess shock set up is a personal/contextual thing…