Except it’s a Specialized bike. Nothing wrong with the bike, but everyone and their Mom has one. So if you’re someone like me, who likes to be different, we tend to stay away from big name brands.
This was such a great review & video for me! I'm 191 cms and about 100-105 kgs kitted-up to ride....so to have these talented guys test all-XL bikes, and then talk about bikes in the context of a taller rider, was a bit of a dream. Bike reviews never really talk about XL bikes & riders. Stack height & reach are such a big deal for us tall guys. And the chosen field of bikes was a really good mix of the new designs with high pivots.... and the tried & tested frames. I also appreciate the honesty about some of the things that were not so good - too many reviews are just glowingly positive. Thank you Vital, this one was fantastic.
Really like how you guys weren’t afraid to change the bars if needed. Some of the short travel/XC shootouts could learn a thing or two about this. Don’t just say you’d think the bike would handle better with a longer stem, change it and let us all know.
I'm such a sucker for the Deviate. Freaking bike is incredible! 13 months on it now and I've yet to go on a ride I'm not impressed like day one. We'll done team!
Thanks for discussing "size up vs size down". At 5' 10" it's been a confusing issue for me as I consider a new bike in M/L. Depends on the brand or the model or my style or the intended terrain... sheesh! It's a great reminder to test ride any bike I'm serious about buying.
If you ride more tight technical trails and focus on cornering you can size down. If you ride fast downhill tracks and want more stability size up. Not that hard to figure out.
If you know what length reach you prefer, then start there. I am also 5’10”, and normally prefer a mid 400mm reach. After trying a few different models in the 450-475mm range, ended up with an S4 Stumpy Evo.
I've been running the Canyon Strive CFR for a few months now and have been blown away with how good it is. Lucked out and nabbed one on sale for $4199, which was nuts for full XTR and Fox Factory kit. Previously had a Propain Tyee and Evil Wreckoning and I feel more at home on the Strive. I am 5'10" and generally ride a Large, but sized down to the M with the strive and it was the right choice, as the bike is LONG. It can get reasonably light as well replacing the heavy alloy bar and wheels with carbon bits (OneUp bar and i9 carbon wheels), it got down to 33.5lbs (without pedals). I also replaced the dropper with a 200mm wolf tooth, as 170mm is not enough. The shapeshifter is slick, although I have accidentally left it engaged on some a fast and rooty tech trail and paid the price (physical beat down), the rear for sure is stiff in that setting (although I funnily enough set a PR). The Deviate for sure looks good to me, but that price tag....ouch.
@@BenSch100 No issues to date, bike has been rock solid other than me breaking a spoke. No bolts have even worked loose in my about 500 miles of riding so far (I check before every ride). I did get a little weird behavior with the shapeshifter at first before I got the pressure set correctly for my weight, but it has been problem free since.
Mega is one of the best bikes I've ever had for do it all, mullet with the extra 5mm on a coil has so much rear grip and it's so playful just picks up off of any little lip you find on a trail, climbs really well as well! Hopefully they sort their cash issues out and carry on as I'll be gutted if they go also their wheels are the only wheels I've had that haven't died on an Alps trip!
100% I have a mega but I have an alloy frame because idk how much I trust carbon 😂 but yeah I absolutely love my bike. completely eats up steep and face rough sections. Always outrunning my mates on the fast trails
Congrats guys! 👏 Bike tests&reviews are getting better and better! Simple and honest opinions…the opposite of Pinkbike that are getting worst, elitist and boring, specially since Levy left and that english guy arrived!! Keep it going…
Yes, mega test ! Had both the Enduro (S4) and the Nukeproof (XL). Insane ammount of performance for (now used) amazing value. The enduro is suuuper potent and the nukeproof is the same but insanely good on climbs and very playful. Nice jov VitalMTB!
To address the deviates linkage longevity concerns, the bikes made to be ridden in Scotland. A few friends of mine have it up in Scotland, the linkage is make to be greases and has loads of protection for the bearings. He’s been running the same bearings for over a year now 🤙
Glad you all liked the review and our feedback on the bikes! Credit to Logan Brown for editing our ramblings down into a coherent format. I think we had about 3000 hours of us talking by the end of the week@@durrantmiller8810
Watched the whole thing! You guys have a good repoire and discuss alot of relevant things. I would have liked to see 2021s "winner" be put up as a control bike. It just helps keep it in perspective.
The thing about sizing down is then the stack is even lower, and you guys were complaining the stack was too low on all but one of the XL bikes already. Then to compensate you have to run a super long steer tube, which shortens the reach even more than you probably want. Give us more 480mm reach XL bikes.
🎯Yup, or really tall weird looking handlebars. It's weird out there for tall guys trying to fit on bikes. I take comfort in knowing that other industries are also awful and catering to bigger and smaller customers (like the car industry, which is a much, much, much bigger industry).
The deviate's got grease ports on the idler and frame bearings - so if you stay on top of that, you can ideally need to the invasive /expensive bearing maintenance less (I own a highlander).
I think it's safe to say a used Specialized Enduro is the weapon of choice for a privateer on a budget. Years later it's still holding up every time it gets re-reviewed.
Yeah that's very true. I love to hate Specialized, but results....and dozens of positive reviews don't lie. It's obviously a very, very well designed bike. (stack height is crazy low though...)
This review watches like a good show, I’ve watched it like 3 times now. Good job guys. Wish there could have been an alloy bike in the mix though, Kavens or Madonna v3 maybe
I rate the intense tracer! I have owned once since they were released with the ohlins coil at the back. Extremely fun. I race occasionally but otherwise just like those progression days looking for gnarly features. I guess it's not the smoothest at high speed compressions but I don't think it's completely out of place. What it lacks in the compartment it excels in generating speed and playing around on fun side features you might find on the trail. Super low stand over height too. I've got tiny legs and was able to accommodate 175mm drop (adjustable post from 180mm) on size MD which I was quite surprised with :). Pedals well enough too!
Thanks for this! It’s a shame you are unable to have the correct size for each of you. It makes it really hard to work out exactly what you guys think. But honesty must come first and you were honest. I’m being honest too. 😊
I swear the new sram clutch is still not strong enough. I put the new transmission on my bike and the chain slaps against the derailleur body constantly. Shimano still makes a better clutch system as you can dial it in and rebuild it! Wireless is nice but it’s got me thinking of going back to cables
We think that mightve been the reason for the dropped chain, curious if a Shimano clutch would do better or maybe a larger chainring for more chain wrap.
Great review guys thanks for show the things as they are , and simplicity. Jonathon I saw you review test of the status and the stumpy evo , wish one descend better of steep terrain, the status or the Enduro . Thanks for your videos. Cheers
Love this. At 6'4" its great to get larger bikes reviews. Charlie and Lear said they would size down on the Enduro to an S4. Article says they are 6'3". What about Jonny? Would he also size down at 6'4". Stack seems quite low on the S4 for taller riders?
Jonny liked the S5. I think in terms of sizing, Jonny liked longer reaches, I liked shorter ones, and Lear was in the middle. I also think Lear was oversprung on the shock when he was riding the Enduro, but he disagrees. Obviously I'm right.
I love that Nukeproof pre-wraps their bikes. I don't know why this isn't an Industry standard. Every company should do this. When spending $5K minimum on a bike anyone would want it protected.
Such an underrated detail they really did a good job with. Would love to see more companies do the same rather than the usual bits of coverage here and there.
What would make sense would be a test of the 2023 EDR bikes the teams ran (in the closest public available spec) - maybe the top five at the end of the season?
Question for @charliesponsel5091 …could you expand on the comment you made about being able to get an air spring to behave more linearly than a coil? Seems counterintuitive but the robot seems to know suspension well!
Great question. Because air shocks are so inherently progressive, there are air shocks that have been designed with the singleminded goal of making them more linear, to the point that some air shocks almost feel less progressive than a coil shock. The Float X2, the old RS Vivid, and (I think) the new Vivid are great examples of this. Especially on the Float X2 or the old RS Monarch Debonair where you're able to add volume reducers to the negative spring as well as the positive spring, you can make an air shock more linear by adding volume reducers to the negative spring and taking them out of the positive chamber. This will allow you to run very low pressures while achieving the same sag and top end feel, while giving you essentially no bottom out resistance. So that's one potential way to overcome the effects of a frame that's "too progressive." Hope that makes sense.
That’s actually really interesting! I didn’t think there was a way to make a shock’s air spring digressive, since like you said, compressing air is an inherently progressive process. So would that partially be down to the ratio of positive to negative air volume that is affecting how linear an air spring is/feels?
It'd be interesting to investigate this more. Maybe a gopro mounted to the bike or a high speed camera to see what exactly is happening when the chain is coming off. According to Trek, derailments can be due to the lower guide wheel being out of alignment from the factory and adding a 2mm spacer to the ISCG tabs can fix it. We weren't aware of that possible remedy during the test so we can't say if that fix works, but it'd be great if it did. Kinda crazy to be dropping chains with so many chain retention doodads involved (narrow/wide ring, two chainguides, clutch derailleur, idlers to correct chain growth, etc).
@charliesponsel5091 A lot of the high pivot DH bikes have a surprising amount of chain slack between the idler and the chainring as the suspension compresses. It's easy to see on the Vital slow motion bike abuse videos from the World Cup. I'm assuming something similar is happening here. If there is any misalignment between the idler and the chainring + slack chain = dropped chain. If the chain comes off between the idler and chainring, the tensioner pulley behind the chainring can't do anything.
You need to size down on the Strive. Their sizing is whack. I feel they should have made an XS instead of an XL. It's sick in the medium (large other brands) but i feel the front center would be too long on the xl which is what you were describing. The bike is insane for the money.
I agree, based on our experience on the bike I think it's a pretty safe rule to size down one size from what the Canyon sizing chart recommends, i.e. think of the XL as an XXL, think of the large as an XL, etc. I think Jack Moir sized down two sizes when he got on the current Strive in 2022.
Thanks for the feedback. FWIW Lear was testing the shock with the stock Fox spring that was provided with the bike, and his impressions lined up with Jonnys. Also, I'm aware that the Sprindex springs are progressive, but where did you see that 20% number? My understanding is that they're just a little progressive at the very end of the stroke, not significantly progressive and not throughout the stroke. 20% sounds like a lot when you consider that most suspension designs don't even provide a 20% increase in leverage rate.
Vital MTB, I know its too much to ask, but there is a lot of Urban rider out there. When i used to live in Algeria, there were no bike parks. And any bike we bought used to break very fast under urban environments. It would be cool if you could review which bikes perform best jumping stairs, flat drops constantly… Thanks.
So the Intense Tracer has a weirdly stiff rear suspension, and 27.5 rear wheel doesn’t help when it gets really rough. However, in the Impossible Climb video the Intense Tracer won everything because it was so zippy up the hill.
Currently on a kenevo SL S4 at 6ft 2. I feel like 485 reach just isn't enough for me so I'm getting an S5. 35mm stem and 40mm rise bars plus I'm going to bump up the front tavel to 180 to match the over stroked rear. Race bike for next year
We had such a limited time during our test we weren't able to get too into the weeds sleuthing possible causes or solutions, but I'd love to know myself. According to Trek, derailments can be due to the lower guide wheel being out of alignment from the factory and adding a 2mm spacer to the ISCG tabs can fix it. We weren't aware of that possible remedy during the test so we can't say if that fix works, but it'd be great if it did. Kinda crazy to be dropping chains with so many chain retention doodads involved (narrow/wide ring, two chainguides, clutch derailleur, idlers to correct chain growth, etc). We also think the clutch on the AXS Transmission derailleur was basically gone by the end of the test, which obviously isn't ideal for chain retention.
Really like the video and commentary, one suggestion is to ease up on the slow Mo. It would be nice for reference to see what some of these shots and clips look like in real time, not just all in slow mo.
Two of us were wearing the Fox Ranger pants, Lear was wearing Rennen I believe. Another great option are the Troy Lee Skyline pants, they have a little more length than the Fox.
Great question- we were mostly on Deity handlebars on the bikes, although I think Lear rode a 40mm rise Enve bar once. The two Deity bars we used were the 35mm clamp/50mm rise Highside bar and the 31.8mm clamp/38mm rise Blacklabel. Both bars were great and have similar bends. Pretty similar bends to the Renthal, so they should feel familiar. My personal bar is an FSA 40mm bar with 9 degree of backsweep and 5 degrees of upsweep, which is exactly the same dimensions as the Deity bars, so I got along swimmingly. And yeah, you gotta get those carbon bars off your bike! Chipped carbon bars are a hard no no.
Lewis Buchanan got rid of his Slash after two weeks because he couldn’t get the chain to stay on. Seems like a systemic problem and not just a one off. Serious QC oversight in trying to rush the bike out and damaging the reputation of what was one of the best enduro bikes available. Could we even see a product recall in the near future?
We tried adding more chain tension like Lewis did to try and solve the problem with no luck. We’ve been told that the incorrect number of spacers were installed from the factory behind the MRP chainguide. We didnt have time to try it during the test but an additional 2mm of spacing from the iscg tabs seems to be the solution. Hopefully thats an easy and effective long term solution for those who have already bought one!
Yup our bad, Jonny said 170 in the voiceover but we corrected in the video by noting the 160mm travel in a text box. With 6 bikes on test and different travel numbers for different models in the manufacter's lineup, it's a lot of stats to keep track of!
Did you experience any issues with frame flex on the Tracer? I had a Tracer 29 for a brief period and ended up returning it because the rear end was moving nearly 1" side to side.
Tracer flexy rear end is deliberate for what I read elsewhere. That's what drives me to carbon wheels for first upgrade! Most annoying stuff is that small play in the concentric BB linkage, even if it's not sensible in real riding, on stop you feel it in your grips just by siting on the bike and doing little bounce on the saddle! This play comes very early in the Tracer life!
We didn't have any frame flex problems during our test time, not with the Tracer and not with any of the bikes, but YMMV. Having said that, Jonny aka Don Burl is a big boy at 6'4"/225 pounds and if anyone's going to flex a bike he's a pretty good candidate.
@@runrunrun51 I ran mine with carbon wheels but the flex was so much that the cranks were rubbing off the chainstays and there was no "fix" to this, at least not one that Intense provided me with.
Great question. The short answer is that's what Canyon shipped us. It's confusing because in the voice over Jonny says the bike has a Performance Elite shock (which is an all black shock), but in the video clip the bike clearly has the Factory shock with a Kashima shaft. The complete bike from Canyon really does come stock with the all black Performance Elite shock, but because the only difference between those two shocks is the color of the shaft, we didn't worry about it too much in our review. If you buy the bike, I believe it will arrive with an all black Performance Elite shock, and that was the point Jonny was trying to emphasize.
I think it had to do with the recent update Fox put out for the Float X2 to correct the reliability issues theyve been having. Canyon either threw an updated shock on for us so we wouldnt have any issues, or they swapped their inventory for updated shocks and received Factory shocks in return.
