Bible review: devinci spartan gx eagle

IN TRUE SPARTAN FORM, THE DEVINCI WILL FEND OFF ANY OBSTACLE IN ITS WAY

At first glance, the newly redesigned Spartan looks like it'd win a race against gravity itself. With its mean, aggressive stance and 170 and 165 millimeters of front and rear suspension, respectively, that looks like about all it'd do well.

Yet, testers were pleasantly surprised by the Spartan's willingness to tackle punchy, technical climbs, even with the adjustable geometry in the low/slack position. Flipping the chips on the seatstays steepens the head angle from 65 to 65.4, while the seat angle hoists to 75 degrees from 74.5. In high mode, it's more of a long-legged trail bike on the not-so-steep stuff than most bikes in its class. The Spartan is more agreeable than its competitors on normal, tame singletrack, terrain even the raddest riders begrudgingly find themselves riding from time to time.

When things get rowdy, the Spartan takes care of business. Roots and rocks disappear under a supple beginning stroke while big hits are managed by an aggressive ramp-up to the end-stoke. Even in the steeper of the two geometry settings, the Devinci is still confident and stable at speed and on steeps, with a quicker, more nimble feeling than you'll get out of the ultra-slack Santa Cruz Nomad, for instance. Testers found both bikes to have a similar active and bottomless rear suspension feel, but the Spartan's high geometry setting, in particular, makes it potentially more appealing to a wider group set.

There's only a half-degree change when the chips are flipped back to slack, so the swap won't turn the Spartan into a completely different bike. But if your descents are steep enough that walking them seems sketchier than riding them, you'll get that added level of security a 65-degree head angle provides. And since it's not a totally different bike in this position, it still climbs pretty well. For what it is, of course. 165 millimeters is a lot of travel, and the Spartan's is supple and active. There's a good amount of suspension bob, which is more noticeable when in the slack setting, but the steep seat angle and long reach put the rider in a nice, forward climbing position. For long slogs, there's always the shock's pedaling platform, but putting up with a bit of movement in the open setting is rewarded with excellent traction on slick or technical climbs.