The Threesome
So, is this the future, hell, is everyone else doing it wrong? While I’m happy in my relationship, there’s always the temptation to try something new. After 3 months punting the mighty #thegeometryaffair around I had become very comfortable on the long geometry, would moving back to a ‘normal’ bike be a step backwards, or simply remind me of what I have been missing. We have a number of cutting edge bikes in the office at the moment, all vying for attention, so it was time to be lured into a threesome
After we had gotten to know each other it was time to inject some spice into our relationship, it was time for some group action.
With access to two 29ers with similar gravity focussed intent, 150 – 160 mm of travel and similar build kits a plan was hatched to indulge in a little three-way action to see which bike was the fastest, the most fun or indeed both. A posse of riders was organised, some had never ridden a bike as radical as the Pole before, this was going to be interesting. We chose to pitch the Whyte S-150 and Marin Wolf Ridge 9 against the #thegeometryaffair, two bikes with similar intent. First it’s time for a disclaimer. Speaking as an ex-scientist, these comparisons are about as scientific as Donald Trump’s climate change briefings, but we did all we could to give fair testing. While we did not standardise tyres or contact points, we did ride the same trails on the same days, taking care to swap the bikes at different points to avoid biases from fatigue or track learning.
| #thegeometryaffair | Whyte S-150 | Marin Wolf Ridge 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | 160/140 mm | 150/150 mm | 160/160 mm |
| Wheelbase | 1314 mm | 1212 mm | 1206 mm |
| Reach | 510 mm | 480 mm | 462 mm |
| Head Angle | 64.5 ° | 65.6 ° | 66.5 ° |
| Seat Tube Angle | 77.5 ° | 74.5 ° | 73.5 ° |
| Chainstay Length | 456 mm | 435 mm | 435 mm |
| Weight | 14.5 kg | 13.8 kg | 14.1 kg |
After a number of days and over 30 blind timed runs a trend had developed, when it came to raw speed, #thegeometryaffair was constantly the fastest bike, by around 3-4 %. As expected I was quicker on the beast as I had been riding it for months, but surprisingly so were the other riders who had never ridden any of the test bikes, the long and low chassis made high speeds effortlessly easy to exploit. In experienced hands, the new-school geometry is explosive, light the fuse and hang the fu$k on.
So that’s it then, old school geometry is dead?
It was interesting going from bike to bike, coming off #thegeometryaffair the Whyte and the Marin both felt immediately more lively, electric even. I was chucking the bikes around like a man possessed, the pursuit of speed was replaced with the pursuit of fun, every pump or bump became a jump, every patch of stones an opportunity for a cutty. Would we have the 50:01 crew throwing their crazy shapes if we were all riding ultra long bikes – I’m guessing not! It’s not that the #thegeometryaffair is not fun to ride, it can be manualled, it’s great to jump, but sometimes a little instability is fun, like the difference between hot laps in a Bugatti Veyron and a Go-Cart – it depends how you get your kicks.
As the industry takes small steps, growing longer and slacker each year, Nicolai and Pole have taken a giant leap. For riders who want to go faster, ride in more confidence and stability, or live to smash their mates to the bottom of the trail, then the ultra long geometry will give you wings – and climb pretty damn well too. There are many people who are quite vocal about radical geometry, both fore and against, but in the end it’s just a choice, but a viable one. Before the tin-hat brigade start claiming a conspiracy, I’m not contracted to say the Pole is great, if it were a nightmare I would say, but it’s really not, it’s flipping rad. I get my kicks from going fast on steep trails and I love rallying hard into turns so for me #thegeometryaffair has become more than a one night stand, she’s a keeper.
You can follow the build and behind the scenes testing of this bike through the season using the #thegeometryaffair tag on instagram.
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