- [Levy] Who says Lycra isn't cool? C'mon!
No-handed wheelie! (all laughing)
(bass heavy music)
(Levy yelling)
(upbeat music)
- We're here for the cross country field test,
and we're gonna talk down country
bikes in a round-table format.
We've got Mike Levy, who's been riding all the bikes,
Mike Kazimer, who's joining us virtually from Bellingham-
there's a global pandemic going on,
couldn't get across the American border.
Levy's been riding the Cannondale Scalpel SE,
Yeti SB115, Specialized Epic EVO,
Transition Spur, and Revel's Ranger.
- Out of these five bikes, Levy, what was your favorite?
- Well, for around here, it has to that Transition Spur.
That thing is incredible on the downhills.
It's so stable and planted and capable.
They've done something really special there,
with the geometry, but not only just that,
the suspension, too. It's just 120 millimeters,
but that geometry lets you hit things very fast.
And the suspension, I mean, I ran as much as
35 percent SAG without any issues
on a 120 millimeter travel bike, so...
For here, the Transition Spur is definitely
my favorite bike, but- I mean, that Revel Ranger,
that's a close second, Kazimer.
- Hey, if you ever decided between the two-
Let's say you go somewhere a little bit mellower
than Squamish, say, like the beach, Eastern Mountains,
somewhere more rolling terrain... - Yep?
- Would you still go with that Spur?
Or would you go, maybe Revel?
- I honestly- I don't think it would be
the Spur or the Revel, as impressive as they are
when it's steep and rough, that Cannondale
and that Epic EVO (low whistle).
They're- they cover ground really well,
especially the Epic EVO. It's like 21-something pounds
if I wanted to maybe do the odd cross country race.
- [Sarah] (making sounds of agreement)
- [Levy] Yeah, that Epic EVO, that's the one
I'm getting, the S-Works bike - [Sarah] Yeah, it has
the dropper post- I'm pretty jealous of that.
- Yeah. - I mean, it's pretty similar
to a race bike, but at the same time...
- Right. - Yeah, pretty good.
- Yeah. I guess, on the topic of racing,
say we're gonna do something like a BC Bike Race,
which you've done before. You know, a one week long,
multi-day, kinda stage race. - [Levy] Yep.
- Would you still go to Epic or would you go
with something a little more comfortable?
- No, I think I would do that Epic EVO again,
to be honest with you. It pedals so well and
the descents- I mean, it's a- the descents on the
BC Bike Race, they can be fairly "rooty",
typical BC stuff, but even so, I think that
I'm not in that sort of situation,
I'm not attacking the descents, you know? In a
cross country race, you're using it to recover.
You're still trying to go fast and make up time,
of course. - And usually, you cramp.
If you try to attack - Right. (scoffing)
- The descents on something like, the BC Bike Race.
(all laugh) - I always cramp
as soon as I attack - Yeah, me too.
- The descents so... - Pretty much.
- Don't do that. - I discovered that,
when you came to BC, - Right.
The descents are so much longer.
- Yeah. - And if you try to
attack them... - And rougher.
- It's like your doing huge, like a huge
number of squats. - Yeah, that exactly it.
So, I definitely wouldn't reach for the Spur
or the Revel if I was racing the BC Bike Race.
Even though they are faster bikes on those sorts
of down hills, I would still reach for the Epic EVO.
- All right, we'll keep going with racing theme so,
which one is the most efficient and then
which one runs the fastest, as far as your lap times go?
- As far as lap times go, I think it was that
Epic EVO that had the fastest overall lap.
It also felt pretty dang efficient, to be honest.
Yeah, it had a lot of, kind of, "get up and go" behind it.
- All right, so you got- kinda the Spur is your favorite.
Which one of these was your least favorite?
- Yeah, I think that's gonna have to go to
Yeti's SB115, and I know that it's the same frame
as the SB100... - [Sarah] And you loved
the 100. - I loved the 100, but...
- Yeah, you wrote a lot of words about that.
(all laugh) - I did. I wrote a
few thousand words; Kazimer had to edit them all.
You know, when I rode that SB100,
it felt modern, it felt fun, but I don't get
that from this bike. It's still extremely capable,
but it just didn't light a fire under me in the
same way that the other bikes did, you know?
The Scalpel really excelled on technical,
tricky climbs. That was kinda where it was
head and shoulders above the rest,
and there were other places where
the other bikes excelled, too.
The Yeti is a great bike, but it didn't beat
any of these other bikes, in any of the categories.
- In compromise, not everything.
- Exactly, yeah. And- I mean, that might
actually make it a good option for somebody
who is looking for a great, all-arounder,
and doesn't need the speed or the S-Works,
doesn't need the descending capabilities of the
Spur or the Ranger so, yeah.
- That bike had the longest travel fork out of all,
and they put a 130 fork on that, and it kinda
pushes into its own little- like, past
down country, but not quite trail, so
- Yeah. - I do see how you could think
it kinda falls into its own little
extra, extra nitchy-nitch. - Yeah, exactly. And when
we reviewed the bike, I talked about that too,
that it almost, at times, felt more like a trail bike
with cross country-ish geometry, to be honest
with you, and yeah, it just didn't
click for me here on this terrain.
- Speaking of geometry, you know, you've kind of
talked about a lot for all categories of bikes,
but for these ones- do you get that kind of
slack or longer treatment? Does it seem like it
works pretty well for this type of category?
Like the Spur has a 66 degree head angle, 480 reach,
like those- two years you would've thought those
numbers were crazy. - Yeah. (chuckling)
- But now... - Two years ago?
- It doesn't feel crazy. - Two years ago,
Levy definitely would've talked shit about
those numbers on a bike that's made to pedal.
It didn't go too far. There's a lot of people
that are gonna make great use of these angles,
and that bike. I mean, especially in places
like this or where Kazimer lives, in Bellingham,
but it's too far for a lot of
traditional cross country riders.
- Where do you see the future of this category going?
You've got these bikes, they are kind of
pushing the boundaries, as far as numbers,
we've seen on short travel bikes,
but to go slacker, longer...
- Yeah. - Or is this kind of tapping out?
- Yeah. So, for sure, there's always
somebody who's going slacker and longer,
but you know, I don't think it's the answer
for the majority of cross country riders, I mean...
It makes the bike a handful and in the tricky stuff,
I think we're gonna see stuff settling around
that 65 degree to 67 degree head angle
for down country stuff, but saying that,
there's always the manufacturers
that are offering the outliers, you know?
- To wrap it up, I guess let's hit on
where there any surprises in this category,
whether that's a bike or a component or anything
in particular that's really- caught you off guard?
- [Levy] You know, sometimes we do these group tests
and we get a bike in, and it turns out that
it is nothing like its numbers and its components
and the suspension says it would be,
and we're surprised, but that wasn't the case
this time around. We had a couple bikes that were-
they definitely took the more aggressive approach,
and that was the Spur and the Revel,
and we had the others bikes, that took a more-
sort of, classic approach to it.
And the Specialized Epic EVO, it sort of
split the middle there, so to be honest with you,
all of them sort of ended up how I expected them to-
not a lot of surprises this time around.
So, Kazimer, you're not here, you're trapped
in the States. I know you weren't too, super keen
on coming up here and wearing Lycra anyway,
but if I could box up any of my five bikes
and ship them to you, which one would you pick?
- [Kazimer] I'll take that Spur. I mean, I've ridden
that bike before and I really do like it,
so I'd like to spend more time on it, but...
- Yeah. - [Kazimer] I'd be interested
to try that Epic EVO. That looks pretty fun...
- [Levy] Yeah, for sure, - [Kazimer] Or the Revel.
Actually all of these bikes are super interesting,
so whatever one you wanna put in a box and
send down here, I'll ride it. - [Levy] All right.
All right, so that is it for the down
country bikes in this round table discussion.
We hope you guys enjoyed our video reviews.
Stay tuned for more down the road. Sarah?
I think it's time we go do some
"down countrying", ourself, isn't it?
- Yeah! Good verb, I like it!
Sounds good to me. - All right.
Kazimer, see you later!
(laptop shutting)
(upbeat music continued)