Breaking in the Enduro.

I'm starting to get this bike dialed, although it has taken some time. At this point I haven't put much time in playing with the fork settings, it's felt pretty good so far. The bulk of my attention has been on setting up the rear suspension and the first bike I've owned with an air spring since 1995 and my Trek Y-22.

The 5th Element air shock only has three different adjustments; something I was fairly happy with. Less variables would mean less to mess with, and leave me with more time to ride. I like the concept of having the option to fine tune the rear spring. However, the 5th element coil on my Heckler took some time to dial it in to my preferences. I just wanted to set it up and go. However, the time spent dialing the suspension makes a huge pay off in performance. At the time, I wasn't interested in working on my bike, other than to make sure the wheels were true, and the shifting was dialed. I didn't put the time in, and missed out on the enhancements it would have made to the time on the bike. Luckily, these days I am starting to get back into fine tuning my rides, especially now that I don't have to work on other people bikes to pay the rent.

On to breaking in the new bike. Jamie and I headed up to Southern Oregon where we would get some family time in, and lots of bike riding.

The first day of the trip we did the Mount Ashland trail. 14+ miles of downhill fun. With the air sprung shocks, single ply tires, and XT cranks, the enduro was by far the lightest bike on the ride. Unfortunately, my spring settings were much too high, and resulted in some arm pump, and me not trusting the bike on fast turns. I had set the air shock up for a firmer pedaling platform, which would also keep the suspension from bottoming out on big hits. It seemed like a good idea at the time, although I wasn't used to it enough at the time to really launch it. Unfortunately, it really limited the ride of the bike, and I felt like I was bouncing off of everything. Didn't bottom the shock out though.

Day two was an early one, as the guys had to get to work at the shop. We headed over to the Wagner creek trails for the early morning session. As opposed to the Mt. Ashland ride, the Wagner Creek trails are tight and twisty, as opposed to fast and wide open. I started feeling the bike, and began to become accustomed to the longer top tube, which felt like an XC bike with the stock 70mm stem.

Last fall, when I demo 'd an Enduro, it felt better to me than my Heckler and it's shorter top tube. The strange thing was that it felt more like my bike than my bike. I think this was likely because I had been putting a lot of time in on XC and Road rides, and the longer top tube was an easy transition. Over time, I became accustomed to the Heckler, and it began to feel dialed. It was sweet for light dh use and jumping, but on longer epic trail rides, the short top tube, combined with my preference for short stems, was killing my lower back. With the longer top tube of the Enduro, I can run a 50mm stem and still have a comfortable body position on long rides. However, this is where sacrifices begin to be made. A frame with a shorter top tube is going to corner faster and be a lot easier to throw around, making it easier to jump. However, I have a Demo Nine and an Evil DOC that serves that type of riding. I wanted a bike that I could ride on everything I could encounter on road trips, epic rides, and even XC rides.

The Enduro serves this function well. It really lives up to the term "All Mountain." I can ride this bike everywhere. The drawback with the All Mountain bike though, is that is doesn't excel in any one aspect. It pedals well, but it is too heavy to take on a ride with XC hammer heads. (although I haven't tried it with light wheels yet) The air shocks and the longer cockpit make you work to keep up with guys on DH bikes, even on more moderate terrain. This really is the beauty of this bike though. The frame is offered in Super Cross versions that would serve those purposes. That is a lot of bikes to have in your quiver, especially at $3500-4000 a pop.

But I digress. On day two I was comfortable enough with the handling that I hit the jumps on the trail, (see image to the right) including a double over a stump I passed over on the last trip up. The bike was feeling pretty good on the jumps. I still had to much air in the shock though, as I can be lazy about changing the set up. I should have checked the sag and lowered the air in the positive spring, as day three was at Apple Gate Lake, a 20 mile XC loop. (around the lake.)

I was hurting a little on the ride, as I was feeling the last two days on the bike. My brother and Fred were riding their Wolf Hound 29ers on the ride, as the trail suited the single speed 29er love. The trail was extremely twisty with a lot of stop and go turns. The boys put some distance on me with their lighter weight single speeds, but I had a good time, even though I had to spin up the climbs. I was stoked to climb everything on this bike; a very different experience from riding the Heckler. The longer top tube again let me focus on pedaling and maintaining good form. Usually my posture is crunched, and my lower back gets tired out quickly. I don't have those issues on this bike.

Over the course of the weekend I had ridden with downhill bikes, single speed XC 29ers, and free ride bikes. I did all these rides on the same bike. That's all mountain baby!

On a side note, I got an after work ride in today at China Camp. Before the ride, I finally lowered the pressure in the positive spring and set the rear up with about 30% sag. This has made a huge performance difference in how the bike corners and performs in the rough and I was carrying a lot more speed on the trail. Over the next few weeks I plan to vary it a bit more until I find an optimal setting that will perform, the target being a good performance at the Downiville Classic in two weeks.

And next: the Fox 36.