El Saltamontes- First Ride Review

Well given that I wasn't allow to go to work today.... so as not to spread whatever disease I have, I was at home all day. Yesterday I built El Salt and I thought it would be a bit rude to waste the opportunity to go for a ride during work hours.
So about 11 O' clock I dressed up in my finest and headed out for a gentle lap around Stromlo. This was to serve three purposes. The first was to get acquainted with the new bike, and second to have a bit of a blow out before tomorrows race, and thirdly to take my mind of the race tomorrow.
Throwing a leg over the bike for the first time and pedalling more than 50 metres, the first thing I noticed is the active rear suspension. Coming off a Giant Anthem this is a bit like night and day in terms of perceived efficiency. But after a few minutes it was something I really didn't notice.
The big change however was just how plush the ride felt. This is something I have been searching for a bit with the Giant and it hasn't happened. It initially felt like one of these....

A Couch...that was how comfortable it felt!
I have found that if I can stop my body getting beat up too badly over the course of a race I can really produce higher power output for a lot longer. Therefore I am willing to sacrifice a margin of efficiency for increased comfort.

The second thing that came through immediately when you performed an acceleration was just how stiff the frame was. I guess the best way to describe it was it felt like there was no flex at all, none, zero, nadda when you were sprinting out of the saddle. As I said in my posting yesterday, the frames tubing is a similar size to Cannondale...massively over sized and thin walled, this provides strength but also does not gain any excess weight. The other thing Ventana have done is to add gussets in the critical areas to reduce flex and improve strength.


Bottom Bracket Junction...Just look at the reinforcement!

Seat tube Gusset

Head tube Gusset...and those "Electric Sex Welds"

Out on the trails you really do notice how this extra strength comes into play. Hammering the "Beginners DH Course" down the backside, I really just flew over everything, to say that the bike was confidence inspiring was an understatement.
The other thing I will talk about a bit was the handling of the bike. From what I had read I was expecting slow steering but accurate compared to the Anthem... what I got was just as quick but with the precision of one of these


A Scalpel

Something that has annoyed me a bit about my riding at Stromlo was the uphill switchbacks. These should be easy enough, but I have never been able to take them with any real speed. In fact every bike I have owned up to this day has really struggled with tight and twisty/ turny. But not now! Oh no. the El Salt can carve the tightest lines through those corners, before it felt like it I even tried to lean/ turn the bike through those arc I would end up on my a$$...and in a couple of cases I have but not any more.
So after I got home I did a bit of searching and came up with an answer as to how the El Salt performs it's magic which is completely opposite to what was in my head. I was thinking on the way home the angles on the frame were more relaxed then the Anthem allowing more precise and stable handling but it turns out to be the complete opposite. The angles are in fact 2 degrees steeper for the seat tube and a degree steeper for the head tube. Now in the past I have always rubbished the tweaking on angles as in pertains to road bikes calling it a bit of black magic bull shit they used to sell their frames. But I can honestly say now when it comes to MTB's I'm a believer it can make a huge difference to the way a bike handles.
In summary after taking the new bike for a 60k ride I think is would make one of the ultimate enduro bikes. And by enduro I mean 100k+ where comfort, and predictability become more important that riding the latest rocket sled being ridden by the likes of Todd Wells or Julian Absalon. I couldn't find a bad trait in the bike in the short blat I took it for, but what really impressed me was the predictability of it's handling the entire time. I believe that when it come to enduro's this is one of the qualities everyone should need in their ride.