If you follow the downhill scene you won't have missed the fact that Stevie Smith took the 2013 World Cup title on a Devinci and Damien Oton took second overall in the 2014 Enduro World Series. There's a ton of this gravity-winning experience and downhill DNA in the new Troy Carbon trail bike too, which shows very clearly on the trail.
The Split Pivot axle
concentric is the obvious shared feature with the Wilson DH bike and Atlas
enduro bike and it gives a distinctive ride feel. While it's soft off the top
and very plush through the mid stroke if you're off the power, it starts
ramping up noticeably in the second half of the travel. That means you'll
rarely get the maximum travel marker right down the shaft unless you properly
pile drive it off a drop or nearly trash a rim on a flat slap into a
squareedge.
You certainly won't
feel short changed on travel as it sustains speed extremely well across rough,
rocky ground as long as you keep pressure off the pedals. It's also very eager
to get the back wheel down onto the ground as soon as possible so traction is
consistently excellent particularly when tracking across deep pockets between
tree roots. The very short chainstay length also speeds up rear end reactions
in terms of suspension response and cut and paste agility.
This balances the
relatively low, stretched out front end, which naturally stays steady and
predictable through the 780mm wide bars for a playful yet planted feel. The
linear twin travel Pike matches with the easy early stroke to stop the
67-degree (or 67.5 depending on geometry chip position) head angle sinking too
much under braking or cornering. We still ran it a bit harder than we would a
fixed travel Pike when we were pushing it hard to be double sure it didn't
dive, but we were deep into enduro rather than trail bike territory before
these traits were obvious.
Dual control
The dual travel fork
came into its own when we accidentally peeled off down a steep downhill track
in Boltana and had to winch ourselves back up super-tight switchbacks. Crawling
back up in granny gear did make the 'anti squat' pedal pull back of the Split
Pivot system really obvious if the shock wasn't totally locked out. There are
also occasional moments when the pedal stroke and suspension kickback from deep
in the travel coincide to create a sudden choke as though the freehub has
skipped a beat.
The flipside is a very
firm and direct pedalling feel when you're on smoother trails that don't push
the shock too deep. With the carbon frame giving a reasonable 14kg overall
weight you can certainly hustle it faster than its big Schwalbe tyres and
relatively heavy and wide Jalco-rimmed wheels would imply.
Our time on the
extended descents of Spain proved that Split Pivot is definitely a split
personality that works best either being pedalled or flowing through trouble
flat out but not if you try and mix the two together.
SO GOOD
- Impressively smooth
and controlled speed sustain for 140mm.
- Carbon frameset and
Split Pivot mean efficient pedalling.
- Surefooted front end
amped up with responsive rear.
- Deore/SLX spec shows
just how good basic Shimano is.
NO GOOD
- Serious pedal
kickback particularly in the granny ring.
- Slightly soft frame
and suspension can dull feedback.
WEIGHT 14.02kg (30.90lb)