peguinpower
Old School Hero
Currently doing a shake down of the Savage Terminator. First impression, it rides really well on fire road. It's confidence inspiring on fast flat turns.
The front wheel is well planted, I can get a really good position on bike with the short stem. Centered while having my feet and elbows well forward.
In undulating smooth trails, she rails. On ruts and ditches, the 69 degree head angle helped the tire roll over stuff. Never felt it stick on anything. Very nice.
Jumps, well, its rigid, it kinda caught me by surprise. The bike slams into you if you plow into a lip without proper technique. No you don't press into the ramp, doh. Gotta take the jump in a bit, legs bent or else you launch off of those suckers. It took me a few jumps to figure it out. Take in the jump or its Redbull Stratos time.
Landing full rigid wasn't bad. Actually, it was pretty smooth. I get more jarring from bunny hops, surprisingly.
Climbing, I'd say good to excellent. Climbing the steeps only required a bit of elbows out, not too much saddle repositioning nor much body english.
Now, the weak spots. I hadn't completely acclimated to this bike and my last ride was on my AM ride. Hydros to cantis..... getting my drift. I dove down the first descent and grabbed brake right in the middle.
Uh, I'm not stopping. One, two, three............. help. My subconscious kicks in and my middle finger and ring fingers creep up off the bar and grabs the lever. Only then did I begin to slow.
One finger won't cut it! Actually even two or three. If I let the bike go and let it roll down descents like I usually do, over a certain speed, these canti's will take 2 seconds before they start to grab. Even then it gets sketchy with the tires skittering over slate. Seriously considering junking the Ritchey pads for some Koolstops. I don't remember my Wicked having the same brake lag. On these babys, if you go past a certain speed, you just have to commit. You have no choice.
The only other thing that surprised me is that I didn't know my usual trail had brake bumps. Brakes bumps are hell on full rigid. Those little 2 inch bumps feel like they came up from the earth through your frame and put a jack hammer to your balls. After a couple of testicular numbing encounters, I started to brake for brake bumps.
No apparent bb flexing was observed. Pedaling felt efficient, and the frame fit very well.
Over all, I was pleasantly satisfied with my new bike.
The front wheel is well planted, I can get a really good position on bike with the short stem. Centered while having my feet and elbows well forward.
In undulating smooth trails, she rails. On ruts and ditches, the 69 degree head angle helped the tire roll over stuff. Never felt it stick on anything. Very nice.
Jumps, well, its rigid, it kinda caught me by surprise. The bike slams into you if you plow into a lip without proper technique. No you don't press into the ramp, doh. Gotta take the jump in a bit, legs bent or else you launch off of those suckers. It took me a few jumps to figure it out. Take in the jump or its Redbull Stratos time.
Landing full rigid wasn't bad. Actually, it was pretty smooth. I get more jarring from bunny hops, surprisingly.
Climbing, I'd say good to excellent. Climbing the steeps only required a bit of elbows out, not too much saddle repositioning nor much body english.
Now, the weak spots. I hadn't completely acclimated to this bike and my last ride was on my AM ride. Hydros to cantis..... getting my drift. I dove down the first descent and grabbed brake right in the middle.
Uh, I'm not stopping. One, two, three............. help. My subconscious kicks in and my middle finger and ring fingers creep up off the bar and grabs the lever. Only then did I begin to slow.
One finger won't cut it! Actually even two or three. If I let the bike go and let it roll down descents like I usually do, over a certain speed, these canti's will take 2 seconds before they start to grab. Even then it gets sketchy with the tires skittering over slate. Seriously considering junking the Ritchey pads for some Koolstops. I don't remember my Wicked having the same brake lag. On these babys, if you go past a certain speed, you just have to commit. You have no choice.
The only other thing that surprised me is that I didn't know my usual trail had brake bumps. Brakes bumps are hell on full rigid. Those little 2 inch bumps feel like they came up from the earth through your frame and put a jack hammer to your balls. After a couple of testicular numbing encounters, I started to brake for brake bumps.
No apparent bb flexing was observed. Pedaling felt efficient, and the frame fit very well.
Over all, I was pleasantly satisfied with my new bike.
