@jdog lent it to me this past week.. I took it out Saturday for a 20 mile mahlon tour.
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So for me... I have both... Scalpel for racing, trigger 29er for playing around. Usually means that while I like some of the in between bikes, I would probably never buy one..... Which is kinda how I felt after riding the regular 27.5 habit. I thought it was amazing and so fun... If I couldn't have two separate bikes, I would think about getting one. Turned great, climbed, was considerably easier to hop over things than either of my 29ers, and didn't really notice the difference with the smaller wheel rolling over rocky stuff. But it wasnt as pure race bike as my scalpel, or as burly all mountain as my trigger.
The bad habit to felt very similar to the regular habit, but just more on the all mountain side. It still has that same awesome feeling the regular habit does through turns... Which to me feels like I can get so low on it and just keep leaning it over...I guess its partially due to the slacker head angle...Whatever it is, I just feel so much more confident on this bike in high speed turns. Now with the bigger tires, the grip is ridiculous and its incredibly stable when the ground is choppy... Like mahlon. Stone gate for example is now so eroded that parts of it are starting to resemble a river bed...This is where I loved this bike the most. Man does it plow though shit at speed. This bike has the lefty 2.0, which I believe is the replacement for the XC style lefty that is on my scalpel for example. Then cannondale also makes the supermax, which is what is on my trigger...140mm 36mm stanchion...While I dont think its as good as the supermax when bombing through rocks, compared to the old lefty that is on my scalpel, its night and day better. It just stays planted and online, and I was taking lines down stone gate I would never take with my old xlr lefty thats on my scalpel.
The traction is also awesome as you would expect and it makes climbing sections like the overlook really easy...I found I could almost stall it out, stand up and still power through something without spinning the rear tire out.
I lined up my trigger and the bad habit....tire height is pretty close. My trigger has a 2.3 minion on the front.
I really LOVE my trigger, but no BS, I think this bike has maybe surpassed it in fun factor. Ok not 100% every aspect, but it turns better, is more nimble and climbs better...I said this to
@jdog I think the one thing that might put it over the top was if they put the supermax lefty on it.
Great bike, I could see replacing my trigger with this someday.