So ill preface this review by saying that I am a fan of the "high pivot" bikes, and I ride primarily on the East Coast. At some time or another, my mom has bought me many different bikes to try 
, and I have plenty of seat time on most of them. 5'11", plenty porky and like to jump. Here we go!
So to start out, the new Jedi takes alot from the old jedi, particularly the 2010. It still has 2.5 inches of rearward which just destroys bumps, but it now gets a travel boost to 9 inches vert due to a longer and remounted shock. The head angle has been slacked out to 63, although you would never know it, and lastly, the TT gained 12.5 to make it "properly" sized.
The build.
It goes together nice, and there is really nothing any different from any other bike. I built mine with Bos suspension, and mostly shimano parts, with the exception of canfield cranks and pedals, and i9 wheels. Cockpit is full deity with a renthal bar. Weight came in at about 38 lbs. Bike can definitely be lighter, as i did not take weight into consideration one bit when i built it.
The ride.
After owning 4 already, I basically knew what I had expected. Now that it is sitting lower than a demo and about as slack, lead me to think that the new jedi was just going to be a gigantic plow bike with limited line choice. This was a very wrong assumption. It took all the good stuff from the older bikes, and just added to their legacy. It gained a ton of ground in cornering, which while its always been short, was my personal "let-down" of the previous jedi bikes that I had owned. I never considered them bad, but I always felt that they were capable of more (or at least wanted more) The 14 jedi became slacker and longer-two things which really should hurt cornering. That said, I was told when i got it by the bros that it was more nimble. (surely i thought they were full of ****
) After the first ride, It was apparent that it was much more nimble than the older versions. To this day, I cannot figure out how or why it works, but it just grabbed cornering skills straight from a demo. I never imagined it could turn and cut as hard as it can-despite having a bunch of rearward travel. The new Geo and added travel really work nicely with eachother and the result is super rewarding when you are slamming tight corners, especially if they are rocky. One thing that I noticed this weekend particularly was (for your creek locals) in a trail called waterboy, there is a section of mostly flat tight turns littered with roots and rocks, fairly steep that end in a 90 degree root corner into a slight uphill. I have ridden this trail 100s of times over the last 5 years. This weekend when I was taking the new canfield through it i came to the realization of just how sick this bike is. It was nimble enough to get into all the good pockets and stout enough to hold the traction. I came into the last root pocket before the uphill and the bike just dropped it and boosted out of it with more speed than ive ever been able to do. Hurling me into the uphill. It did this every run, blowing my mind each any every time.
The jedi jumps plenty well for a downhill bike. I would say that the new one is about as poppy as the old one, but much more predictable. I would like to blame that on a more linear leverage curve, but will leave that to the E-designers to clarify. It doesnt buck over the bars ever, and it doesnt drop out either. (cough cough 08) I have personally found that the new canfield seems to pick up better on natural on trail "hits" than some of the older ones have-which were not bad by any means. It could be that the added travel gives a little more pop out of or into the rocks, but the new one certainly does offer more; regardless of how it does it. It is important to notice now however that since its very low, you have to be a litle careful what you jump into, because the suspension is very smooth, and wont warn you about it.
Rocks are not even a concern as anybody who has owned a jedi will tell you. Most recently coming off of a zerode, considered by many the king of high pivots, the jedi was just as good, without the added 8 lbs. The added travel and slacker head angle just blow square edge hits and rock gardens out of the water. For a "little" bike, it offers alot of bite in the rough stuff. If you are coming off of a generic pivot bike, prepare to be alarmed. It will not slow down... At all... ever....
Some of the high points of the bike are certainly a suspension design that is so efficient it is hard to describe on the internet, as well as somehow having plowing capabilities and nimbleness that science says cant co-exist. The package is really incredible and really offers a ton of technology not offered by other manufacturers. It is a bit hard to get used to the lowness of the bike, and I have really become more of a pilot than a passenger, especially when it comes to keeping the pedals angled in corners and tech sections. However, canfield offers the thinnest pedal out and 155 cranks to go with it should you need. What you end up with in the end is a racebike that is reliable as the day is long, and just an absolute blast to ride down the mountain. The more you put in the more you get out, it really is an incredible bike.
Yes, I am a fanboy
, and I have plenty of seat time on most of them. 5'11", plenty porky and like to jump. Here we go!So to start out, the new Jedi takes alot from the old jedi, particularly the 2010. It still has 2.5 inches of rearward which just destroys bumps, but it now gets a travel boost to 9 inches vert due to a longer and remounted shock. The head angle has been slacked out to 63, although you would never know it, and lastly, the TT gained 12.5 to make it "properly" sized.
The build.
It goes together nice, and there is really nothing any different from any other bike. I built mine with Bos suspension, and mostly shimano parts, with the exception of canfield cranks and pedals, and i9 wheels. Cockpit is full deity with a renthal bar. Weight came in at about 38 lbs. Bike can definitely be lighter, as i did not take weight into consideration one bit when i built it.
The ride.
After owning 4 already, I basically knew what I had expected. Now that it is sitting lower than a demo and about as slack, lead me to think that the new jedi was just going to be a gigantic plow bike with limited line choice. This was a very wrong assumption. It took all the good stuff from the older bikes, and just added to their legacy. It gained a ton of ground in cornering, which while its always been short, was my personal "let-down" of the previous jedi bikes that I had owned. I never considered them bad, but I always felt that they were capable of more (or at least wanted more) The 14 jedi became slacker and longer-two things which really should hurt cornering. That said, I was told when i got it by the bros that it was more nimble. (surely i thought they were full of ****
) After the first ride, It was apparent that it was much more nimble than the older versions. To this day, I cannot figure out how or why it works, but it just grabbed cornering skills straight from a demo. I never imagined it could turn and cut as hard as it can-despite having a bunch of rearward travel. The new Geo and added travel really work nicely with eachother and the result is super rewarding when you are slamming tight corners, especially if they are rocky. One thing that I noticed this weekend particularly was (for your creek locals) in a trail called waterboy, there is a section of mostly flat tight turns littered with roots and rocks, fairly steep that end in a 90 degree root corner into a slight uphill. I have ridden this trail 100s of times over the last 5 years. This weekend when I was taking the new canfield through it i came to the realization of just how sick this bike is. It was nimble enough to get into all the good pockets and stout enough to hold the traction. I came into the last root pocket before the uphill and the bike just dropped it and boosted out of it with more speed than ive ever been able to do. Hurling me into the uphill. It did this every run, blowing my mind each any every time. The jedi jumps plenty well for a downhill bike. I would say that the new one is about as poppy as the old one, but much more predictable. I would like to blame that on a more linear leverage curve, but will leave that to the E-designers to clarify. It doesnt buck over the bars ever, and it doesnt drop out either. (cough cough 08) I have personally found that the new canfield seems to pick up better on natural on trail "hits" than some of the older ones have-which were not bad by any means. It could be that the added travel gives a little more pop out of or into the rocks, but the new one certainly does offer more; regardless of how it does it. It is important to notice now however that since its very low, you have to be a litle careful what you jump into, because the suspension is very smooth, and wont warn you about it.
Rocks are not even a concern as anybody who has owned a jedi will tell you. Most recently coming off of a zerode, considered by many the king of high pivots, the jedi was just as good, without the added 8 lbs. The added travel and slacker head angle just blow square edge hits and rock gardens out of the water. For a "little" bike, it offers alot of bite in the rough stuff. If you are coming off of a generic pivot bike, prepare to be alarmed. It will not slow down... At all... ever....
Some of the high points of the bike are certainly a suspension design that is so efficient it is hard to describe on the internet, as well as somehow having plowing capabilities and nimbleness that science says cant co-exist. The package is really incredible and really offers a ton of technology not offered by other manufacturers. It is a bit hard to get used to the lowness of the bike, and I have really become more of a pilot than a passenger, especially when it comes to keeping the pedals angled in corners and tech sections. However, canfield offers the thinnest pedal out and 155 cranks to go with it should you need. What you end up with in the end is a racebike that is reliable as the day is long, and just an absolute blast to ride down the mountain. The more you put in the more you get out, it really is an incredible bike.
Yes, I am a fanboy
