Well into 3 months of ownership of my bike, I wish to provide a review about the individual components making up the bike and the overall ride quality of my build. I’ve put quite a few kilometers on this bike getting accustomed to the novelty of a new ride similar to how an elderly divorced man fuelled by Viagra starts riding after the arrival of his new mail order bride. I have ridden mainly technical loamy and rocky terrain on the North Shore as well as some loamy and jump style terrain on Burke Mountain. For the locals of the North Shore, typical trails I’ve ridden include Dale’s, Pangor, Boogeyman, Corkscrew, and Ned’s on Mount Seymour and Seventh Secret, Espresso, Ladies Only, Executioner and Pipeline on Fromme. I will divide my review into different components of the bike, then give an overall review.

Drivetrain

I had chosen the SRAM XX1 drivetrain for this bike after quite a bit of debate with my riding friends. Basically my decision was summed up like this. A Toyota could do the job but a Ferrari could do the job much better. Similar to how a driver of a Ferrari will enjoy the benefits of the Ferrari engine in comparison to the Toyota engine, I wanted to enjoy the benefits of this elite drivetrain. After 3 months of rigorous use, I can report that I have never lost a chain and I’ve experienced efficient, quick and crisp shifting in all instances and conditions that I have ridden in. Observing the cassette in detail, I’ve observed minimal wear and can report that the machining process of this cassette lives up to the many positive reviews. My overall synopsis about this drivetrain…Yes it is very expensive…BUT you get what you pay for. This drivetrain may be an added luxury to some people, but the money spent will be well worth it in terms of quality gearing. My advice for those choosing an XX1 drivetrain will be to choose a front ring where you will stay in the middle of the gear range for the cassette as this will prolong the life of the cassette. I rarely use the upper 42 link cog or lower 10 link cog as I chose a 30 tooth front ring that gives me and adequate gearing range without the need to use the upper limits

Wheel Set

Thanks to my friend James Kim at Yuho Sports, I was provided with a prototype in development of a Carbon wheelset equipped with Atomlab hubs and built in North Vancouver. Yuho Sports in North Vancouver is in the production stage of Carbon Rims to handle North Shore style terrain called Shore Wheels. He had kindly provided me with this Carbon wheelset hand assembled in North Vancouver in exchange for me providing him feedback about the overall Carbon wheelset quality and how it responded to North Shore style terrain. Overall, I would say that the wheelset performed well beyond my expectations. The Atomlab hubs contain 102 points of engagement, compared to 72 with Chris King and 120 with Industry 9 and I definitely noticed the 102 points of engagement while coasting and then pedaling. I was treated to instant catching and hence transfer which helped on my climbs and gave me great periodic bursts of acceleration. The rims were beadless (outer width 38mm, inner width 32mm, depth 32mm) and were paired tubeless with my Hans Dampf (width 2.35) tires. Combining the inner width and depth of the rims with the width of the tire, I always had plenty of traction in even the wettest and muddiest conditions. The power transfer involved with Carbon rims significantly helped on my ascents, I was able to efficiently climb not only flat enduro style trails but surprisingly many technical trails (ex. Bridle Path, Seymour) as well. On the descents is where I really felt the advantage of this wheelset. I always felt an increasing speed while coasting on this bike, it seems as if the Carbon wheels made the bike so nimble and quick that it just wanted to run away from me. I was extremely surprised by just how big a difference the addition of a Carbon wheelset had made in my ride quality. I had been instructed to constantly record my pressure settings for both rear and front tire (28psi rear, 26psi front) before each ride. Beyond a few scratches, upon close observation, there was no damage to the Carbon rims whatsoever despite me riding on aggressive and advanced technical trails as well as doing some intermediate sized drops (ex. Boogeyman, Seymour).

Brakes

Shimano Zees, 4 piston braking power. I report these brakes being of excellent value. They provided me very efficient modulation and braking power especially when things got hairy. At times, due to the high performance of this Carbon bike, I found myself in need of fast and powerful braking which was well accompanied with these brakes. With the fast response time, these brakes had saved me on many instances from some potentially hairy situations.

Handlebars/Stem/Cranks

Raceface SixC 20mm rise Carbon handlebars. Yes, they reduce vibration extremely well and are very light weight but initially I can report that the stiffness of these Carbon bars made me a tad bit uncomfortable. After a few weeks, I had accustomed to the stiffness and now wonder how I went so long without a Carbon handlebar upgrade. The ergonomics of the bar are exceptional. They work great when negotiating tight switchbacks, leaning back when charging through rock gardens, or pulling up when sprinting. Overall the ergonomic design was very welcome and a welcome tradeoff for the initial stiffness. The solid Raceface Atlas stem combined perfectly with the bars for a creak free and comfortable cockpit. The SixC carbon cranks having hollow crank arms are the lightest cranks on the market. I’ve observed that there is no flex with these pedals, there is direct power transfer from the pedals through the drivetrain leading to highly efficient pedaling. On numerous occasions, this power transfer helped me on instances where I need rapid fast acceleration on short stretches. With no loss of power transfer, I am able to quickly accelerate up technical climbs that would have otherwise not been possible. I’ve ridden a lot of rocky terrain (Mt. Seymour) and have had numerous instances where the cranks have contacted loose rock. So far except for a few scratches from rocky terrain, the cranks have held up to the high level of Race Face claims. One criticism I would have is that I do observe the occasional pedal strike especially when doing some XC climbs. This could have been minimized with the choice of 170mm crank arms (or even 165mm) rather than 175mm.

Final Thoughts and Overall Value

To keep things all in the family I chose to match up the RS pike with the equally capable Debonair RCT3. This allows for an easily matchable tuned suspension feel up front and out back. After a bit of trial and error playing with the rebound and compression and sag, I had the perfect setup with about 36% rear sag and about 30% front. The rear seems a bit high but I find I need this because of my higher center of gravity. As for the geometry of the bike frame, I feel extremely confident and in control and find myself continually pushing my limits and progressing. The low bottom bracket leads me to a feeling of extreme control on my cornering around berms and the adequate chainstay length has always given me control around tight switchbacks and I’ve found it is very easy to manual with this bike. The biggest surprise for me about this bike is hands down the climbing ability. I would rate my bike as a well above average XC climber and a top level enduro climbing bike, I’ve spoken in detail about the power transfer leading to this climbing ability in the details above. Overall, over the last 3 months of riding, I’ve achieved endless adrenaline bursts that have only been balanced by my post ride B.C. bud.

OVERALL VALUE

So the biggest questions that I have been asked over the last few months were the following how much did the bike cost and was it worth it? The total build cost was 2 times the value of my 2001 Volkswagen Jetta. I do believe that this bike and build is worth every penny as I’ve progressed my skills both mentally and physiologically. With my fondness for and high performance of this bike, I find myself riding a lot more often. Mentally, I believe that riding this bike (and mountain biking in general) has made me acutely more alert and has helped me professionally in terms of the way I handle my job. Progressing my skills on the mountain and achieving “flow” regularly on the trails has developed and enhanced the neural networks in my brain or in other words, I find I am using more of my brain’s potential power. This has lead me to not only more overall happiness but I also find myself performing my job in a more efficient “kaizen” state, thus paying tribute to my partial Japanese ancestry. At work and life in general, I’ve found my efficiency and creative potential increase in proportion to how often I ride. Physiologically I’ve benefited in that I can regularly tackle a 1000 meter climb without overly exhausting myself, I don’t need to explain the cardiovascular benefits of this. While explaining the cost of my bike to mountain bikers, they will usually take a look at the spec range on my bike and sum up that it is a great build. When I explain the cost to a non mountain biker, their eyes virtually shoot out of their sockets in shock at the cost. I can not rationalize my spending on a bicycle to them as they generally lack the comprehension of the benefits of mountain biking for both the mind and body. If you compare the quality of life and overall happiness of your average avid mountain biker with the average successful capitalist, I can almost assure you that the ratings for quality of life and overall happiness will be a lot higher for the avid mountain biker than the successful capitalist. I refuse to get into a philosophical argument over the value that my bike has for me with a capitalist as I believe that we as mountain bikers are leap years ahead of capitalists in terms of philosophical thinking!

Special thanks to James Kim at Yuho Sports in North Vancouver for the Custom Carbon Wheelset. Feel free to contact him below for any additional details regarding his prototype Carbon wheelset (Shore Wheels) at james@yuhosports.com or by phone at 1 604 782 9750.

Special thanks to Tavish at Vidiom graphics for the custom decals. If you need custom decals, feel free to send him an email.

For additional articles/reviews by this author, click on the following:

Santa Cruz Carbon bicycles:

https://thebikingbuddah.wordpress.com/2014/10/16/he-carbon-craze/

Devinci Spartan test ride:

https://thebikingbuddah.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/devinci-spartan-test-ride-enduro-craze/

Night riding (lumens):

https://thebikingbuddah.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/night-riding-how-many-lumens-do-you-really-need-testing-1500-versus-3000-lumens/

Sugoi RSX Neoshell rain jacket:

https://thebikingbuddah.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/sugoi-rsx-neoshell-jacket-windcoldrain/

Santa Cruz Nomad – my custom build:

https://thebikingbuddah.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/2015-santa-cruz-nomad-custom-build-first-look/

If you still want more, click below to see my Video home page:

https://vimeo.com/user24675081