[ape]

Set the way back clock to about a year ago and everyone was drooling over the svelt curves of the Sunn Radical.

Just wondering if anyone here bought one and what their experiences have been? Customer support, durability, possible improvements that could be made etc etc.

 

[pelo]

Me curious too. I´ve heard they snap like chicken legs on the WC.

 

[MR.A]

@pelo
Where did you hear that?

 

[pelo]

@pelo
Where did you hear that?

From jealous racers riding the world cup on crappy bikes.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AKBHKEVvIes

 

[MR.A]

what on the sunn is crappy?

 

[pelo]

I have no idea... :huh: I think it seems like a good bike.

 

[al-irl]

Myself and one of the lads I work with got a sweet deal on 2 radicals for our shop team this year. There defenitly nice and they turn lots of heads but where not totally in love with them. I have the 07 one and my mate has the 08 one. The main differance being the swingarm is slightly tweaked to make it a little stiffer and increase the mud clearance slightly. I haven't had too many problems with mine but Paul has been having problems with the linkage comming loose although I haven't had any problems with mine. I have however have put a nice dent in the chainstay right at the pivot at the linkage. It seems to still work fine but it is pretty low down. The main issues I've had with mine have been mud/rear tire clearance. I can fit in a michellan comp 16 2.5" in but theres not much room left over for anything else. At a particularly muddy race earlier in the season i was running 2.5 wetscreams front and rear and had to switch out the 2.5 as the mud was clogging in the frame and the rear wheel wouldn't turn. I switched out to a 2.2 but still had problems. As in i only had to stop 3 times in a run instead of 5 to pull large balls of mud out from between the top of the swingarm and the back of the seat tube.

As far as the handling goes its fairly good. Its better than alot of bikes i've ridden but it doesn't corner as well as the morewood i had before. Its much better in the rough stuff the back end tracks very well. I find it really easy to switch lines and place the bike where ever i want it. It just doesn't seem to rail into the corners like the morewood. Its very good in the air quite neutral and well balanced and inspires condifence to someone who isn't that good in the air.

Ill probably end up hanging on to the radical for a while longer but i kinda miss my morewood and i know Paul prefares his Session 10 even though he is the kinda rider to pop over stuff and pick lines rather than plow through stuff. The sizing is a little funny too. Theres a small and a large and a very big difference between the two. I'm 5' 11" and find the large a little long in the top tube. On the other hand the small is very small better suited to someone around the 5' - 5' 6" mark. Why theres no medium I don't know

All in all I'd give the bike about 7.5 out of 10. It has the makings of something great but needs a little more work. I think a slightly lower and maybe 1 degree slacker front end with a 10mm shorter top tube would make it feel an awfull lot better.

 

[go-ride.com]

Thanks for the quality review. It's nice to hear about bikes we don't get much of a chance to see in the US. As for the cornering differences btwn the Morewood and Sunn what would you attribute that too? Do they have different BB heights, Head Angles, or Chain Stay lengths?

 

[bdamschen]

Hmmmm... I still want one, but after reading the review, I think I would want one with the ability to adjust the shock position on the frame so I could change head angle and BB height.

 

[al-irl]

no problem. The sunn is alot longer across the top tube. Although you feel like your riding off the back of the sunn more than in the middle like the morewood. As a result you don't really notice the extra. I had an 06 izumi in small the large sunn is just a little shorter than the large morewood but probably not enough to notice. I had my morewood setup with a pait of 7" travis which where dropped as low as could go. The BB was also in the lowest setting. The front wheel on the sunn isn't quite as planted as it was on the morewood. So it feels a little vague when cornering. Its fine once your in the corner i just don't feel confident leaning into the corners like i would on my morewood. I need to get a slightly heavier spring it comes stock with a 300 and i need a 350 so I'm sure that would help things a bit. The headtube on the large is very long which means you have no adjustment on the height of the boxxers.

Have to say the complete bike is very good value for money. It retails for a little over €5000 in Ireland which is similar money to a Giant Glory they also have a lower specced bike for €3000 with boxxer races and an x fusion shock.

 

[buckoW]

The ones I have seen have the linkage rubbing on the frame when you corner. Light is cool but those are too light.

 

[Christiaan]

Friends of mine that where at the Megavalanche this year saw several frames with cracked swingarms, snapped at the disc side

 

[mike425]

Friends of mine that where at the Megavalanche this year saw several frames with cracked swingarms, snapped at the disc side

I knew a couple of guys with them who both sold them on due to the same swingarm problems. I don't think they are being sold in the UK again this year are they?

 

[RMboy]

Mate that was an awesome review. We need more like that. I was interested in those frames.

Do they get any rear end movement at all?

They sound promising but maybe they will have it sorted for 09...!!??

 

[norbar]

Know 1 around 110lbs 14year old who snapped it... And he had nice technique. I know it's only 1 frame but it kinda killed the hype for me.

If I wanted to go french I'd go Commencal or Lapierre (especialy with the looks of the 09 model!) - You can always get lapierre from Canada. When you get used to it it's a great bike.

 

[ridea]

Know 1 around 110lbs 14year old who snapped it... And he had nice technique. I know it's only 1 frame but it kinda killed the hype for me.

If I wanted to go french I'd go Commencal or Lapierre (especialy with the looks of the 09 model!) - You can always get lapierre from Canada. When you get used to it it's a great bike.

Probably the first gen swing arm/driving arm theres sunn are well aware of this problem but its been updated and they will warreny it.

Its been a long time since iv ridden mine as i snapped the above part and they were still manufacturing the new swing arms when I did this, so i had to get a new frame for the rest of the season(this was last year i will add). I dont think I ever got it quite set up right, the rocco shock was absolutely **** on the sunn, i think the xfusion wouldve been better. Cornering was quite good, not as good as the sunday that im on now but it did rail, maby not quite as confident on it, but honestly i didnt spend much time on it. Weight was real light, spec was spot on other than the bars which got swapped strait out for some 710's. Jumping was good, i found it hard to pop stuff, maby thats the dead rocco compared to the bike before (elan dh pro) which was a super fast spv swinger. On the other hand it floats jumps real nice so for out and out race this wasnt a problem. Tracking even with the rocco was good, but realy the rocco was dead and had an over damped/over sprung kind of feel(found it realy hard to put my finger on). On the whole I did realy like it, but never got the chance to work out the problems which made it feel not quite right, possibly the x fusion may have been the answer.

Oh and appart from a random squeak it developed at one point in the alps, it was deadly silent...i mean no noise atall. Dont think iv ever heard anything so quiet.


Al-irl: I noticed the tyre clearance, never a problem as i never had to put spikes on it but i was dreading the day when i did.

hope thats some help...mines sitting in my garage at the moment, i do plan to build it up at some point and have another play befor i decide to sell it or the sunday, but i have got wayy to comfortable on the sunday now so i think theyll be a sunn for sale...shame cos' its only had a few months of riding...but im bankrupt so i need to haha

 

[ape]

Good feedback. I saw 2 dudes at Silverstar last weekend riding them and they had positive things to say although there was some play in one guys rear end which he said was a constant problem. When I was scoping out my Socom I had a line on one of these for a reasonable price and I've wondered every now and again if I made the right choice just because of the elegant frame design, lightness and of course the uber-chic factor. The Socom has been un-freaking-real so no complaints there but every once in a while my bike-related A.D.D flares up.

 

[ridea]

Some of them seem to have a constant problem with the lower shock bushing, others have been fine so i think it might be again a first batch problem.

 

[al-irl]

Have to say the back end isn't flexy at all. The sunn isn't really anything super light. No lighter than my morewood I had a ti spring on my morewood and travis tis. The sunn has a steel spring and boxxer wc and is slightly heavier.

There where a lot of the sunn radicals at the mega avalanch this year but wasn't talking to anyone who had any problems with them. Even if they do break. Ive come to the conclusion that most race frames crack at some stage. My morewood cracked in the swingarm, two of my buddies have cracked commencal supreme dh frames in numberous places. I've another mate who has cracked his lapierre in a few spots. Two of our shop sponsored riders are on grass roots deals from turner and they used to crack there older dhrs all the time. If you ride often enough and hard enough they all fail at some stage.

As for the rocco i kinda like how it feels but at the moment i'm trying to decide between a boss shock for the radical for next year or changing back to a morewood.

 

[ridea]

Yea i agree its not flexy at all, realy isnt that weak either just first batch production problems.

 

[MR.A]

the original rocco on the radical is overdamped and had a "dead" feel.
I send mine to MP-Suspension in Austria for preparation and now Í love it.
For me the sunn feels stiff and stable when riding, but the frame is not an extrem Lightweight frame ( with roco / steel spring around 4,7 Kg ).

 

[MarkDH]

I have to say that this thread makes for disappointing reading. It's a real shame because from what has been said here the ride characteristics would suit me down to the ground, but I don't think I could live with the unreliability. The sizing sounds a bit strange as well. Maybe they'll sort these issues out for 09, but their site doesn't seem to get updated much other than race reports. Maybe I'll have to go Commencal to get that Euro chic.

 

[rockwool]

Don't go Crackencal, fokken Vauxhalls have better quality.

 

[bikeslikestars]

...I don't think they are being sold in the UK again this year are they?

Ride Central are the sole importers of Sunn bikes here in the UK and from what I've heard there aren't any Radical stock left this year. I was pretty interested in the Radical and made some inquiries after hearing on the forums that availability was pretty low. Ride Central replied with:

"We had 2 loads of radicals come into the UK. The first batch had a fault with the chainstay and the second batch had a modified chainstay that was not ideal aestheticly speaking.

We were told a new chainstay would be designed but this has yet to happen. This is pretty much the reason that we have not brought anymore into the UK as we dont want to get a load of warranty issues on our hands.

Its a shame as the bike rides amazing and im pretty gutted that were at a bit of a dead en with it at the moment."

They did say that the warrenty is very good on the bikes though, so any problems are dealt with ok. They also implied that a newer version of the Radical should be out after eurbike around october time...maybe they will start importing them some time after that - who knows!?! Give Ride Central a call/email if you want an update on the situation, they seem like a helpfull bunch!

Just gotta decide whether I wait to see what the new Radical is like/availability...or just go for something else (like a Izimu/Socom/Sunday)!?!

 

[al-irl]

the radicals are sold out untill end of sept beginning of october. I had one on order for somebody. Hopefully they have sorted out the issues with the 09 model. I also think they'll be running a vivid shock on them instead of the rocco as the team have been running them this year.