[Music]
Hey everyone welcome!
This is Diamondback Crimson, a big box store 29er that can be found at SportChek, the biggest sporting goods retailer in Canada,
and especially when on sale, this bike can be had for under 1500 dollars, tax in, which is pretty amazing for what it provides.
So is this bike one of the best budget hardtails for 2023?
Is this even trail worthy? Let's check it out before the rain hits us today.
With the kids growing up we were already in the market for a budget hardtail like this
but when SportCheck reached out to me asking if I want to review a bike like this I was skeptical
because the Big Box store bikes that you usually see are not the type of bikes that we ride.
But when I saw the components of this bike and the geometry of the frame I was immediately interested.
So here is the Diamondback Crimson 29er that they sent me for review,
they did send me a Medium bike, and this is for riders 5'6"-5'10',
bike was designed in Canada as you see on that sticker and that is pretty cool for a Canadian like me to review a Canadian bike!
This is not the old 70.5 degree head angle hardtail that you're used to see.
This is actually a modern geometry bike
and if you look at that 66.5 head angle, seat tube is at 73.5 degrees which is pretty classic for a hardtail
same with the chainstays at 440mm.
This comes with a 120 mm fork that should make this trailer worthy if nothing else.
And I started with frame geometry numbers because that dictates how this bike will behave on the trails
and it's one of the main reasons why we decided to go with this bike.
But what about the components that this bike is built with?
And if we start here at the back of the bike, the saddle is actually a WTB Rocket, you see the width 142 mm
and this is connected to a 30.9 mm seat tube that has a Quick Release which is lovely because you can easily lower the saddle or raise it
depending onwhether you're going up and down.
I wish the bike came with a dropper post but guess what? The frame is ready to accept a dropper post
and in the little baggie that you get with the bike you have the two grommets that you're gonna need when running a remote for the dropper.
A rider has 3 contact points with the bike: one is the saddle,
one is the handlebar and the grips and the third one would be the pedals,
and if we're looking here at the handlebars, this bike comes with what's called lock-on grips which are nice and comfortable,
you have a 760 mm aluminum bar and a 50 mm stem that is modern by any standards
and you can see the FSA on the top cap.
The headset is tapered so that means 1-1/8" to 1.5" and while you are not going to notice that when riding
in reality if you were to upgrade the bike down the road, install a better fork,
you have a lot more options to choose from if your head tube, the frame head tube is tapered like this one is.
Whether you're fast or not, brakes play a big role in making sure that the ergonomics of your cockpit are right
and these Tektro Auriga brakes are not only powerful enough
but they also provide something that I love. And that is short levers for one finger breaking.
The short levers of Tektro Auriga brakes are coupled with 2-piston calipers and surprisingly with Shimano 160 mm rotors,
you're gonna see the same caliper and rotor combination both on the front and rear of the bike.
We've used Tektro brakes in the past and even though they are not considered to be premium
they're actually pretty good, they never gave us any trouble,
they use mineral oil so they are easy to service, and the pads are easy to find out there in the marketplace.
[Music]
The last control on your handlebar is a bit of a surprise again, is this: the shifter
This is an SLX 12 speed from Shimano which is kind of unheard of for a budget bike like this
Not only that the bike comes with the SLX shifter, but you're also getting the SLX derailleur with a clutch
and you're also getting the 10-51T cassette, SLX again,
which is not the cheapest price point 12 speed that you can get from Shimano, it is actually one step up!
They did go with a KMC 12-speed chain and you can see the crankset
this is a ProWheel MPX, 175 mm that uses a 30T narrow-wide profile chainring.
Bottom bracket is also ProWheel and this frame comes with a threaded bottom bracket
so you can easily upgrade it or replace it one day if you need to.
And I mentioned that the 3rd contact point with the bike is the pedals.
What you're getting standard is these Victor VP-565 aluminum flat pedals that are good enough if you are a beginner
but I would argue if you were to go faster or ride trails like the ones that you see throughout this video
you should consider upgrading them to something that gives you a bit more grip if nothing else.
[Music]
Going back to the drivetrain for a second, that 10-51T cassette from Shimano
also means that you are getting what's called a Micro Spline freehub,
the rear hub of this bike is a Shimano FH-MT500 and this comes with 135 mm spacing
which is pretty normal for a budget bike like this.
However the rear triangle of the bike is modified so it accepts bigger tires
these are 29 x 2.4" tires installed
and you already have a lot of room around it to go even bigger than that if you wish to do so.
To save a bit of cost, the front wheel doesn't come with a Shimano branded hub
however to my surprise this hub is what's called Boost hub so you have wider, 110mm spacing
and it also comes with a thru axle so that's pretty modern by any standards.
Wheels are completed with basic spokes, you can see the brass nipples that should last for ever
and surprisingly we have WTB i30 rims that are 30 mm ID/ internal dimension,
they provide a good support for that 2.4" tire that come standard with the bike.
We're talking about the Maxxis Ardent 2.4" 29ers,
of course you can see these are the EXO so the reinforced sidewall tires.
We've been using Maxxis for a long, long time and I can tell you a tire like this that is not tubeless ready
will actually work tubeless no problem, especially since the rims are already standard tubeless from WTB.
The one thing that is weird though on this rims is the valve, this comes with a Schrader valve that's similar to your car
usually bikes get what's called the Presta but that's not really an issue if you were to turn these tubeless.
You can use valves like this ones and you make that conversion very easy, all you probably need is a rim tape and you're ready to go!
[Music]
That 66.5 degrees head tube angle goes very well with the 120 mm fork
and even though this is considered to be a budget fork it is an air fork,
this is a RockShox Judy that was believe it or not launched in 1995 and this used to be one of the crown jewels from RockShox.
You can see the air cap here on the left leg, on the right side you're gonna see the damper,
this is the cheaper damper from RockShox, is called the TK or TurnKey,
you have 30 millimeter, steel stanchions and as you go down you're gonna see the rebound adjuster.
This is the usual 5 click that RockShox provides for this kind of forks
and while this budget air fork doesn't accept volume spacers to adjust it I will highly recommend to go to RockShox Trailhead
plug in your information and start adjusting the bike from there.
A fork like this Judy Silver TK will be perfect for a beginner to intermediate rider
you would definitely feel when you start to overwhelm the fork, whether you're going too fast or you're too heavy for it.
As for other details of the frame, you have the ability to install a bottle cage in the front triangle
you also have a little bit of clear tape protection here on the chainstays,
you have internally routed cables and you see a zip tie here that I used to just bunch them together underneath the bottom bracket.
But enough nerdy talk about the geometry numbers and components, how does this bike perform out on the trails?
[Music]
So what did you think about riding the Crimson 29er today?
Well, it took me a little bit to get used to it but once I did I had a lot of fun riding it.
I think it would make a very good intermediate or beginner bike
and if I were to ride it on a daily basis I think the only thing I would change would be adding a dropper post
but other than that it's very much ready to enjoy the trails with!
That was my son making the best out of a rainy day and you can see how even in those slippery conditions
the bike performed well and not just for a budget hardtail.
Bike is built with standard components so it can be easily upgraded.
Needless to say in 2023 summer, I would highly recommend a budget hardtail like this
and that is not just because Sportchek sent this to me to review it.
So what do you guys think about this Diamondback Crimson 29er?
Would you consider a bike like this?
Have you ever tried a Diamondback bike? After all they've been around since 1977.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
As usual let us know if you have any questions, don't forget to like, subscribe, and comment,
and until next time hope to see folks on the trails.
Cheers guys, cheers!