[William42]

also, how can you tell if its the cranks flexing or the BB junction itself? It could just be a flexy frame, couldn't it? vital suggested that it was ~5lb frame.

 

[Beast]

Fyi, those Bontrager rims are the same ones Gwin raced all season.

The Session 9.9 is a very stiff frame - Check slide 25 here: http://www.vitalmtb.com/photos/features/Ridden-The-2012-Trek-Session-9-9-Carbon,2818/Slideshow,0/bturman,109

I'll also vouch for the X0 DH cranks. Solid.

 

[Delimeat]

Typical seal drag of a 40. Adjusters broke for seemingly no reason at all. Lack of LSC. The "hybrid air" seems (not certain, I haven't pulled one apart) to just be an air preload like zoke forks. Which as anyone knows, tends to feel like complete sh!t compared to a properly sprung coil or properly designed air spring.



Exactly. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that I drag my brakes just a tiny bit more than say...Danny Hart. I know, I know, crazy. But I bet I need a little bit heavier duty brake to stop my ass.



Alls I know is that everyone remarked how flexy the cranks felt compared to the saints we all run.


I just hate when companies build up some light bike and compare it to all the other builds that mfg. use. How bout you just tell us the weight of the frame, with hardware, sans shock? Why is that so hard when its the only thing that matters?

I've got roughly two weeks on a Fox 40 RC2 Hybrid Air and have nothing but good things to say about it so far, so hopefully the one you felt was either not setup or a dud. It isn't just air preload... if anything, I would say the the Hybrid Air on the front of my 9.9 is slightly more progressive than a standard model, which would make sense. I'm not a big believer in Kashima - to be honest, it doesn't seem to make a real world difference in my eyes, and I'm anal as ****. It's on the real shock as well.. I'm a bit meh about the gold touch.

Flexy cranks? On a soft, 210mm travel downhill bike with tires inflated to 28psi... you must have some very sensitive dancers legs! I've ridden the XO DH cranks on probably three different bikes now and they feel as stiff as any solid crank out there. Opinions are like assholes though, everyone has one =)

The bare frame weight was in the article, it's 7.2lb w/ the DHX (steel spring). Do the math.. it's light as ****! The 28lb bike wasn't built up to compare with other manufacturer's stock builds, but to just show what can happen when you throw some money at it and keep an open mind. The stock build is 35lbs on the button (also in both Vital's and my article on PB). Anyways, full review is coming up. Yeah, the bike is expensive, but I admire Trek for just going balls out with it. It's all about the trickle down. It doesn't really take a rocket scientist to figure out that the bike is a winner, but what is impressive is how well rounded it is. Some bikes pedal well, some corner rad, some plow and some pop. There are a few machines out there with one or two of those points, but the 9.9 is so well rounded that it ticks all of the boxes.