- It's a really important thing to add on bikes.
I wish somebody would mention
on an internet forum somewhere.
- Yeah, some sort of website or something.
- I wish somebody would talk about it.
- Yeah that would be good.
(energetic electronic music)
All right everybody, here we are at the 2021
Summer Field Test Enduro Bike Roundtable.
And that means that I have to give these guys
a whole bunch of hard questions.
We're going to talk about the stuff that we didn't like.
And of course, we're going to talk
about the stuff that we did like.
The five enduro bikes we've got here on test are,
We Are One's new Arrival.
That's a 152 millimeter travel bike that looks gorgeous,
uses a new dual link design.
We also have Transition's new Spire.
That's the slackest lowest bike of the bunch
with 170 millimeters of travel.
Also with 170 millimeters of travel is Norco's all new Range
with a high pivot and an idler pulley.
That brings us to the GT Force, 160 mil's of travel.
It also has a high pivot with an idler.
And of course we've got YT's new Capra.
And also, because you guys asked for it in the comments,
and for once we actually listened,
we brought a 2019 Specialized Enduro
that we're going to compare all those bikes to.
Now that Enduro won a field test back in 2019,
and we all really like it.
So it'll be interesting to see
how these all new bikes compare.
Guys, my first question.
We're here testing enduro bikes.
Enduro is a type of racing.
That means we've got to talk about racing.
Henry, if you go racing tomorrow,
- Yup.
- Which bike are you choosing?
- It would be between the Norco and the Transition.
- Okay.
- But.
- Completely different designs.
- Complete different designs.
Different ways to do the same thing, similar things.
Basically a bike is really easy to ride that's long,
it's low, and for me, the transition edges it.
I just felt at home right away.
And it's a very confidence-inspiring bike.
And I think that for a lot of riders
is often one of the deciding factors.
- Yeah.
Something that you mentioned a handful of times,
during the past couple of weeks is how sort of versatile
that Spire manages to be while still offering
some pretty impressive downhill performance.
So I guess my question would be, obviously
the Norco is a monster on the downs,
but is the reason that you pick the Transition
is because it's just more well-rounded?
- That's not, a bad way to think about it, I think it is
more well-rounded if I'm doing (indistinct) race,
- Yeah
- it's going to be paddling.
I'd like to have something that,
- The big days.
- Big days yeah.
I don't think the Transition really has a blind spot
in some of the way that some of the other bikes do.
So for instance, the Norco and the GT are heavy.
- [Mike] Yeah.
- You know,
the YT Capra didn't give me the suspension feel
that I like, and then you've got the, I mean,
very sort of efficient racy feeling
of the shorter travel We Are One.
- Yeah.
- Which is really going to suit some people.
But for me, like I said, I don't feel
like the Transition has that blind spot.
- Yeah. Fair enough.
Matt, as an actual enduro racer,
which bike are you going to choose?
And remember, I'm not going to let you say,
"well it depends on the course" this and that.
This is your enduro race bike for the season.
And that includes races that are fast and smooth,
races that are rough and steep.
Remember, you could also pick the Specialized Enduro
that's a few years old now, so what are you choosing?
- Okay, you know what?
For an all encompassing bike,
the Geo is not outdated on the 2019 Enduro.
It has really good suspension feel. It's lightweight.
There's no crazy long rear end
or long front center, super slack.
It kind of does everything well,
I think I would have to go with that one.
- Over all the new bikes?
- Yeah. They just have, you know,
their little corners where they do everything pretty good,
but for one encompassing bike, the Enduro would be it.
The transition gets a little bit close,
but it did have that small bump compliance issue
that I had with the Capra as well.
Wasn't quite as bad as that, and if it was my own bike,
maybe I'd try a coil shock or something.
I know we aren't going to do any changes, but yeah,
if we had to pick one bone stock bike,
it would probably be the Enduro then.
- All right Matt.
Over the five bikes that we have,
just thinking about rear suspension,
which design impressed you the most
with how it performed out on the trail?
- Ooh, this was a pretty close toss-up
because the We Are One and it's 152 mil travel
against these other bigger bikes was really, really good.
But the Norco was just incredible.
- Yeah.
- It's a high pivot, but it's the virtual high pivot.
So it does a couple other different things
that I mentioned before that single high pivots can't do.
- What are those?
- Well, one would be the independent braking force.
So it isolates that totally.
And then the shock rate's tuned a little bit different
compared to a regular single pivot,
which is kind of solidified there.
- All right. Okay Henry,
there were some things you moaned about
on the suspension front.
They were all fair, though
the Capra was a bit rough for sure,
some of the bikes felt a bit deep,
which bike had the most impressive rear suspension?
And back it up with some facts.
- The most impressive rear suspension on test was the
performance they eked out of 152 mil travel
- [Mike] Right?
on the We Are One.
It is very, very good,
I would love to see that in 170 mil package.
Like I know I'm trying to pick on attributes
so I know that's not necessarily what we want.
- Yeah.
- Just imagine a world, you know,
with the We Are One rear suspension
on the geometry and travel of the Transition.
- Yeah.
- Holy smokes. It would be absolutely fantastic.
- Let's narrow it down to which of these
enduro bikes would be best for someone
who just wants to ride it every day.
Maybe they're not racing,
but they want a big travel slack bike.
Maybe they're sending it all the time,
but they're not going to race.
Matt? What would you recommend?
- I think one of the more well-rounded bikes
in the long travel category would be
the Transition, like Henry mentioned.
- Yeah.
- It's light enough to do everything. It's got, you know,
a lengthy chainstay, but not overly long.
It doesn't grow like some of the high pivot bikes,
So it's still going to be playful.
It's got that aggressive head tube angle,
even in the high setting.
So yeah, nice steep seat angle as well there.
- Henry, earlier you said that you would just ride
the Norco everywhere with your full face
and your knee pads around your ankles.
Is that still true?
- Did I say that?
- No you didn't say that.
(laughter)
- Which bike would you choose though for riding everywhere?
- Uh, the Transition.
- Yeah.
- This is going to be really boring for a lot of people,
most of my answers will be the Transition.
It's a fantastic bike, it's so versatile
because it manages to combine progressive geometry,
a good suspension field.
And I know the We Are One I think is kind of more,
it's kind of like a more of a high-performance feel.
I think it manages to do great variety of things.
What the Transition manages to do, for me at least,
and I know we were not quite on the same page as
one of the few things we didn't agree on,
was the transition enabled a suspension system
that I think a lot of people are gonna get on
and really, really enjoy riding.
- It just works.
- It works, it inspires confidence.
And I don't really see what the blind spot is.
- Yeah.
- I think the Transition, it's long,
but it's not outrageously slow.
- Yep.
- It's got the 78 degree seat tube angle.
So that on climbs, even on tight switchbacks.
- Yeah. That hides so much of that length.
- Yeah totally.
- Yeah, exactly.
All right, let's go to the Bike Park now.
You're going to be spending your entire summer
here at Sun Peaks, riding all the trails,
all the jump lines. This place is fast as hell.
Matt?
- I'm going to go with the Norco.
I'm going to ride more of the downhill tracks,
but I'm still going to peddle
do this really cool Alpine loop up top.
I'm not going to get any comms on it,
but the seat tube angle in the Norco
is going to get me there.
And the chainstay doesn't have that crazy kicking feeling
that some of the other high pivots do
and it can handle the jumps really nicely too.
- Okay, All right.
Henry?
- I mean, I,
I agree in some ways the Norco is a great bike
and a great rounded bike for somebody
who has more of an emphasis on descending.
- It's so big.
- It is so big, but 2021 world, baby. (chuckles)
- Yeah.
- You know, I think for bike park though,
the one that the wide fast trails with braking chatter
and that involved, that GT is really something special.
- Even though it's got a bit less travel than the Norco,
it has an air shock, the Norco's coil,
you would still pick that GT.
- Yeah. I think for a lot of people, you know.
- What about the long seat tube?
- The long seat, yeah. I mean, that could be an issue
for some people. For me, it wasn't an issue.
The actual, you know, on the actual riding on the descent,
it tracks superbly.
- [Mike] Okay.
- You know, and for me, when I'm going
through braking bumps, or God knows how fast
in a bike, the tracks really well.
That's not to say the Norco didn't and I think
you struck on something really interesting there
because you might ride a bike park and it has got
some of that kind of old school, downhill tech,
the Norco for that, its a really great bike.
But we're talking about someone who wants to just, you know,
do big hucks, you know, really fast, flat out wide trails.
The GT is fantastic.
- Okay. I've got a question for both of you guys,
since we're on the subject of big bikes,
which one of these bikes, I know they're not
downhill bikes, but which one of these bikes
comes the closest to being a downhill bike?
I guess my question is which one
is most capable on the descents?
- Okay, well we've seen two of these bikes in downhill form,
- Right?
- dual crown forks,
both raced at world cups by world cup teams.
And that was the GT and the Norco.
Between those two, yeah the seat tube
is a little bit of an issue for me on the GT.
So I would probably choose the Norco.
I also think the suspension was just
a little bit better as well. Yeah.
- Yeah. I mean,
I'd probably fall down on the side of the Norco as well.
For me, it would be between the Transition and the Norco.
And I think that if paddling was taken out of the equation,
you know, the Norco is a bike that could happily take a 40,
you can put it on for three months a year,
and take it off for the rest of the time.
Should you want to really throw money at it, of course.
I, yeah, I think the transition is a very good bike,
but actually a lot of the traits that make it
so good at peddling, you know, for instance,
I don't actually want my downhill bike to be crazy light.
I want something that's quite planted and things
like a coil shock. They will begin to make a lot of sense.
- Yeah. For sure.
What bikes surprise you in a good way, Matt?
- That's definitely gonna be the We Are One.
Yeah.
We're here at Sun Peaks Bike Park
with some of the fastest downhill terrain around.
Yeah, there's really steep, gnarly stuff here.
And that bike can hold its own against these bigger ones.
That suspension is just very efficient for 152 mils
of travel, super snappy in the tight stuff as well.
So it goes really good out here.
- [Mike] Henry?
- Pleasant surprises.
I was actually surprised, to be fair,
by both the Norco and GT.
Once they flip that switch, the geometry
rescued them and they were great peddlers,
a lot better than I thought they were going to be.
Yes, you are making peace with the weight.
Yes there is an idle of which will upset levy
beyond a doubt, but that's only a bonus.
- Unacceptable!
(laughter)
- And the thought of, yeah,
me and you walking up for a ride
and you having to listen to my idler.
(gears turning noise)
- Fantastic, make them louder might as well turbo smoking.
But I think those did surprise me pleasantly.
But, hand on heart would have to be
the pound for pound performance the We Are One
gets out of the 152 mil of travel is remarkable.
- Yeah, okay. Let's, let's be negative for a minute.
I want to know what surprised you in a bad way.
Is there anything that lets you down with these test bikes?
- There were two bikes that had FSR style,
horse link suspension,
and I thought they were going to be a little bit
more compliant on small bump.
And that was the YT and the Transition.
They had two different shocks, both air shocks,
but yeah, I just played with the air pressure
and I still couldn't get that sweet spot
where it was nice and supple and then didn't
blow through to the mid stroke.
And yeah, unfortunately they just always chattered
over like really easy groom surfaces.
It wasn't when it was in the bigger chunk
that they seem to work and push through there.
But even on our test track,
it was a bit more fatiguing on those bikes.
- Yeah, okay, That's fair.
Henry, Bad things?
- Yeah, the only bike I would struggle to say
nice things about,
- Yeah.
- You know, it's a bit like,
it feels a bit like parent's evening.
Like when you got that little toe rag
and the teacher's got to be like,
Oh my God, gotta say something.
- Many memories.
- But um, I just didn't get on with the YT.
- Yeah.
- At all.
- You got to buy a bike today.
It can only be one of our five test bikes.
If you want to buy the expensive, We Are One,
you have the money. If you want to save money, get the GT.
You can do that too.
Which of these bikes would you buy today?
- Personally? I would choose the Norco.
I'm not racing anymore. So yeah.
I have no problem chilling out,
going up the hill a little bit slower.
So my friends are pretty competitive on the way up though.
So I might have, I might fall a little bit behind on that,
but I'm going to smoke them on the downhills
cause this thing just eats.
- Yeah and that's the reason why you would choose it?
- Yeah that's the main priority for me
is having fun on the way downhill and also
being in control, getting lots of traction.
- Being in control, I should try that sometime.
(laughter)
- Yeah. It just hugs the ground,
but it's also lively enough that you can set up
the suspension that it pulls to for big jumps and gaps.
- All right, Henry, you've got a bit of money.
You got to buy one of these five bikes.
- Yeah.
- Which one are you going to purchase and why?
- You know what I'm going to say.
- I do know and I'm already bored.
- There's, there's one bike
I just want to put on some span double A in front of
an open fire and a shag pile rug and just make some sweet-
- A shag pile rug? What kind of bike Park are we at?
I don't know any bike park that does that.
- Well, you know, pull some strings.
- Okay, All right.
- But the transition, it's just such a well-rounded
bike and it's 6,000 bucks, you get a solid spec
that competes with any of these.
- Yeah.
- I think it's such a great bike.
How, what would you go for?
- I mean, honestly that We Are One,
sounds like it probably suits my style of riding
a little bit more.
I like something with a little bit of energy
and life to the pedals.
And I mean, the thing is still super capable
on the downs and I really liked the story behind the bike.
I mean, the thing was made just down the road over there.
Yeah, and did you look at it?
- I mean its beautiful.
- Yeah they built this thing in two years
from like starting the design, the whole design
process took two years.
- Yeah.
- And you wouldn't have to use the climb switch very often.
- Perfect.
Okay.
That is our Roundtable for the 2021 Summer Field Test
in our five enduro bikes,
make sure to stay tuned for more videos from the Field Test
and subscribe, so you don't miss any of them.
(hip hop beat)