Projects
A day with Dirt.
Big wheels & little wheels
This year we've worked long and hard to bring you the most spritely feeling steel & titanium 29er frame out there, with carefully selected tubesets to provide the ultimate combination of strength, comfort and responsive handling we are convinced that we have produced a 29er that doesn't feel sloppy and boatlike, instead it feels like an XC whippet.
The first reviews of our Cooker range have been stirling and with magazine tests pegging us above Specialized and Cannondale we needed to answer the simple question; are 29ers faster than 26ers?
Steve Jones has done a fantastic write up of the 29er debate here to give you an insight to the pros and cons of 29ers.
But for today we had a simple test, we asked several reputable bike journalists and riders (Steve Jones – Dirt Mag, Billy – Dirt Mag, Jake Ireland (MBUK tester) and Alex Rankin from WFO media) to ride the same trails on identically specced bikes, to see which was quicker over a timed technical trail section.
The unanimous comments were that the Cooker was hands down faster on climbs and carried its speed far better on the flats, but more importantly Steve Jones was 20 seconds quicker over the 3 minute downhill section at the Forest of Dean on a 29er.
What makes this more impressive is that the Cooker was set up as a full on XC race bike but handled the course as well as a 26" hard core hard tail or a 140mm trail bike.
View the videos to see the un-edited interviews after the ride. .
December 2011
