New Bike Inside.

Nice looking rig. I spotted it in the liftline. Give us a ride report. How does it jump, brake and corner?

I :love: commencal

Why the huge long front brake line? it looks horrible on an otherwise great looking build.

Nice build I just finished building up the same bike. Love it, very quick and nimble. I will be in whistler fri-sat-sun, look for the green. I will try to put a pic on here.

Nice attention to detail, looks really good, I even like how you got your saddle to match your fork colour. :thepimp:

Definitely a nice built-up. Although I do not like the rise on the bars. I'd go for more rise, but personal preferences and choices based on angle and rider's height I guess.

Looks pretty prime. Ive got some yakima cross bars and feet if youre interested in getting that roof rack good to go soon.

Looks pretty prime. Ive got some yakima cross bars and feet if youre interested in getting that roof rack good to go soon.

I don't think there is a fit listed for a Skyline, seeing they were never sold in North America. You would probably have to go with custom drilling.

I would go see a guy named Marlin at Rack Attack in Coquitlam, he has a custom WRX STI fit that he did, maybe he can help you out with some ideas.

Why the huge long front brake line? it looks horrible on an otherwise great looking build.

probably because the fork is lowered at 150mm right now, it will be up to 180mm.

D-d-d-d-d-dang!!! Nice bike but 3 questions;
1. what reason for tt-hydroformed vagina?
2. shock mount/tube behind headtube really necessary? Seems like extra bulk/weight for shock mount placement.
3. what's the rear travel?

Thanks for the pics man!

1. To maximize standover and slopestyle geometry they had to figure ways to get the top tube as low as possible while still allowing the long stroke Roco and its reservoir to rotate up. At first the top tube was simply set higher, Cedric said "no way, just cut a F%#[HTML_REMOVED]^ing whole in the top tube" the engineers looked at each other and said "can we do that?" and yes indeed they could.

2. At first look it appears as though it would be bulky and heavy, however in person you'll notice that Commencal decided to uses monocoque technology to build this massive shock mount, thereby making it super strong yet lighter that a CNC or forged shock mount.

3. 180mm or 7inches

hope that helps!

yeah his fork is at 145mm. I custom tuned it for him. But the fork will be back to 180mm soon!

Wow, didn't get back on for a while and already decent replies and 666 views.

Thanks guys!

Quick Ride Report:

To start off, I wanted to mention that I rode an 05 Norco Team DH with 07 Boxxer Team before.

ANYTHING rode better than that, just wanted to get that through first (except the Boxxer, I'll grab a Boxxer anyday if I went DC). Norco fans, flame away, I am glad I am off that horribly designed frame (I realize that new frames are nice now, still a norco though. :P)

THE DAY:

Saturday was my first day of riding since February and after 3 runs I was comfortable on a bike again. The day consisted of a Krunk-it-up warm up followed by DM runs, then a bunch of A line runs, then Scheleyer. I think we got 8 runs in that day and mind you I got to whistler at 1 PM, finished riding at 7 PM and wasted 1 hour looking for my wallet that a WBP guy held for me [sidetrack](along with the 190 dollars in cash, 2000 dollar Credit limit, my DL, Interac, secondary, tertiary ID all in tact) If I could write a letter to WBP bike and beans manager, let me know how I want get this dude a prop.[/sidetrack]

Travel:

145mm front and 180mm rear balanced surprisingly well.
The bike needed some adjustments with rebound in the first two runs to get balanced. I had to work with the high compression of the MiCo on the fork to resist bottoming abit more, but the fork was plush for a 5.5"

Rear… Do I even have to mention anything? I got what I paid for, and I didn't cheap out at all. It behaved very well, I never bucked off once (early runs had a few "holy-shit-I-should-have-not-braked-that-much-before-the-jump" moments) The 2.5" stroke Rocco WC behaved alot more sensitive than my old 9" I2I 3" stroke DHX5 and felt bottomless. Comming from 3 years of 8" bikes, I did not feel any difference, whatsoever, ever.

Airtime:

After my first run of half sluggish run, I started to get abit more airborne and continued to do so for the rest of the day.

The bike is very nimble, springs off lips with ease and most of all is very comfortable in the air. This part was where I noticed the most difference from my previous bikes. The bike was very flickable and actually felt alive during the take off, air time and landing. The old bikes felt like couches being force launched by giant slingshots but the Furious was predictable and furious the entire trip in the air.

Cornering/General riding:

The low top tube supported by the hydroformed "orfice" worked just as well as they designed it to be. I never had any problem moving my knees towards the frame without hitting the tubes. I had more room, therefore the bike rode better than my old Norco 'A-frame' in the tight turns. The low front end also helped alot in terms of tight corners.
My greatest fear with such a low front end was for the steep sections. My old 8" boxxer plowed through whatever I sent it through before and I was thinking that my new set up may not behave the same way. However, I took it down some sketchy lines and found that I was in control the entire time rather than just hanging along for the ride. It did not take me too long to have full confidence in the bike.

Conclusion:

I worked my ass off in the early month of May to afford this bike and a season's pass. This has been the most I have spent on a bicycle AT ONCE. I was stoked with Matt's service since winter, when we started planning the bike build and the day when I paid deposit, followed by more payments and finally dragging the bike out of his shop AFTER business hours, ALL IN ONE DAY.

I knew the bike would ride amazing just by staring at it being built on Matt's Bike stand. It proved itself over and over, run after run on Saturday. Commencal had be at Comm (hur hur) and I initially wanted the 08 Supreme DH VIP frame. However, Matt told me he had a technical conversation with one of the Commencal rep and pretty much suggested what he thought would suit me the best. I insisted on getting the Supreme but in the end trusted Matt and I am glad that Matt spent that extra 10 minutes repeating "Furious, Furious, Furious" to get me to have that frame. (Thanks again, Matt)

Jee, what can I say I am pretty happy about the entire package. The service at North Shore Bike Shop, the entire process of the bike build, the Bicycle itself aesthetically and its performance after riding ONE day.

I remember writing a write up like this for my Skyline back in after getting the service from an importer in January. I was happy with the service, price and the product, however the said letter was never posted/printed/sent because they totally disregarded my trust and repect in the end.

I am proud to say I cannot do the same for Matt and North Shore Bike Shop. I have alot of thing on NSMB that I could erase (FYI Boring Winter Semester at SFU + Faithless + NBR), but this will not be one of them.

Words cannot contain all my gratitute towards NSBS and my content feeling about my bike set up for the 2008 season. If you see me on the Shore or WBP, feel free to ask other questions about NSBS, Commencal or the frame itself. I won't mind "Hey you are that guy from the internet!…"

Thanks again Matt, I hope this report should be quite obvious how I feel about my business with you.

Cheers

Mike

Now that the write up is over, time to answer some questions.

nice bike.
a little too gromish/slopestyleish with the sticker kit for my likeing (but maybe im just jelous)
when will your 2step die though? :lol:

Yes Gromish, but I felt like feeling younger again (just turned 20 haha) The 2step has not leaked yet! Yes my riding buddy was surprised as well at the end of run #8. It is Solo Air as someone commented.

Nice attention to detail, looks really good, I even like how you got your saddle to match your fork colour. :thepimp:

Thanks, and thanks again for being there when the bike was being built you are a FUNNy guy. Seriously, the saddle is pretty stellar. I do not enjoy sitting on it, but hey it looks amazing.

Looks pretty prime. Ive got some yakima cross bars and feet if youre interested in getting that roof rack good to go soon.

Thanks again, if the cross bars and feet fit my car without permanant adjustments to my car let me know what the price is.

Any other questions?

I was thinking about building up one of those with a set of 888s on the front to build up a short, lively, freeridy, dh capable rig. What are your thoughts on that, having ridden that frame?