Bikeyoke is relatively obscure outside of Germany but I hope that changes, as everything they specced on the bike looked great and was a joy to use. I’ve always been a fan of Dresden-based Acto5 and their absurd CNC-machined frames. Conceptually wild and, in the flesh, a sight to behold. I will never need the performance that they offer, so thankfully, they make cranks for fanbois.
It’s something in the middle, for a kind of riding I’ve never really experienced, and which I need to make a six-hour round trip from my house in a car to attempt. In many ways, it’s the bike least meant for me, at least on paper, and I’m the rider least meant for it. I recently purchased this bike for my son’s 7th birthday, and he absolutely loves riding it. He constantly asks if he can use it, even if it’s late at night. The quality of the bike is amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to purchase a great gift for their child. That said, there is also some truth in “you get what you pay for.” If you want an off-the-shelf, bulletproof mountain bike, you need to be ready to pony up some bucks and head down to your local bike shop.
The SRD came with the classic Acto5 mountain cranks, nice and short in 165—because this bike has all the gears—and long cranks are for flat-earthers. Looking at a component in isolation, I really prefer the performance of SRAM electronic shifting, especially in wet, grimy conditions, but some people prefer mechanical shifting, and those people prefer Shimano. hyper mountain bike Looking at buying a $600 mech, I love the idea that individual parts of the mech can be replaced if they get damaged, that it will run with almost any shifter, and that I can swap the cage out to run short or long so it can be used on more or less any bike. The frame is made from custom butted and bent 4130 tubes and cast parts manufactured in Taiwan.
Even if I did, it changed how I ride gravel for the better. It took a while to get used to the idea that sometimes, where traction ends, the fun begins, rather than my old road cycling mindset, where traction ends is the beginning of the road to A&E. The geometry was designed around being versatile and fun, with long travel but less ultra-long and ultra-stable hyper mountain bike than an enduro bike. After a few trips out to various trail-heavy bits of woods, I just started riding it as much as possible on anything to get a feel for it and the way it moves, and in a way, it became exciting for all the right reasons. On the SRD, I could pretty much ride anything that exists locally, which I hadn’t experienced before.
You can drop half a cassette at once or make single shifts with the expected precision, and it works, but not as nicely as SRAM electronic shifting. I have never NEEDED anything to work as nicely as SRAM electronic shifting in horrible conditions. Together, we made a decision about the direction that my riding would realistically take. It didn’t seem appropriate for my skill level to go for an all-in enduro tire like the sticky yet resilient Tacky Chan, although there were points riding through the UK winter that I wished I had.
This might mean that I have never owned a mountain bike because a mountain bike, in modern times, is so separate from the uncomplicated machines of the ’90s that I grew up riding. The mountain bikes that I have owned have mostly functioned as off-road tourers. Most notably, a 1998 Specialized Rockhopper (on balance, perhaps the best bike ever made), a Rock Lobster Team Tig 853, a first-generation Surly Krampus, and a slew of other bits and bobs I made myself. I have a great local bike shop, and I shop there regularly. It’s always a good idea to seek out a good bike shop, even if you own a big-box bike.
I received the Sagma Lite version of their saddle without suspension, which was pretty comfortable. It was more padded than anything I’ve ridden for a long time and quite a bit shorter, as I’ve been riding mostly road-derived saddles forever, and I expect the Sagma Lite to be a little more enduro-focused. Obviously, the oversized 35-mm clamp diameter adds significant stiffness more efficiently than it adds strength, but it’s also designed internally to be super strong, which adds further stiffness. I’m not sure how it’s possible to feel the stiffness of a set of handlebars with 160 mm of suspension travel and a big squishy Schwalbe Wicked Will up front, but somehow, it is. On most bikes, the sensation would be unpleasant, but with all that movement going on below, eating anything the trail has to throw at you, the steel-beam-like stiffness feels quite confidence-inspiring and keeps the steering feeling agile and reactive.