Posted by: JBV
wow. extremely high marks for total uniqueness. where the heck did you find that used, surely not in Canada. did it come with the coil shock? would love to hear your riding impressions and how it feel about it's size compared to the xl Sentinel.
Funnily enough on Pinkbike - was very lucky as I was considering one anyway (along with the aforementioned Pole) but the juicy price of both was putting me off. My Sentinel was a L, so a little bit shorter, but gave me enough of an idea that it was going to work out, based on numbers alone. Yes it did come with the DHX2.
Ride impressions so far have been a bit limited as i've been injured for a while, but it does address a couple of the issues I didn't like about the Sentinel. Both have a similar feel, in that they are 'very' solid. Both are crazy low & certainly love corners. My biggest frustration with the Sentinel was finding the right balance on the rear shock, it was just a bit awkward to set up & get it working well. I found what felt right when riding for fun was not great when racing, blowing through travel & bottoming out everywhere & vice versa when coming off a race weekend. Tyre clearance on the rear of the Sentinel is a joke, a 2.5 WT was way too tight on the linkage bridge & if you slapped a corner a nit hard you could buzz the stays easily. Oh and the classic Transition paint quality issues :)
The longer stays of the Madonna are a new one for me, but they certainly make the bike feel super stable & balanced? At 188cm i'm fairly tall and it feels nice to be a bit more central on the bike. The STA at what, 78 degrees is a bit of an eye opener. I thought for its size the Transition climbed reasonably well, mostly as the STA put me a decent bit further forward than the Fuel when you allow for the full height post. At 78 degrees it feels like another notch again - I feel right on top of the BB and given it's size/weight it goes up fine. Not PB levels of hyperbole 'climbs like an XC bike' but no issues.
My one word answer would probably be fast. It really does just monster truck through stuff & it's a bit of battle of self preservation & the desire to brake Vs hanging on for life. I'm keen to race it & see what it's like against the clock :)
Posted by: nouseforaname
Posted by: HobNob
That got built up, raced a couple of DH races & EWS’s
Casually drops that in there like....
Interesting bike HobNob - I wonder how it will hold up.
Ha, it's still an event for me to get to do one or two of these!
Interesting to reflect on doing them too - the standard of riding across the board has gone through the roof over the years, but I live in hope that I still get to do Whistler again next year (might be in the new 100 category now though, as it looks to be super difficult to pre qualify for the main race).
But then it's also a bit crazy that chumps like me can race the same race as Sam Hill :)
Last edited by: HobNob on Dec. 5, 2018, 1:11 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
