Today was my 1st proper ride on my new Nomad bike, though technically it was the 3rd time I had ridden it. From the continuously non stop bad weather we have been having lately the rain had finally stopped for the morning. Riding in the rain I can do, riding in the cold I can do but both together I don't really enjoy. So fortunately it was just cold.
I rode to the top of Makara Peak, it was a pretty sifty ride, not too fast but a good pace. I was thinking North Face would be a muddy bog down so I opted for Ridgeline. When Ridgeline is this worn and slippery after rain, the track really shines - it was seriously a lot of fun.
Back at the bottom carpark I thought I would give the bike a quick rinse with the hose before I continued, unfortunately someone else with more gusto than brains accidentally drenched me with their high pressured hose. At least they thought it was funny...
I continued on, next I thought I would ride up Salvation and then down Deliverance. Deliverance is another one of those great tracks when its wet, it keeps you on your toes. Fortunately Deliverance wasn't muddy at all, plenty of slippery rocks though for shits and giggles :)
Post ride thinking about how the bike performed. I felt its uphill performance was as expected, I run a short stem on it and a burly build. The bike climbs well and comfortably, though I wouldn't do any serious XC races on it. Downhill performance was good also but not as great as I expected, I think this was due to the feeling the DHX Air rear shock gave. As mentioned below the shock has a factory tune of High Compression and I think this is where the problem is. While this tune aids climbing ability with pro-pedal, downhill with pro-pedal turned off the shock feels too bouncy.
I have read that the small bump sensitivity isnt the greatest on the DHX Air and I can agree to this. I am going to have to have a good play around with the settings on this shock, there are plenty of them. Santa Cruz forums suggest putting a coil shock such as a DHX RC4 on the Nomad makes a massive improvement, apparently Push Industries recommend this also.
Maybe this is something I can look into later.
