A serious freeride habit demands more from a bike

ENTRY-LEVEL FREERIDERS
EST
K BIKE T
U
B
M
E
TH
Entry-level
freeriders
A serious freeride habit demands more from a bike than
any other form of mountain biking. But how much do
you have to spend to get a bike that’ll let you push the
limits without compromise?
Words Guy Kesteven Pics Steve Behr
F
reeriding has injected a whole
new dose of enthusiasm and
extreme appeal into mountain
biking, with its relaxed but
radical stars and ‘do what you want’
attitude.
But its mix of slow speed balance,
aerial agility, big hit descending and
monster drops places a huge demand
on bikes. Often, the only difference
between a good bike and a bad one
occurs at a critical crash-or-clean
moment. This means you definitely
don’t want to mess around with bikes
that can’t cut it when you’re really
putting it out there.
The great news is that serious entrylevel freeride bikes have never
performed better, and even starting at
£1,500, we’ve got bikes that’ll tame
almost anything you’ve got the balls/
skill to tackle. We’ve been pushing this
foursome to the freeride limit to find
every weak link or handling hiccup
before you find out the hard way.
So does more cash always mean a
better ride? Is the core of the bike more
important than the kit selection? And
which is our ultimate more-huck-perbuck winner?
»
This month’s bikes on test…
£1,499
SPECIALIZED BIG HIT FSR II
Can Specialized’s big
hitter hold on to its
great value gravity
112 Mountain Biking UK
£1,699
DEVINCI FRANTIK 1
Have Devinci cracked
the code of perfect
freeride handling?
Jargon busted!
£1,899
NORCO SHORE TWO
Are you Shore you
need as much bike as
this Canadian monster
£2,200
KONA COILER DELUXE
Is the most expensive
bike here the best, or is
it too light for the big
■ BOLT-THROUGH
Wheel axle that slides right
through the hub and fixes into the
frame at the far side, either with a
screw thread or clamped
dropouts. Slightly heavier and
slower to use than a quickrelease, but much stiffer and
more secure.
■ GUSSET
Extra metal plate welded over a
high stress area to reinforce it by
spreading the load over a wider
area.
■ CNC
Computer Numerical Controlled
denotes a piece of frame sculpted
from a single piece of metal by a
computer controlled milling
machine. Looks sharp and neat
but not as strong as cold
forging…
■ COLD FORGING
Sections of frame formed by
basically smashing or squeezing
them into shape. The force used
realigns the grain of the metal to
create an immensely strong piece
with no hidden weak spots.
Requires massive forging
machinery and expensive moulds
though.
■ HORST LINK
Patented rear pivot position (just
ahead of the dropouts on the
chainstays) that enables the back
wheel to follow a more complex,
linkage-controlled path than a
simple, swingarm style arc.
Mountain Biking UK 113
ENTRY-LEVEL FREERIDERS
E TEST
THE BIK
SO GOOD
■ Tight, solid feeling frameset with
great high speed manners
■ Simple but very effective rear
suspension
■ Impressive kit list for the price
NO GOOD
■ Either too lazy or too tall for
Shore riding
■ Single ring and interrupted
seatpost make it a push-notpedal bike
The best rear mech on test gets extra
‘hanger banger’ protection to stop it getting
trashed when you crash
Specialized Big Hit FSR II
£XXX
Does Specialized’s gravity classic work single crown style?
S
pecialized’s Big Hit bikes
have won our top value
Freeride/DH tests for two
years running. Does a
lower price point and style
friendly single-crown fork mean
three times lucky for the
Californians?
The chassis
MBUK’S MECHANIC SAYS…
Shock tactics
Different length linkages or
pivot positions are what
define the basic suspension
characteristics of a bike. But
by providing different shock
mount options, designers can
let a rider tune the finer feel.
On the Specialized, two
superimposed holes change
the handling angles and ride
height. On the Norco, the two
holes give travel and leverage
changes, while the Kona lets
you slightly change the feel of
the shock from straight to
114 Mountain Biking UK
The frame layout is certainly
familiar, in true ‘if it ain’t broke
don’t fix it’ fashion. The headtube
is a conventional 1 1/8in, but
squared-off tubing throughout the
mainframe gives a boxy
monocoque feel. All fixtures –
from the shock mounts to bolted
dropouts – are all smoothly cold
forged for maximum strength.
Two different shock positions on
the linkage also give different ride
heights and geometry settings.
ISCG mounts are built into the
bottom bracket and there’s masses
of tyre room.
There’s no way to fit a front mech
for a double chainset though, and
there’s limited seat height
adjustment from the short seat
stub, which is a big pain. At least
there’s a stop inside the tube to
stop you twatting the shock, and
tidy cable routing complements
the neat overall look.
The detail
Considering the £1,500 price tag,
Specialized have put together an
excellent kit package, which
compares very well with the other
bikes here. The RockShox Domain
fork is the upmarket 318 version
with compression and rebound
adjustment on the Motion Control
damping. Most experienced riders
were also pleased to see the
simpler, but utterly reliable Fox
Van shock at the back, and Spesh
fit different springs for each bike
size (400lb on Small, 450lb on
Medium and 500lb on Large).
The red anodized Specialized
hubs clash with the otherwise
understated bike, but they roll fine
and the custom logo’d Mavic
EX325 rims proved plenty tough.
A bolt-through rear axle gives
extra security for the conventional
135mm (5.3in) width back end
and Specialized’s soft Chunder
tyres are also excellent.
The 34t single ring gives suitable
gears most of the time, but you’ll
have to stomp and strain any
climbs, which doesn’t suit the
suspension. Chain security is good
– the classy X-9 rear mech gets a
hanger banger for extra
protection. The Avid Juicy 3
RockShox’s Domain 318 fork isn’t as smooth
as the Marzocchi, but it’s still a solid
performer for the money
hydraulic disc brakes have loads
of feel and power, although they
can suddenly fade if you really
cook them in the mountains. The
excellent wide-sweep Big Hit
handlebar is a highlight of the
finishing kit, but the fixed length
seat tube further compromises
bomb-down, twiddle-up
versatility.
The ride
With its mix of hydroformed tubes
and cold-forged nuggets, the Big
Hit still has all the super stiff,
tightly meshed feel that we’ve
loved before. Specialized’s
patented Horst Link four-bar setup sucks down on to the trail with
superb neutrality. After an initial
rebound tweak, we never touched
it because it took the big drops
and square-edged hits with total
composure and confidence, and
flowed through braking bumps.
While the fork is slightly stubborn
and stiff over small stuff, it
smoothes out mid-size and bigger
knock, with enough adjustment to
tackle serious hucking too.
With the shock in the lower
position, it’s super stable, despite
still having plenty of pedalling
clearance under the cranks. This
adds up to a bike that just feels
The interrupted seat tube means adjustment
is seriously compromised. Our choice would
be chop it right down and then just push the
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better and better the faster you
go. Whenever we hit an open
section or a sequence of fast
corners, it would leave the other
bikes eating dust with its mix of
totally surefooted stability and
precision – hence the highest ‘DH’
score.
It doesn’t do so well in ‘freeride’
terms though. In the slacker
setting it felt cumbersome and
lacking in manoeuvrability on the
skinnies. In the steeper geometry
setting, it put its wheels in the
right place but the sky-high
bottom bracket made it feel really
nervous. Obviously, you’ll adapt
over time but the end result was
that it was always the last bike to
clean a Shore section, no matter
who was riding it.
It’s no fun getting it back to the
start of the run either. The high
single ring ratios accentuate its
MBUK VERDICT
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bobby, wallowy back end when
you’re climbing. Chopping the
seatpost down for more mobility
means even less climbing
extension – we were soon
pushing even on shallow road
climbs. This isn’t a big issue if
you’re in ski lift rich Canada or
the Alps, or you’re racing where
there’s an uplift, but it’s for muckabout freeriding over here.
7
Tight and surefooted with
superb high-speed manners,
the Big Hit is a great DH
race or Alpine run bike with
impressive kit value if you
play to its strengths. It
never felt comfortable on
the slower stuff though, and
the single ring and lack of
seat adjustment really cut
into its versatility for
general freeriding.
»
Mountain Biking UK 115
ENTRY-LEVEL FREERIDERS
Devinci Frantik 1
£XXX
Have the Canadians really cracked the freeride code with the Frantik?
O
ver here, Devinci bikes
don’t yet have the
presence of Kona, Rocky
Mountain or Cove, but
bikes like the new single-crown
Frantik show that they know what
they’re doing when it’s really
going off.
The chassis
MBUK’S MECHANIC SAYS…
OnePointFive head tube
When Manitou pioneered
massively oversized
OnePointFive steerer tubes to
make single crown forks as
stiff as triple crowns, a few
manufacturers changed their
frames to fit. But it’s taken the
adoption of the standard by
RockShox and the wilder and
wilder moves of slopestyle
riding to really switch builders
on to the strength and
stiffness benefit of a barrel
sized front end. Who says it’s
bad to be big headed?
The Frantik frameset gets off to a
useful start with an oversized
38.1mm (1.5in) headtube. It’s
sleeved down for a standard fork
here, but it means you can
upgrade to super stiff Manitou or
RockShox options later. The
curved and shaped Optimum-X
maintubes are backed up with a
big box gusset behind the head
tube, while the lower linkage
mount connects to a long trough
that also reinforces the bottom
bracket junction. The bottom
bracket is a super wide 83mm
version for clearance on the
equally extra wide 150mm back
end.
The suspension itself is a true
Horst-style four-bar linkage with
chainstay pivots buried in the
fully removable CNC dropout
pieces. The linkage is a neat
spiderweb single-piece CNC unit.
ISCG chainguide tabs are built
into the bottom bracket, while the
conventional seat tube means
both easy front mech mounting
and full seat height adjustment.
There’s masses of tyre space at
the back too, and Devinci use
neat high-load needle bearings in
the pivots instead of conventional
cartridge bearings.
The detail
Like the Specialized, the rear
shock is the ever faithful Fox Van
R, which is fine by us. The ride
quality takes a definite hit from
the fork though. The basic
Domain 302 not only feels
relatively stubborn and clunky but
the rebound struggles to cope
with larger impacts, and can
properly ‘pinball’ off serious drops
or sequential hits. Devinci have
also missed a trick by not
capitalising on the OnePointFive
headtube for maximum stiffness.
We’re not familiar with the Mag
rims or Daredevil hubs either,
although all ran true despite some
serious hammering. But the rear
hub does have a habit of
unscrewing its driveside end cap
as you screw the through-axle into
place. This led to repeated
loosening of the wheel until we
realised what was happening, so
watch it. Kenda Stick E 2.5in tyres
add plenty of grip and protection.
Truvativ supply the basic but
functional Ruktion crankset but at
least you get a proper granny ring
for winching back up hills, and
the SRAM X-7 gears are pimped
with red anodised flashes on the
cable caps. Truvativ also supply
the stem and seatpost and,
although we really are blind on
Daredevil product knowledge, the
bar and saddle felt fine.
The ride
Devinci have definitely got the
core of the bike bang on. As soon
as we sat on it, we felt totally at
ease rolling into a long run of
skinnies, teeter totters and other
stunts, blasting straight at big
jumps or ripping down wide
open, sliding corner descents. It’s
long in the front centre and overall
wheelbase, which sometimes
means it needs heaving round the
tight stuff, and it struggles at
really slow speeds. The short back
end is easy to hop and skip round
though, and the extra stability at
speed or in the air is noticeable.
The four-bar back end is super
smooth, sucking up bigger hits
with no kickback through the
pedals and settled braking traction »
Mountain Biking UK 117
E TEST
THE BIK
SO GOOD
■ Sorted frame handling and rear
suspension, particularly at high
speeds
■ Top-level frame includes wide
stance bottom bracket and rear
end with loads of clearance. Full
seat height adjustment and
crawler gears make climbing less
of a chore
NO GOOD
■ The Domain 302 fork gets rattled
well before the rest of the bike
■ Slight frame flex and slow
handling on really tight stuff
■ Daredevil kit is an unknown
quantity
Stiff and solid enough, but the lack of small
bump sensitivity and often random rebound
compromises full bore potential
It’s been around for years and it’s only got
basic adjustment, but the Fox Vanilla R
shock is a superbly composed and reliable
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even when it’s rippled to hell.
With a double chainset and full
seat height adjustment, it trundles
back up to the top just fine. At
41lb (18.5kg), you’ll still get a
sweat on, but will rarely be
pushing, and winding to the top
of the big descents at Glentress,
Llandegla or Cwm Carn isn’t
impossible.
The only major drawback is the
fork. While the rest of the bike felt
118 Mountain Biking UK
balanced and in control whatever
we were doing, the Domain soon
got out of its depth. On fast
corners the lack of small bump
suppleness robbed front wheel
traction and dumped us into the
dust numerous times. It also left
the front end feeling numb on
traction-critical verts or Shore
sections.
The rebound couldn’t cope with
boulder fields or big drops either,
The Frantik gets some really neat dropouts
and CNC’d linkage set pieces, which look
superfly, even if they’re not quite as stiff as
leaving us to just head in and
hope we come out pointing in
roughly the right direction rather
than just cannoning into the trees.
The amount of rattle coming out
of the front end also highlighted a
slight looseness and flex in the
spiderweb linkage. That’s no
biggie in comparative terms
though.
»
MBUK VERDICT
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■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
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7
Sorted handling with an
emphasis on high speed
stability and some neat
frame features, such as the
bearings and big spaces out
back, make the Frantik a
very promising chassis.
ENTRY-LEVEL FREERIDERS
Norco Shore Two
£XXX
Norco’s super smooth heavy hitter is a Shorefire winner
A
major brand in their
native Canada, Norco
Bikes are designed to
tackle the most extreme
riding on an everyday basis. It
certainly shows in the
unshakeable confidence of this
hard-hitting heavyweight.
The chassis
MBUK’S MECHANIC SAYS…
Tough frame
Using big cold forged
keystone sections to lock
frames together is relatively
common, particularly in the
bottom bracket/main pivot
area. Cold-forged headtubes
aren’t unknown either but this
is one hell of a piece. Not only
do the thick upper and lower
sections stop it distorting, the
triangular rear extension
spreads impact load into the
maintubes for a truly
bombproof front end.
You only have to look at the head
tube to realize that this is a
serious heavyweight. It’s a
massive, thick-walled, cold-forged
piece with a deeply hollowed
triangular wedge at the back,
reinforcing the junction with the
maintubes. The hydroformed
down tube and top tube are
gusseted underneath and on top,
and the two sets of paired ‘legs’
supporting the seat stub are also
thick. Another small stub mounts
the front mech for dual chainring
operation and the bottom bracket
has ISCG tabs.
Starting with a big horseshoe
bridge, the chainstay is pivoted at
both ends for true four-bar
performance, with twin positions
on the thick linkage plates to give
either 170mm (6.7in) or 189mm
(7.4in) of rear wheel travel. The
back end uses a bolted 12mm axle
with 150mm width hub for extra
stiffness and tyre space. The end
result is an extremely heavy frame
that might be overkill for some,
but if that’s the case check out the
Norco Six series, based around a
similar, but 3.5lb (1.5kg) lighter
frame.
The detail
The kit collection nicely matches
the heavy duty frame, starting
with the faithful Marzocchi 66 RV
fork. It only has external rebound
damping and low pressure air topup for the soft coil springs, but the
performance is smooth and
impressively consistent. There’s
occasional top-out knock, but
otherwise it stays glued to the
trail. The Fox DHX 3 shock gets
factory set ProPedal compression
damping to stop bob, but it still
matches the front end for
consistently smooth action over
all impacts.
The big Sun MTX S-Type rims are
tough as hell and Kenda 2.5in
tyres add surefooted grip and fat
carcass protection. The dirty great
bolt on the back makes it easy to
apply leverage to the 150mm axle,
although you’ll need to take a
spanner with you just in case.
The Hayes hydraulic brakes are a
bit wooden, but there’s no
shortage of power. The Truvativ
SRAM transmission runs fine and
survived a couple of post-crash
trailside straightenings. The super
short Syncros stem and bar set up
easy steering, and the bolt-on
grips are a real help. Also, the
two-part telescopic Titec seatpost
is a great solution to otherwise
limited seat adjustment.
The ride
It’s the Norco’s overall versatility
that made it our unanimous
favourite. Wherever we took it
and whatever we threw it down, it
was an absolute blast. Despite
being the heaviest bike on test
and having fairly standard
dimensions, the short cockpit
makes it feel super agile. Active
suspension makes it easy to lift or
compress the bike at either end
with intuitive body weight shifts,
and the four-bar back end isn’t
affected by pedalling or braking
inputs.
As a result, it’ll eagerly snatch the
tightest singletrack lines, and it’s
beautifully balanced for surfing
fading traction through skittery
corners. It tiptoes along skinnies
and see-saws with equal
composure. Only the Coiler feels
more at home on the high stuff. »
Mountain Biking UK 121
E TEST
THE BIK
SO GOOD
■ Simple but super smooth,
beautifully balanced suspension
■ Monumentally strong, yet
impressively agile frameset
■ Great supporting cast of kit for
the money
■ It even pedals OK
NO GOOD
■ The high weight can get tiring
after a long day of sessioning
Marzzochi’s succulent 66 fork turns the front
end into a traction sniffing freeride
bloodhound
The MTX S-Type rims create the strongest
wheels here and fatten up the tyres nicely
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The combination of smooth
suspension action, chunky wheels
and overall weight keep it totally
glued to the trail. With the free
flowing oil bath fork slobbering
and squelching away up front and
the rear end set up for maximum
travel, it’s like riding a freeride
bloodhound that sniffs traction
out of any trail. Even on the first
ride we were ripping down the
most radical lines of our test
122 Mountain Biking UK
descents like we’d been riding it
for weeks. All through the test it
hucked, dropped or just charged
balls-out across boulder fields
better than any of the other bikes
here.
If we had to find downsides with
the bike, it’s not quite as precise
as the racier Spesh on fast, open
downhill sections. It also takes
some muscle to dig it out of tight
spots and slow speed situations,
so you’ll know you’ve been riding
after a day of sessioning the Shore
– but it’s well worth the effort.
Thanks to the telescopic post and
just the right amount of
compression damping on the rear
shock, it even pedals pretty well,
despite the weight disadvantage.
It certainly wasn’t last up the hill
if we were stupid enough to race
the bikes back up for pole
position on the next descent.
»
The true four-bar linkage suspension keeps
the wheel stuck to the ground no matter how
hard you pedal or brake
MBUK VERDICT
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■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
9
Norco have done a superb
job with the Shore. It’s got
great suspension and kit,
plus perfectly balanced
handling for an agility that
belies its hefty weight.
North Shore, local downhill
track, jump sequences,
boulder fields, serious drops
ENTRY-LEVEL FREERIDERS
E TEST
THE BIK
SO GOOD
■ Easy short wheelbase agility plus
confident low-slung stability
make it a skinny Shore joy
■ Impressively smooth for the
shortest travel here
■ Lockable suspension and light
wheels make it the most mobile
bike here
NO GOOD
■ Lacks authority when you’re
pushing it really hard and fast
■ QR rear end and lack of ISCG tabs
compromise ultimate freeride
potential
■ Extra money doesn’t yield much
kit advantage
Marzocchi’s 66 RV ETA fork combines a
smooth, succulent 160mm (6.2in) of travel
with reduced height switch for steep climbs
Kona Coiler Deluxe
£XXXX
Kona’s Coiler sets up a lighter, impressively agile freeride feel
K
ona’s Stinky line is their
full-on freeride family,
but triple-crown forks
limit their versatility. The
single-crown Coiler gets an inch
less travel, but it’s a great bike if
there’s pedalling and crosscountry style trails on the agenda,
not just uplifts and downhills.
The chassis
MBUK’S MECHANIC SAYS…
ISCG mount
If you’re really into your big
moves or high speeds then
just relying on your rear mech
to keep your chain on is a big
risk. The latest chain guides
are smooth, quiet and easy to
set up. They come in single or
double versions too, so there’s
little downside to using them.
You can get chain guides that
slot between the bottom
bracket and frame, but they’re
never as secure as ones
directly mounted to the frame,
so that’s a definite DH downer
124 Mountain Biking UK
The Coiler frame ain’t no
shrinking violet though, with
square-headed Clump tubing
maximising connectivity behind
the head tube to create a tight and
tough front end. The steeply
sloped top tube is pipe braced too,
with a bulged seat tube section
reinforcing the pivot for the long
‘tow truck’ style rocker link. A
sliding chuck for the bottom end
of the rear shock makes it slightly
more linear rather than falling rate
too.
For easy repair, the whole dropout
block, including the rear seatstay
pivot, is replaceable on both sides
and the polished driveside
chainstay shrugs off knocks. It’s
only a QR axle rear end though
and despite having a seat tube
mount for a D.O.P.E anti-brake
jack arm there are no ISCG tabs
on the bottom bracket. There’s
limited tyre clearance above the
2.4in Maxxis tyres too, although
you do get a bottle cage mount for
thirst quenching.
The detail
The Coiler’s kit pack matches its
longer ride character too. The
Marzocchi 66 RV ETA fork is
impressively smooth on the
descents, while the ETA rebound
lock chokes it down for steep,
technical climbing sections. The
Fox DHX 4.0 shock also has
adjustable ProPedal so you can
run it super active for descents
but stiffen it up to combat squishy
pedal feel on the climbs.
The wheels are where the real
difference is made though, with a
rear wheel actually lighter than
the Norco’s front wheel and a
pound under the weight of other
rear wheels here. The 32-spoke
Singletrack rims are still pretty
tough, but the lightweight, highpressure Maxxis AdVantage tyres
trade speed for ultimate trail
stickiness. You only get 180mm
rotors on the Hayes brakes
though, which reduces power
noticeably for not much weight
saving.
RaceFace’s Evolve DH crankset,
seatpost and handlebar are very
Despite the four-bar arrangement, the Kona
behaves like it has a simple, super supple
swingarm. Luckily, the DHX shock cuts
sturdy and the AM stem didn’t
feel flexy. You’re not getting much
advantage in kit terms though,
considering the Coiler DLX is the
most expensive bike here by a
long way.
The ride
The Kona is also the lightest and
shortest bike here, but the way the
weight and length are distributed
is the most important aspect.
Light, fast-rolling wheels
immediately create a feeling of
easy speed in acceleration out of
all proportion to the single pound
advantage at the scales. Compared
to the other bikes it feels like a
cross-country rig with the way it
picks up speed and hops around.
A short front centre (the length
from the front wheel to bottom
bracket) combined with a relaxed
seat tube means the front end is
equally easy to lift and lever
around in tight sections. The short
wheelbase means the bike fits into
tighter spaces easier and the low
bottom bracket adds a noticeable
boost to confidence. This all gives
it a real edge on skinny Shore
sections, and when we were
testing ‘four up’ it was always the
first bike to clean a section, no
matter who was riding it.
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With full seat extension, fast
spooling wheels and a healthy top
tube and stem stretch, it also
showed the others a clean pair of
heels on climbs. It’s faster out of
corners, it surges well up short
technical sections and it certainly
left us feeling freshest on long
days of sessioning.
The Coiler suffers when things get
bigger and faster. The Marzocchi
fork and Fox shock do a good job
of controlling impacts, with a well
balanced, fluid feel and it tackles
slow speed drops perfectly
happily. But the bike just isn’t as
well tied together once serious
side loads and stability issues
start to appear.
Despite the low bottom bracket
it’s not as well grounded as the
other bikes, and you have to
consciously squeeze it down onto
the ground rather than just let it
squat naturally. There’s noticeable
flex coming from the wheels and
particularly the QR back end
when you crank it over into the
corners, and we ended up spat
over the top of berms or just
»
The dropouts are completely replaceable
but, although the QR rear axle is convenient,
it’s not as stiff as a bolted set-up
MBUK VERDICT
■■■■■■■■■■ SPEC
■■■■■■■■■■ FREERIDE
■■■■■■■■■■ SHORE
■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
8
Kona’s Coiler is a slightly
curious beast but we really
enjoyed it. The frame is
sturdy enough, but it lacks
the bolted back end and
ISCG mounts of a truly
serious slam rig. Only
lightweight wheels stop it
being very heavy for its
travel and light freeride role
too.
Mountain Biking UK 125
THE SPEC DECK
E TEST
THE BIK
SPECIALIZED
BIG HIT FSR II
PRICE
DISTRIBUTOR
WEIGHT
FRAME
FORK
SHOCK
HEADSET
WHEELS
TYRES
CRANKSET/
BOTTOM BRACKET
DERAILLEURS
SHIFTERS
KONA COILER
NORCO SHORE TWO DELUXE
DEVINCI
FRANTIK 1
£1,499
£1,699
£1,899 bike
£2,200
Specialized UK 020 8391 3500 www.
specialized.com
Freeborn 01403 251252 www.freeborn.co.uk
ATB Sales 01424 753566 www.atb-sales.
co.uk
Paligap 01179 823673 www.konaworld.
uk.com
41.6lb (18.9kg) with pedals
41lb (18.6kg) with pedals
45.9lb (20.8kg) with pedals
39.9lb (18.1kg) with pedals
Big Hit A1 Premium FSR, 190mm (7.5in)
travel
Frantik Optimum X2, 165mm (6.5in) travel
Shore hydroform, 170-190mm (6.7-7.4in)
travel
Kona Clump 7005 aluminium, 152mm (6in)
travel
RockShox Domain 318, 180mm (7in) travel
RockShox Domain 302, 180mm (7in) travel
Marzocchi 66 RV, 170mm (6.7in) travel
Marzocchi 66 RV ETA, 160mm (6.3in) travel
Fox Van R coil over
Fox Vanilla R
Fox DHX 3.0
Fox DHX 4.0
Oversize alloy aheadset
FSA Big Fat Pig reducer Aheadset
Aheadset
TH Aheadset
HUBS F: Daredevil Disc 20mm R: Bolted
150mm
RIMS Mach 1 Mag
SPOKES 36 DT Swiss Champion black
WHEEL WEIGHT F: 2.79kg R: 3.4kg
HUBS F: Ringlé Demon disc 20mm throughaxle R: 150x12mm rear
RIMS Sun MTX S-Type
SPOKES 32 DT Champion straight-gauge
black
WHEEL WEIGHT F: 3.13kg R: 3.72kg
HUBS F: KK 20mm bolt-through R: Shimano
Disc
RIMS Sun Single Track SL1
SPOKES 32 stainless
WHEEL WEIGHT F: 2.4kg R: 3.1kg
Specialized Chunder soft compound, 26x2.3in Kenda Blue Groove Stick E, 26x2.5in
Kenda Nevegal Stick E, 26x2.5in
Maxxis AdVantage, 26x2.4in
Truvativ Hussefelt single-ring with Truvativ
chain guide, 34t/Truvativ Howitzer XR
Truvativ Ruktion with bashguard and Truvativ
chain device, 24-36t/Truvativ Howitzer
Truvativ Hussefelt, double-ring with
bashguard and Blackspire Stinger chain
guide/Truvativ Howitzer
RaceFace Evolve DH 24-36t with bashguard/
RaceFace Evolve DH
SRAM X-9 short cage
R: SRAM SX-5 F Shimano Alivio
SRAM X-7
R: Shimano XT F: Shimano LX
SRAM X-9
SRAM SX-5
HUBS F: Specialized 20mm through axle R:
Bolt-on 135mm
RIMS 36 black heavy duty
SPOKES Black stainless double butted
WHEEL WEIGHT F: 2.79kg R: 3.67kg
SRAM X-7
Shimano LX
Shimano HG50 nine-speed, 11/34t/SRAM PC SRAM PG 38 eight speed, 11-32t/PC 380
591
SRAM PG950 9spd, 11-34t/SRAM PC 950
Shimano HG 53 nine speed, 11-34t/Shimano
HG73
BRAKES
Avid Juicy 3 hydraulic discs, G2 Clean Sweep
200mm rotors
Avid Juicy 3 hydraulic discs, 200mm rotors
Hayes HFX-9 BFL hydraulic discs, 200mm
rotors
Hayes HFX-9 BFL hydraulic discs, 180mm
rotors
BAR/STEM/GRIPS
Specialized Big Hit riser, 26.8in/Truvativ
Hussefelt oversize, 40mm/Specialized MTB
dual-density with CNC’d bar plugs
Daredevil DH riser, 27in/Truvativ Hussefelt,
40mm/Daredevil bolt on
Syncros DH riser, 26in/Syncros DH,50mm/
Syncros bolt on
RaceFace Evolve DH riser, 26in/RaceFace
Evolve AM, 70mm/Kona LOG
Specialized Enduro/alloy microadjust
Daredevil FR/Truvativ XR 2 bolt
Norco Jump Seat/Titec Knock Scoper
WTB Pure V/RaceFace Evolve DH
Medium
Medium
Medium
Medium
CASSETTE/CHAIN
SADDLE/SEATPOST
22.8in
23in
17in
18in
FRAME ANGLES
16.9in
14.6in
30.6in
HEAD 66/68° SEAT 61/63°
MBUK VERDICT
■■■■■■■■■■ SPEC
■■■■■■■■■■ FREERIDE
■■■■■■■■■■ SHORE
■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
23.2in
16.9in
17in
46.2in
45.2in
16.8in
14.2/15.2in
23.2in
45.7in
17.3in
14.7in
29.5in
HEAD 65.1° SEAT 73.6°
7
MBUK VERDICT
■■■■■■■■■■ SPEC
■■■■■■■■■■ FREERIDE
■■■■■■■■■■ SHORE
■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
17.3in
13.7in
29.1in
HEAD 66° SEAT 72°
7
MBUK VERDICT
■■■■■■■■■■ SPEC
■■■■■■■■■■ FREERIDE
■■■■■■■■■■ SHORE
■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
HEAD 65.7° SEAT 70.7°
9
MBUK VERDICT
■■■■■■■■■■ SPEC
■■■■■■■■■■ FREERIDE
■■■■■■■■■■ SHORE
■■■■■■■■■■ DOWNHILL
■■■■■■■■■■ VALUE
The verdict
Testing bikes across a relatively
broad price range is always difficult,
but the idea of this test was to find
out how much you need to spend to
get yourself a proper freeride ready
rig. As it so often turns out though,
it’s not the price on the ticket that
makes the difference, it’s the basic
design of the bike.
For example, Specialized’s Big Hit
FSR II is an excellent value entrylevel downhill race bike, if you want
something that feels tight, stable
and excels at speed. Its
Next month
xxxx
Xxxx xxxxxx xx
downhill big hitters
Off-the-peg, race-ready
126 Mountain Biking UK
awkwardness on tighter slow speed
sections and really poor ‘transfer’
pedalling performance really
restricts its freeride versatility
though.
Having said that, money is rarely
the root of all test evil, but it is in
the case of the Devinci Frantik 1. The
frame performance and handling
balance are impressive if you’re
after something secure and speed
friendly, but the fork trips up badly
before the rest of the bike gets into
its stride. Save your pennies and get
the Frantik 2 instead.
Value for money isn’t a strong
point of the Kona either, and it’s a
slightly awkward compromise
between full on freeride and all-
mountain in many ways. We
just couldn’t help enjoying it
on the trail though, and while
it struggled with seriously fast
and furious terrain, it excelled
on North Shore sections and
more cross-country style
singletrack.
The winner is…
From the first ride to the last,
one bike was our clear favourite
throughout. Norco’s Shore Two
is heavy, and it’s several
hundred quid more than the
Spesh or Devinci, but if you can
possibly make the stretch on
finance, the rewards are well
worth it. It hides its weight in
44.6in
31.4in
NORCO
SHORE TWO
8