As you can see, I slapped a suspension fork on the Sawyer. It does happen to be a G2 100mm travel fork, so it is perfect for replacing the rigid fork that was on it.
I took it out to the Camp and rolled it around out there to see how it would handle. It is pretty interesting in that the Sawyer has a slightly slacker head angle than say, a Superfly hard tail, so you can feel that in the handling. I think it makes the bike pretty fun, but there are some around here that wouldn't like the slightly more stable handling. It is true that it doesn't have sports car quickness, but it does beg to be slammed over in corners and ridden a bit more aggressively than your garden variety XC grade hard tail. I like it.
Next stop for the Sawyer is to strip off all the dangly bits and turn it into a single speed. I think fatter tires will be also making an appearance.
They actually work really well too. Six different levels of heat, and the hotter settings are, well.........hot! I can totally see using these in really cold weather for commutes and snow biking. Actually, they are pretty soothing on lower settings, so if you have sore hands, or issues with dexterity, maybe these would help with that as well.
The grips are tacky, even un-heated, and of course, they are lock ons. Pretty unusual stuff for cycling, but I see on the website that they also make these for ATVs, motorcycles, and more. A drop bar version is also in the works.
Run time on the Lithium-Polymer battery is about 3 hours. Made in the U.S.A. by A'ME. Expenderiforous! $300.00 plus $10.00 for the mounting kit. Worth it? If you want to ride in the cold, but yer hands won't let you, I'd say, quite possibly. Definitely better than riding indoors!
I'll be putting up a much more detailed review on The Cyclistsite.com soon.
