Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Dos Niner in the House






Early Christmas at the Guitar Ted Labratories? Nah, but it would seem so, as this Dos Niner is here from Salsa Cycles for a long term test. Thanks guys!

One disadvantage to the big wheels: they don't fit underneath your standard Christmas tree!








A close up of the paint and graphics. I love orange and this design is hot, hot, hot!



It's got some nice metallic sparkle there!









The thing that sets this bike off from all the others: The Relish damper unit. The Dos Niner is a soft tail design that relies on the flex of the chainstays to act as a spring and this damper unit helps keep all that "boing" under control. You can also use the damper to add additional spring stiffness to the design to the point that it is essentially "locked out" if you wanted to, but why? Seems counter intuitive since then you have what would amount to a hardtail. With that in mind, you don't need much pressure in this unit. I will be running mine at about 0 - 20 psi for this test to see how it reacts.



The other interesting thing about this frame is that it's got a Scandium enhanced aluminum alloy through out. Meaning that it's just not the three main tubes, but the whole frame that is made of the stuff. Scandium is there to allow for better strength and lighter weight by design. I'll get into that more later.

For now I just wanted to introduce ya'all to one fine looking 29"er that'll be around for awhile. I'll be keeping you all updated as to how she rides and how it works in varying types of terrain and conditions. Thanks again to Salsa Cycles for this incredible bike and the opportunity to ride it.

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