Back to back testing is the best testing. Years ago I was buying my first full suspension bike. I lived in a city and every shop allowed parking lot tests. Completely useless for a full suspension mountain bike. I ended up traveling to a bike shop in rural Pennsylvania (Speedgoat owned by Chris Currie.) They had a short XC loop across the street and I spent an entire day riding bikes around this .7 mile loop. After each loop I would tell Chris what I thought and he would grab another bike and send me back out. I remember really wanting to like an Ellsworth but every time I rode it I came back in bitching up a storm. At the end of the day I landed on a Santa Cruz Superlight that I absolutely adored for years.
I learned more about bikes that day than the rest of my days on this planet combined. I can't remember the exact bike, but there was one that Chris sent me out twice with the exact same settings. I came back in and had similar but not exact gripes. He laughed at me and explained that nothing had changed. No offense to any other bikeshops, but Speedgoat was the best shop I ever visited and I miss walking into a small building in a tiny town and being surrounded by the most wonderful mix of custom built bikes. Or maybe it was just he pie shop across the street that gives me rose colored memories of that place.
Feb. 9, 2024, 9:37 a.m. - Allen Lloyd
Back to back testing is the best testing. Years ago I was buying my first full suspension bike. I lived in a city and every shop allowed parking lot tests. Completely useless for a full suspension mountain bike. I ended up traveling to a bike shop in rural Pennsylvania (Speedgoat owned by Chris Currie.) They had a short XC loop across the street and I spent an entire day riding bikes around this .7 mile loop. After each loop I would tell Chris what I thought and he would grab another bike and send me back out. I remember really wanting to like an Ellsworth but every time I rode it I came back in bitching up a storm. At the end of the day I landed on a Santa Cruz Superlight that I absolutely adored for years. I learned more about bikes that day than the rest of my days on this planet combined. I can't remember the exact bike, but there was one that Chris sent me out twice with the exact same settings. I came back in and had similar but not exact gripes. He laughed at me and explained that nothing had changed. No offense to any other bikeshops, but Speedgoat was the best shop I ever visited and I miss walking into a small building in a tiny town and being surrounded by the most wonderful mix of custom built bikes. Or maybe it was just he pie shop across the street that gives me rose colored memories of that place.