Nomad vs Spitfire, thoughts? Well aware they are different travel but the spitfire is still very slack and made to ride aggresively. Kinda curious which has trouble keeping up with the other if that is the case at all.
I feel that the Spitfire in capable hands is very nice bike to ride. It's light and easy to pedal. It's slack head angle definitely allows aggressive trail riding. However, I feel the beefiness of the Nomad plus its longer travel gives it a very stable and bombproof feel as you punch your way through the obstacles. The Nomad seems to have a "better" rear suspension as well, feeling bottomless over the bigger hits. My friend ride's the Spitfire and ran into some problems with the Igus bushings of its pivots though. It cannot stop squeaking! Personally for me, I am genuinely surprised that a bike like the Nomad (Mk II) exists. It really does well in many types of riding. You gotta try it for a few weeks to see for yourself I run the rear at 30% sag, and it still climbs very well finding lots of traction and is fantastic going down. The Nomad can accelerate really well out of corners. My setup without any XTR parts weigh 14.4kg but feels lighter when you are riding it. Go figure!
Wow, thank you for the awesome response. The Nomad has been a very long time favorite of mine since it came out. Its pretty much been my dream bike since then. However, after owning a Marin Quake, I don't feel like I need all that travel in the area where I live. I still need a bike I can haul to a lift access DH park though. Which is what lead me to look at the Spitfire since its been described as a super short travel DH bike. I have heard a lot of people bring up the bushings issue which scares me. I also cant seem to find any vids or pics of anyone doing anything substantial on one, just typical trail riding. Perhaps, I will have to somehow find a Nomad to get some seat time on. It may wont be so bad on tame single track with the right setup. Also seems like it could still hold up alright at a place like Diablo. I sorta need a bike that can do both.
No problem! Always glad to help a fellow MTB-er out! I agree with you about having bikes with too much travel. Then again I am guilty of that! I think in terms of versatility, the Nomad wins hands down. And it's not because I own one A Nomad mated to a 160mm fork can be built really light, (think air fork and shock) and will make a killer trail bike, having the ability to climb (traction plus pedal-bility) and bomb downhill (long travel and stiffness). If you need to bring your bike into a bike park and have lift access, you can always mate the Nomad to the 180mm fork such as what FOX offers and you are pretty good to go! For once the rave reviews you read in the magazines and online are actually true. Santa Cruz have the Nomad really sorted out. And don't worry too much about the bike being made in Taiwan. Their quality control is really good. My friend has an Intense VPP and he still finds the welds and hydroformed tubes on the Nomad to be top notch. The Spitfire's good but I think the Nomad's better, different travel aside. But of course you have to try it to see if you like it.
I just noticed in another pic you are running ZTR Flow rims, how do you like them? Are they holding up? I ask because I just ordered some on hopes and I am hoping they will be heavy duty enough for me.
Yeah, they are good for enough for me. I run them tubeless with ardents. What I like about them is with the hope pro 2, the flows and sapim aerolite spoke, they are about 1.7kg, which is pretty light for heavy duty AM and light DH wheels. The flows are slightly lighter if you get them in anodized colors. Mine's white powdercoat. So far I haven't needed to true them at all and I've used them for close to a year. I run low pressures, like 22 psi front and 25 psi rear. The low sidewall of the rim does give bigger volume to tires, so that isn't a gimmick and 28mm outer width is really great for running into stuff while riding like a hooligan! I weight about 155 pounds btw so I'm quite light. Man, I wish I'm in the US with all that great terrain and Canada is that near! I'm itching for big mountain stuff, but i'll probably crash and die, haha!
Hougang, Singapore 
ninjatarian
(Oct 1, 2011 at 20:28)
I run the rear at 30% sag, and it still climbs very well finding lots of traction and is fantastic going down. The Nomad can accelerate really well out of corners. My setup without any XTR parts weigh 14.4kg but feels lighter when you are riding it. Go figure!