Dc hardtail? Is that a thing? Isn’t that a LTHT? (Long travel hardtail). Enough options, but not that many in carbon. The SC Chameleon would be my choice.
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Mine weights around 23 lbs with pedals and bottle cages.
Switching Recons to Aspens should reduce it even more.
The ride is good, more plush then my SB100 and I am already setting downhill PRs.
Remote lockout seems handy, I think I would be using it for longer climbs
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I at the moment only ride hardtails, I have two honzos. One is a big honzo Carbon, built up with 29’s and super light. Its got a higher BB, 67.5 HTA, slackish ST angle. Its the fastest feeling bike ive ever ridden. I also use it for a lot of “gravel” rides, that are stupid on gravel bikes, IE, super chunky washed out jeep roads. I even won a 35 mile, 6000’ race on it, largely on the descents. I also race XC and weekly shorttrack on it. I’m sure there’s times I’m slower than I could be on FS bike, but I’m not slower on any sort of technical or descending stuff than other people around me. Basically its built to be fast in places im weaker, climbing, etc, as I can hold my own in the chunk and descents.
I have another honzo (alloy), with a lyrik and 65.5 degree HTA, low BB. Its fun, but im considering swapping it out for a FS so I could race some enduros. Last year I had it built up as a bit more of a do it all, and it was clearly slower FEELING than the current carbon one. Having two bikes was very much the right move for me.
I think I will eventually replicate the carbon honzo out of ti. with some tweaks, slightly slacker.
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Bummer! That’s not ideal.
I currently have a PNW Loam and am really into the lifetime warranty and the confidence they obviously have in the product.
The 9point8 isn’t exactly cheap so it’d be a bit dissappointing to upgrade for a saddle position change and end up with a worse post.
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Just consider the geometry. There’s a chance the stack gets too tall for a proper XC position.
I believe you’re a smaller rider (sorry if not??) and you would want to make sure you could get your handlebars low enough on something like the Yeti Hardtail.
120mm and ~67°HTA would still be super fast and responsive.
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Good point!
I am relatively small-ish. 5’9 at <65kg most times. on road, i had a very aggressive position.
I am between the yeti arc and the 2021 santa cruz chameleon as a 29er with 130 forks . One thing i am worried about is the slacker seat angle on the SC. It has a shorter stack and built around 120mm so i guess it is considered more XC than the arc? Additionally, can’t you just push the seat forward to negate any ill effects of a slacker Seat tube? I think there is a 26mm difference (76 vs 72.8 deg) I can push the saddle atleast 15mm forward.
I found a deal on the SC chameleon carbon and am considering it - I had my mind on the arc for ages but am unsure if i should swap to the chameleon. Your thoughts?
I suppose it is a LTHT! I appologise i didn’t know that was a thing! I am talking specifically about 120mm to 130mm hardtails, mainly built with carbon that are viable for racing technical xc courses.
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As someone on the previous gen Spark, I can attest that there’s only so much you can do with pushing the seat forward.
Personally I’d go the Highball and get a 110 or 120mm SID or Fox34. I also think the XTC is a great looking Hardtail but the highball has great geo and is much more the DC HT than the chameleon. The Chameleon and Yeti ARC are much more trail HT as far as I can tell with their geo and spec.
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I tried out Grip Shift since I wanted to check if it was a good option before considering the move to AXS. It shifts fine but the problem is you have to reset your hand position before or after a shift. You twist the grip and then need to let go of the grip to move your hand back to the normal riding position. It was very clear to me that its a disadvantage since you don’t have the constant hand position and control that both mechanical and electronic trigger shifters give.
Are you referring to the newest model Epic brain? I really like the newest brain in the rear, much preferred it over the Evo, but agree the front is not good. Front is easy to swap out the fork to SID SL Ultimate.
I don’t move my hand. I have it set up so that the grip shift is under my hand where I would place them for 90% of my riding.
I’ve actually found it’s meant I let go of the bars less and am shifting more.
Admittedly I haven’t found the perfect grip for them which is a bit annoying.
I’m very much looking forward to trying the new TwistLoc on the other side. I have to work out how to integrate a dropper the way I like it though.
Obviously if cost were no object, I’d go AXS shifting and reverb with Zirbel shifters. The problem is the weight and financial costs are both really high and I’d still need to have a blip box or similar which makes for a complicated set up.
I don’t mean moving the hand axially down the length of the handlebar. I was referring to the twist around the bar. When you index the shifter with the twist you can’t leave your hand in that bent wrist position.
That‘s crazy light for the build. The Allied made it in the selection of the Pinkbike Downcountry Field Test. Certainly a good contender but I was surprised that a BC40 in a X01 configuration is North of 10k, once an exclusive Specialized domain.
New Orbea XC Bike?
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Also, does anyone know anything about the future Commencal XC bike?
I know this is the previous model, but still interesting.
It just occurred to me that @Jonathan Might be considering the newest BMC fourstroke. I assumed Epic Evo is the obvious answer when mentioned on IG.
It definitely doesn’t look like a very good bike for traveling with. It sounds like a terrific riding bike though.
Pretty sure there was a brief PB article about it. I’ll have a look.
Small-ish update to this… I swear the Trek website once said 110mm max, but now lists 120mm as the max travel for my Procaliber. Definitely sways my decision, especially since there’s a SID Select for sale nearby at a really good price.
Since commencal is Aluminum only it probably wont be the best race bike due to weight
