Grape Koolaid: A Canfield Yelli Screamy Review (With Stoke!)

[toast2266]

Me:
5'8, 150 ish.
Riding (Mountain Bikes) for ~16 years.
Pretty solid downhiller. Pretty mediocre on uphills.
Likes: rocky, rooty loam, preferably steep.
Dislikes: machine built trails (although there are exceptions - looking at you dirt merchant).

The bike / setup:
Medium Canfield Bros. Yelli Screamy (29er).
A hodge podge of parts pulled off of other bikes; Reba RLT 29 (set at 100mm currently), Bontrager RLX R. wheel, WTB something-or-other f. wheel, Thomson seatpost / stem (70mm), Sunline v1 bar, cut to about 29", xt cranks (thanks Marshall), 1x9 drivetrain, avid juicy 5's, time pedals.
Weighs in at around 26.4 lbs as built.





I've owned a 29er for a few years now; my previous ride was a raleigh xxix, which I hated. It was good for going out and getting a quick pedal in when I was feeling lazy, but it wasn't any fun to ride. I rode some other 29ers, and they generally felt the same way; they plunder over trail detritus quite nicely, but they handle like shit. What I really disliked about them is that 1) they don't like to turn, and railing them into a berm felt, at best stupid, at worst sketchy; 2) manualing them was next to impossible in a trail setting (I could sort of get the front end up on smooth surfaces, but I felt like I was going to herniate myself from pulling up on the bars so hard); and 3) when trying to bunnyhop them, I felt like a monkey fucking a football.

So I'd pretty much written off the 29er thing. They have some benefits, but for me, the downsides were far more significant. But then I saw the Canfields - they make the yelli screamy, which is aluminum, and the nimble 9, which is essentially the same frame but steel (and is also single speed-able). They have super short chainstays (16.7"), and a relatively slack head angle (69 degrees) which had me wondering if they might actually handle acceptably well. All the reviews I've read were favorable, but I was still a bit skeptical of the wagon wheels. I happened to run into Sean from Canfield Bros. at a race earlier in the summer, and he said the bike was actually as fun as I wanted it to be. That, along with the great deal that he hooked me up with finally convinced me to go for it. Bought, built it up (an uneventful process, which is good), and got some rides in on it.

Initial impression: holyshitthisbikeisawesome!

More in depth impressions:
My late night build only left time for a quick spin around some neighborhood trails. The bike felt fun, but lots of bikes feel fun on flat smooth trails. Next up was my backyard pumptrack. This was a better test, since I have yet to find a 29er that didn't feel totally stupid in the pumptrack. The Canfield was pretty damn fun (although I won't be selling my dirt jumper any time soon). It was a good start though; I did not yet regret my purchase.

Over the past two weeks, I've had a chance to put it through the paces on some of our local trails.

Climbing: I expected this thing to be a wheelie machine. The short stays, coupled with what feels to me like a relatively tall front end seems like it'd be a recipe for crappy climbing once the going gets steep. I was pleasantly surprised on the trail. With the 1x9 setup (which makes my easy gear a 32x32), I can easily stay seated until I can't pedal anymore. Basically, it has to be really steep before the front end starts to come up.

Descending: This bike goes down stuff fast. The current limitation in downhill plundering is the tires, not the frame. I've ridden a lot of bikes, especially 29ers, that just feel sort of sketchy on the descents, at least until you get used to them. I felt immediately at home on the Canfield, and was starting to hit jumps and drops on my first ride. The best way I can describe it is that it feels like a dirt jumper that's been tweaked a little bit to make it trail friendly. I'd compare it to a santa cruz chameleon, or something along those lines. And when I say that, I don't mean, "it's like a santa cruz chameleon that someone bolted 29 inch wheels to." I mean it actually rides more or less like a 26" trail bike that's geared towards going downhill and hitting jumps.

Other notes: As much as I really like this bike, I do occasionally still notice that it's a 29er. Usually that comes on funky corners where the big wheels just don't like to come around as quickly. I'd generally say that (compared to other 29ers I've ridden), that effect is extremely minimal though. What I notice more is that the wheels are flexy when pushed hard. I anticipate that the 29'r hoops are not going to hold up very well to the beating they're going to take on this frame. The frame says "go bigger pussy!" The wheels say "you're mean."

Pros:
Slays trails
Pedals like a hardtail
doesn't usually feel like a 29er, but still rolls over stuff nicely.

Cons:
Still occasionally feels like a 29er
has 29er wheels on it
Not the lightest frame out there

Things I'd change if I were building the frame:
I have to run a fair amount of seatpost to get pedal-friendly leg extension. The frame has 3 sets of waterbottle mounts (seat tube, top and bottom of downtube). The seat tube mounts keep me from slamming the seatpost down as far as I'd like to for the descents. I'd rather have only two WB mounts and be able to drop my seat all the way.

The chainline is a bit finicky. My 32 tooth ring barely fits (I had to monkey around with BB spacers). If I spaced it any farther out, my chainline would suck. This could be a problem for people who want to run 2x9/10 + bashguard; there's not enough clearance for a bigger ring in the "middle" mounting position on the cranks.

Now for some Yelli-Screamy stoke; this bike slays all manner of trail features:

Bridges:


Steeps:


Wooden Contraptions:






Drops:


These images are brought to you by my dutiful photographer, Mrs. Toast, seen here shredding the gnar:


(more pics below since I screwed up the attachments on the first try)

[laxman2001]

huh. I don't see anything.

[Dickeymotto]

[toast2266]

huh. everything shows up on my screen. try now.

Edit: it limited me to 10 attachments. Here are the missing ones:

[joetron]

Those pictures are terrifying. Holy shit. Way to rally the fuck out of that thing.

[buttahflake]

^no doubt! that is totally badass.

[creaky fossil]

swanky! way to rally that shit. are those at Spencer?

I've ridden with Mr Toast, he's being very modest about his descending and climbing abilities. "Mediocre" climber compared to Sam Schultz maybe. Merely a "solid" descender compared to Aaron Gwin maybe.

[toast2266]

swanky! way to rally that shit. are those at Spencer?

Yeah - all at spencer. That place is the bee's knees.

[marshalolson]

Those pictures are terrifying. Holy shit. Way to rally the fuck out of that thing.

x10

wow.

building a nimble 9 literally right now. this thread has inspired that build to hasten.

nice work.

[ectreeskier11]

damn, that is awesome. huckin on a hardtail, nice. where is 'spencer'?

[creaky fossil]

where is 'spencer'?

South of British Columbia, North of Wyoming.

[toast2266]

damn, that is awesome. huckin on a hardtail, nice. where is 'spencer'?

Whitefish, MT. With a bit of luck and continued cooperation from the DNRC, those trails will be fully signed and legalized within the next year.

Edit: sorry CF - I let the cat out of the bag. They're not very secret these days, and we're actually trying to get more people to ride them (it helps the legalization process if we show there's broad interest in this sort of riding).

[ectreeskier11]

sweet. if i for some reason (unlikely) make it there with a bike in my car i will be sure to look it up. looks way fun, i'm not complaining about the multitude of options we now have in UT for "freeriding" but that stuff looks to be on an even higher level than (almost) anything here.

[good4nothing]

The wheels say "you're mean."

I bet they do.....jesus man. Way to throw down on the 29er hardtail.

[Conundrum]

I've been riding a Yelli for almost a year and share your thoughts. I'm running a 120 fork with no issues. The chainlove was tricky (36/22) but I worked it out. To run a little bigger tire in the rear, I had to grind the downpull lever off.

I really dig the bike though.

[Gripen]

Nice work! That shit on Spencer is intense even in my DH bike, way too kill it!

And yea, Spencer kicks ass, rode it a few weeks ago when I was home, they just continue making it better!

[Dantheman]

If that is merely "solid" descending I may as well just quit right now. Sweet jesus.

[AfroMullet]

this is amazing.
you are rallying with a water bottle on your bike. take that, "downhillers."

[kidwoo]

I know it makes me a bad person because you're obviously killing it on that road bike........but I can't stop laughing at this picture.



I can literally feel the strain in your tendons.

[creaky fossil]

Edit: sorry CF - I let the cat out of the bag. They're not very secret these days, and we're actually trying to get more people to ride them (it helps the legalization process if we show there's broad interest in this sort of riding).

No worries; I have no interest in Fish area trail protection or promotion. Been a while since I was there; it was still under the radar back then. Stunts look a lot less dumb-spoiled-hippie style, a lot better made since I was there.

Regardless... great riding shots! I like the natural stuff like where Mrs Toast is in the frame:

[toast2266]

No worries; I have no interest in Fish area trail protection or promotion. Been a while since I was there; it was still under the radar back then. Stunts look a lot less dumb-spoiled-hippie style, a lot better made since I was there.

Regardless... great riding shots! I like the natural stuff like where Mrs Toast is in the frame:

yeah - definitely not under the radar anymore. DNRC has all of those trails mapped, and is actually [kinda-sorta] ok with them. They at least acknowledge that they're really cool, and they've agreed to refrain from ripping them out as long as people stop building new stuff. We're in the midst of working a deal where the local club takes primary liability for the trails (via an insurance policy issued through IMBA), and in return we get to keep the trails and maintain them. Of course, that all may become moot since they're planning on logging the whole area within the next couple years. We're all hoping the trails survive, but I'm not holding my breath.

And yeah, most of the stunts are ridiculously well built. The corkscrew-wallride thing is a pretty impressive piece of work. That place has definitely graduated beyond "sketchy stunts built out of twigs" status.

[Crabbait]

I am currently building that bike right now. How hard are the chainline issues to solve? Three spacers drive side? Was hoping for a 3x9. Can I get a shot of Toast or Conundrums bb junction?

TIA

[lph]

wow. so friggin impressive.

[jm2e]

Brilliant stoke.
Mrs Toast on 29s too?

[toast2266]

I am currently building that bike right now. How hard are the chainline issues to solve? Three spacers drive side? Was hoping for a 3x9. Can I get a shot of Toast or Conundrums bb junction?

TIA

Not a big deal to solve. I don't remember exactly what width spacers I have on each side, but I basically just played around with different spacers on the drive side until the chainring was as tight as I could get it to the stay, and then tossed whatever remaining spacers were necessary to get the width right on the non-drive side. I think it might be a .8mm on the drive, and a 2.5 + .7mm on the non-drive. The attached pics show the spacers and the clearance between the frame and the ring (32t, mounted to the inside position on XT cranks). This setup makes my chainline close to perfect - maybe just slightly too far out.