Man I want a Chromag

Posted by: RAHrider

I looked at Naked a while ago. They have this upward curved top tube thing going on. My favorite thing about my bikes is the excellent stand over. It makes cornering and maneuvering so much sweeter. I never really liked the up curve on a MTB. A guy I worked with had a Merlin Paperboy that I never "got" either. Nice looking ride to pick up milk at the corner store though.

I never understood this design. Go to all that trouble and then not fully brace the head tube.

The head tube looks vulnerable on that bike!

I'm sitting on the fence still. I want a hardtail for the sake of having one, but if I'm honest, theres very few rides Id choose it over another bike; I can think of only one zone, and even in it I'm enjoying a dualie there too. So Ive done nothing but spend my days in the park and grab either my Endorphin or E29 for my pedal rides.

Summer is awesome! I'm just going to ride now and think later.

IMO it's not really about the ht performing better than a fully. Its a completely different ride experience, you focus on different things for the ride and get different things out of the ride.

I have been on the new Rootdown for a few months now, ridden a bunch of different zones and to be honest...I don't feel a ton of difference between it and my Banshee Prime...yes, of course, there is no squish in the rear end...but I am riding the same lines I was on my fully and don't miss it. 

Maybe if I lived in an area with a ton of shuttling or fall line trails it would be different, but on the island, we mainly earn our turns and the trails are very undulating. This is where I think the HT shines...those quick grunt climbs we have all over here...you just stand and smash and then come over the top with more speed than I felt I had on my fully. Most of our downhills have uphills over here...so it works out great...lol.

I am finding that I am having to change my riding style up a bit on steep rocky chunk....on my fully I would just lean back and let the rear wheel suck it up, but I have crashed twice now, because I think the HT bucks me forward on my bike and I have blown my hands off the bars. It's just a bit of a learning curve to teach me to ride properly...drop the heels and centre myself on the bike better in the steeps instead of just plowing through like I was before.

I am really enjoying this bike and have been surprised at how much faster I am on it...on most trails around here.

What I’ve discovered riding the new Chameleon is that geometry is more important a factor than suspension. I mean primary suspension is tires. Tires absorb the small stuff. Secondary is arms and legs and front and rear is third in importance. Here’s no question that soft long travel bikes can go a lot faster and land bigger jumps but if most of your trails are steep and technically slow, suspension isn’t all that necessary. Hardtails demand better body English and full body suspension if you will.

Yeah, our trails are slower and techy (for the most part), I run big 2.4's (Conti Trail Kings) and get asked if it's a plus bike a lot...lol, but they really help things along, put some lowish air pressure in there and you just float down the trail.

I agree with you completely pedalhound. On the steep rocky chunk - I think you probably have to try to go slower and "track stand" alot of that shit. When you pick up speed and have hard hits, you can't absorb those bumps fast enough and you loose traction easily. Everything is fine on a hardtail as long as you aren't going too fast. I find the hardest trails to enjoy on a hardtail are the ones with super high speed where you are just vibrating over all the choss. Steep ass shit is usually ok if you are controlling your speed. Sometimes I wimp out on the really steep committing rock lines if I think they are going to be slippery cause when you hit the bottom you know there is a high chance that you will lose traction, have your wheel slide out and then eat dirt (or worse, rock!). Glad you are enjoying your membership in the club on your rootdown.

Bike brew is the Aussie Chromag distributer. I’ve been chatting with them about a Wideangle and they’ve been really helpful. When you place an order they will get it from Canada for you, so it may take a few weeks.

I nearly bought a Rootdown, but went with the Pipedream Moxie for lower standover and seat tube.  The only place it's slower than FS for me is super chunk, and pedaling over roots and rocks.  On most trails my times are close or better than with my previous Warden and Endorphin.

Posted by: legbacon

I nearly bought a Rootdown, but went with the Pipedream Moxie for lower standover and seat tube.  The only place it's slower than FS for me is super chunk, and pedaling over roots and rocks.  On most trails my times are close or better than with my previous Warden and Endorphin.

Sweet. I've had a moxie sitting in my cart for a while now. My current HT is an m/l chromag stylus, 445 seat tube, 458 reach. Really like the idea of the 420 seat tube and long reach of the moxie, I have stumpy legs and a long torso. 

I also like that I could run my current wide 27.5 wheelset and switch to 29er if I felt the need. You ordered straight from Pipedream UK?