#!markdown
I have despised 29er's for years. I have ridden every iteration and price
point you can imagine and none of them rode the way I wanted to. Aboard all of
them I felt like I was up on a bar stool after being over-served and not in a
good way. This finally changed in '12 after riding a Honzo. Kona and a few
others at the time finally decided to let the big wheels do what the do well
and make a bike that was more about fun than KOM's. Since then, I've pedaled a
few others that I liked (Banshee Prime, Ibis Ripley LS, Santa Cruz Hightower)
and just this past weekend I took a Tallboy 3 out for a spin. It was an
exceedingly fast bike. It and the Hightower were a couple of 29er's I could
imagine myself on. Both of them railed and my only small complaint (other than
their paint jobs) was that they felt more unwieldy in flight than the smaller
wheeled bike I ride. I imagine this is something I could get used to. This
says a lot as I had basically written off SC bikes due to their pedal feedback
issues. This was revelatory experience in addition, as neither bike exhibited
this.
Feb. 6, 2017, 4:45 a.m. - Raymond Epstein
#!markdown I have despised 29er's for years. I have ridden every iteration and price point you can imagine and none of them rode the way I wanted to. Aboard all of them I felt like I was up on a bar stool after being over-served and not in a good way. This finally changed in '12 after riding a Honzo. Kona and a few others at the time finally decided to let the big wheels do what the do well and make a bike that was more about fun than KOM's. Since then, I've pedaled a few others that I liked (Banshee Prime, Ibis Ripley LS, Santa Cruz Hightower) and just this past weekend I took a Tallboy 3 out for a spin. It was an exceedingly fast bike. It and the Hightower were a couple of 29er's I could imagine myself on. Both of them railed and my only small complaint (other than their paint jobs) was that they felt more unwieldy in flight than the smaller wheeled bike I ride. I imagine this is something I could get used to. This says a lot as I had basically written off SC bikes due to their pedal feedback issues. This was revelatory experience in addition, as neither bike exhibited this.