I do agree - a kind of. I am a fan of the nerd companies. But this season I‘m sold to Spesh... Why?
In my opinion the nerd brands should not try to catch up to the marketing trend the bigger companies are setting. Example: your every day bike: for most of us it‘s an „all mountain“ bike: sth about 160mm at least up front. Lately those longer slacker downduro machines are just fun when really smashing hard because I am not the everyday crossfit guy with perfect rider’s technique who throws his bike around every corner - be it in frenchies‘ style. Aggressive short travel 29ers (Forbidden Druid)? Nice to have and incredibly fun (Druid!!!) but some more travel just saves my ass (—> technique, stupid bike park lines!).
Chainstay adjustment/flip chip on my Santa Cruz: tried it may be twice while being extremely in love with the new bike (first few weeks). Now: kid‘s sleeping, wife‘s doing sth else: hop on for a quick ride! Tire, fork, shock pressure - enough to do before my ride. F* frame adjustibility because just going out for a quick spin to reboot my head is what I want and that means going down the hill not playing with hex keys.
So these days building an excellent bike for the average joe of bike enthusiasts (me!) is easy: Make it fast, make it fun AND easy to ride. This includes a really nice special shock tune or offering different shock options with really good customer service (recommended spring rates for your weight, recommended Float X2 settings....)!
In my eyes the Stumpy Evo is exactly this: a fun machine - but I would never be able to test every possible combination of adjustibility. But shock options and a nice customer is missing!
P.S.: Nicolai/Geometron as a German I am in love with you since years, but I am small and light - makes it too hard for me to ride your long tanks on mellower trails...
Nov. 15, 2020, 11:47 p.m. - Sebov
I do agree - a kind of. I am a fan of the nerd companies. But this season I‘m sold to Spesh... Why? In my opinion the nerd brands should not try to catch up to the marketing trend the bigger companies are setting. Example: your every day bike: for most of us it‘s an „all mountain“ bike: sth about 160mm at least up front. Lately those longer slacker downduro machines are just fun when really smashing hard because I am not the everyday crossfit guy with perfect rider’s technique who throws his bike around every corner - be it in frenchies‘ style. Aggressive short travel 29ers (Forbidden Druid)? Nice to have and incredibly fun (Druid!!!) but some more travel just saves my ass (—> technique, stupid bike park lines!). Chainstay adjustment/flip chip on my Santa Cruz: tried it may be twice while being extremely in love with the new bike (first few weeks). Now: kid‘s sleeping, wife‘s doing sth else: hop on for a quick ride! Tire, fork, shock pressure - enough to do before my ride. F* frame adjustibility because just going out for a quick spin to reboot my head is what I want and that means going down the hill not playing with hex keys. So these days building an excellent bike for the average joe of bike enthusiasts (me!) is easy: Make it fast, make it fun AND easy to ride. This includes a really nice special shock tune or offering different shock options with really good customer service (recommended spring rates for your weight, recommended Float X2 settings....)! In my eyes the Stumpy Evo is exactly this: a fun machine - but I would never be able to test every possible combination of adjustibility. But shock options and a nice customer is missing! P.S.: Nicolai/Geometron as a German I am in love with you since years, but I am small and light - makes it too hard for me to ride your long tanks on mellower trails...