Gary Fisher Superfly 29er review and general updates

First of all, apologies to anyone out there reading this for my lack of updates. I'd like to say I've been spending time doing something worthwhile but I've been merely busy.

Anyway, now that's out of the way, I'm writing this with a new slight injury to my right knee which I tweaked while running around a few weeks ago. I went to see a new physiotherapist today, and there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I can still race at Mountain Mayhem in 3 weeks' time, which is a huge relief. The bad news is my body core stability is not great, and as I knew already, my hamstrings, hip flexors etc. are generally pretty tight. My Illio-Tibial Band is also tight, which is what's pulling on my right knee, so I've got various exercises and a large inflatable ball to work on. It's good to know that it can be fixed though :)

In preparation for Mayhem, injured or not, I finally bought the Hope Vision Single LED light I've been after for ages. I've only been out using it once, but I'm really happy so far. It's cable-free, takes 4 AA batteries, only weighs around 240g wih batteries, and produces more light than my old 10W halogen system. Well, at least I think so. Once I've taken some comparison photos, I'll upload them here.

A few weeks ago, I made the journey up to Drumlanrig in south west Scotland for round 2 of the 2008 British National Points Series. I don't drive, so was reliant upon public transport, couldn't take the bike for various reasons, and there were rail engineering works, but it all worked out perfectly. I even managed to get a local bus from Dumfries to Thornhill and then walked the 4 miles or so to Drumlanrig Castle itself. £43.50 in total for a return journey from south west London to Scotland seems good value.

While I was there, covering the racing for the XCRacer website, the kind guys at Trek lent me a 2008 Gary Fisher Superfly carbon 29er to try, which meant I could ride the course. I must admit, I wasn't a great fan of 29ers at this point, although I had never ridden one, as I don't like them from an aesthetic point of view. Nevertheless, I tried my best to be open-minded once on board the £2500 machine, which came with X0 trigger shifters and rear mech, Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes, carbon Bontrager cranks, 32mm stanchion Fox forks and wide flat bars but no bar ends. The Superfly has the Genesis 2.0 geometry, which means a shorter top tube combined with a fork which is further offset away from the headtube, to keep the overall bike long enough. The 19" Fisher frame I tried still felt far less stretched out than my 18.5" Inbred.

Over the regular rocks and roots of the Drumlanrig course, the large wheels rolled really well. Medium and fast corners were a revelation, as a combination of the stiff forks (compared to my 30mm Marzocchis) and the large level of grip afforded by the contact area of the tyres meant the bike could be really cranked over and it would stick beautifully to whatever line you chose. Downhill, the wide bars, high grip levels and short top tube made it easy to attack and left a big grin on my face.

The downside of the short top tube, wide bars and no bar ends was uphill however. The bike felt really sluggish as soon as the terrain went up, and even a stiff carbon frame and low overall weight didn't seem to help. Every climb left me wanting to be back on my (probably heavier) 26" wheeled Inbred. The other issue was slow speed cornering, where turning the Superfly felt like trying to turn a supertanker, it was such hard work. The long stem fitted (necessary with the short top tube) combined with the size of the wheels meant every tight bend became hard work. I'm not sure how Fisher could rectify this, as a shorter stem would leave the overall riding position even less stretched out than at present. I suppose narrower bars and bar ends could make some difference for climbing perhaps.

Overall, I'm much more of a convert to 29ers than I was before riding the Superfly, but I certainly won't be buying one soon, and Fisher maybe have some work to do so that the bike climbs as well as it descends.