Getting this bike was definitely the right thing. It has transformed local riding and goes more places with greater ease than anything else I have owned. First ride out I think I ran the tyres too soft and ended up cursing the drag on tarmac.
Second ride out I switched to the 26″ rims and lost a dinner plate gear dropping down to a 1×11 but the bike was transformed and felt hugely improved. After some analysis with the scales there are some massive weight differences between the wheel sets (details to follow) that explain that feeling, but tyre pressure (as everyone says) is critical.
So I decided I would get the 26″ wheels up to 1×12 gearing, but to my annoyance once the XD Driver for the DT Swiss Hubs arrived and I went to swap the cassette, it turned out Canyon had done exactly the same as Santa Cruz and fitted a Shimano Hyperdrive spline pattern cassette from SRAM.
I find the fact that SRAM make a Shimano pattern cassette perverse especially as they seem to have market dominance in mountain bike drive trains these days. The fact was that it has meant that I have had to order a new cassette and until that arrives I am running a short fat mullet wheel combo with the 27.5″ out back and the 26″ upfront.
It matters not, it is still crushing the trails and this morning allowed me to ride up the impossible climb (a 10m high sandhill which is normally a get off and push slog) and set a personal record for that segment on Strava. #FatBikeWin
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