Test Rider, AIDO

Defcon 27five

Wow, what great rig.

Straight out of the box colour was awesome, a little bit Kermit a little minty and little lime all at once with out being sickly or eighties fluoro.

The front was a little high, but everyone is different when it comes to this I know. But that is as easy as changing the bar or stem. The frame was probably a tad small for me another inch or so on the seat tube and only half that on the top tube would have been my perfect frame size. Angles were pretty standard which made for out of the box familiarity.

Like many I have cut my teeth riding 26” wheels over the last 16 years of mountain biking but pretty well converted to the world of 29” now. My last outing on a 26er saw me getting caught up on things I would have normally hit flat out, found I was moving around the bike too much and over stepping manuals, pumps and washing corners.

So I was psyched when I got on the trail on this little beauty to find exactly what I expected, a perfectly normal bike, there was no spilt personality not a hash slow 26er and not a truckusurus 29er. She is agile, bunny hops and step ups a common thing on my rocky trails were a synch not requiring the kind of disco-esk body movement you have to pull on a 29er. Rolling off and drops were easy, in part to the up right position but also because of the compact frame and solid feel.
Landing on the bigger wheel was sweet and again the frame took it all in stride. I was dubious of the sliding drops, I have seen a few fail due to many small welds on narrow material and others warp and misalign. The Defcon dropouts were solid stayed in place and didn’t move bit. I never herd or saw any sway or warp under braking or power so 10/10 for that.

Cornering was snappy as expected, one supper snakey section of trail I did three times 1 and 3 on the 27five and the middle lap on a 26er. The differences were really impressive, this section has every kind of corner you can get on a trail and it ate them up, rolled consistently didn’t loose speed through flex or drag, stayed predictable as the corner changed camber and from rock to sand. Again the compact size meant you can quickly pick up the front to set the wheel for quick direction changes under power.

After the curves it was straight into the rock garden descent, could have been the chunky neo motos or the resilient frame but she stuck like white on rice, pushed through the dropping rocky corner without brakes that has seen me pinch flat so many times, with nothing but a want to pedal …un herd of.

Looking at the wheel sizes it seems massively different to a 29 but only marginally bigger than a 26er. In reality this means that they soak up those small bumps but and stay on top of rocks but hugs tight corners, perfect.

The build was spot on, lightweight and strong, a quality frame matched with white industries drive train, and big ups to Stu who even managed to make El Caminos feel good.
I hope the conservative Aussie market can get on board 650b, it is great, wether you get a Defcon 27five frame or throw wheels into a 26 frame, get off the fence and do it.

I am hooked, death to 26 inch wheels!

Aido

DECALS For Production?????

Well, During a Quick Solo Spin this Morning, i stopped to get a few Quick Snaps of the DEFCON 27five in a full decal mock up,

What are your thoughts???????

650b New Samples Arrive

Its been a while since any updates i know,

But

We have recieved and tested our re-sampled 650b hardtail frames, and also 29ers, we just need now to make a couple of cosmetic changes, and we will be go for production

Prep for SS Nats

Thought id better get one of the SS bikes out again, in prep for the Aussie SS Nationals in Newcastle at the end of the month.

Hung up the 5.5in travel Prototype Spawn (see below), and pulld down the Custom Ti, it was great to get on the Ti SS again, and i had to go get a few better pics

4Hr Weekend Warrior - Cunungra, Spawn Test day

A couple of mate and i headed down to Cunungra for a 4hr race, well, more of a testing session for me and the DEFCON Spawn. While not perfectly suited to the XC course, the 5.5in travel Spawn performed very well. And i did get some progress on some testing.

A couple of pics

.

Sneak Peak - DEFCON Spawn

More info to come

BLING Day Out - Demo Day

Howdy,

We recently got the opportunity to take our bikes out to the Bling day out, at Hiddenvale Peppers Resort. The tracks are amazing out there with plenty of terain variation and plenty of rocks to test the ride quality of the steel frames.

We took the three DEFCON Bikes out 27Five Steel SS, 27Five Geared front suspended, and the Custom Ti



They had approx 100-150 riders attend and our bikes were out most of the day, with great results, our main objective was to get a little brand reccognition and also get some much needed rider responses to the frames, ride characteristics, and feedback. Im pleased to say that all that we recieved was very positive.




Big shout outs must go to Hayden and Peter for organising the event, and also Big thanks to Duncan from D.I.Y MTB for supplying the X-Fusion Velvet fork upfront on the Geared bike, they really are a great fork, and if you get a chance to test or ride one, i reccomend it.

TEST Rider - KENZO - Defcon 27five Test

Having ridden 26" bikes offroad for a few years my preference shifted to riding 29ers. When given the opportunity to ride a rigid single-speed 650b I took it looking to see whether or not there really was a middle ground.

There is always the hype of why riders should move away from 26" and ride bigger wheels. The two main benefits put forward by the 650b or 27.5" pundits is the 650b wheel has the maneuverability of 26" wheels and rolling properties (momentum and obstacles) of 29ers.

On first sight, the bike looked long and sleek. The steel allowing for thin tubes making lines which appealed to my eye. (This said, all my bikes are steel tubing.)So let's talk about the setup...

The test bike came with a rigid carbon fibre fork and wheels built from White Industries hubs laced to Velocity Blunt rims. Grip and traction was provided by Pacenti Neo Moto tyres with a 2.3" width.

The cockpit was a no name saddle with a Thomson layback post.

No name lock-ons fitted to Titec El-Norte handlebars at 700mm wide and an ABR 90mm stem.

The headset is a Cane Creek s-8.

The drivetrain was also White Industries, an ENO crankset with a 32T chainring and a 19T freewheel sprocket - all performed flawlessly.

Brakes were Hayes El-Caminos with 6" rotors.

The bike weighed in at only 10.3kg (no pedals). Built with lighter components, some weight savings can be made - especially in the wheels.Test rides were on singletrack at Bunyaville and at Daisy Hill for a night ride. (I also used the bike for commuting on a couple of days.)

It took a while for me to 'find my stride'. But when I did, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. At times I forgot it was a full rigid. When I found the sweet spot for hard cornering I also began to find some rhythm. The round profile of the Pacenti tyres allowed for predictable cornering. The grip gave me confidence and never washed out on me.

Climbing on the bike was easiest for me when seated and mashing away. Some would pass me on the flat sections - I would catch and pass most on the uphill. I would not change the gearing as it suited the trails I rode.

Launching the bike down descents and up over obstacles was great fun. The (low) weight in the front end allowed me to lift the bike clear over logs and the carbon fork at no time gave me any worries.

I did have some problems with heel strike due to my pedalling action (lots of lateral movement in my heel). The sliding dropouts meant the stays were wider at the axle. When my right foot was back with pedals level, the back of my shoe would occasionally catch on the chainstay. This should not be an issue for people with less float in their pedals.

Overall the 27five handles singletrack better than my 29er. I was carrying more speed into and through corners than my 29er. The bike was more able to flick through tight spots whereas on a 29er I have to 'finesse' through.

This means the 27five is a big handful of fun and 650b delivers what is promised.

Kenzo.

650b Bike Ready for Testing

Heres a few pics of the new DEFCON 27five ready for testing, in SS guise.

Production will be starting shortly, with availability hopefully approx Sept/Oct,

Sneak Preview Custom Ti

Heres a few sneak images of our first Custom Ti Frame, Stay tuned for more details, on availability and more info.

Sample DEFCON 650b Frames Arrive

Heres a Couple of our Sample Steel 650b Frames.

Couple of the features are Double butted Cro-Mo, Sliders, 650b Geo, and 650b tyre clearances.

We hope to get these sorted and into production sooner rather than later, look out for production models in a few months.
Sliding Dropouts, allow for easy Single Speed set ups, or geared.




We will be getting rid of the rack bosses, and making a couple of changes from these, nothing major, just a couple of mis-comunications with the Factory, It all good though.

We had two done, we will test one as SS and one geared, after we play with a few Graphic options, and send one around for a few people to check out.

650b Stans ZTR rims

We have just landed a small batch of Stans ZTR 355 650b rims.

On the scales the one i weighed was at 365gms, sweet.

These are all taken by pre-orders but we have more coming that will be available approx mid to late March, laced up with White Industries MI6 Hubset will make one nice wheelset, RRP should be around the $995AUD mark with DT double butted spokes, including a set of PACENTI 650b tyres

Welcome to Definitive Cycles Blog

Howdy

Heres a blog that we will keep up to date with the latest news, product info and general happenings regarding Definitive Cycles, and our products,

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Stu