Demo Days was fun

[Upchuck]

I went out to Acton today and participated in the Bicycle John's Demo Days event. They put on a really nice day.

Those shop employees really worked their collective arses off to keep the attendees happy!

I rode the Ellsworth Epiphany, Santa Cruz Heckler and Yeti 575. Here's my humble, subjective opinion on the 3 bikes.

Epiphany:

• Climbing- very good
• Descending- *fair
• Cornering- very good
• Big Hit compliance- *Untested
• Small bump- **poor
• Braking response- excellent
• This bike was predictable on the trail under normal trail conditions. Unfortunately, they spec'd a platform fork with the setting at full platform and too much air pressure. I personally believe this frame should have a fully active fork. The Ellsworth rep fully agreed, but said 90% of the customers request a platform fork. Go figure. *This made it really difficult to give the rear suspension a fair evaluation. Out of saddle and seated climbs were very good with very little bobbing. No "stink bugging" under heavy braking. **The rep was vehement about no hucking or hard landings. They were worried about the swing arms breaking. If that's the case, this bike has too much travel for it's intended purpose. 2/5 rating.

Heckler:

• Climbing- excellent
• Descending- excellent
• Cornering- fair
• Big Hit compliance- good*
• Small Bump- excellent
• Braking- Poor
• This bike is an all-around performer. It had a very light feel on the trail. It climbed superbly whether standing and mashing or sitting and spinning. It ate up the rough stuff on the descents, as well as wash board fireroads. *I bottomed the rear suspension a couple times; once on a G-out fireroad descent, the other time on a moderate landing. There's too much travel for that to happen. The tech insisted the air shock was set for my weight. I'm sure it's a matter of proper adjustment. I had to concentrate on weighting the front end on high speed corners, otherwise she wanted to drift in the front. My only gripe was the severe "stink bug" effect when braking. This bike was meant to ride down the nasty stuff. It's a shame braking will unweight the rear wheel so dramatically and send you into the fork. 4/5 rating.

Yeti 575:

• Climbing- good*
• Descending- excellent
• Cornering- excellent
• Big Hit compliance- excellent
• Small Bump- excellent
• Braking- excellent
• The Yeti was a huge surprise to me! It zipped up the climbs, railed on the descents and just begged to go faster. The bike felt really light on the trail. The front end was extremely easy to lift when needed, but didn't hunt on the steep climbs. The biggest joy was how "flickable" the bike was in the tight stuff. If you enjoy tight, twisty singletrack with a fair amount of rough thrown in, this is the bike for you. My only concern was how active the rear suspension was on climbs and hammering out of the saddle. Really "boingy". A platform shock like the RP23 would probably be a perfect choice for efficient climbing. If it had a platform setting on the rear shock, I would have given it a 5/5 rating. 4/5 rating.

[guero]

When you say, "big hit" compliance, can you give us a few more details what you mean by that? Are you doing drops over 5 feet when you are referring to that? IMHO an air shock on the Huckler is just wrong, I contemplated one for a minute when I had my Huckler, but she deserves the reliability and integrity of a coil. I never noticed "severe stinkbugging" when braking, nor the front wanting to drift when cornering at high speeds on my Huckler...was that your first ride on the Huckler or had you ridden one before?

Thanks for the reviews.

[Upchuck]

guero, the "big hit" was only a 3 footer. I've taken my 5 Spot off 5-6 footers without bottoming out. That's why I believe the air shock wasn't set for my weight. I agree with you, the bike should have a coil shock.

That was the first time I'd ridden a Heckler. It had a Fox Float RLC up front. I believe the SC rep said it was 140mm travel.

Curious, what stem length and fork travel you running? They had at least 2.35" tires, but I didn't check the air pressure. It's possible they were running too high of pressure, affecting the cornering traction.

The "stink bug" effect is very noticeable when compared to a 4-bar suspension design.

Other bikes I've owned/ridden extensively:
Turner 5 Spot
VP Free
Kona Stinky Primo