scruff – I was just driving back from the school run and thinking that I should really post a “props” to Dialled Mike for the Alpine, though it was often compared visually to the Evil frame, it was (is) pushing on the same side of the handling envelope that I am with these new frames.
Riding’s changing, and 70 or 71deg head angles at ride height are neither suitable nor fun for what I’m doing right now, even on the same trails that I’ve always ridden (see current issue).
Slack head angles are still seen by some as a bad thing, but that’s (as far as I can tell) because people have had bad experiences on slack bikes that are slack by the virtue of having an over-long fork fitted.
Slack by design with 140+ forks, with a steep seat angle and short stem just flat-out ROCKS on anything I can throw it down at any speed, and climbs just fine.