Ride before you buy part 1

The venue for the Bicycling "Ride before you buy" outing was Tokai. Perfect in many ways for the bikes that I was to try out in that the short 4km couse offered a little bit of everything with short steep climbs, some twisty tight single track and some smallish drop offs with roots, rocks and the odd tree stump. First bike up for testing was the Pyga OneTen 29. Patrick Morewood's latest masterpiece. The bike tested was specced with Shimano XT all round with a Rock Shox Monarch RT shock, providing 110mm of travel and a Fox Float 120mm fork. Wheels were XT hubs on ZTR Arch Rims The bike seemed to climb reasonably well with only the slightest pedal bob with the Monarch on locked out. The rear suspension is built around a suspended damper that essentially lets the suspension "float" between the shock and the chain stays. I suspect that over time I would get used to it, but it didn't inspire confidence on the technical section. I had a small "off" in one of the turns with a drop off right before it, so for the rest of the technical section my nerve left me and I opted for a short portage. My Morewood Zula would gobble that section up and should i consider this bike, I would need to up my skill-set a lot to actually enjoy the bike. The attraction in owning a botique brand like Pyga is that you can build it exactly the way you want, and if you have high end components on a 26 inch bike you can easily put them over onto a Pyga to reduce your build cost. As built the Pyga would cost in excess of R40000 which is rather expensive for an aluminum bike. I rate the Pyga as follow: Design 7/10 Ride quality 7/10 Value for money 6/10 Suspension tech and feel 7/10 Overall 7.5/10 Summary: The overall experience was better than the individual aspects, meaning that it would not be a bad purchase. The rear suspension is interesting, but did not suite my riding style