JasenK

Woody Hole Snr (Hope rider) turned up and raced a proto version of the 912 at the last Pedalhounds Enduro - was a fairly flat race so probably the ideal bike, and it did look amazing in the flesh even though pure carbon - the green finish looks even nicer!

I'm a massive Schwalbe fan, mostly run Magic Mary and Hans Damph combo. I have played around with Maxxis and Michelin (on eBike), and really like my Spesh Hillbilly T9 Gravity. I bought a Magic Mary radial thinking it would be the "Magic bullet tyre / tire", ultrasoft but trail casing, tbh, it is so draggy it is NOT funny - and yes, running it at higher pressure than normal tyre! Also has a little weird handling characteristics, tyre seems to "twang" a little when cornering hard on loamy surfaces, i.e., when twisting the tyre more. In summary, wish I'd stuck with the non-radial Magic Mary for most of my non-ebike riding as the drag is a right pain, and actually even using the Hillbilly I've been impressed by grip to drag ratio (at a pedally enduro the other week I swapped from MM to Hillbilly to be faster on less technical stages!)

Chinese trying to dominate the market.....I don't think this is "fairly" priced as intended to basically smash the competition, but typical of their strategy with lots of things (Chinese cars in UK!!), and as you say, amazing price!

My lightest "enduroish" bike was my Lapierre Zesty 714 in 2011 at around 11kg - 26" wheels. Going to my 2014 Spicy Team (27.5 from 26) was more like 12 kg, and felt heavy compared to the Zesty. My 2016 Mondraker Dune then felt heavy compared to my Spicy (probably 13 kg), then my Whyte S150 (14 kg) heavy compared to the Dune. I bought a 2020 Spesh Enduro SWorks at 15kg....you get the picture. Now on a 15 kg Nukeproof Mega, wouldn't change for one of the older school bikes, the bike is so capable! As mentioned in the article, I remember the tires I had on my Zesty were under 0.5kg each....for some races I'm running a 1.4 kg front tire!

@bman33: It isn't dead over here too, loads of local / regional enduro on the in the UK, I have 12 races planned for this year with 4 booked up already, might even squeeze in some more (Welsh Rds). The Ard Rock (main one in UK) is 3000 riders in 5 races I think....the main enduro is 1000 riders, which is a bit too many even with the staggered start but seems to thin out ok. I'm guessing he was being a bit tonged in cheek??!?!?