Riding a new bike setup away from home is one thing, hitting your local trails another! After four weeks in Melrose on the Ibis Mojo HDR it was finally time to hit the trails around Castlemaine. Would the 650b feel as rock and roll at home as it did on Bartagunyah’s Eurovision Super D?

After several rides back at home the short answer is YES!

Pretty much everything I observed while comparing the HDR 650b to the 26″ in Melose carried over to the local trails which generally speaking are tighter and slower. The 650b’s impressive ability to carry speed without compromising handling kept me busy and having a blast due to consistently finding myself coming into sections noticeably quicker than on the 26″. There’s some re-learning to be done, and perhaps even some trail tweaking along the way.

I also found myself regularly (and unintentionally) climbing 1-2 cogs further down the cassette. When the trail points up the HDR 650b 130mm efficiently rewards effort vs the ‘conserve energy’ approach the HDR 26″ 160mm encourages.

And the new Rock Shox Pike?

I hope to post a detailed review on the 2014 Pike within the next week but the short version is me likey a lot! After several hours of riding with the new Pike I would rate it as stiffer than my previous fork (a 2013 Fox Float 34) with a much livelier feel and better handling on the trail. If there aren’t any unexpected glitches with the fork e.g. reliability I reckon Rock Shox could be on a winner with this one!