VIDEO:: 2015 Devinci Spartan Carbon - Decimates Austin, TX

This is just my second ride on the Spartan. After the Spartan's (I call her Smash N Grab) inaugural ride on Deception, Dropping Basket Drop, Cru Jones, Swag, cleaning EBD and having ZERO dabs (a true rarity for me) I felt confident to go much bigger.

A dreary Sunday morning, Brett, Billy and I saddled up trying to beat the rain. We headed south from Cedar Park to hit some greenbelt trails. I hadn't ridden these trails in many years so I was pretty excited, but a bit anxious. The slight misting wasn't helping as the Austin limestone becomes slick as snot when wet, but ultimately the trails were perfect.

The Spartan was confidence inspiring from the first bit of loose baby heads, roots and steps through to the huge g-outs and even the biggest drop the greenbelt has to offer. The suspension floated over the chunky stuff, ate up the hard hits due to my mistakes and sucked up ledges on the climbs. Climbing prowess is not sacrificed at the cost of the more descent specific travel and design of the Spartan.

Due to budgetary constraints I was not able to replace my broken Chumba XCL with a like bike, so I settled for a HT 29er. Knowing I would get back to a more all-mountain/trail bike again I decided to go with a bike that would be versatile for family rides, off-ride Tri and long rides, those are my reasons for getting the Salsa El Mar. So, having been off a longer travel FS bike for more than a year and a half, I'm back and back big with the 165mm rear travel Spartan fitted with the 160mm Pike up front. The point being - I'm rusty hitting the big drops...without further rambling...watch in HD.

Rainmaker :: 2015 Devinci Spartan Carbon Is Coming to Austin

Tuesday this week I put in my order with Wes at Velorangutan for the 2015 Spartan Carbon XP complete bike with white graphics ($4299 retail). I am doing a very similar build up as the demo, it makes more sense to buy the complete XP and the upgrade item individually vs buying the $6999 Spartan Carbon RR. Other than the brakes my build will be pretty much on par with the RR. I'm not sure about the quality of the DT Swiss E 1700 Spline wheels vs the Stan's, but the weight is almost identical. I may upgrade the brakes after I part out the take off items or I might buy some Chinese Carbon wide rims for the future or some CB Mallet DH pedals...decisions.

I ordered the following additional items:
Stans Flows with 330HD hubs and blue nipples:

SRAM X1 Drivetrain, but with the Turbine Cinch crankset and blue 30T NW:

RaceFace SIXC 3/4 Rise Carbon Bars blue graphics, blue Atlas Stem, ODI Rogue lock ons:

In the end, my build will look very much like the demo bike.

It's all about the wait now...

2015 Devinci Spartan Carbon :: Second Ride Review

My second demo ride on the Spartan was at the Lakeway trails in Lakeway, TX. The trail in Lakeway is known for having the longest extended climbing in central Texas. The ride was 12 miles long and had 1600 feet of climbing.

The climbs in Lakeway are varied, some are relatively steep and somewhat technical, while others are more gradual with wonderful switchbacks. The switchbacks often allow the rider to take a wide more gradual line or a short, steep direct line. The long climb up is just under 2 miles, with an elevation gain of 437 feet, I did it just shy of 3 minutes slower than my previous best. However, that best time was in the peak of my Enchilada Buffet training, I was in much better shape then, since the EB I have eaten everything in sight (thanks to Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Girl Scouts) and slacked off in my training and riding, so I did not expect to be faster. Having said that, I was actually faster, faster while I was moving that is. On the long climb I took 3 short rest breaks, plus 1 to adjust the compression.

Climbing was easier, yes, climbing on the ~30lb 6.5in Spartan was easier than on my 27.5lb Salsa El Mariachi hardtail, at least where the climbing was not just an easy stroll. It was easier on my body and easier on the technical sections. The suspension soaks up the rocks and ledges making the bike roll over things with less effort. Standing up and pedaling is definitely not the same as on the hardtail, but it wasn't remotely futile nor did it feel too soft.

On this ride I did fiddle with the compression settings on the Monarch RS Debonair rear shock and it definitely helped on the climbing. Unfortunately I didn't adjust it until I was 3/4 of the way up Mt Lakeway, but as soon as I did I could feel the bike was stiffer when pedaling up. Later during the ride I put the shock into the minimum compression setting and it helped a bit more on the climbs, but the interesting thing was the bike felt just as plush on the big drops and faster descents. So, that's where I left it.

We explored a bit more single track past the regular Lakeway trails and rode some very nice flowing stuff with some good drops and short, steep ups. We found some fast and steep downhills with tight turns and several drops, even knowing we'd have to climb back up we couldn't resist pointing downhill. On the way back to the back side of Mt Lakeway we took a very fast jeep road downhill that was a blast to fly down. The Spartan floated over the rocks, drops, and ditches that were scattered along the jeep road.

Going up the backside of Mt Lakeway where the steeper more technical climbing and switchbacks are I made it up without incident with one exception and I have only my fitness to blame. I just got lazy and didn't make one of the step ups on a switchback. The rest of the ride was great. Riding through the chunky parts at the top of Mt Lakway was fun as was the descent to the bottom. I did PR a few descents despite feeling pretty tired and lazy at that point.

Here are the M and L geo numbers to compare the Troy and Spartan, I highlight the TT and Reach as they seem most relevant to readers:

Troy
	ST	SA	HA	TT1	TT2	REACH	CS	WB	BBH	SOH	STACK	HT
	mm	deg	deg	mm	mm	mm	mm	mm	mm	mm	mm	mm
M	445	73	67.5	605	577	421	428	1140	344	733	601	115
L	475	73	67.5	625	597	441	428	1160	344	758	601	115
Spartan
M	445	73	66.4	605	578	419	430	1159	344	737	608	115
L	475	73	66.4	625	599	438	430	1180	344	752	613	125

Having ridden the Medium Troy and thinking it was spot on for me and then the Larger Spartan and feeling it too was spot on, these numbers make me feel a bit better about my "feelings". A 3/4" difference isn't much for me to notice. I believe the Troy had a 70mm stem with 760mm bars and the Spartan a 50mm with 780s so that too would off set the difference in geo I think.

Stay tuned for a long-term review...I am ordering the Spartan!

2015 Devinci Spartan Carbon :: First Ride Impression

During my search for a new full suspension MTB I have ridden a Devinci Troy Carbon, Cannondale Trigger 27.5 Carbon Team 2, and most recently the Devinci Spartan Carbon. I also threw a leg over an Orbea Rallon X10 for a bit more than your typical parking lot ride. I was looking at bikes around 140mm. Living in Central Texas 140mm seems to be the more common travel choice. However, with new bikes and suspension designs/technology, suspension travel these days seems to impact the weight of the bike more than the performance. Being 200lbs or more most of the time I figure an extra pound or two of bike would easily be tolerable and and extra 1.5 inch of travel would be welcome. My Chumba XCL was about 31 lbs with 140mm and I never felt strung out riding it on long rides or climbs. I tend to like hard charging down through the chunk and dropping lots of ledges. So this all brings me to the current demo...

I am demoing a 2015 Devinci Spartan Carbon XP. The budget priced XP spec Spartan Carbon leaves plenty of money to upgrade the wheelset and drivetrain and that’s exactly what Wes at Velorangutan did. The XP includes the Pike RC Dual Air 160mm, RockShox Monarch Plus RC3 Debonair shock and a Reverb Stealth 125mm. The Shimano Deore brakes area solid, I was not left wanting in the brakes department, I probably wouldn't upgrade them until they are functionally in need of replacement. I would certainly take them over Elixirs and I am much more a SRAM fanboy than Shimano.

In my opinion the only things that “need” upgrades are the wheels and drivetrain. The demo I’m riding has Stan’s 330 HD hubs and Flow rims, probably shedding a pound off the Jalcos, since the combined rim weight difference is about a ¼ pound in favor of the Flows and the hub difference is more than a 1/3 pound, not to mention spokes and nipples (they add up and they rotate). The quality difference alone is worth the upgrade.  The 2x10 drivetrain swap for a 1x11 is what I would do and that’s what the demo is kitted with, 30T NW with a 10-42 cassette.  Another minor change was the rear tire, the Hans Dampf was switched out for a Maxxis Ikon, I might consider a similar swap to save the spare HD for the front later on. Other than these changes the rest was spec, shock, fork, dropper, brakes, cockpit and controls. You could get $500 or more easily selling the take-off stuff, almost paying for your wheelset upgrade. Let's get on with the ride.

We headed to Reveille Peak Ranch since it was raining the day before and the morning of my first ride on the Devinci. After about 5 minutes of sag set up, we hit the trail. I did not adjust the compression settings, so they were “open” during my ride. We rode the Race Loop to the Upper Loop first. The Race Loop has some nice, easy to overlook huck spots that were made more fun being on the Spartan. The bike was nibble and gobbled up the chunky stuff on the way to the Upper Loop after the Peak Loop turn off. On the second half of the Upper Loop you get to open things up a bit, pumping and jiving. The fast section was a blast and the bike performed well. 

Next up was the Peak Loop. I wanted to see how it would climb. While RPR doesn’t quite have the same technical climbing as Austin it does give you some longer than average climbs with plenty of steps, rocks, gaps and tight turns. I never felt that the Spartan was out of place at all during the climbing, nor did I have to go to the 42 to keep it moving, in fact I found myself in tougher gears and standing a bit. I realized that even standing and pedaling our of the saddle the bike climbed very well with little bob. We then headed up to the Epic Peak (where the cross is). That jeep road climb wasn’t bad either, never felt ragged during any climbs.

Now, it was time to hit the Super D – from the very top – the Lonestar Granite Enduro start with the bonus fun up top. Everything was smoother than ever on the way down. Even with a screw up in gearing causing me to stand up and grind the short climb after the bridge I managed a PR on both Super D sections. I honestly wasn't pushing it hard, things were just made smoother and faster on the Spartan. I’m not a big jumper (love drops, but not a huge fan of pointing my wheels up off a lip) but on this run I got more air on the jumps going down Super D than I have before. I was a lot more confident dropping, launching and even rolling things a lot faster/bigger than on previous bikes/rides. 

Finally we pedaled over to Sweet Skull and the Flow Trail. Just one run each, no sessioning. I tried a new approach on Sweet Skull. I wanted to see if the adage “slow is fast” is true for this section or if it’s just slower. The result is inconclusive; I was 2 seconds off my PR set on the Devinci Troy Carbon in December. I say inconclusive because conditions were different, the turns were way slicker during this run and I slid out on at least two turns. I feel confident given a couple of runs even in the slicker conditions I could blow away the PR. First off the chunky section Lil Diesel and the Sweet Skull Jump were faster on the Spartan. Lil Diesel was much smoother than on previous rides and the jump was as much fun, but seemed more like a ripple even though I know I aired it higher and further.

The run down the Flow was fun, fairly uneventful as I was not trying anything silly, little whips with little air. The Spartan is easy to get airborne and feels confident landing. We headed back after the Flow run.

First ride impressions…SOLD! I am going to try to get in a ride at Lakeway and possibly Deception before I have to relinquish it to Wes, but I see those rides as a bonus and a formality. I do want to make sure there are no surprises on the climbs at Lakeway and the ledges, g-outs, chunk and tightness at Deception.

Things I would change, aside from the "needed" upgrades mentioned (wheels and drive train):

• Bars - I would go with RaceFace SIXC 3/4 rise - less arm fatigue and less jittery.
• Stem - RaceFace Atlas in blue - purely for the bling.
• Grips - ODI Rogues - hand and forearm relief for days!

With the drive train, wheels and cockpit changes I expect the weight drop to be closer to 2lbs or a bit more putting the bike around the 30lb mark, not the lightest carbon 6.5in bike, but not a pig either.

Stay tuned. 

Demo courtesy of and thanks go to: