Trigger pulled

[Rontele]

Partially hopping off the 29er bandwagon

Pulling all the parts off the Sultan and putting a Pike 426 with through axle on the front.

I'm kind of looking forward to having actual tire choices.

Anyone want to buy a Sultan and/or WB Fluid 135 fork?

[XtrPickels]

Looks pretty hawt

[LaBelle23]

Good. You can be our guniea pig. Did you get a large?

[Vicious]

fuggin sick dood! we really need to hang sooner than later

[cowdog]

Watching the suspension animation on the maelstrom (marque animation didn't work for me) was really interesting. Having the swingarm pivots around the bottom bracket is sneaky and sort of cool. I am also intrigued by (and perplexed in visualizing how it works) the swingarm mounted idler pulley. The adjustable headtube angle is interesting and makes sense given your comments about what you wanted to change with the sultan. Overall really interesting and really psick looking!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corsair...7604693463591/

[Rontele]

Good. You can be our guniea pig. Did you get a large?

Of course! and Luke, we'll have to swap bikes sometime

[cowdog]

Rontele, any ride reports yet? It has been about 14 hours.

[Rontele]

Rontele, any ride reports yet? It has been about 14 hours.

I have a UPS tracking number...

Not this, but next weekend.

[LaBelle23]

^^^ YEs! And it looks like the upslope is coming just in time for the weekend! You may be aggrevated this weekend, but at least the trails will get some much needed moisture.

[Crinkle]

how is it that some one so un-hawt can surround himself with so much sex?

killer looking frame, can't wait to see/fondle the finished project.

[Rontele]

^^^ YEs! And it looks like the upslope is coming just in time for the weekend! You may be aggrevated this weekend, but at least the trails will get some much needed moisture.

It works out well as I am going to Carbondale to see the folks and ski this weekend. The bike wouldn't be ready to go until next week when it looks warm.

Crinkle, truer words have never been spoken.

[Tap]

Rontele, any ride reports yet? It has been about 14 hours.

check here

[Rontele]

check here

[Z]

that thing looks $$$$$$$$. I want.


Since we would ride the same size, any idea when you might unload that thing for the new hotness?

[marshalolson]

i already called dibs

[Crinkle]

marshal that is fuct, because you both beat me to it.

[trainnvain]

Well, I guess I am worse than Rontele at life.
That thing fucking rocks.

[scrublover]

so, so interested in that frame, size medium. got to make myself wait for more ride reports though, and see if any first generation issues crop up.

the idea of running that with a pike up front and using the adjustable headset to slacken it to about 66hta is very appealing!
short travel, small and tough bike with slack angles but not "slopestyle" tank heavy sounds good to me.

[Rontele]

Here is a review from someone on MTBR. So take it for FWIW. 23.6 doesn't seem that short of a TT.

That bike leaning against the blue garage door is mine. Got out for a few rides in Moab last weekend. Disclaimer - Corsair Bikes is a client, I do the graphic design and creative along with a reasonable amount of product testing and rah rah rah.

Long Winded Stuff Starts Now:

I am not sure what was being weighed to get 8lbs, my large weighed just under 9.5 lbs with shock, seat clamp, headset and Maxle. Not light, but that includes a few more parts than usually considered when listing a frame weight. Also, my feeling is that if you are attracted to a trail bike with a 66 degree head angle with a 6" fork, you probably aren't going to be too broke up when your bike weighs 34 lbs. Build is lots of SRAM stuff with lots of Gravity Light stuff. Mavic Crossmax XL wheels and 2.35 UST Nevegals. I predict that most builds will be in the 32-35lb range.

Geometry with the Fox Talas is just as you would expect, when the fork is at 130 the head angle measures right at the listed 67 degrees, so cranking it up to 160 or down to 100 gives you a one-degree change.

Down: The frame is a bit shorter than I am accustomed to (for a size Large trail bike) and fits more like my FR or DH bikes so it was instantly comfortable going downhill. The suspension design loves square-edged hits and it rails flat, loose corners quite nicely, thank you. The pivot location causes the wheelbase to grow a bit as you push into corners or g-outs, so it has an extremely grounded feel with lots of predictability. The flip side of this is it took a little more effort to get the front end up or snap out of corners quickly, but I was so busy being impressed by the traction and stability (particularly whenever I remembered I was riding a 34lb bike) that I didn't mind the trade-off. I never felt the rear suspension bottom until I was running almost 40% sag... I was happier (and so was the shock) at about 30% sag which I achieved with 70psi in Roco, or 40% of rider weight for those of you that want a quick reference to start from. The suspension gets really progressive in the last 25% of the stroke so I am running the absolute minimum recommended air pressure in the piggyback.

Up: Climbing with the short top tube was awkward for me. The bike definitely pedals better than just about any other frame I have ridden because of the idler pulley, but the short cockpit made things tricky for my knees if I got out of the saddle. Maybe it's for the best - staying in the saddle caused me to discover my favorite aspect of this bike: the Marque is unreal if you just keep your butt planted and pedal. The high rearward pivot was eating the ledges on the Amasa Back climb like no bike I have ever ridden. Where I might normally stand to let the bike ease up a ledge, I was able to stay seated and let the suspension do the work. I experimented with fork height and naturally the 100mm setting on the Talas gave me the most comfortable climbing geometry at the expense of several bashring/pedal strikes. If you plan to shorten your fork for climbing I think 165mm cranks are probably a good idea.

What else? It took me a few minutes longer than usual to get the front derailleur dialed, but once adjusted the shifting was very good. The idler pulley is louder than a traditional drivetrain but not really any louder than most chainguides. I am running a blackspire stinger and everything is nice and secure. I stuck strips of fuzzy velcro inside the top and bottom interior of the chain tunnel and that made the bike basically silent when coasting through chunky stuff (learned this trick on a prototype Maelstrom) Oh, and in my rush to ride I forgot to wrap my chainstay but there isn't a single mark on it after some serious Moab chunder.

Wrap Up: The bike does what you hope it will do when you read that geometry chart and start to smile. Its a freeride bike in a trailbike package. I would confidently hit just about anything on this rig that I would hit on my FR bike. It climbs surprisingly well, especially considering you can smoke your buddies on their big bikes when you head back down. Was there anything I didn't like? The pedal strikes on the climb (with the fork in shorty mode) didn't bother me, but I fully understand that it's annoying to some people. My only gripe is with the TT length. I wish it was longer like the Large Maelstrom. That would put it more in the All-Day Bike range (for me) but maybe then it wouldn't be as much fun going down? There's always a trade-off.

Hope this is helpful, I am sure with a few of these frames starting to pop up we will start to get a good range of info and opinions.

[bagtagley]

I was just reading that over there. 9.5 pounds is a bit of a surprise. Solid review, and the geometry makes it so damn tempting.

[Rontele]

I was just reading that over there. 9.5 pounds is a bit of a surprise. Solid review, and the geometry makes it so damn tempting.

Agreed. However, 32-35 lbs. overall build is perfect.

[marshalolson]

9.5 does not sound too bad if you factor in that a headset like they are using (effectively a 1.5->1 1/8 reducer with angle adjust) is about .7lbs... so 8.4 frame and shock? heavy compared to a 575 or something, but well, if you want this bike, you don't want a 575 anyways.

[marshalolson]

i wonder if i could get away with this built up at 32 with a 32t single up front and a 11-34 rear. hmmmmm....

[Rontele]

i wonder if i could get away with this built up at 32 with a 32t single up front and a 11-34 rear. hmmmmm....

If you could find me a 30t front, I'd say we could experiment with my bike.

[marshalolson]

wrench science say 8.41 w/o headset. and with my parts, 30.5 lbs. hmmm...