I purchased this bike as my first "proper" bike for general cross country and single track riding. I was originally going for a hard tail, but this bike was discounted so I went for this! (I've checked and the bike is still available at www.paulscycles.co.uk)
With 4" of travel front and back, supplied by the Manitou Splice Comp forks and the RockShox BAR 2.1, I have found it more then enough for my riding - I'm glad I did not go for anything with more travel as I still rate myself as a beginner (having not been on a bkie for 15 years) - anything more would hide my faults enough for me not to learn from my mistakes.
The Splice Comp allows you to vary the rebound to the extent of locking it completely which I have found useful, but as you have to lean down to turn the adjuster which is situated on the top of the right hand leg, I sometimes forget to turn it back and find myself going downhill without any damping! The BAR 2.1 is also the same in allowing you to vary the reboud adjustment.
Ride and handling are solid and the bike has shrugged off the odd crash with no problems. The Shimano Deore hydraulic brakes work well and give lots of control is these situations!.
The only slight problem I've had was the front derailleur in pushing the chain across to the big chainring, but managed to fix this after a bit of fiddling.
For the future, I'll probably upgrade the cranks to XT (being lighter and more smoother than the Shimano M440 fitted) and also the forks to 120mm travel. (The higher spec Fuel 90 has the RockShox Recon 351 U-Turn which is 85-130mm, so I know my frame can take the change)
All in all a good bike, especially if you can find it cheap as I did!
(I've updated this 30/12/06 after some more riding and a bit more experience!)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Could do with some more info to gain higher ratings. Take a look at others review and you will soon get to know the level of info that is needed for a very helpful review if not more. x
COOOEEE 27.11.2006 16:30
A good start but if you feel you would like to add or expand on the details in the review at any time in the future you can do this by pressing the edit link in the centre at the top of your review as you read it. Welcome to Ciao. Fionaxx
ciaomeister1 25.11.2006 15:29
Sounds like you got quite a bargain ~ welcome to Ciao. If you want, you can edit this review, adding more information which normally leads to people giving you higher ratings. Beckie x
helpful by (90%):
somewhat helpful by (10%):
