Where bought and price
LBS for less than RRP
How it is used
XC trail, bike path with the kids.
Description
http://www.trekbikes.com/au/en/bikes/mo ... superfly_5
Positives
+
- price
-Shimano everything, especially brakes. Avid suck!
-Lock out Rock shocx fork with air spring.
- good fit for me (see negatives for the flip side of this)
- Great on bike paths and fire trail and flowy single track
-handles being crashed
- the brakes are great given they are a budget Shimano pair.
-29er wheels roll over everything and make it feel nice an stable.
Negatives
-
-27.2mm seat post diameter. Why on earth do they make them like that. My issue with it, is that there is only a short piece around the seat post collar that is actuallyin contact with the post. The rest of the seat tube bulges out to a larger diameter making the seat move around in the post and creak and slip. I couldn't tighten the quick release up tight enough to stop it dropping down up to 20mm every 5km or so of trail. Very annoying!!
-It's not a $5k bike, but the wheels dont have sealed bearings and they do have a little woof in them, despite being trued only a few weeks ago.
- grips are ok, but no good for all day riding and now they twist around and don't stay in place.
- rear brake line rests on the fork crown. Doing neither part any good.
Additional notes
I have put these things in here as they aren't actually negatives of the bike. More reflections on the bike and my style of riding and why I am going a full suspension bike. The biggest reason for moving on from this bike is I need full suspension. I don't ride downhill or gravity enduro type stuff but even riding over rocks and roots and doing small drop downs on this bike is an earth shattering experience. Sure, some is technique, but some is the lack of anything on the rear to keep that back wheel on the ground. It also became a pain to keep pedaling over things like roots that stuck up an inch or two above the surface. The bike would bump me out of the saddle and I would have to stop and start pedaling all the time. Where as my mates with FS bikes would just keep going, the small bumps being taken by the bike.
The bike is a cheap XC race bike and the geo is such. In short, I don't like the geo at all. Uphill it kills it and is fast as anything. Downhill or through tech sections it is pretty ordinary, especially without the ability to not drop the seat. Combine that with steep seat and head tube angles. Well, it's a race bike and I am not a racer.
Reccomendation
It's an XC bike and you have to ride it hard off road to get it to really do it's thing. I crashed it more going slowly than I did on the rivet really going for it, go figure! I would not recommend it for a first time bike. I should have bought a 2nd hand 26er for less and learned on that. Maybe I wouldn't need to upgrade now.
OVERALL SCORES
Quality
Performance
Value for money
