Out in Utah, I came to the conclusion that no matter how much Grace might like the hardtail, it's just not for me. I got sick of being bounced around, and didn't really feel like it was all that much more efficient than my Superlight. However, I have always thought the Superlight was a bit too flexible for me, (and my weight) so after seeing how well Aaron and Mark did on their Marin Mount Vision trail bikes, I decided it might be time for me to get a trailbike.
Grace was checking the MASS schedule, and saw that there was a race at Fair Hills this past weekend. She's been wanting to get back into the racing, so we decided to go. Then, I found out that Trek and Gary Fisher would be bringing demo bikes... score! One of the bikes I've looked at recently is the Fisher HiFi 29er -- a full suspension bike with 100mm of travel front and rear *and* big 29" wheels. Although I wasn't that impressed with the big wheels on my Karate Monkey, I still see the merits, and DZ is a huge proponent and keeps talking about them.
So, I left my bike at home (still packed up in the box) and brought my helmet, shoes, and gloves. When I got there, all they had was a large HiFi 29er, not the XL, but I figured I was more interested in the ride, and a large should be close enough. Sign the waiver, hand over my driver's license, they set up the suspension for my weight, popped on some eggbeater pedals, and I was good to go.
I'm not very familiar with Fair Hills, so I set out to find some singletrack. If I could stay off the race course, that would be great, and if I could find some bumpy, rocky sections, that would be golden. Well, I followed some fire road which lead me to the race course, but just off of that, I found some singletrack which wasn't part of the course. It was nice and swoopy, with climbs and descents, and good turns with which to get a feel for the handling of the bike. Unfortunately, it was pretty darn smooth -- I'm pretty sure I could have cleared it on my road bike.
One of the first things I noticed was that the bike handled well. It turned around some of the tighter corners pretty darn well, which was very impressive for a big bike with big wheels. In fact, it handled the turns about as well as my Scott Scale hardtail, which I thought was pretty good. Then again, I was still getting used to it, so I didn't really ask it for THAT much, but I did notice that it steered like a very light bike. I also couldn't help but notice that on the hardpack and road sections I rode it, the suspension felt very efficient... not too much suspension movement, very little sensation of wasted energy. Even out of the saddle on short steep climbs, the suspension didn't seem to be a hindrance at all. It was certainly a bunch smoother than my hardtail, that's for sure.
And now... for the bad. First and foremost, this was definitely a demo bike. Standing for a short hill in the middle of the cassette, the chain started jumping ... either the chain or the cassette was significantly worn, and not worn together. I was able to ride skip free in either end of the cassette; either low gears or high. That wasn't too bad until the front dérailleur stopped working altogether. I had dropped to the granny on a longer climb to test the seated climbing (which was good) and thankfully got back to the middle ring, but later when I tried to use the big ring... nothing. It wouldn't drop down to the granny, either. So I was left with about four or five usable gears, with a BIG gap between them.
None of that is really a fault of the bike design though, just a function of it being a demo bike. As for the bike design, when I tried to lift the front end on a climb with a step-up over a large root, I discovered that the 29" wheels are significantly heavier I'm used to. I barely got the wheel off the ground, and it felt like there was a cinder block attached to the bars. Surprising for a bike which handled like it was so light. The good part is the big wheels handled the roots with no problem at all.
All in all, I really enjoyed the bike. It rode and handled well, and impressed with its efficient suspension. I might want to do something about the heavy front end with some lighter wheels, but I could definitely see this being a bike that I could live with.
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