Wading through the volume of new and bedazzling standards and bike classifications can be enough to confuse even the best of us. Casting any negativity about this situation to one side, what the bike industry has done - in all of its benevolence - is empower us with options, and lots of them. So in reflection, the only real challenge facing anyone looking for a brand new bike today is understanding and acknowledging their own individual needs and choosing the appropriate tool for the task at hand. This brings us nicely to the Django...
The Django, for all intents and purposes, looks a lot like another bike, the Troy - Devinci's 140mm travel trail smasher, which they released last summer. So why take a capable 140mm travel trail bike platform and shrink it into a 120mm... err, trail bike that's randomly named after a movie about slavery? Let's ask a more specific question. How gnarly are your local trails? Now we are always going to be drawn to the bikes that scream and shout at us the loudest, but acknowledging our 'real' needs can sometimes get left by the wayside and doing so at the detriment of our riding experience.
Details:
• Intended use: trail
• Travel: 130mm front and 120mm rear
• 27.5" wheels
• Adjustable geometry
• 67.5 - 68° adjustable head angle
• 425-427mm adjustable chainstays
• 12 x 148mm rear spacing
• Press-fit bottom bracket
• Split Pivot Suspension System
• 2.35" Tire clearance
• Internal cable routing
• Asymmetrical construction
• Sizes: S, M, L, XL
PRICES - USD / CAD / GBP:
• Carbon XT: $5689 / $6599 / £4999.99
• Carbon RS: $3789 / $4399 / £3099.99
• Carbon SX: $4999 / $5799 / £3999.99
• Carbon frame: $2239 / $2599 / £1999.99
• Alloy XT: $5089 / $5899
• Alloy RS: $3189 / $3699
• Alloy SX: $4399 / $5099
• Alloy S: $2589 / $2999
• Alloy frame: $1639 / $1899
Looking at the Django for the first time, it's hard not to make comparisons to its bigger brother, the 140mm travel Troy. With a near identical silhouette and 20mm less travel front and rear, the question begs to be asked,
"why go for the Django and not the Troy?", especially with a minimal weight penalty and a significant descending advantage.
The deal here however, is quality over quantity and with a suitably progressive rear and modern geometry both backing up the Django's intentions along with a 50mm long stem and 760mm wide bars, it's a bike designed for a rider who knows what they want. At 5'9" (in my riding shoes), I opted for a size large, favouring bikes with a little more room and found the sizing about right as far as "modern" trail bike geometry goes, and while a 460mm reach might sound long for some, it is however far from progressive.
The Django, much like the rest of Devinci's full-suspension stable, uses Dave Weagle's Split Pivot suspension design, where the dropout pivot concentrically rotates around the rear axle. The idea behind this design is to combine active braking with good pedalling performance in one. The Django delivers a progressive suspension curve to increase bottom-out resistance, which is pretty essential when you only have 120mm to play with. Devinci supplied our Django with three 'bottomless rings' in the RockShox Monarch Debonair shock, matched with two tokens in the 130mmm travel Pike forks up front, providing ample support over the short period we had on the bike.
Unchaining DjangoHeading out on my maiden voyage onboard the Django and hitting the first climb, I resisted the urge to make use of the RockShox Monarch shock's climb function and left it fully open for all but one particularly steep and surfaced climb. The pedalling efficiency and acceleration of the Django's Split Pivot system was pretty impressive, making light work on the climbs. But it's the descending where a bike really comes to life and shows its true colours, and that could certainly be said for the Django, but not before getting to grips with its on-trail demeanour...
The Django isn't the kind of bike to hammer head first into a steep, root, rut and rock infested descent with little abandonment while simply covering your brakes - the Django can certainly handle it, but it does, however, demand a different approach and will reward you for picking your lines carefully. But then I think this is what the Django is all about. With less travel comes a heightened connection with the trail, which can - in the right hands - allow for a greater degree of creativity with what you find. Linking up roots and undulations in the trail can reinvigorate a once dulled experience on a larger travel AM machine, yet while I did feel more connected to what's happening under the wheels, I did struggle to easily generate raw speed across rough trails, requiring a lot more input than similar short travel bikes.
From one extreme to the other, the Django was a different machine on trails of a more groomed and man-made nature where the light and superbly stiff carbon chassis, sub 28lb weight, progressive suspension and aggressive ride position, all came to life as you let off the brakes and put the power down. Pumping and jumping your way through modern trail features brought home that a short travel machine with some decent numbers in the geometry department, could be a lot of fun. That said, I do wonder if Devinci missed an opportunity with the Django, especially within the growing short travel trail bike sector. Embracing 650b wheels over 29" wheels - a rising trend right now - and considering the Django has a stiff 'Boosted' rear and the right numbers geometry wise, well, they could have had a real "rocket ship" on their hands.
Pinkbike's Take: | Coming to the realisation that the latest EWS proven 160mm travel machine would be pure overkill for most of us and the terrain we encounter at our local trails, and choosing a more appropriate option for our immediate needs is a wake-up call that more and more of us are coming around to. This was the precise reason that the team at Devinci designed the Django. While fast and aggressive riders might feel that a bit under gunned on rough-and-ready trails, those looking for a bike to hammer out the miles at their local trail centre and have some fun along the way, will like what they find. - Olly Forster |
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MENTIONS: @devinci
25 inch wheels anyone?
edit .. it hast Fox 34 140/150Talas, DH wheels, 203 front disc so it is beefed up quite a bit from stock
Its called get a 130mm bike, set the sag and tune the suspension and rip!!! More travel is not needed unless you want to be part of the "look at me club" while guys on their 120-130 bikes are leaving you in the dust....
really.... if you are looking at getting something like a Troy or this Django and you have a shed full of 26 inch bits and pieces, you really should consider a Spit.
But don't just take my word for it, here are some juicy bits from the Vital review in this link: www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/Frames,7/Banshee-Bikes/Spitfire-v2,12133#product-reviews/1766/expand
"Yes bike industry pawns, it is still possible to not spend a fortune and get an absolute ripper of a bike. The Banshee Spitfire is one of these bikes."
"The Affordable, Downhiller's Trail Bike"
"It has adjustable geometry, 12x142 rear dropouts, adjustable dropouts for 26” or 27.5” rims, a tapered head tube, a paint job that actually stays on the frame, a full-length seat tube, and 140mm of travel."
"I have to remind myself that the Spitfire is a trail bike. I’ve been mind f*cked- it’s that good."
"Leaving the fork in 130mm mode while descending turns the bike into a slalom machine. It’s ridiculous how well it corners"
and finally...
"If you are a downhiller on a budget, you should absolutely consider it as your next trail bike."
Much less cash?
Um, I have no idea "what other company can get you a carbon trail bike for 4000$CAD"
but then again, why would I, considering I am suggesting getting hold of a 26 inch Banshee Spitfire V2...
.....which would be ..... aluminium and used, which would be... umm...
Much less cash!!!
Swapped over to 27.5 and will give that a go. Switching is not a cheap process though... We're talking either complete new wheelset, new drop outs and axle or lacing new rims to your current hubs and switching axles in the hub.
Picked up a set of Stans Flow Ex 27.5 Rims at a steal last month and now saving up for the dropouts and spokes!!!
Can't believe how much fuss there is about this, while my 2004 Gemini (custom built trail machine) can easily be set between 140-150-170mm of rear travel and a u-turn fork. Did we forget that u-turn excists as well as adjustable rear suspension settings?
Lately it has all been going like: you need 160mm. 160mm is too much, get 150mm. 140mm sucks so buy 120mm. Oh shit that 120mm is not enough for every trail, get 160mm again. Just get adjustable suspension.
That said, I live nowhere near a bike park or real DH trails. But what I'm really trying to say is: quiver killer still doesn't exist. You can compromise a bit & get real close, but I'm truly glad to have a ripping hardtail so that I don't have to. weekday rides are a lot more fun when you don't, as the author put it, bring a gun to a knife fight.
Each time I look at a new bike I consider that my current bike adjusts by flick of a switch from 170mm of travel to 130mm and finally 30mm. Before I begin down the road of thinking "maybe I should buy this bike" I realize I already have a mid-travel and hardtail-esque bike. My geometry does not change at flick of a switch but the aggressive head angles of these new trail bikes makes that less of a distinction.
The ideal situation would be to have a bike for every purpose but I've been down that road and I find maintaining multiple full sus bikes more expensive than I'm willing to spend on a mtb season so I've settled for a good all around bike + DJ. I like having my bikes dialed and with multiple bikes you have to compromise. Also, you never really know which bike you'll need on new trails and the all-rounder solves that headache when travelling.
@PLC07 Well said
Looking at the pictures in the article (which admittedly implies I can't really judge the speed he's going at) I don't see why I couldn't do that (including the roots section) on my 26" DMR hardtail (Switchback) with a 130mm fork in front (which is short and steep by modern standards). I'd probably be slower, still be flying and eventually be spending more time on the descends. What's not to like?
These rhetorics continue to surprise me. If you're going to spend this kind of money on a bike, you better know you want it. Not to take anything away from the bike, but you'll probably also be just fine with one of these if you don't exactly know what you want. Seems like you can ride technical stuff with it and it won't be too sluggish on the easier stuff, nice and versatile. And then you have people who know what they want and it just happens to be very different from this bike. So what's left of that statement? It is a bit like these commercials going "you know what you want so don't look any further and have our stuff".
Also, you could see if you can still get an Atlas frame.
The fact is most of us can get our butts handed to us by the skilled dude on the Specialized epic, even on some gnarly stuff.
I've been riding a rigid single speed lately (instead of my yeti sb5), and for those of us who don't ride an EWS racecourse everyday I think you'd be amazed at what a less capable bike is capable of. I've gotten faster and learned many new tricks and skills!
I would still keep my Mega TR and YT Tues 2.0 both 26" Thank You!
Moved to Ontario, and ended up downsizing from my 160mm Range, to. 130/120 fuel ex (W/ pike), and I couldn't be happier for the trails here.
Wasn't the troy released in 2013 or so? You're thinking of the spartan.
you have already admitted to yourself you don't need a lot or any travel. save money for beer and trips to places with real mountains and get the hardtail.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP2VV5kDOHk
Devinci Django ?
Devinci Misfit ?
Devinci Horror ?