Jamis 07 Preview

Here's the scoop. Exile 29'er with sexy fork, rigid, steel, disc... Not bad. I assume a $1k pricetag but I'll let you know as soon as I get the pricing. 631 steel, which is good riding stuff. 2 piece crank, wide rise bars, WTB saddle, Maxxis tires and even clipless. For those who want to check out the 29'er thing, this may be the bike. For those looking for a fun commuter, this may be the bike. For those looking to ride a bike, this may be the bike. For those looking to remove your pants and scare people, this may be your bike...

The mtn stuff has taken another turn, for the better, I think. The Dakars are now XCR and XAM (R for race, AM for all mtn, I imagine). It's hard to tell from this pic (this bike might not even be rideable in this pic) but I think it needs a 7" rotor up front but I like the DHX shock on there and the dropped top tube is sexy. Jamis rocks on spec so it's usually hard to beat them when it comes to parts on the bikes. Expect to see TONS of Fox on there. It looks like Maxxis tires this year as well. 5.25" of travel on the XAM with a 2.33 to 1 leverage ratio which will keep the bike active and but not blow through the travel or overpower the damping in the shock. The boys at Jamis also mention that they are at 24lbs for their 4" XCR team bikes, which is light. Damn. They also lost weight from last year's Dakar XLT bikes, again, which is nice.

I'd love to get Jamis away from Kinesis. I'll have to talk to Greg about it. I have a personal problem with them that I won't get in to but I'm tired of seeing all of those gussets and that extra material welded on there. That's more weight, more welding which requires a stronger, heavier tube to deal with the extra heat from the extra welds. Looks like we need to have a forging talk. The bikes are already an AMAZING value, I'd just like to see 'em cleaned up a bit. I'm sure I'll hear about this one...

The new road bikes are lighter and better looking than before. Not that last year was bad, but this year is fantastic. Their top o the line Xenith Team is a tube and lug construction (a la Trek) and they use compact geometry (sloping top tube) with a color-matched fork. I'm a fan of that look. I 'm sick of staring at carbon on bikes. If I want to look at that weave, I'll ride a damn t-shirt. I've got no problem riding carbon stuff but it ain't like it's hard to paint. Let's slather some stuff on there and pretty it up. This is one place Jamis does the right thing, for sure. Nice job Greg and Steve. Oh, and it's hard to go wrong with DA stuff with those ES wheels. Jamis has also expanded their wmns bikes to include more models and I likes me some pink. Pink bikes, that is. They aren't priced through the roof and I think they are pretty hot. I know the pink thing doesn't work for some women so it's always a hit and miss regarding colors. Men SAY they don't care (they ALWAYS care) and women ALWAYS tell you they care. I like the statement that a bunch of pink bikes makes in the shop, that you are taking the wmns market seriously (which we do).

I'll have more pics soon. These are better than anything I could have taken, for sure. I should start carrying around a white backdrop, right? That would rock. I'm the worst photographer on the planet and the 'auto' setting on the digi-cam is the only thing that keeps me upright. I'm still hoping on that Samsung dealio so I can start recording rides to post, but I digress...

I think it's time to put in a request for the 29'er. I'm skeptical but willing to check it out. I was riding singlespeeds back in 1998 and people told me I was nuts (I didn't go around disputing that, however) so now I'll throw in. It's just another bike for another purpose. I'm sure I won't be as fast on the down or the ups, but the flat-ish stuff might feel good. I'm not going to live on the thing so I probably won't ever race it or anything silly like that, but it'll be good to have a loaner and to speak from more experience that riding a 'cross bike around the woods.