bets long travel bike.

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May 19, 2012, 10:52:26 AM

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[russ0228]

anyone read the what mountainbike mag this month.  this month they have the bike awards section.  it looks like the meta 5.5.2 has won the best long travel under £1750.  not to bad when you read that MBR voted it joint trail bike of the year alongside the stumpy.  i also see that the mini supreme dh team got second place for the best off the peg fr/dh bike.  looks like a good year for the wee fish in a big pond.   the only thing i couldn't fathom was that they voted the gt i-drive 5 2.0 bike of the year.  strange when you consider the bike is designed around you being seated at all times.  fair doo's the bike does ride fine when you are seated as this is you are a supended mass.  which is the way they designed it to be like like.  the problem is when you stand up to power out of a berm or corner or to stomp up a section of a hill you then become an unsuspended mass which means  to you and me it then rides and behaves like a jjb jelly bean.  how can they be so right and so wrong in the same month.

oh well good job to commencal for the accomplishments so far.

[neil_bolton]

That means I've got a killer garage then

I can't comment on the newer I-Drives, however the older ones I used to own, and they were pretty good out of the saddle - whilst the suspension action was less 'soft', the dogbone and funky BB meant that you have a very efficent pedalling action out of the saddle.

However, it was a bit heavy and needed servicing every so often (I had the cheaper one with a million ball bearings in it) and didn't really like big hits so much.

A friend has the I-Drive 2005 and he's ridden that EVERYWHERE (france, canada etc), and seems to like it.

He did admit though, the Meta is a lot better

[steveb]

Think your confusing an iDrive, which is a floating drivetrain design, with a URT design.

When you stand up on the iDrive you continue to be part of the sprung mass, not unsprung. Whereas with the URT you do indeed become part of the unsprung mass.

It's easy to confuse the two as they are actually quite similar in look and design (to the point Trek takes a licence fee from GT for their use of "a Y shaped bike"), but the iDrive has a crucial 2nd pivot isolating the drive train from the main triangle.

[neil_bolton]

Really? I never knew that - I was inder the impression that the IDrive was a logical evolution of the original I-Drives that GT designed.

Like I said I can't comment on the newer IDrives from GT having never ridden one (i.e. more than just 'round the car park') - but find it hilarious that my Trek Y is where it started

[steveb]

The new iDrive is just an evolution of the original. They just did away with the ebb and tried to make it simplier, in my opinion at the same time ruining a great design.

It was only the front end of the original iDrive that looked like a "Y" shape, which Trek patented when they released the hidious URT "Y" bike range.

The two designs are worlds apart in terms of how they actually work, they just look similar.

It's worth mentioning that Trek started the legal action against GT for using a Y shape as soon as the iDrive came out, but it never made it to court, most likely cus lawlors told Trek they didn't have a leg to stand on. But then Maverick who also use a floating drivetain on their ML bikes started to have proceedings launched against them by GT for using their FDT design. Then Trek stepped in and licenced the FDT design from Maverick, so compounding the issue of the FDT issue with Trek. In the end Trek and GT agreed to pay each other a licence fee (1c per bike I suspect) and drop their respective legal actions against each other.

Bike trade, up it's own arse? Never ;-)

[neil_bolton]

which Trek patented when they released the hidious URT "Y" bike range.

Oi, take that back you! :fightingsmiley: 

[steveb]

[Remembers NB has a Y bike]

Oops.

;-)

[russ0228]

no i am afraid on the i-drive you are an unsprung mass when you stand up. that was straight from toronto area rep for gt.  unless he was wrong who worked for them then it must be that.   the mongoose is of the same elk. it just ends up slightly different in the finished product.  i used to have on of these and althought it climbs hills like a billy goat when seated, however as soon as you stand up to mash on the pedals you get aslight rubber band fealing going down from below.  don't get me wrong i did and do like them.  it's just that they don't respond well to an agressive riding stlylee.  this is when you notice the short comings on the design.  pretty much most of the reviews have stated the same feeling as well.  like i said it's fine untill you really push the bike hard.

[steveb]

Sorry, if he really said that, he's wrong. You don't become part of the unsprung mass when you stand on the pedals.

I'd really love to dress that up all nice and fluffy, but I can't, if he said that, he's wrong, plain and simply.

:-)

Edit: And the Mongoose has the exact same system, just made to look different for marketing reasons. GT and Mongoose are owned by the same parent compnay, the same designers work on GT and Mongoose, even though the marketing BS attempts to say otherwise. They will tell you that the first thing Pacific did when they bought the GT brand name was assembled the old design team from when GT was an indie brand, and set them to work designing the bikes, and that Mongoose just "borrows the technology", the reality is the same people work on all the bikes. And I don't think any of them (bar the tea boy) were part of the original team (could be wrong on that one though).

Pacific actually had some vauge attempts to return GT to it's former glory, but the company that bought Pacific and so GT and Mongoose and lots of other brands, have no such ideas. They just want the max return from sweating a brand name.

Sad.

[russ0228]

i agree with you on the whole pacific thing and the fact that everything gt has bought are never the same again.
however the goose are not the exact same system asthe gt has a dog bone link that holds the front main frame and the b/b together while the goose dooesn't. it does thought have a linkage which hold rear triangle together.  two similar floating b/b systems that arrive with again similar but slightly different feelings.

[steveb]

I'll bow down to your greater knowledge on the Goose, as I've not a lot of experience of them.

But on the GT your not unsprung when you stand ;-)

[russ0228]

can i hear the desperado music in the background.(10 paces you scoundrel) ;-)

either way we can agree on the fact that the meta got a well deserved honour. not bad for such a young company in the ever changing cycling trade.

[steveb]

Totally.

World domination next (seated not standing obviously)