27.5", medium 17" frame, I'm 5'8". Waited a whole year to buy this. Bought it to lose weight and because I hate my old bike. Just rode it home from Sportchek. I'll do another review in a year. My old bike was an improperly sized impulse buy, a 26" Supercycle so this is my first quality bike. I got it for $565 shipped because they gave me an additional 20% discount. I almost bought an Expresso but I'm glad I didn't because I wanted a single drive. I had my eyes on this thing from first sight because of how huge the 120mm forks were but didn't like the retail price so I waited for a 40% off sale. The Expresso sold out, then the Motown online so I got this. The universe aligned for me to have this. All I have to compare this to is the no-suspension Supercycle so I'll dive into that. All I had to do was adjust the seat and I was off. It's completely different from my old bike, it's like riding on a cloud and it feels robust and sturdy. I don't need rear suspension, it'd be a weighty waste for what I'm using it for. When going off curbs your legs should be enough suspension. This city is full of potholes, curbs, hills, sand and gravel. As soon as I got on it I felt confident so I rode off a big curb and it felt super comfortable on my wrists, the suspension is very plush and I didn't blow through its stroke doing anything. The bars are very wide and it feels like I'm on a motocross bike which I prefer. I went up a short but very steep incline like it was nothing while a week ago I did the same hill on my old bike, a 45 degree garden patch rising to a sidewalk and it felt like a jackhammer to my torso, the whole bike shook and everything clanged and it was awful. This time there wasn't any vibration at all, the tires with 40PSI handling my 260lbs with ease. I was surprised that 1st gear is as short as it is while 10th is nearly too hard to pedal. I'm not sure that 8 gears would've been enough (Motown) as when I rode home I used them all, 9th and 10th briefly on a long declining road. I kept thinking that I was in 2nd while I was in 4th-5th and I kept thinking I was in top gear when I was in 7th-8th so it has a very useable range. I was worried it'd be like "a 21 speed with less than half the gears," but it's not, it's almost like an 18-21 speed, the gears being double-spaced and the hardest to pedal gears removed. You ever struggle to use a twist-shift on a front gear? It absolutely sucks. These are simple and refined finger & thumb levers. The gears take a half second to shift, I thought they'd be faster but they're smooth enough and don't have an immediate clunky feel or a feeling of being stressed when shifting even for low speed downshifts. You can also downshift 3 gears per yank of the thumb lever which is appreciable. The levers feel good but the brakes aren't a smooth stroke as I thought they'd be, they're even a tighter feel than my V-brake levers. I didn't notice the brakes being more powerful than my old bikes V-brakes; but they most certainly are. The mechanic warned me saying that I should use caution because they'll stop on a dime. I was able to lock the rear tire with ease so there's plenty of stopping power for my use. I could also get a consistent feel out of them when braking from higher speed whereas V-brakes have a subtle stop-and-let-go feel before it's fully locking the tire. I feel like I'll have to be modestly careful with their action to not over-brake. I was going to say that it's probably heavier than my old bike - so I went and picked them up - and it feels 15lbs lighter while dwarfing it! Did not expect that. It was a tad slower speed wise I think due to how beefy the tires are (they look a lot meaner standing next to the Expresso, it's eye-catching), however, going down a very long road that was only at a 2-3 degree angle got me going 30-40kmh and it didn't feel sketchy one bit whereas before I felt like I had to keep a prayer handy to make it home. I can't speak much on the quality of the components but the only thing I think I might have to switch out are the pedals if they snap as I'm 260lbs but they're certainly wider than my old bikes and most likely way more durable. There's 8 metal posts in each pedal for grip - hex screws - a genius design as each screw can be taken out individually. I could feel them clawing at my shoes for grip. I can't see any part of this bike randomly failing. I was told not to take this thing dirt jumping but I don't think I would, I'm not fit enough. I think my only complaint is that I don't know which way to turn the rebound adjustment for softer/harder and when I did turn it I couldn't tell a difference either way by compressing the forks. Maybe I have to turn it further or maybe it takes riding it to feel the difference. While I do appreciate that it's got hydraulic disc brakes I think a mechanical disc would've been less maintenance. The 17" frame is perfectly spacious - don't get a 19" if you're my height. Very happy with it! Shoutout to Berm Peak!
