Well, soon after we got that bike for her, my current bike, a Rocky Mountain Element Race, developed a problem with the Truvativ bottom bracket -- part of it broke and I couldn't get it out of the frame! Of course, I used this as the opportunity to bring up a Superlight for me. Surprisingly enough, Grace agreed, although she remains convinced I broke the BB on purpose. Soon after, I had a Superlight of my own, and after I built it up, I took a picture with the two bikes together behind my car. That's the picture to the right.Fast forward to the present. Grace has always loved carbon fiber bikes, ever since she got a chance to ride a carbon fiber Giant road bike. Unfortunately that one didn't fit her right, but when she heard of the Scott Scale which is full carbon and amazingly light, well, she wanted one. We agreed in the summer of last year that the Scale would be her Christmas present, and I started watching for used ones -- because the price of a new one was just stupid. I managed to find her one just before Christmas ( perfect timing! ) and built it up soon after.
Well, it turned out to be the same "night and day" difference all over again. Along with the Juliana, we had gotten her an aluminum Giant hardtail, which was really light at 1338g (2.9lbs) but way overbuilt with some seriously oversized tubes. This made for a stiff bike which had a pretty punishing ride. Enter the Scott, which was insanely light -- 1006g for a bare frame! -- and had the wonderful ride of carbon, and she was lovin' life all over again.
See where this is going? Yep. Wouldn't you know that my rear shock on my Santa Cruz would start acting up around the same time as she got the Scale? Again, I claim complete innocence, but what better way to avoid problems with a rear shock than not have one? I started watching for Scales in my size, but honestly more out of amusement than anything. Well, as luck would have it, I put in a low bid on an eBay auction for an XL scale frame, and wound up winning it!
Well, it took me a little while to get it built up, but I finally did... and I figured I had to duplicate the two bikes together, behind the car picture:
As you can see, the ridiculous size difference still remains...
How does it ride? Just like carbon. I have a carbon fiber road bike too, and they're surprisingly similar in the ride. The best way to describe it would be a softtail suspension bike, with just a teensy little bit of travel in the back. It smooths out the little junk on the trail or the road to an amazing degree. However, hit a sharp bump, and you are reminded that the carbon frame is still a very, very stiff frame. Sharp bumps are ... well, sharp. But then again, every aluminum hardtail I've ridden is like that on all bumps! Stand up and jam on the pedals, and the bike just simply shoots forward.
Weight? Well, Grace's is now hovering right on the edge of 20.0lbs. Mine is at 24lbs, but that's with very heavy wheels and tires. At some point (hopefully soon) I'll get better wheels and lighter tires, and I expect to see my bike dip below 23lbs. Pretty respectable since my bike is still a 3x9! I had my Superlight under 24lbs configured as a 1x9, but the Scott rides like it's already 4lbs lighter.
I've always been a fan of well constructed carbon fiber bikes... and this new one just serves to reaffirm that.
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