I have a little more Sea Otter for you out there. Today we will be showing the Titus Rock Star 29er.

Titus Bikes were approachable and cool guys.  Thanks for spending some time showing me the Rock Star.

What do you the reader want to know about this bike and why is it different from the other bikes on the market? First things first. Titus has bumped the travel of this bike from their previous offering the Racer X 29er. Instead of 80mm the Rock Star has 100mm. This makes the Rock Star a bike I want to test. 80mm is too little 100 is within the ball park of what most guy's will get the most out of. Titus designed the Rock Star around a 100mm fork. You can run a 120mm fork with this bike. This is important to me especially with the release of the new Fox 32 Talas 29 fork.

This brings up the point; what is the Titus made for? It is not a race bike. It is not NOT a race bike either. It is a bike designed to do what you want it to do all day long.  Again we see a company that understands the real strengths of a 29er. So you can get a TALAS for this bike. If you are riding rocky steep terrain on the climbs you can lower the front end to 95mm and climb with the best of them.  On the down hills put the TALAS in 120mm mode and the extra height slackens your head angle and raises the bottom Bracket for a more confident technically capable riding position. Versatility. This is becoming more and more important to me when I am looking at bikes to review.

Now when you look at the Titus Rock Star you may think this is an old suspension design. It is a Horst Link design. The style of suspension has been around for a long time. No it is not outdated. This design has been refined for a long time. Shocks have gotten better to really play up the strengths and down play the few negatives. One huge positive is simplicity. This is a relatively simple design that has years of refinement. The Horst link bikes are easy to work on and ride really well when done right.

In the pictures take a look at the head tube of the Titus.  It is a tapered head tube with a press in lower bearing. Here are the cool features of this style of tapered head tube. If you have a 100mm front fork with a 1 1/8 steer tube it is an easy swap over to the Titus. Just press in a lower bearing with a reducer . Next thing I am really beginning to appreciate is that if the headset gets creaky on this system replace the bearing and cup assembly not the frame. The press in bearing is the lower bearing because this bearing takes the most load. The top bearing is integrated. It seems this is done to lower the front end of the bike.

Next is the carbon fiber rear end. I am still not 100% sold on Carbon as a material for the average rider. However if you are going to use it this makes more sense to me than a complete bike. Because of the Horst link set up,  if you break a piece of the rear end like a chain stay,  you can just buy the part of the chain stay you broke. While I am sure it is not cheap, it isn't as bad as replacing a one piece rear end or a front triangle. All this is IF you break it.  I am excited to test Titus Bikes' carbon rear end to see what advantages it really offers.

The main triangle is hydro formed aluminium. The Rock Star does come in a titanium version. I know there  are some people who are not into titanium on suspension bikes. I have to say I am a sucker for it. I think it is beautiful. I wont kid anyone that any bike will be the last bike I own but if I wanted it to be it could be. Well that is if the industry doesn't out date every standard and make it impossible to get parts that will fit it,or if the rear end holds up as it should.... well let's just keep it because titanium is cool and makes me  feel really special. Isn't that enough!

29eronline should be getting got a Titus Rock star for review.  Follow the RSS feed for updates on 29eronline testing the Titus Rock Star.

Back to posting cool stuff at Sea Otter. We have been testing and compiling video for a couple of other  reviews so have been absent from posting.

At Sea Otter I had the privilege to meet Jeff Steber(pronounced STEEBER. Yes I made the mistake and was kindly corrected). Here is why it was a privilege.   How many company owners will come out during race week and spend one on one time to explain a bike to a small website like 29eronline? The crew at Intense was laid back but was willing to spend time to talk to us and answer our questions. I also met Stickman who was super laid back and a nice guy. Some companies were really snobby and not accommodating so it is  always appreciated when a company is cool. Remember,  if a company doesn't treat you good to your face how are they going to treat you when you call them for a warranty or tech question?

That is not the only reason Intense made a great impression. Their Intense Tracer 29er and prototype 29er down hill bike are impressive. These bikes are made in the USA. These bikes are made in house. These bikes cost about the same as a high end Taiwanese made frame from some small manufacturers that out source their bikes. These bikes are handmade by people who obviously take alot of pride in their work.

I have been following this evolution for some time. The first frame Intense made was a Intense Spider 29er. I did not want it because at the time they were using really steep geometry. It was a cool bike otherwise. Intense was also one of the early adopters of full suspension 29ers with the Spider 29er. Then I noticed a couple of pictures floating around of a 5.5 29er prototype which seamed to disappear.  Intense brought the concept  back with a vengeance! This is by far one of the most technologically advanced  and forward thinking bikes out on the market. This is why we are most excited about the Intense Tracer 29er.

Lets start at the head tube. It is a full 1.5 head tube. Why? Besides the obvious strength...options. You can run a 1 1/8 steer tube fork using headset reducers. You can use a tapered steer tube fork using a head set designed to adapt and in the future, if any company will sack up, you can use a full 1.5 steer tube fork. this is forward thinking ! Why limit the customer to one component? Also with technology changing and demand increasing,  the customer that buy's the Tracer 29er will be able to upgrade with out changing frames. No throw away frames here. These are built to be used for a long time.

Intense does some beautiful craftsmanship. These frames are gorgeous!

Suspension type is a Virtual Pivot Point. Intense licences the VPP technology from Santa Cruz Bikes. It seems to me when Intense Bikes makes an improvement(like redesigned linkages) then miraculously so does Santa Cruz hmmmmm. The travel of the Tracer is adjustable between 5 and 5.5 inches. Again options. You can run a 140mm fork and have a 140mm travel in the rear and use it as an all mountain bike. Or you can run a 120mm fork, steepening the head angle, and lowering the Bottom Bracket and use it as a all day trail bike.

Moving down the frame. We go to the rear drop outs. Once again Intense thought ahead and didn't pigeon hole the buyer. You can use a 150mm spaced rear end. This wider rear axle allows you to stiffen the rear end of the bike and build a stiffer rear wheel. You can use a Syntace  12x142mm rear end.Information on that here. This is a cool system. Think Fox 15mm QR for the rear. When installing the rear wheel,  you slip it into a notch in the rear drop out, push the axle through like a 15mm QR and spin the axle into a threaded drop. From there you tighten an over sized 12mm QR axle(or bolt on). If I was buying this bike for my personal use this is the option I would choose. Very Good system!  It is much more secure them the standard drop outs the industry has been using. Speaking of which,  135mm is the third option. If you are heavily invested in wheels(like 29eronline) you can use the standard 135mm rear wheel.

The Tracer 29er is set up to be run with a direct mount front dérailleur.

The Intense is a hand built beauty that can be set up to suit a huge number of preferences. Versatility.  I love seeing this.

Intense is going to be allowing us to test this bike with our 29eronline kits. We are chomping at the bit and will be filling you in on the details . Watch for our test in the near future. Please don't back out on us Stickman, we have a fragile heart!

Because in his hands is the new Reba 29er with 140mm travel. This beauty was at the Niner Bikes tent at Sea Otter. Niner will be selling it with a Tapered steer tube and a 20mm Maxle axle only. I have not heard if any one besides Niner will be selling these at this time.

Now I want another WFO9 with this fork on it!

I wish I had more info and hope that Chris or Steve from Niner bikes will chime in on our comments page but it seems that Rock Shox thinks we are to small to waste their time on.

Congratulations to Niner Bikes they are willing to push their bikes design and then follow up with manufacturers to get cool new products for us 29er junkies to enjoy. One more reason 29eronline likes to promote Niner Bikes. More on Niner bikes in a day or two to show off the New Jet9 and the Niner Bikes booth at Sea Otter.

Well you'll have the chance to win a complete Niner hardtail setup along with a whole bunch of other really cool stuff if you get involved with a geo caching contest called "Cache me if you can".

I was forwarded an email by Fat Bob and it seems as if the Niner folks along with a bunch of other companies (Burton, Yakima, ylvan Sports and more) are giving away $14k worth of cool stuff to the first person to put together the clues and find the location.

This is what they had to say:

"We have just gone live this morning, with a GREAT contest called “Cache Me If You Can” , whichNiner is a key partner in. We have hidden a GO, loaded with gear from 8 great outdoor companies (worth over $14,000) somewhere in North America. We will be releasing video clues onwww.findtheGO.com roughly once per week (beginning on National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day) to the eventual location. The first person there will take the prize!  We have chosen LiveStrong as our charity for this contest. Bottom line is… this is going to be a LOT of fun and we want to spread the word!"

National chocolate covered rasin day is today, March 24th so hurry and sign yourself up to start getting those clues so you can get all that cool gear.

So if a contest like this is something you think you'd be into then go directly to the signup page here.

I just wanted to introduce you to Adam, well I mean Adam's bike. Adam will be testing tires. He is starting off with Hutchinson Toro tires. They are set up tubeless using Stan's sealant and Stans Rims.

I am seeing some guy's around here using the Stans built 29er wheels with Stan's hubs. When they get some mileage on them I'll see if we can get some feed back.

Other tires in the cue are Maxxis Ardent tires, Hutchinson python tubeless ready, Maxxis Ignitor tires, Panaracer Rampage and follow ups on Specialized Capitain control and Eskar tires.  We will be spending some time on tires over the next couple of months. I will try to get the riders to get me articles sooner then later. If you the reader would like to see anything in particular tested please leave a comment with this post, and we will do our best to accommodate.

So here is a picture of Adam's RIP9. Size small Licorice.

Check out those shiny new cranks! Charlie from Storm Endurance just put them on.

Just a note. Adam was not testing tires for us when he purchased his bike.

Sorry we have been a little absorbed. I am still riding the WFO9 and the Niner MCR9. We have tires being tested and a verdict on the Fox vs Reba testing . Until I have time to post it, take a look at some of the reasons why we have been dragging on testing.

Before

If we don't take the time to do this we will have nowhere to ride.  We take trail maintenance seriously and take pride in the fact that this is all done by hand with a maddock and a shovel.

after

If you ride please find a way to help with trail maintenance.

If you don't have time throw in a few bucks to your local trail club or IMBA.

If you don't have cash then beer is always appreciated.

Whatever, just get involved.

nice bench cutting

This type of work takes forever!

A section that takes about 2 minutes to ride took about 20 hours to make. It is tough work. The hand cut benches ride in very narrow. It feels cool riding it compared to the new style of trail made by skid steers. Thanks for your patience. It's for a good cause.

No, we are not going back on our rules of running the same parts across the board on all our test bikes. The wheels on the Turner Sultan posted below are my set. I have run them on all the bikes I have tested, including the Specialized tires that you see pictured. Unfortunately our 1 month old Shimano XT hub has already puked on us. We were getting ready to build an identical set when this happened. I am now trying to get a different wheel spec. to run on all of our bikes. 

In the mean time, I have to switch my wheels out onto all the bikes I test. Each tester will use the same wheel set on all the bikes. Unfortunately we are having to run different wheels for different riders. This is a pain for us, but are working hard to be fair to all the frames we test.

Also all our bikes will be equipped with Black Sheep Bike handle bars and seat posts. The bars that are on the Sultan is a set I have had for over a year, and are my personnel preference. I am excited about this sponsor because long before this site came about I have been a user and advocate of Black Sheep's products. Please check out their link in our sponsor section.

Being a Mt bike racer since 1996, carrying a Pro XC license, and working in bike shops since 2000; I have ridden a lot of bikes.

I have a good understanding of what does and does not work well on a bike that will translate to the trail. Over the years, I have become pretty in tune to taking a bike out into the parking lot, doing a lot of turns and riding the bike over various off road obstacles around the shops to quickly get a feel for the machine and how it will perform on the trail. My early analysis is usually a pretty accurate indicator of what a bike will and will not do well on the trail.

The great racecar drivers have the ability to quickly pin point the performance nuances of their machine and communicate it to their support staff. I will soon get some real trail time on most of the 29ers reviewed on this site. I feel confident that some initial judgments I have on the performance on these bikes will be fairly accurate to real trail performance and may spike some interest in readers to see how the bike really performs.

Alex did his initial build on the Turner Sultan and the Pivot Mach 429, brought them by the shop for a few tweaks and I took both through my storefront testing grounds procedure. I won’t waste words on aesthetics and craftsmanship, because both are among the best bikes I have seen in both categories.

First the Sultan:

It sits a touch high (120mm travel though) and has the expected plush feel of a four bar rocker arm rear end. The shock stroke seemed near perfect and did not have the expected ramp up effect common to this type of rear end at all. It was very consistent the whole way through the travel, allowing it to gobble up bigger hits extremely well.

It was easily set up at the correct PSI to utilize all of the bikes travel. This can usually be quite difficult to impossible to achieve on bikes with similar rocker arm type rear ends without making the first couple of inches of travel too squishy.

The 120mm Rear and front travel felt like they worked in harmony (this can also be a issue with plusher designed bikes).

The bike’s handling is very neutral and stable and felt like you could make it do almost anything very well. The bike sits a touch high and will most likely only falter at being responsive and quick enough for the rider who would like to carve higher speed turns on flowing, quick singletrack.

The last thing I was looking for on the Sultan was the resistance of the DW link to pedal induced movement or “bob”. The rear end pedals very well and more stable than any other four-bar/rocker arm design I have been on for sure, but it was not quite as stable as I thought it was going to be. This is a 120 mm travel bike after all.

I do a test where I put the bike in a big gear and do both standing and seated sprints on the pavement with the front and rear suspension fully active. The bike exhibited about a centimeter of sag on the rear shock, which translates to roughly an inch of travel. This is exceptional for such a plush bike.

My early feel is that this bike will be choice for going up and down in the roughest terrain you can find. It will probably eat rocks.

Next the Pivot:

The Pivot 429 is supposed to be God’s gift to the 29er world for those cross country types who want to pedal efficiently and do not want the large feeling of a 29 inch wheeled bike. I have also heard that this bike pedals so well that you don’t even need the lockout.

This is a lot of self-imposed pressure to live up to. I rode the bike for 20 seconds before it dawned on me that I had a 29er under me. I’ll leave it up to other people to write extensively about how Pivot has actually accomplished this, because I am more concerned with what the machine does than how it does this, but Pivot has managed put 29 inch wheels on a 26 inch frame.

The top of the head tube is lower than any other 29er on the market and it has a 26-inch full suspension bottom bracket height and chain stay length. I feels and handles like a 26 inch bike with the stability of big wheels.

The bike pedals so solid on the pavement that I expected it to not react to small, fast hits. I was wrong, it responds perfect to hard pedaling over small, bumpy terrain. The rear end is stiff laterally and responsive. It turns tight but is not twitchy. It is very neutral handling. On my mashing the big gear sprinting tests, I got 3mm of shock sag. No other Full suspension bike does that. This will probably test out on the trail as the first ever-actual “no bob” bike!

One big initial disappointment, It may just turn out to be a matter of getting the perfect rear shock set up but, the bike seemed to have the same end of the shock stroke ramp up effect common in many bikes with similar rear shock placement. The shock stroke definitely ramped up too fast and harsh deep into the travel. I hope this is something that I can tune out when I get some real trail time on it.

I sense that this will be an ideal bike for the XC rider who wants a fast and efficient peddler on twisty, flowing singletrack.

Charlie Storm
STORM ENDURANCE SPORTS

I am excited to say that we have two new frames expected to arrive at 29eronline.com today! 

We have the Pivot 429 frame and the Turner Sultan DW link frame . 

The Chris Cocalis designed Pivot Mach 429 frame has been creating a buzz in the bike industry since its release.  The Pivot 429 is designed to take you "from the race to the trail and give up nothing in between." Those are their words not mine. The claims of all around, no compromise supremacy sounds like a challenge to me . BRING IT ON! 

The second bike is the bike I am looking forward to testing the most out of all 29ers in existence . Yes you read it ... in existence . The Turner Sultan is a sex machine . Pure beauty . Yes I am biased . However even a super model's crap stinks . The Sultan has to actually live up to its beauty and reputation . David Turner has some big shoes to live up to, his own.

In my studies of these two bikes I would say the similarities are :

1. They are both DW link bikes . 

2. They are both made by a couple of the industries biggest brains .

The differences , We don't have all day so you will have to wait for the review.

What does 20mm of suspension do for you(FYI 20mm is the difference in travel between these two frames)?  What  type of rider will enjoy what bike?  Are these bikes really that different or is it marketing hype?  Does the origin of manufacturing  make a difference? 

Stay tuned for a battle of the DW link bikes.

More Info Pivot Mach 429:#mce_temp_url#

More info Turner Sultan : #mce_temp_url#