January 19, 2011
Mid Winter Wonderland Mountain Biking, Squamish, BC - and a quick test ride of the new Chromag 29er

Awesome day mountain biking the Wonderland Trails in Squamish. Last week we were skiing in 50cm of fresh snow and this week we are mountain biking in some perfect dirt! Below the photos are a initial impressions of the Chromag 29er prototype and below that is a short video....

Got the chance to try out the Chromag 29er today. This is by far the best 29er I have ridden and I have owned and extensively ridden quite a few (Vassago Jaberwocky, Salsa Mamasita, Surly Karate Monkey, Lynsky Ti, Voodoo Ti and Redline Monocog) I felt like this bike was MADE for the trails we were riding today and it is definately different than any other 29er too...as you would figure coming from the Chromag guys.

Ian had it set up with a 50mm stem, 140mm Rockshox fork with 20mm Maxle Lite, SRAM X0 10 speed and Hammerschmidt cranks...BLING!! Probably the best spec'd 29er I have ever ridden too. The 2.4 Maxxis Ardents were grabbin traction everywhere....even on the slippery, somewhat iced up roots. The bike was really stable to jump, easy to bunny hop and get the front up for drops. Climbing wise, the front end stuck to the ground on the steeps and switchbacks were handled with ease. I did not notice any of the "sluggish" and slow speed handling, cornering or acceleration that soo many generic 29ers are plagued with. This Chromag 29er ripped the twisty, techy singletrack!

Another noticeable point of this BIG WHEELED BIKE was the fairly steep seat tube which puts the pedals right underneath you and allows you to generate HEAPS of power to the pedals. We are seeing this a bit more often on 26 wheeled trail and all-mountain bikes as of late but I dont think any other 29er manufacturers are doing this yet. This prototype was short-ish feeling with pretty short chainstays as well...and I think we will see even shorter chainstays on the production model. Overall I think this is going to be a standout from the crowd 29er which will convert alot of 26 inch trailbike riders to the wagon wheels.

***I really had a great ride today thanks to this sweet bike, beautiful sunny winter day and the fact it was my first time on the mountain bike since winter hit a few months back. So keep that in mind when reading this (overally) STOKED quick review of the Chromag 29er prototype ;)

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