Last fall I got in touch with Chad Bonfiglio at Soul Cycles www.ridesoul.com (new site to launch real soon) about doing a long term test of their new Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er hardtail and Chad was gracious enough to send me a test sled to thrash about the woods of CT. Here is my report on this value packed 29er hardtail after several months throwing a leg over the bike.
The frame and parts:
The frame size that was sent to me is Soul's 16" Dillinger which features a 74 degree seat tube angle, 23" effective top tube length and a 71 degree head tube angle. The frames are designed around a 100mm suspension fork. In addition to the frame, I was sent a Reba Race with poploc and one of Soul Cycles own rigid 29er forks which is corrected for a 100mm suspension forks. The build list also consisted of nice FSA bits (stem, seatpost,cranks) and a nice SDG ibeam seatpost and SDG Belair Saddle, Avid Juicy 5 disc brakes and to round things out a very nice and light American Classic 29er wheelset paired up to some WTB Exiwolf tires.
The bike built up into a nice ride and I rode it in every configuration possible including rigid single speed, singlespeed with fork, 1x9 rigid and with Reba, and 3x9 rigid and with Reba. Pretty damned versatile which can be a plus in many people's minds.
The Dillinger frame sports an eccentric bottom bracket + cable hangers etc. so that it can be run single speed or geared. It ships with single speed drpout dropout and a derailleur hanger dropout which are easily swapped out with three screws. The frame is also set up to run V or disc brakes, with
the V brake hangers completely removable. All in all it is a versatile
frame in a well finished package. The welds on the frame are very nice and the paint is a really sharp candy apple green that has held up very well too our rooty rocky east coast terrain.
The Dillinger is set up with a set screw eccentric bottom bracket. I greased up the set screws and torqued it down and have
had no issues with it creaking either in SS mode or as a geared bike. It is very easy to adjust the bottom bracket position with this ebb and also it was easy to dial in a nice straight chainline in single speed configuration. Again, a lot of value and versatility through the use of the eccentric bottom bracket on this frame.
Side view:
Chainstays are sort of "flattened" out a la Salsa's:
Nice chainstay yoke:
From up top at an angle:
The Ride:
As I mentioned earlier, I have ridden the Dillinger in pretty much every configuration possible. At first I was leary of the Alumnium frame riding harshly, but I have to say, it didn't feel harsh at all. I'll go over the ride in the various modes for you guys and gals now.
Single speed and rigid = a fun lightweight bike. The rigid Soul Cycles fork is a great value at only around $40 or so and it soaked up trail chatter nicely for the pricepoint it sells at. Perhaps the curved unicrown shape of the fork has something to do with that effect. The ebb offers great flexibility for adjusting and dialining in a good tight and straight chainline. I did find the long chainstays to be a small issue on the con side for our type of east coast terrain. If you weren't careful with your body positioning in SS mode, the rear wheel would have a tendency to loose traction and spin out a bit. But if you kept really good focus on your body position it was manageable just fine. Shorter stays for these parts = better for SS. This may not hold true for other parts of the country however (think midwest for example).
Single speed and suspended - Nice - the poploc on the Reba is a great plus for this type of set up. With that said, I think I prefer rigid and single speed for some reason. Not to say SS and suspended is bad, just seems like rigid and SS go hand in hand with 29" wheels.
1x9 and Rigid - this turned out to be a really fun set up for this bike. With the 1x9 configuration I was able to sit and pedal for more climbs yet I could still really let the bike rip on descents. The rigid fork tracked great and the bike was very fast and very stable on long downhill stretches of trail. Rear tire traction seemed improved over the Single speed set up - probably because I was able to keep a little more weight on the rear wheel due to the fact that I didn't have to get up to stand and climb as often.
1x9 with Reba - This was mighty nice. The Reba soaked up the roots and rocks and the 1x9 drivetrain gave me the gears I needed to ride just about anything I'm capable of riding. Again the bike was super fast and super stable on the flats and on descents and still climbed well and handled tight turns just fine as well even with the Reba with less offset than the rigid fork up front. I found myself clearing tricky sections of my "regular" loop easily in this set up - especially one area that plagued me over and over on multiple different bikes in the past.
In addition, I paired the bike up with some Syncros 29er wheels for these 1x9 rides and wow it really transformed the bike from a more XC oriented machine with the Am Classics to a true trail bike hardtail with the Syncros wheels. These wheels feature deep wide rims and nice efficient hubs. Pair them up with some meaty tires and blammo - you've got one helluva nice trail bike set up.
Don't get me wrong, the Am Classic wheels have been great, but these Syncros wheels changed the character of the bike (again it shows that one frame can be versatile with different components thrown into the mix).
3x9 Rigid - I used this set up to do a 50 Mile MS Bike tour ride on the bike. I threw on some Bontrager Hybrid tires and let her roll 3x9 and she worked great. Comfy and no worries about flat tires over rough road conditions. Overall this worked out fine for the Bike Tour. Maybe slightly different gearing would have made it even better but it got the job done.
On the trails - this was a nice set up too - however I did find the big ring to be a nuisance at times as it would get hung up on log crossings and whatnot. I think two rings and a bashguard is just the way to go around here unless you are truly using the bike for racing duty.
3x9 with Reba- Fast, stable, fun - those are the words that sum up the ride in this configuration. I was able to tackle some pretty long and tough rock gardens with this set up with no problems whatsoever - that was a plus. I think the combination of the various gears I could choose along with the rollover ability of the 29er hoops and the ability to ride harder with some suspension up front was the right mix of ingredients to handle these types of technical stretches of terrain.
Conclusion:
In my opinion the Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er is a great value. The price (currently still under $300) for the frame and fork are excellent and fall below other AL hardtails like the Astrix Rook and the EMD9 but the ride quality doesn't convey the low price. The bike features good solid welds, very nice paint (in addition to green it comes in a pearl white or yellow). The rigid fork is also a real bargain as it offers a pretty compliant ride for the low pricepoint. A great stand alone option for those looking to try out riding rigid.
The AL frame did not ride harshly at all. Perhaps the somewhat "flattened out" chainstays have something to do with this, or perhaps it is the 29er wheels - maybe a combination of the two.
Climbing prowess - The bike is a better climber in geared mode than in Single Speed mode due to the long chainstays, but with that said it isn't a horrible climber as a single speed
Descending- The bike is fast, fun and stable at speed. I found myself really hauling ass on it and it provided many big grins! I could only imagine how much of a blast it would be out on long flowing singletrack descents out west - it'd be a total hoot I suspect.
Handling - for a bike designed around a 100mm fork, I found the Dillinger to be a solid handling bike. It never really felt like a "barge" - quite the opposite. It helped me clear some tricky techy stuff on my regular loop and to me that's something to point out and mention! Overall I'd say it handles better as a geared bike than a SS (the rear would tend to get light on techy climbs), but it is no slouch in SS mode either.
I gotta say if you are looking for a high value/great bang for your buck 29er hardtail frame or frame and fork combo - the Dillinger should definitely be on your list of frames to consider.
I welcome your comments and questions and other Dillinger owners feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Cheers,
Mark
The frame and parts:
The frame size that was sent to me is Soul's 16" Dillinger which features a 74 degree seat tube angle, 23" effective top tube length and a 71 degree head tube angle. The frames are designed around a 100mm suspension fork. In addition to the frame, I was sent a Reba Race with poploc and one of Soul Cycles own rigid 29er forks which is corrected for a 100mm suspension forks. The build list also consisted of nice FSA bits (stem, seatpost,cranks) and a nice SDG ibeam seatpost and SDG Belair Saddle, Avid Juicy 5 disc brakes and to round things out a very nice and light American Classic 29er wheelset paired up to some WTB Exiwolf tires.
The bike built up into a nice ride and I rode it in every configuration possible including rigid single speed, singlespeed with fork, 1x9 rigid and with Reba, and 3x9 rigid and with Reba. Pretty damned versatile which can be a plus in many people's minds.
The Dillinger frame sports an eccentric bottom bracket + cable hangers etc. so that it can be run single speed or geared. It ships with single speed drpout dropout and a derailleur hanger dropout which are easily swapped out with three screws. The frame is also set up to run V or disc brakes, with
the V brake hangers completely removable. All in all it is a versatile
frame in a well finished package. The welds on the frame are very nice and the paint is a really sharp candy apple green that has held up very well too our rooty rocky east coast terrain.
The Dillinger is set up with a set screw eccentric bottom bracket. I greased up the set screws and torqued it down and have
had no issues with it creaking either in SS mode or as a geared bike. It is very easy to adjust the bottom bracket position with this ebb and also it was easy to dial in a nice straight chainline in single speed configuration. Again, a lot of value and versatility through the use of the eccentric bottom bracket on this frame.
Side view:
Chainstays are sort of "flattened" out a la Salsa's:
Nice chainstay yoke:
From up top at an angle:
The Ride:
As I mentioned earlier, I have ridden the Dillinger in pretty much every configuration possible. At first I was leary of the Alumnium frame riding harshly, but I have to say, it didn't feel harsh at all. I'll go over the ride in the various modes for you guys and gals now.
Single speed and rigid = a fun lightweight bike. The rigid Soul Cycles fork is a great value at only around $40 or so and it soaked up trail chatter nicely for the pricepoint it sells at. Perhaps the curved unicrown shape of the fork has something to do with that effect. The ebb offers great flexibility for adjusting and dialining in a good tight and straight chainline. I did find the long chainstays to be a small issue on the con side for our type of east coast terrain. If you weren't careful with your body positioning in SS mode, the rear wheel would have a tendency to loose traction and spin out a bit. But if you kept really good focus on your body position it was manageable just fine. Shorter stays for these parts = better for SS. This may not hold true for other parts of the country however (think midwest for example).
Single speed and suspended - Nice - the poploc on the Reba is a great plus for this type of set up. With that said, I think I prefer rigid and single speed for some reason. Not to say SS and suspended is bad, just seems like rigid and SS go hand in hand with 29" wheels.
1x9 and Rigid - this turned out to be a really fun set up for this bike. With the 1x9 configuration I was able to sit and pedal for more climbs yet I could still really let the bike rip on descents. The rigid fork tracked great and the bike was very fast and very stable on long downhill stretches of trail. Rear tire traction seemed improved over the Single speed set up - probably because I was able to keep a little more weight on the rear wheel due to the fact that I didn't have to get up to stand and climb as often.
1x9 with Reba - This was mighty nice. The Reba soaked up the roots and rocks and the 1x9 drivetrain gave me the gears I needed to ride just about anything I'm capable of riding. Again the bike was super fast and super stable on the flats and on descents and still climbed well and handled tight turns just fine as well even with the Reba with less offset than the rigid fork up front. I found myself clearing tricky sections of my "regular" loop easily in this set up - especially one area that plagued me over and over on multiple different bikes in the past.
In addition, I paired the bike up with some Syncros 29er wheels for these 1x9 rides and wow it really transformed the bike from a more XC oriented machine with the Am Classics to a true trail bike hardtail with the Syncros wheels. These wheels feature deep wide rims and nice efficient hubs. Pair them up with some meaty tires and blammo - you've got one helluva nice trail bike set up.
Don't get me wrong, the Am Classic wheels have been great, but these Syncros wheels changed the character of the bike (again it shows that one frame can be versatile with different components thrown into the mix).
3x9 Rigid - I used this set up to do a 50 Mile MS Bike tour ride on the bike. I threw on some Bontrager Hybrid tires and let her roll 3x9 and she worked great. Comfy and no worries about flat tires over rough road conditions. Overall this worked out fine for the Bike Tour. Maybe slightly different gearing would have made it even better but it got the job done.
On the trails - this was a nice set up too - however I did find the big ring to be a nuisance at times as it would get hung up on log crossings and whatnot. I think two rings and a bashguard is just the way to go around here unless you are truly using the bike for racing duty.
3x9 with Reba- Fast, stable, fun - those are the words that sum up the ride in this configuration. I was able to tackle some pretty long and tough rock gardens with this set up with no problems whatsoever - that was a plus. I think the combination of the various gears I could choose along with the rollover ability of the 29er hoops and the ability to ride harder with some suspension up front was the right mix of ingredients to handle these types of technical stretches of terrain.
Conclusion:
In my opinion the Soul Cycles Dillinger 29er is a great value. The price (currently still under $300) for the frame and fork are excellent and fall below other AL hardtails like the Astrix Rook and the EMD9 but the ride quality doesn't convey the low price. The bike features good solid welds, very nice paint (in addition to green it comes in a pearl white or yellow). The rigid fork is also a real bargain as it offers a pretty compliant ride for the low pricepoint. A great stand alone option for those looking to try out riding rigid.
The AL frame did not ride harshly at all. Perhaps the somewhat "flattened out" chainstays have something to do with this, or perhaps it is the 29er wheels - maybe a combination of the two.
Climbing prowess - The bike is a better climber in geared mode than in Single Speed mode due to the long chainstays, but with that said it isn't a horrible climber as a single speed
Descending- The bike is fast, fun and stable at speed. I found myself really hauling ass on it and it provided many big grins! I could only imagine how much of a blast it would be out on long flowing singletrack descents out west - it'd be a total hoot I suspect.
Handling - for a bike designed around a 100mm fork, I found the Dillinger to be a solid handling bike. It never really felt like a "barge" - quite the opposite. It helped me clear some tricky techy stuff on my regular loop and to me that's something to point out and mention! Overall I'd say it handles better as a geared bike than a SS (the rear would tend to get light on techy climbs), but it is no slouch in SS mode either.
I gotta say if you are looking for a high value/great bang for your buck 29er hardtail frame or frame and fork combo - the Dillinger should definitely be on your list of frames to consider.
I welcome your comments and questions and other Dillinger owners feel free to chime in with your thoughts.
Cheers,
Mark
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I'm not really complaining, I love the Bottlerocket, but if the Vegas was already finished, I would have ponied up the $$ for it.
