Conference noted::bicycle

2988.0. "Demo Cannondales at Loon this Sat." by SALEM::SHAW () Thu Jul 06 1995 11:18

    
    Last weekend I went up to Loon for some mountain biking and 
    camping. If anyone  here likes a real good challenge, then this is 
    one of 'em. They were working on the intermediate runs so from the 
    top all that was open was the Experts Only ;-). The run starts from 
    right under the Gondola and goes down upper Angel Street for those 
    who don't know it, its a black diamond ski run, This part was so 
    steep and gravel surface, I had my breaks on, could see that my 
    wheels were not turning but was still sliding down. The path quickly
    turns into a single track through the woods behind the mountain and 
    brings you down by the Loon pound, gorgeous (sp) views. Then down 
    some steep narrow trail with occassional switch back turns and 
    plenty of mud spots. At some points the mud was so heavy that we 
    opted to chicken out and walk the bikes through while hanging on the 
    side of the trial. Some braver souls tried to bike it. None made it
    all the way, This one guy that fell in the mud in front of us, when 
    he got up, he was knee deep in mud. There are some real steep sections
    some uphill, that I didn't see anyone make it all the way, had to 
    get up and and some super steep downhills, I realy can't see how anyone
    would want a clipless pedal in real steeps like this. Didn't see anyone
    with clippless atempting these rides. Even the toe clip is a stupid 
    burden when you are going down that fast and have to guide the bike 
    by dragging your feet on many occassions. 
    The bike shop at the mountain, has Proflex and Giant. So I got to demo
    a couple of the proflex bikes on real expert terrain. I tell you this
    run is not for the weak of heart ;-)
    The lower end proflex Attack cost $1300.00 with Girvin forks up front 
    and I think it was fox in the rear. As much as I was ready to hate 
    these Girvins (I don't like their looks) but they were great. A big 
    preformance differences from the Judy's.  But I did not like the STX 
    drive train, and the Gripshifts. Especially the front shifter. It just 
    is not as accurate and fast as the rapid fire plus. The front shifters
    felt almost like a phase shifter and not index. when shifting from 
    low to high, you always had to play around a little to fine tune it in. 
    Not for me, not when you're going down 30 - 40 miles an hour and all of
    a sudden you go around a switch back and its uphill from there. 
    I tried the Proflex 855. ;-) now this is a bike I loved riding and 
    it had the XT rapid fire plus shifters I had to stiffen the rear shocks 
    a bit to take a good ponding but not only I did the downhills a lot 
    faster than on my own bike, it climb with real ease too.  Funny thing
    was this was at the end of the day after three + hours of riding up and 
    down an expert trial, and with very tired quads but I still climbed 
    better with this bike.  
    I wish I could have a chance to try the Y22s on the same trail, as much
    as I like the 855s I do not like the way they look and I think if I 
    spend another 2 grand on a mtb it has to look pretty too ;-)
    
    This Saturday, Cannondale is going to be at Loon mountain with demo 
    bikes. (all models). If you come up, do the expert run, to see how good
    you realy are ;-)
    I hope it doesn't rain much on Friday, I had enough mud last weekend. 
    
    Shaw