5.5.1

So, here it is.

The finale.

It looks like this will unfortunately be the last time I get to ride this bike, as it needs to go back home so it can be ridden by those that created it. I will say though, I had a blast riding it. My first ride, definitely made me want more, and after I had made some necessary component switches to get the riding position I needed, I was a lot more in tune with what it was capable of.

The conditions today were near perfect. Overcast, but very warm at 38°, with about 3" of crunchy snow on the ground. No one had ridden bikes out on the trails in quite some time, and I was amazed that I was able to guess where the trail actually was. Freshies are always fun, even more so when you are riding your bike.

There were certain times when the big guessing game of "what exactly is under all this snow" got ugly, but the 5.5 seemed up to task. There were only a couple of times when I spun out. I was pretty impressed actually. For low speed technical handling, (with my stuff on it) I'd give this bike a 9. Some of the situations where my bars were crossed up, with no forward speed, that should put a person on the ground in a hurry, simply vanished with a quick stomp on the pedals. Good stuff.


One of the things about it that made me wonder what they were thinking though, was the integrated headset. In an effort to keep the front end down, they incorporated the headset into the headtube. They did it in a rather crafty way, but I was pretty disappointed to learn that I would not be able to change the frame geometry in my favor. To me, this could be a deal breaker. I would not want to use this integrated headset on my $2K+ frame, I'd want a King, or at the very least, the option to use one.

So, what are the big changes with all my junk installed? Well, not much. After I figured out that I couldn't raise the front end by adding the lower cup of a headset, or change the geometry enough by adding 5 mm of (working) fork travel, I pretty much tried to mimic the cockpit configuration I was most comfortable with. I ended up with about a mile of spacers under the stem, and then some above to make up the difference.


Now that my riding position was more familiar, I felt I could judge what this bike was capable of. I still kept smacking my heels into the swingarm though, and with the sag set where it needed to be, I actually smacked the pedals into the ground more than I did with my RIP. I will go so far to say, that with a few inches of snow on the ground, it becomes harder to think ahead in the pedalling department. You have no idea what lays under that cold white blanket.

Oh how I wish I could have gotten this bike in August!


Now the riding position felt pretty upright, even more so than with the RIP because of the 73/74° HT/ST angles. While it wasn't necessarily the best conditions to be objective about a bike, the way it handled spoke volumes. I was pretty pumped on how it did. Is my RIP too slack? A back to back shoot out on 6 Flags would be the only way to tell.

I never got to go very fast, but I did get to put it in some precarious positions. And it did well. Lateral stiffness seemed like it might be a problem on the trail, but it wasn't apparent during the ride. In fact, there were a couple of fast switchbacks that were executed with two wheel steering at speed. I knew where those wheels were at all times, and was able to count on them being there once I was used to the sensation. Just goes to show you, what you think on the sales floor, and how it works in the wild, can sometimes be two very different things. Think about the feeling when carving a powder turn on a snowboard or skis , I was there today on two wheels. Sweet!


Would I buy this bike? I think so. I'd love to ride it on Perry Hill in the middle of summer, but from what I have learned about it, in less than perfect conditions, it can certainly get the job done. We'll see how production frames differ from this prototype, but as far as I'm concerned, it's just about there. It made me smile today, and any time you walk away from a ride with a big grin, it's a good thing.