Saturday, December 06, 2008

Saturday rant

I used to have a lot of respect for Dirt Rag. Well, a little, anyway. They used to review gear and actually mention that it sucked, or at least point out that a lot of the manufacturer's claims were just standard industry hype, rather than just printing them verbatim like Bicycling or the always-awful Mountain Bike Action.

So I occasionally peruse their website (I get enough junk mail, and spend enough time reading about bikes, without subscribing... ok, I'm just a cheap bastard) and this morning I found their interview with the newly-resurrected Eastern Wood Research designer/owner Jay de Jesus. Jay makes some bold statements about the geometry and design of his frame:
"The 70.75 degree head angle is designed around the new fork offset of 46mm, we are able to achieve a frame that can be nimble and precise at trail-riding pace plus stable and comfortably flick-able at speed. This is a combination of head angle, seat angle, BB height, front center and cockpit height."


Ah, stable and flickable! My favorite 2 meaningless, hackneyed adjectives. Is there a bike out there that *doesn't* claim to be stable and flickable these days? Can't we move on to something new? I submit: "We are able to achieve a frame that is firm, yet yielding . Slim, yet extravagantly voluptuous. It attacks the descents like a rogue wave of ritalin addled ninjas, and floats up the climbs on the wings of an angelic choir."

Furthermore:

I designed it for balance. Our bikes wheelie, manual, climb, accelerate and descend very well—those are not traits that riders generally associate 29ers with. I firmly believe that we have the best handling frame out there, which is why we label it as the “World’s Most Versatile Hardtail.”

Wait, 29ers don't "wheelie, manuel, climb, accelerate, and descend" well? Well, jeez! Silly me! I somehow didn't realize all these years how absolutely crappy 29ers all are, for, say, going uphill. Or downhill. It's a good thing EWR is here to fix all those darn problems, or we'd all be stuck riding in slow circles in parking lots, making futile attempts to manual and sobbing quietly.

Let's see what the geometry actually is - maybe if I study this carefully, *my* 29ers won't be so terrible anymore! (as reported in an earlier DR article):
* Head Tube Angle: 70.75°
* Seat Tube Angle: 73.5°
* Top Tube Length: 23.7″ (medium), 24.6″ (large)
* BB Height: 12.25″
* Chainstay Length: 17.43″

"Most versatile", eh? Looks to me like it's a pretty bone standard 29er geometry in the era of 46mm offset forks - 71ish degree HTA is pretty normal, as is 73.5 STA, and ~12" BB, ~17.5" CS. So unless a quarter of a degree of HTA is creating the world's best handling frame, I think it should go something like this:

"Well, we built a durable frame with a cool look and nice standard unthreatening geometry. It's got a lot of retro charm, but modern handling, and it's made in the good old US of A. Well worth the price, we think."

"We've also recently sworn off hyperbole, which we feel adds about $500 to the value of the bike."

That's honestly what this frame is. A good solid bike made by people who know what they're doing (well, at least I hope they do, given how they've run their mouths about the darn things). Whether or not it's worth $1500 for a non-custom steel frame is up to their customers to decide, obviously, but claiming that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread is just silly. Shame on Dirt Rag for printing this kind of uncritical tripe.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

We all know the toaster is the best thing since sliced bread!

Anonymous said...

Does it ride "laterally stiff yet vertically compliant"?

steve garro said...

they don't even make them - bilenky does. that's where the extra $500.00 comes in - they have to pay themselves after they pay the actual builder - but, have to agree with ya, that geometry is about what an average rider would get from me. steve.

Anonymous said...

I've *recently sworn off the hyperbole* (though I enjoyed reading that DR's test DT *wheelset installed quickly*) and thumb past the product reviews to the Access Action pages. (Which has more useful info then the IMBA newsletters, but thats my own rant.)

Feldy said...

I just don't understand how a 29er is the "Original Woods Bike." The original one was 26".

Jeez, Walt, you should get on track with this clever marketing talk, that way you'd sell more DH bikes.

fomenter said...

I enjoy a good diatribe. And sartorial offerings with attitude that come in black.

Rody said...

Walt,

Just checked in on the blog for the first time...nice rant for a first impression ;)

Never understood the affection DR has for Jay, but good for him.

FWIW...I still have the original Hairy Eyeball (aka Woods Bike) fixture in storage if you want to borrow it to produce some authentic "East Coast single track" frames...it's too bad that so much of the market is driven by dribble passed off as hype.

BTW, cool tees!

cheers,

rody

Anonymous said...

Steve,
Thank you for saying what i was going to say. It upsets me that Jay does not come cleaner about the fact that Simon Firth of Bilenky builds those bikes. Jay does not fabricate and that is IMO the first problem with any "designer" they actually don't get it if they can not build it. Even if it is a proto and then they farm it out for quantity.

Read the hype about their "tubing selection". There is more 4130 in that bike than is claimed. I am fine with 4130 but admit you are using it.

Sorry for the rant but being in Philadelphia i hear it all so much!

Cheers,
Drew

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Walt and I sit on opposite sides of the 29er fence, but his thoughts on this matter are right on target.

Oh fucking hum. Same shit, different sticker.

Bike reviews in either bicycle magazines or motorcycle magazines are an absolute joke on every level. The best I consistantly find are the reviews in Roadracing World, but they sometimes stray to ad copy and lean hard toward track worthyness. While they never say something sucks, they come as close as an advertizer will put up with.

My most hated word: 'nimble'

What the fuck does nimble mean? I know what the definition is, but by it's usage it seems that it means that something has pnumatic tires.

Anonymous said...

Wow. I can't believe you made it all the way through that interview. That thing lost me at the second paragraph. I remember the originals way back in the early 90's. Ugliest frame of all time. Who was it..?? Alpinestars? WTF?

Enel said...

Great rant! I thought much the same on reading the article.

E