Xprezo Magic Carpet - Review

After 10 years in business, Xprezo continues to churn out unique, handmade frames from their headquarters in Bromont, Canada. The Magic Carpet is the small company's latest creation, a bike with 130mm of rear travel and 27.5” wheels that's meant to be more capable than your typical trail bike. It falls in line with the new breed of mountain bikes that are starting to pop up, bikes with shorter amounts of travel but possessing geometry figures intended to allow them to excel on the descents. All carbon everything may seem to be the prevailing sentiment these days, but the Magic Carpet is slightly unconventional, and instead uses an aluminum front triangle that's joined to a steel rear end. Available in sizes small, medium, and large, the frame alone retails for $2,499, and the complete bike as tested goes for $5,979 USD. Xprezo also offers nearly every color combination imaginable, an option that adds an additional $150 to the final price.




Frame Design

The Magic Carpet's blaze orange paint job makes it impossible to keep a low profile out on the trails, but come autumn this could prove to be useful – there's no way a trigger happy hunter is going to mistake you for a deer. Underneath that bright exterior is a hydroformed 6061 aluminum front triangle and a 4130 steel rear end that's equipped with a 12 x 142 thru axle. It'd be easy for Xprezo to create an aluminum rear triangle as well, but they believe that using steel creates a better ride, and modern tubing technology means that the weight penalty is minimal. Xprezo has a strong environmental commitment, and according to the company over 95% of their bikes are still in use, thanks to the repairing, reusing, and recycling that the use of aluminum and steel allows for.



For better or worse, internal cable routing seems to be all the rage these days, and it's in place on the Magic Carpet – even the rear brake line travels through the down tube, although the lack of internal guides or larger exit ports could make housing swaps a bit of a challenge. Speaking of the rear brake, it's mounted in a unique position, diagonally spanning the gap between the seat- and chainstays.

The bike uses a BB92 bottom bracket, but curiously, especially given the bike's intended usage, there are no ISCG tabs to be found, and riders who wish to run a chain guide will need to get creative. There may be no ISCG tabs, but at least there's room for a full size water bottle, making it easier to ditch the pack for those shorter jaunts.



Suspension Design

The Magic Carpet relies on a link driven single pivot for its 130mm of travel that has the shock oriented almost vertically, just in front of the seat tube. An aluminum rocker link rotates off of the bike's seat tube, connecting the swingarm to the shock. While most frames with this type of suspension configuration use a pivot on the rear seatstay, the steel swingwarm is shaped in a way that allows for just enough flex that this isn't necessary. This suspension configuration is new for Xprezo, but it's one that dates at least back to 1996 – look at the Fat Chance Shock-a-Billy for an early attempt at the design. Xprezo's version has been configured to work with modern air shocks, and is extremely plush initially, but then has a large amount of ramp up as the shock goes deeper into its travel in order to make it difficult to bottom out, even on bigger hits.


Geometry

---

Setup

Certain suspension layouts require that RockShox's Monarch Debonair be inflated 50 or more pounds over a rider's body weight to achieve the correct sag, and the Magic Carpet falls into this category. The ease with which the bike will sink into the first portion of its travel can make it a little trickier to gauge how it will feel on the trail, but after a some experimentation, and by focusing on how the shock felt deeper into its stroke, I was able to get it configured to my liking.

The choice of a set of 730mm Chromag Cutlass bars on a bike that's meant to be able to do everything from trail riding to enduro racing is a bit odd - maybe the trees are extra tight in Bromont? Whatever the case may be, a set of wider bars would be a much better fit for how the Magic Carpet begs to be ridden, and after giving the narrow bars a try, I swapped them out for something more appropriate.


Climbing

With a reach of 468mm for a size large, the front center of the Magic Carpet is on the longer side of the spectrum, but its steep seat tube angle keeps this length from being hindrance on the climbs. If anything, it's a benefit, providing an extra helping of stability as well as plenty of room to move around in order to stay balanced and centered on those tricky bits of trail. There's plenty of grip at the rear of the bike thanks to the ground hugging nature of the rear suspension, and even though the Maxxis Ardent isn't the best tire to complement the High Roller II up front, there was enough traction available to clamber up nearly everything that got in its way, providing the trails weren't too wet.

While technical ascents didn't pose much trouble for the Magic Carpet, there's also no sense of urgency in the way that it climbs. Standing up and powering down on the pedals will get things moving, but it's a subdued climber, one that feels more at home rolling at a steady pace rather than prancing uphill. It's not that the bike feels overly heavy – the weight is fairly reasonable – it's just that it doesn't leap forward off the starting line, and there's a noticeable amount of suspension movement with the shock in the fully open position.

In order to wake the bike up a bit, I found myself reaching down for the blue lever on the Monarch to increase the amount of low speed compression damping, but unfortunately that proved to be a tricky task. The lever is positioned at the junction of the seat tube and the bottom bracket, a long reach while seated, and one that requires careful pedal stroke timing to accomplish on the fly. What about orienting the shock differently, flipping it so the rebound knob and compression switch are more readily available? I tried, but the air can contacts the aluminum link arms, eliminating that as a possible solution. I ended up switching the compression lever to the firmest position for more drawn out climbs, and then running it in the middle setting for almost all other situations.




Descending

When it came time to descend the bike lived up to its name, making it feel as if the trails were coated with a thick layer of vintage shag carpeting. The traits that made the Magic Carpet a little less peppy on the climbs work in its favor on rougher trails, filtering out the small bumps in a way that results in an extremely smooth ride. Smoother equals faster, and with less vibrations to deal with there's no reason not to crack it wide open and hang on for the ride. There's plenty of stability on tap, due to the low bottom bracket and long front center, which makes it even easier to let off the brakes for those high speed straightaways. At 67.6°, the head angle isn't wildly slack by today's standards, but remember that this is a 130mm bike, not a full blown enduro race machine. All the same, the geometry is relaxed enough that I didn't have any second thoughts about rolling into steep rock rolls or chutes.

Compared to the Transition Scout, another shorter travel rig that's built for getting a little wild on the trails, the Magic Carpet isn't quite as quick in the corners, preferring to carve rather than slash and skid, but it's no slouch either, and even at slower speeds remained quite manageable. When it comes to taking on sections of trail that bristle with roots and rocks, the Magic Carpet remains very composed, exhibiting excellent bump absorption, with a supportive feel that keeps the rear end from blowing through its travel. Of course, you can't charge headlong into a rock garden and expect to be able to plow right through without a care, but there seemed to be a little extra room for error aboard the Magic Carpet.

Even though I finished most rides with the rear shock's rubber o-ring indicating that I'd used all of the travel, there were never any harsh bottom outs due to the very high level of ramp up in the rear suspension. That same progressiveness came in handy when working through a set of jumps, providing a firm platform to push against for the little extra boost needed to make it to the backside. The ground hugging nature of the Magic Carpet's rear suspension means it has a little less 'pop' available for hitting jumps, but it's easy enough to loft the bike skyward, and once airborne there wasn't any trouble getting everything lined up for a smooth touchdown.



Component Check

• Arch EX Rims / Aivee hubs: The Arch EX wheelset is a little undergunned for what the Magic Carpet is capable of, and I would have preferred something with a wider internal width and a little more stiffness. The bearings in the rear Aivee hub didn't last very long either, developing play and rolling roughly before the test period was up.

• ODI Cross Trainer lock-on grips: The Ruffian and Rogue grips are the two models that typically hog the limelight in ODI's extensive product line, but the Cross Trainers are a worthy choice as well. The ribbed pattern gives them a layer of cushioning that makes them comfortable with or without gloves while remaining relatively thin.

• Maxxis Highroller II / Ardent tire combination: A big, aggressively lugged tire up front combined with a little lower profile tread pattern in the back can equal a good time on the trails, but the lack of tall cornering knobs makes the Ardent less than predictable. Something along the lines of Schwalbe's Rock Razor or a Specialized Slaughter would be better choices, since those two tires offer much better cornering support and the same reduced rolling resistance, but since it's rather uncommon to spec two different brands of tires, another Highroller II in the back would be an improvement as well.

• Chromag Moon Ti: Seats aren't often mentioned in reviews unless they're horribly uncomfortable, but the Moon Ti deserves high praise. This is one of the most comfortable seats I've been on in quite some time, with an excellent blend of a low profile shape and just enough padding for epic rides. Highly recommended.




Pinkbike's Take:

---

Posted In:
Reviews and Tech Reviews Trail Bikes Xprezo Xprezo Magic Carpet