After
years of bike hiatus I finally ordered a new MTB. As usually whenever I look
into buying something new I spent way to many hours reading, researching and
comparing products from different brands and stores.
Although
I rode a lot back in the day I would have to consider myself back at beginner
level now.
I
knew I wanted a light bike but not so light that it would cost me more than it
was worth. So carbon frame was out of the question. Preferably I wanted a stiff
fork. Most suspension forks I've ridden have felt soggy and slow which meant
they slowed me down more than they helped me especially on climbs. But this was
years ago and it seems lots of progress has been made with suspension forks.
The selection of purely stiff bikes is also very limited, it seemed most of the
bikes available with stiff forks were hybrids. I thought about starting with a
hybrid and modifying it but eventually settled on trying a suspension fork and
then switching to a stiff one if I was not satisfied.
After
checking out just about every brand that was available locally and on the web I
narrowed the choice down to the following bikes:
I
looked briefly into 29ers as well but decided against them. I am a small rider
(5,5') so I would sacrifice the better rolling and stability of a 29er for the
swiftness and responsiveness of a 26er.
From
the list all bikes have pros and cons. I liked the look and equipment level of
the Canyon the best. Reba fork and XT shadow in the back as well as a solid
frame with internally routed cable. The Nakamura is the lightest of the bunch
at 10,3 kg. The Gavia is the cheapest of the ones available locally but I
dislike the design and it's a relatively unknown brand.
In
the end I settled for the Canyon.
As
I was about to order from the Canyon website I realized how popular this brand
has become. The wait for the Canyon AL 6.0 in my size was over 14 weeks! The
situation was about the same for the other bikes in the AL series as well. That
long of a wait meant I would miss the season completely so I was forced decide
on one of the other alternatives. I tried to find some good prices on the
Nakamura or the Hardrocx being open for last year models as well. None could be
had at a price close to the Canyon though.
Since
Canyon is a web dealer and I am not averse to ordering on the net I searched
around for other dealers. Clicking into Chainreactioncycles.com I was surprised
to see they were having a spring sale of up to 60% off. I searched around for
anything at a good price in my size and found a Kona Cindercone and Fuji Tahoe
as well as one of the CRC's own brand Vitus bikes that looked interesting.
But
another bike caught my eye; it was a brand that I had seen a lot of Downhill
riders use, Commencal. The bike was the Supernormal 2.
Commencal
is a French brand founded by Max Commencal who I learned used to design BMX
bikes with his brand Sunn. After being forced out of the company he made a MTB
company with his own name Commencal. According to him the focus of Commencal is
to have fun. The feeling of sliding and jumping down trails with a smile on
your face. Commencal wants to provide a tool that has the essential abilities
to do this while cutting down on the "flashy" extras.
This
design philosophy really spoke to me. After all the reason I was getting back
into riding is because I think it's so damn fun.
As
a owner of different French products from Focal speakers to A.P.C jeans I have
really become a fan of French design philosophies and their near obsessiveness
to form and function. So why not a French bike?
I checked out the Supernormal 2 video Commencal
had and it completely sold me on the bike.
COMMENCAL SUPERNORMAL 2012 from COMMENCAL on Vimeo.
So I put in an order at Chainreactioncycles for
a 2012 Commencal Supernormal 2.
