- Hey everybody.
(Mike screams)
What was that?
(Mike screams)
(Mike laughing)
(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, and welcome back to the Field Test.
I'm Mike Levy and right over there is a gravel road
that I'm gonna pedal up, way too many times,
and that means that you're watching, the efficiency test.
Behind me are five of the latest trail bikes
and five of the latest enduro bikes.
And today, we're gonna try to figure out
which one has the most efficient rear suspension design.
Sure, most of these bikes have pedal assist switches,
but around here, and plenty of other places in the world,
there's lots of rolling mixed terrain
where it's not gonna make sense.
Now in those moments,
I still want a bike that doesn't waste
any of the megawatts that I'm putting out.
So here's how we're gonna figure this out.
I've measured out a half kilometer course
up this steep gravel fire road,
1,338,
1,339,
1,000...
Shit.
And I put Freelap timing cones
at the start and the finish lines.
I've got a set of Garmin Vector pedals and a 1030 head unit.
Now, I've programmed a power zone on that Garmin computer,
and the idea there is I'm gonna hold
the same average watts for every lap up
a hill on every bike.
Now that should mean that the faster the time,
the more efficient the bike.
All of the trail bikes are wearing matching tires
and the same goes for the enduro bikes,
and of course,
they've all been inflated to matching tire pressures.
All of the suspension has been set up correctly
for my weight, and we're leaving it fully open as well.
Notice for that giant,
with the live valve suspension,
I'm gonna have to do a few laps
with it set to it's one out of five most active setting,
and then I'm gonna do a few laps
set to it's five out of five least active setting,
just to be fair.
Every bike is gonna get a few runs
up a relatively short climb,
but remember that the differences you see here
are only going to be amplified the longer your ride is.
So if you're out there all day,
well, then those differences might add up.
Now, I know we're not switching wheels
and we're not using supercomputers
to find out the friction coefficient
between my ass and my shammy
and taking that into account,
but just like the impossible climb,
we're our here and hopefully we're gonna learn
something from this.
(upbeat music)
All right, Ibis Mojo, version four,
these things have always been good climbers.
(upbeat music)
2:56 for the Ibis.
It feels sportier than that honestly,
(takes deep breathe)
but there you go, 2:56, nominal power, 303.
So right in that ballpark again.
I think I'm gonna try to knock three watts off that.
Maybe I'll feel a little better when I get up here.
Okay, next up is Giant's Trance X with the live valve.
So with this one, we've set the live valve
to one out of five, it's most active setting
for the first attempt.
(upbeat music)
Felt like a hardtail.
Honestly, like it's rougher over those bumps.
No doubt about it.
Like I know it's supposed to open all this stuff, whatever.
Like the other bikes don't feel like that over the bumps,
but it literally feels like a hardtail.
Yeah, and that was on one out of five.
(upbeat music)
Second lap through, same nominal power.
Well, one watt lower, two minutes, 45 seconds.
So, too tired to do math.
It's at four seconds back over almost three minutes.
And that was with it set at a five out of five.
So it's the most efficient setting.
So, a few seconds quicker than when it was one out of five.
Alright, Barney, the big purple trail leader.
Let's see how it eats this climb.
(upbeat music)
You know, it didn't feel bad.
(upbeat music)
Didn't feel like the Trance X,
but it sure as hell ain't supposed to be I guess, is it?
Let's do it again.
(upbeat music)
Okay, normalized power 302 watts.
So a couple of watts above.
Still, didn't really help.
Three minutes, 12 seconds for the P-Train.
It felt like a lot more work.
All new Specialized Stump Jumper
ditches the horse link, sure feels speedier.
Let's see what it's like.
(upbeat music)
(gasping for air)
It felt very different than the Giant.
The Giant, even in the least active setting
that matched this time, it felt firm.
Like you hit the bumps, you feel the bumps.
Specialized definitely way more forgiving.
I stay seated the whole time.
It didn't really feel, I mean the Giant's very firmer.
It feels like it would go quicker,
but the times matched.
We had the Giant beaded on five out of five,
like maximum live valving.
But, I mean it's not cheating,
but at the same time.
I feel like it's cheating a little bit.
Okay, now we're up with Norco's 38 pound free ride bike.
There's no skinnies on this climb,
but let's see how she does.
It feels like it pedals decently well.
(breathes out)
It's 10 pounds heavier than the Ibis though, geez.
(gasping for air)
Geez.
Three minutes, 24 seconds for the Norco Shore.
I tell you, that didn't feel great.
So here's the thing,
it didn't pedal poorly.
Like the bike doesn't feel like it pedals bad.
Kazimer wasn't lying when he said it surprised him that way.
It gets moving, but it's just so heavy.
And it is a lot of travel.
Like even not under the saddle.
Seated, pedaling hard you just, it does move.
I mean, it's a 180 mil bike.
(upbeat music)
(gasping for air)
Oh boy.
Okay, Rocky Mountain 304,
power 304 too.
This thing, so I rode the Shore just before the Altitude.
Shore feels a bit chubby.
(chuckles)
Okay.
Next up, Propane's big Spindrift, 180 millimeters.
(upbeat music)
(Mike grunts)
Three, three on the dot for the Propane.
The Spindrift is the co chubbiest bike here.
It's 180 mil from back, same as that Shore type.
It feels a lot better than the Shore going up here.
But I think it's just that weight difference
to be honest with you.
And, yeah it pedals well,
and the steep steat angle,
and there's, you know, it's got a coil spring shock
that's not moving around a whole ton.
I mean, I wouldn't want to peddle it all day everywhere.
Like this wouldn't be my only bike
even here in Squamish.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
Oh boy.
(gasping)
We're getting near the end of it, thank god.
Slash to the 3:10.
(breathing heavily)
Didn't feel terrible, to be honest.
It's not moving around a whole bunch.
Just kind of goes about its way.
Nothing feels as good as that (mumbles) course.
The trail bike.
And then that's specialized wasn't far behind.
So far the Propane.
Nomad time.
(upbeat music)
Okay.
Nomad, 2:54.
(breathing heavily)
Power, 302.
(upbeat music)
There you guys go.
(upbeat music)
I don't know about you guys,
but I definitely don't think I need to do any more climbing
and I bet you don't want to watch any more climbing.
In fact, I'm not even gonna ride a bike home.
I'm just going to walk home, I'm out of here.
(upbeat music)
Oh shit.
Make sure to like and subscribe
to not miss any Field Test, Round Table, reviews
and all those things.
(upbeat music)