Big Wheels keep on turning

The start of Slacky's latest love affair.

Cannondale Twenty Niner 1



After working on lefty's for the last year and a half, I really wanted to get a bike with a lefty on it to race on. They are lighter and far stiffer than normal forks........and different. Only problem was that there was no way that I was going back to a 26" hardtail, especially an alloy one, and at the spec level I wanted, a scalpel was a million miles out of my price range. Going the the catalogues and spying pics on teh Interwebby, the 29er caught my eye, cool paint and retro graphics and of course, the carbon lefty.

Now whilst knowing that Cabin races a 29" bike and loves it, and having done a 12 hour solo on a fixed 700x32c bike and also the Infamous SS cyclocross 24 hour team, I had a notion of how big wheels rans, but it was still quite a leap into the dark.
The worst part was the wait, the eta of the bike was pushed back several times, and it showed up the tuesday after the Wild Wellington race. I can neither confirm nor deny that I was bouncing around, clapping my hands and giggling like a lil schoolgirl. I was a tad excited tho.
So I blew off track that night to stay late at work and build my new baby up.
Some people might not like the colour and graphics, but they really do it for me
The cool thing about the Lefty on this bike is that it's the same as the one of the Team Scalpel, just with less travel to accomodate the larger wheel. Weighing in at only 1174 grams and being far stiffer than a normal XC fork. It just really push's my buttons.
I had a couple of spec changes in mind from the begining. I replaced the XT shifters with XTR for the bling factor and the double downshift. Swapped out the alloy riser bars for flat carbon Raceface Next SL bars. I also swapped out the Truvativ Carbon post for a longer Raceface Next carbon post with far less setback. Also the fizik seat for a Specialized Phenom SL to pamper my tushy. I also fitted Shimano Endcaps and seals to the cables to keep my shifting smooth for longer.
So the bike with those few spec changes, and the Stans Arch rims, FSA afterburner BB30 cranks, XTR shadow rr Dr (Haft mere Carbon bling), Conti Raceking 2.2 tires, XT brakes and the super light lefty fork, came to a svelte (for a 29") 23.7 pounds.
I got up extra early the day after building the bike up so I could get a ride in before work. a quick blat over Mt Vic and up to Brooklyn and down back door. The thing that struck me was that it wasn't hard to accelerate. Sure a fraction more noticeable mass in the wheels but not a lot. And the frame is so stiff, and the BB30 BB so so smooth that when you give the pedals the good news, the bike shoots forwards like a rocket. I found that climbing on the 29er I aws using the same gears as on a fully, but due to the bigger wheels I was going faster. Coming down backdoor was definitly an eyeopener. The steering is so precise that when your not used to it, it's almost too quick. And when your going down offcamber, the fork/wheel isn't wandering around like a normal fork does. I found myself telling myself off for making or anticipating steering correction, cos the lefty tracked so true and straight. And over roots, OMFG, unbelievable.
But hey, it's stil a hardtail, it's still rougher than a fully, but it's so much smoother than a 26" hardtail, even a steel one.
I raced it for the frist time at the PNP final at Makara and I noticed a significant improvement in my climbing, I was going gangbusters in 2nd as well, until I sliced the sidewall of the rear Conti Raceking. Just one of those things I reckon, althought they do have quite thin sidewalls at 650g. So I retaliated by putting an even lighter Stans Raven tire on. Very very quick tire, and surprisingly grippy too.
The standout feature of this bike tho, has got to be the way it just eats up flowly singletrack. To the point where even I'm starting to feel uncomfortable with the speed. It's just that much faster in flowly singletrack than any bike I've ridden. I'm getting used to it now tho
The big wheels don't like to be thrown around at all tho. So I'm having to make quite a consicous effort to change my style of riding. You need to stay off the front brake more and earlier in corners due to the bigger wheel and larger gyroscopic effect. And I've found that you steer more with the inside hand than you do on a normal bike.
But I'm stoked, the way this bike climbs (the macrocarpa climb on Mt Vic is far easier than on even a fully), the way it handles singletrack, the way the big wheels smooth out rocks and roots, and the fact that my fork is lighter than yours!! It's an awesome race bike, which is what it's getting used for. Sub 2:30 Karapoti, here I come