My FREERIDE colleagues didn't give the Radon Swoop a long life with my riding style: "We give it a maximum lifespan of three months, then the frame will be scrap with your hardcore use. The weak point is probably the rear triangle." To put it bluntly, the exact opposite happened. The Swoop survived the one-year test period with flying colours. The frame suffered no damage. The other parts also performed well, even though the Radon completed almost the entire bike park test of FREERIDE magazine and was otherwise tortured on nasty rumble trails on Lake Garda.
The only part that let me down was the Formula T1 brake. On longer downhills - such as the World Cup downhill course in Schladming - the brake started to fade after a short time and even lost all braking power. After a ten-minute break, the brakes worked perfectly again. I swapped the brake for a Formula R0, which worked perfectly until the end of the test and didn't have any pressure point wandering. I also fitted a BOS N'dee fork halfway through the test because the Fox fork had to be serviced due to minimal oil loss. I liked it a little better straight away because of its sensitive response behaviour.
I was completely impressed by the top equipment and the Swoop's wide range of use. With a weight of 14 kilos, I was also able to go on longer tours. Uphill, the rear end stays still, downhill the bike can easily keep up with the best enduro bikes in any terrain - even with the new 27.5-inch tyres.
Conclusion: A bike with an excellent price/performance ratio that plays in the all-mountain league on the uphills and comes close to the class of a freerider on the downhills.
Functionality ******
Shelf life *****
(max. 6 stars)
TUNING
- 456 km derailleur hanger off: derailleur hanger torn off on the Pianaura trail, new derailleur hanger fitted
- 1477 km fork replaced: Fox fork sent for service due to minimal oil loss, BOS N'dee with 180 mm fitted
DEFECTS
- 738 km Tyre change : Rear tyre worn, Hutchinson fitted with latex milk
- 910 km Brake disc out of round: Rear brake disc out of round, both discs replaced
- 1009 km Brake replaced: Total failure of the T1 brake, complete Formula R0 brake fitted
- 2789 km brake pads replaced: Rear brake pads worn out, cheap pads from Cube fitted for testing purposes.
