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Pole Bikes hates Ridemonkey

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
the machine geo has been published from the start; it's the stamina that's clouded in secrecy:

RIDER SIZE 160-170CM 170-180CM 180-190CM 190-CM
FRAME SIZE S M L XL
1. HEAD ANGLE SLACK
2. REACH PLENTY
3. TOP TUBE UPRIGHT PEDALING
4. BB HEIGHT NOT TOO LOW, NOT TOO HIGH
5. SEAT TUBE ANGLE STEEP
6. SEAT TUBE ANGLE (EFFECTIVE) VERY STEEP
7. STACK 640 650 660 670
8. WHEELBASE 1276 1306 1336 1361
9. CHAINSTAY LENGTH (EFFECTIVE) BALANCED
10. SEAT TUBE LENGTH VERY SHORT, BUT WE USE 34.9MM SEATPOST SO IT’S NOT A PROBLEM. THERE’S PLENTY OF LENGTHS
11. HEAD TUBE LENGTH 115 125 125 145
12. FORK OFFSET CHOOSE WHATEVER YOUR FASHION TELLS YOU
FRONT CENTER BALANCED
I guess not only their geo is confusing.
 

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
haha, evidently leo is a bit sensitive about being critiqued by steve:

Later we got challenged by Steve Matthews when he claimed that he had figured out a perfect front and rear center balance for cornering. We already knew that it is not like that, but we stood up and wanted to do science with Steve. We took his theory and tried to test it in practice. We got a bike that had exactly his portions and compared it to Stamina, which should not work. In the result, we found out that our portions are 3% faster than his. You can read the full story about the test here.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/pole-bushmaster.html
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
haha, evidently leo is a bit sensitive about being critiqued by steve:

Later we got challenged by Steve Matthews when he claimed that he had figured out a perfect front and rear center balance for cornering. We already knew that it is not like that, but we stood up and wanted to do science with Steve. We took his theory and tried to test it in practice. We got a bike that had exactly his portions and compared it to Stamina, which should not work. In the result, we found out that our portions are 3% faster than his. You can read the full story about the test here.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/pole-bushmaster.html
No way I’m sure that’s within the % of error...
 

rockofullr

confused
Jun 11, 2009
7,342
924
East Bay, Cali
So much butt hurt lol

So you're telling me that Matti is 3% faster on a bike that he has spent months training on and dialing in versus a bike he may have never ridden before? Some surprising results :clue:

Additionally.... 3%? That's gotta be within the margin of error for a test like this.

No way I’m sure that’s within the % of error...
Fucking sniped
 

ZHendo

Turbo Monkey
Oct 29, 2006
1,661
147
PNW
Pole is doing some interesting stuff but I'm tired of this Leo character acting like he knows some secret to bike design that nobody else knows. Seems like an arrogant twat to me
 

rockofullr

confused
Jun 11, 2009
7,342
924
East Bay, Cali
I think he should change the company name to

"TOOL"
The dude is already riding a Pole. I think the name is sufficiently joke worthy :busted:

I'm gonna try to ride one again this year at Sea Otter. I wonder if they will have the same response as last year, "It's the best ever, no you can't try one".

I chatted with Leo last year and he was for sure a bit of a blowhard.
 

lobsterCT

Monkey
Jun 23, 2015
278
414
My first frame definitely had a bad glue mix. I had glue oozing from the seams and they sent a replacement frame (new front, old style rear).

That replacement rear did not last long as it was from the first run of them.

Now I have a new style rear end. We'll see how long it lasts, I don't get to ride park this time of year so I don't think I'll be putting it through its paces for a while.
Hey @rollertoaster - did they ever get you sorted with something that held up?

Thanks for your candid report of your previous version.
 

Bike078

Monkey
Jan 11, 2018
561
405
The dude is already riding a Pole. I think the name is sufficiently joke worthy :busted:

I'm gonna try to ride one again this year at Sea Otter. I wonder if they will have the same response as last year, "It's the best ever, no you can't try one".

I chatted with Leo last year and he was for sure a bit of a blowhard.
Hoy, if you ride Leo's Pole someone might have a Tantrum. You already signed your letter of intent.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,346
1,587
Warsaw :/
Just come back to DH and you’ll be fine.
Hey Ben. Good to see you are still on RM. I need to come back to biking period (2 years of only riding pumptracks irregularly). I just want another bike for trips. Maybe a new dh bike is a better option though I really want to try this enduro thing all the kids are raving about. Though yeah the almost dh enduro bikes seem like a silly idea, being attracted to this Finnish monstrosity makes no sense and I will probably upgrade the DH bike to 650B and get a trail bike that's almost too old for R Kelly but I need to ride some friends bikes to form an opinion.
 

vinny4130

Monkey
Jun 11, 2007
450
207
albuquerque
The frame looks incredibly good, the GeoAdjust headset lets you look in the frame the inside looks great too super smooth nothing hanging or bladder chunks stuck to the side. As a first impression this is a very well made frame!

@jonKranked iscg05 interfaces with the 4 keys at the bb, the mount fits nicely and is held in place by the bb cup. Unlike the old school days the keys keep it from spinning at impact. Bash will be equipped.
 
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rollertoaster

Monkey
Aug 7, 2007
730
179
Douglassville , PA
Hey @rollertoaster - did they ever get you sorted with something that held up?

Thanks for your candid report of your previous version.
Yes, they had me on a new frame by the next weekend . I haven't ridden the new one much because I didn't do the riding in miserable winter conditions this year. I did pick up a taival hardtail which has been super fun.

I'll be at the Pole tent at sea otter.
 

manhattanprjkt83

Rusty Trombone
Jul 10, 2003
9,644
1,214
Nilbog
random: pb broke the review bike & pole are doing a bit of preemptive damage control. always amusing how hyper defensive leo is:

https://polebicycles.com/we-are-not-perfect-after-all/

I think I eluded' to it on your FB post but they seem to have some pretty strange customer service issues w/ pre-orders. The path podcast is pretty good and one of those guys had some weird stuff to say about his experience. Seems he finally gave up after something like 6 months of them holding his money.
 

dovbush66

Monkey
Aug 27, 2018
195
218
Ireland
The new Rocky Mountain Slayer was the other bike that broke I think, PB deleted a comment from the dude who saw the broken bike at whistler but you can still see it on his profile.

The criticism part of pinkbike in Pole's article is out of place, could have well done without it
 
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xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
I think I eluded' to it on your FB post but they seem to have some pretty strange customer service issues w/ pre-orders. The path podcast is pretty good and one of those guys had some weird stuff to say about his experience. Seems he finally gave up after something like 6 months of them holding his money.
yeah, a local guy w/ an evolink gave up on them after some service shenanigans (and bought a geometron); sounds like they need to put a bit more work into customer success. leo's ego is large, and blame for issues all too often appears to be dumped back into the customer's lap.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
The new Rocky Mountain Slayer was the other bike that broke I think, PB deleted a comment from the dude who saw the broken bike at whistler but you can still see it on his profile, lul
i saw that comment, i took it to mean he was referencing a yeti. that seems to be a popular speculation in the comments.
 

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
i was following that, apparently there were apparently 2 frame failures, one being major (was described as a frame breaking in half). this doesn't sound like the major one.
crazy. i thought we were done with the bad old days of snappy bikes. i guess with sub 30lb trail bikes sporting dh geometry, something has got to give.
 

dovbush66

Monkey
Aug 27, 2018
195
218
Ireland