Best 2020 Downcountry Bike: Round Table Discussion

Who says Lycra isn't cool?

 C'mon! No-handed wheelie!  - We're here for thecross country field test, and we're gonna talk down country bikes in a round-table format. We've got Mike Levy, who'sbeen riding all the bikes, Mike Kazimer, who's joiningus virtually from Bellingham- there's a global pandemic going on, couldn't get across the American border. Levy's been riding theCannondale Scalpel SE, Yeti SB115, Specialized Epic EVO, Transition Spur, and Revel's Ranger. - Out of these five bikes,Levy, 

what was your favorite?

 - Well, for around here, ithas to that Transition Spur. That thing is incredible on the downhills. It's so stable and planted and capable. They've done somethingreally special there, with the geometry, but not only just that, the suspension, too. It'sjust 120 millimeters, but that geometry letsyou hit things very fast. And the suspension, Imean, I ran as much as 35 percent SAG without any issues on a 120 millimeter travel bike, so... For here, the TransitionSpur is definitely my favorite bike, but- Imean, that Revel Ranger, that's a close second, Kazimer. - Hey, if you everdecided between the two- Let's say you go somewherea little bit mellower than Squamish, say, like thebeach, Eastern Mountains, somewhere more rolling terrain... - Yep? - 

Would you still go with that Spur? 

Or would you go, maybe Revel?

 - I honestly- I don't think it would be the Spur or the Revel,as impressive as they are when it's steep and rough, that Cannondale and that Epic EVO (low whistle). They're- they cover ground really well, especially the Epic EVO.It's like 21-something pounds if I wanted to maybe dothe odd cross country race. - [Sarah] (making sounds of agreement) - [Levy] Yeah, thatEpic EVO, that's the one I'm getting, the S-Works bike- [Sarah] Yeah, it has the dropper post- I'mpretty jealous of that. - Yeah.- I mean, it's pretty similar to a race bike, but at the same time... - Right.- Yeah, pretty good. - Yeah. 

I guess, on the topic of racing, say we're gonna do somethinglike a BC Bike Race, which you've done before.You know, a one week long, multi-day, kinda stage race.- [Levy] Yep. - Would you still goto Epic or would you go with something a little more comfortable? - No, I think I woulddo that Epic EVO again, to be honest with you.It pedals so well and the descents- I mean, it'sa- the descents on the BC Bike Race, they can be fairly "rooty", typical BC stuff, buteven so, I think that I'm not in that sort of situation, I'm not attacking thedescents, you know? 

In a cross country race, you'reusing it to recover. You're still trying togo fast and make up time, of course.- And usually, you cramp. If you try to attack- Right. (scoffing) - The descents on somethinglike, the BC Bike Race. (all laugh)- I always cramp as soon as I attack- Yeah, me too. - The descents so...- Pretty much. - Don't do that.- I discovered that, when you came to BC,- Right. 

The descents are so much longer. - Yeah.- And if you try to attack them...- And rougher. - It's like your doing huge, like a huge number of squats.- Yeah, that exactly it. So, I definitely wouldn'treach for the Spur or the Revel if I wasracing the BC Bike Race. Even though they arefaster bikes on those sorts of down hills, I would stillreach for the Epic EVO. - All right, we'll keepgoing with racing theme so, which one is the most efficient and then which one runs the fastest,as far as your lap times go? 

As far as lap timesgo, I think it was that Epic EVO that had the fastest overall lap. It also felt pretty dangefficient, to be honest. Yeah, it had a lot of, kindof, "get up and go" behind it. - All right, so you got- kindathe Spur is your favorite. Which one of these wasyour least favorite? - Yeah, I think that's gonna have to go to Yeti's SB115, and I knowthat it's the same frame as the SB100...- [Sarah] And you loved the 100.- I loved the 100, but... - Yeah, you wrote a lotof words about that. (all laugh)- I did. 

I wrote a few thousand words; Kazimerhad to edit them all. You know, when I rode that SB100, it felt modern, it feltfun, but I don't get that from this bike. It'sstill extremely capable, but it just didn't lighta fire under me in the same way that the otherbikes did, you know? The Scalpel really excelled on technical, tricky climbs. That was kinda where it was head and shoulders above the rest, and there were other places where the other bikes excelled, too. 

The Yeti is a greatbike, but it didn't beat any of these other bikes,in any of the categories. - In compromise, not everything. - Exactly, yeah. And- I mean, that might actually make it a goodoption for somebody who is looking for a great, all-arounder, and doesn't need the speed or the S-Works, doesn't need the descendingcapabilities of the Spur or the Ranger so, yeah. 

- That bike had the longesttravel fork out of all, and they put a 130 forkon that, and it kinda pushes into its own little- like, past down country, but not quite trail, so - Yeah.- I do see how you could think it kinda falls into its own little extra, extra nitchy-nitch.- Yeah, exactly. And when we reviewed the bike, Italked about that too, that it almost, at times,felt more like a trail bike with cross country-ishgeometry, to be honest with you, and yeah, it just didn't click for me here on this terrain.

 - Speaking of geometry,you know, you've kind of talked about a lot forall categories of bikes, but for these ones- doyou get that kind of slack or longer treatment?Does it seem like it works pretty well forthis type of category? Like the Spur has a 66degree head angle, 480 reach, like those- two years youwould've thought those numbers were crazy.- Yeah. (chuckling) - But now...- Two years ago? - It doesn't feel crazy.- Two years ago, Levy definitely would've talked shit about those numbers on a bikethat's made to pedal. 

It didn't go too far.There's a lot of people that are gonna make greatuse of these angles, and that bike. I mean,especially in places like this or where Kazimerlives, in Bellingham, but it's too far for a lot of traditional cross country riders. - Where do you see the futureof this category going? You've got these bikes, they are kind of pushing the boundaries, as far as numbers, we've seen on short travel bikes, but to go slacker, longer... - Yeah. - Or is this kind of tapping out?

 - Yeah. So, for sure, there's always somebody who's going slacker and longer, but you know, I don'tthink it's the answer for the majority of crosscountry riders, I mean... It makes the bike a handfuland in the tricky stuff, I think we're gonna seestuff settling around that 65 degree to 67 degree head angle for down country stuff, but saying that, there's always the manufacturers that are offering the outliers, you know?

 - To wrap it up, I guess let's hit on where there any surprisesin this category, whether that's a bike ora component or anything in particular that's really-caught you off guard? - [Levy] You know, sometimeswe do these group tests and we get a bike in,and it turns out that it is nothing like itsnumbers and its components and the suspension says it would be, and we're surprised,but that wasn't the case this time around. 

We hada couple bikes that were- they definitely took themore aggressive approach, and that was the Spur and the Revel, and we had the othersbikes, that took a more- sort of, classic approach to it. And the Specialized Epic EVO, it sort of split the middle there,so to be honest with you, all of them sort of endedup how I expected them to- not a lot of surprises this time around. So, Kazimer, you're nothere, you're trapped in the States. 

I know youweren't too, super keen on coming up here andwearing Lycra anyway, but if I could box up any of my five bikes and ship them to you,which one would you pick? - [Kazimer] I'll take thatSpur. I mean, I've ridden that bike before and I really do like it, so I'd like to spendmore time on it, but... - Yeah.- [Kazimer] I'd be interested to try that Epic EVO.That looks pretty fun... - [Levy] Yeah, for sure,- [Kazimer] Or the Revel. 

Actually all of these bikesare super interesting, so whatever one you wanna put in a box and send down here, I'll ride it.- [Levy] All right. All right, so that is it for the down country bikes in thisround table discussion.  Stay tuned for more down the road.