Testing with Marcus Klausmann is frustrating. Because the guy is too fast. We see him at the top when we lift the bikes out of the lift, maybe exchange a few words, and that's it. Of course we let him go first, because the natural pecking order that used to apply in sports lessons also applies on the trail: the winners first, the losers last. Besides, who wants to have a wild cruise missile like the 15-time German downhill champion breathing down their neck?
It rattles and clatters once or twice further down in the forest, and it's gone! But testing with Klausmann also inspires us. Because the guy is a walking technical oracle: we can ask him anything - Marcus always knows the answer.
To test the eight downhillers, we met up at the Todtnau bike park, known for its angry downhill course full of roots, rock gardens, ledges and steep sections. Here, the 29-inch bikes were to show whether the concept of large wheels really is the future - even for stunt-loving park shredders (like us), who prioritise manoeuvrability over Vmax. Seven out of eight of the test bikes rolled on the big wheels, only the Phoenix from US label Pivot didn't manage to get the 29er version of the Phoenix ready - but Eddy Masters and Bernard Kerr had just ridden it into the top 20 at the first World Cup in Maribor. We still got the model with small wheels.
Our test had no price limit, and the manufacturers sent us the finest of the finest. At prices that would make normal earners faint. Intense, Santa Cruz and Norco are such candidates. But affordable bikes such as the € 4500 Commençal are also included in the test.
The complete test of these big bikes including all data, overview tables and grades is available as a PDF in the download area below:
- Commencal Supreme DH 29 Team
- GT Fury Carbon Pro 29
- Intense M29 Pro
- Norco Aurum HSP 1 29
- NS Bikes Fuzz 1 29
- Pivot Phoenix Carbon
- Santa Cruz V10 XO1 Carbon
- YT Tues CF Pro Race
Downloads:
Dimitri Lehner
Editor
