Mondraker Summum

PB Forum :: Downhill
Mondraker Summum
Author Message
flag jvt
Posted: Jun 29, 2014 at 2:31 Quote
Hi guys

I got a 2010 summum and am wandering if anyone experiences the same issue as me:

Today i went for a ride down some gently sloping (not steep) singletrack, the trail was covered with lots of horizontal (1 or 1.5inch high) roots, all the way down. It was incredibly rough, and difficult to pedal over. When i got to the bottom my hands were hurting. (reminds me of Morzine breaking bumps!)

I had a go on my brothers Demo 9, and i could indeed pedal, and the whole bike was so much smoother than mine, eating up everything, I could hardly feel the roots tbh...

My question is this:
is this probably due to my forks and shock needing a service? (my springs are light weight - to suit my weight)
Or is this due to the frame setup where the geomatory is so slack that is will only "eat up" rough terrain which is steep?

How would everyone eleses summum react to a trail like that? I am worried that if i get them both serviced, then I will still not be happy with the frame? Especially because I am going to Morzine soon and I am expecting masses of breaking bumps, and essentially might feel like i am riding a fully rigid bike!!
flag nhp890
Posted: Jun 29, 2014 at 3:51 Quote
The Summum is not a comfortable bike to ride, it's got a racing feel to it. I, too, had a similar experience coming from a 09 Session. You need to go fast for the Summum to really get going. Although my Summum would probably react in a similar manner, it's really difficult to say if your suspension is working well. A service won't hurt and can definitely help.
Also, contrary to common sense, harder suspension can alleviate the hand pain. I went for slightly harder springs than I should run (according to RockShox) and I'm experiencing almost no hand pain at all (previously a really big problem for me)
flag jvt
Posted: Jun 29, 2014 at 8:10 Quote
nhp890 wrote:
The Summum is not a comfortable bike to ride, it's got a racing feel to it. I, too, had a similar experience coming from a 09 Session. You need to go fast for the Summum to really get going. Although my Summum would probably react in a similar manner, it's really difficult to say if your suspension is working well. A service won't hurt and can definitely help.
Also, contrary to common sense, harder suspension can alleviate the hand pain. I went for slightly harder springs than I should run (according to RockShox) and I'm experiencing almost no hand pain at all (previously a really big problem for me)

Thanks for the reply nhp890. I know what you mean. Overall the Summum was much faster acceleration and handling and definately felt more racy. I previously had a heavier weight shock and fork spring, which i recently put in lighter ones and it has helped, but seems not quite enough. I am beginning to think that the Summum may be only suited to a very specific type of riding. I'd ideally love to try someone elses summum on that same trail!

I'll probably end up just servicing the forks and shock, like you say it can only help.

What does anyone else think about how their bike may handle on such a trail? thanks..
flag downhere67
Posted: Jun 29, 2014 at 8:57 Quote
I agree,
this bike wants to go fast. It is totally different than the two sessions I owned before this. In the open the bike is a rocket and pedals like a trail bike. In the tight and steep stuff you have to let the bike go. The Trek did not work like that. Now Trek head angles were 64 and did not have the customization that a Mondraker has. It takes confidence to let the brakes go and become faster, I have to go to work the next day.

I put a stiffer spring on mine and I like all my bikes set up that way. I just had my boxxer wc serviced. Noticed a bit of a difference. I could only imagine how the bike would ride on some of the crazy stuff in Europe. Going to MSA for the WC at the end of the month so I will see how that goes. The fast stuff should be fast, and the super steep stuff should be scary as usual.
flag sye77
Posted: Jun 29, 2014 at 13:47 Quote
speed the rebound up slightly on the forks and shock as it may be a little slow and "packing up" resulting in a harsh ride. Worth a try and it wont cost anything ! (make a note of your current settings before adjusting)
flag StueyStuey
O+
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 1:22 Quote
Jesus, some of you lot don't half write some crap.

Good advice Sye. The best way to make the most of your suspension it to spend a few hours on track fettling with it. Keeping your forks & shock well maintained will keep them running sweet but don't forget that if your bearings are siezed, which will happen a lot in UK type conditions then you're fighting a losing battle.

Que the haters!!!
flag nhp890
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 2:14 Quote
StueyStuey wrote:
Que the haters!!!
Cue
flag StueyStuey
O+
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 2:23 Quote
nhp890 wrote:
StueyStuey wrote:
Que the haters!!!
Cue

Or is it Queue???
flag Jimfunn
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 3:22 Quote
nhp890 wrote:
The Summum is not a comfortable bike to ride, it's got a racing feel to it. I, too, had a similar experience coming from a 09 Session. You need to go fast for the Summum to really get going. Although my Summum would probably react in a similar manner, it's really difficult to say if your suspension is working well. A service won't hurt and can definitely help.
Also, contrary to common sense, harder suspension can alleviate the hand pain. I went for slightly harder springs than I should run (according to RockShox) and I'm experiencing almost no hand pain at all (previously a really big problem for me)

My 2010 summum with 40's and RC4 shock was one of the smoothest, quickest bikes I've ridden once it was set-up properly.

Make sure your bearings are all up together (probably not as they seem to be wrecked after a few hours use!), no play in wheel bearings etc and get suspension set-up and serviced. I had J-Tech do mine and it was unreal.
flag sicmoto
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 3:31 Quote
My Summum is incredibly smooth. It loves really steep, rough tracks (as do I) but it's perfectly happy on tracks like that you have described. I reckon your rebound is too slow or you need to wind on a couple of clicks of LSC. What weight spring have you got on the rear and what weight are you?
flag mrtee
Posted: Jun 30, 2014 at 8:52 Quote
nhp890 wrote:
The Summum is not a comfortable bike to ride, it's got a racing feel to it. I, too, had a similar experience coming from a 09 Session. You need to go fast for the Summum to really get going. Although my Summum would probably react in a similar manner, it's really difficult to say if your suspension is working well. A service won't hurt and can definitely help.
Also, contrary to common sense, harder suspension can alleviate the hand pain. I went for slightly harder springs than I should run (according to RockShox) and I'm experiencing almost no hand pain at all (previously a really big problem for me)

Completely disagree. I've never ridden a comfier bike. It's all about the setup; if you understand what the issues are you can easily rectify them. IME the summum runs better with much less compression damping on the rear than your average bike
flag jvt
Posted: Jul 1, 2014 at 10:34 Quote
sicmoto wrote:
My Summum is incredibly smooth. It loves really steep, rough tracks (as do I) but it's perfectly happy on tracks like that you have described. I reckon your rebound is too slow or you need to wind on a couple of clicks of LSC. What weight spring have you got on the rear and what weight are you?

Thanks all - I'm going to send my forks and shock to mojo. But playing with the rebound sounds like a good idea, and having less compression dampening. I have a 350 shock weight and I weigh 10st 7lb (66kg).

I think I have one dodgy bearing which does not seem to be running smoothly after some inspection! But don't have any play in the wheels or anything. Thanks for your continued advice guys, looking forward to try and correct these issues and recheck...
flag joedhr
Posted: Jul 2, 2014 at 2:29 Quote
Ok soo I will probably get a lot of hate for this, but I am just thinking about it's possibility/feasibility for the future. I have a 2014 frameset, with a set of coil 40's, what do people think about sticking tweener wheels in there?! Has anyone tried it? What problems would you think you would encounter (other than looks of disgust at trails and people laughing at you etc)? I would imagine that running a higher BB will affect the performance, although this could be countered slightly by running the forks as low as possible (while still clearing the bigger wheel) and possibly more sag, but having the shock ramp up more so that it doesn't blow through it's travel. Obviously the shorter wheelbase settings would not be possible to be used, however I already run the bike in it's longest setting so it shouldn't make too much of an issue. I appreciate the bike will be harder to get around corners, although only fractionally, I already run 650b on my xc bike and think the rolling speed outweighs the 'playfulness' of the bike.
Does anyone have any experience with fork trail/rake/offset? Will it make a big difference not having 650b specific lowers? How about head angle, this theoretically would remain the same, but would the larger wheels benefit from a steeper angle, as seems to be the case on the new breed of 650b specific frames?
Like I said I am just 'testing the waters' on this and seeing if anyone has any experience, as much as I am a 26" fan, parts and spares will become less and less in the future, so I was looking to see if 'future proofing' my bike now would be worth it.
flag Shoe2190
O+
Posted: Jul 2, 2014 at 4:24 Quote
Apparently that's what the Mondraker teams ran when they first started using 650b. As the frame is so adjustable its probably one of the best to try it with. If you do it though I would get some ofset bushings for your shock to drop the BB back to a suitable level though.
flag joedhr
Posted: Jul 2, 2014 at 4:40 Quote
Yea I thought that would have been the case. Has anyone tried offset bushes on a zero linked bike? I have no experience whether they work, as i know in some DW link frames the slightly shorted shock travel causes the tyre to contact the seat tube. Roughly the BB will be 12mm higher I think, which could probably be reduced by a few mm just by tweaking frame setup

 


Copyright © 2000 - 2024. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv42 0.046313
Mobile Version of Website