GRIP2 dampener, Pirelli 29×2.6 tyres, Muc Off tubeless valves, and a state of lockdown! Stuff and things have happened between this 6 month review and the initial impressions I gave back in June (https://throughanamateurseyes.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/rider-files-73-the-jaeger/) so it’s time to give some updates on Jaeger and how the 2020 Fuel EX 9.8 Project One is going.

In case you have missed a few of these posts, back in March I sold my 2016 Giant Stance 27.5 2 known as Titan and set to work piecing together my “final” dual suspension trail bike with the help of Cyclescape. After considering multiple manufacturers, frames, drive-trains, tyres and spec levels; I went with Trek’s Project One design studio and got a Fuel EX 9.8 in British Racing Green, Olive Gray, and Metallic Gunmetal. “Pangolin problems” happened, and it took a while to get certain parts and the bike itself. Rolling out of the shop in a testing guise, Pirelli Australia let me use 29×2.4 versions of the Scorpion M and R which would be beefed up to 2.6 wide later, the Fox 36 had the GRIP dampener while waiting for the GRIP2, and the Muc Off valves were not yet installed. We’ve had as much fun as you can when your state is locked down in the middle of winter, but with spring around the corner and the final parts arriving; it was time to push forward with Jaeger’s testing!

Getting 2 GRIPs

The regular GRIP dampener is a fine dampener for the Fox 36. When I went with the GRIP2 rather than the stock one, a few people thought that it was because the GRIP is rubbish and doesn’t deserve to be on the fork of a Project One. The standard GRIP is pretty amazing for a dampener that has low speed compression and rebound, for the vast majority of people wanting the Fuel EX 8 and 9.8 it is the best value dampener and work incredibly well for the fork. But, I like to tinker with things and didn’t want to spend big on a Factory fork with Kashima coating, so the most cost effective way to get what I wanted was to upgrade the dampener and leave the fork as is. And when going from the GRIP to the GRIP2, certain instances highlighted the GRIP2’s performance while others barely made a difference…

Tracks like Spring Gully and Maiden Gully feature very few rock features and barely register as a blue on the difficulty scale. Honestly, to pro enduro riders or a competent cross country rider the rock gardens might register as rumble strips than rock gardens they are used to at You Yangs or Bright. These tracks rely on narrowly placed trees and flat loose on hard pack corners for a true high speed challenge, and are otherwise fairly accessible to any avid mountain biker wanting to ride a blue trail. And if you took Jaeger to these trails with the GRIP or GRIP2, you could barely tell the difference if you weren’t trying to break records. That’s because in most circumstances on flowing trails or anything with low to moderate rock gardens, you are relying on low speed rebound for suspension control and low speed compression helps on hard pedalling for the most part. Jaeger with the GRIP handled well on most of Bendigo‘s XC trails including small drops, smooth berms, and punchy climbs. Even at Harcourt pushing the fork hard on Trail 2 Girra and Trail 9 Milipa’s descents, it felt okay.

The GRIP2 was installed by Cyclescape and using the standard tune from Fox, the 36 behaved well. Using the ShockWiz for two tuning profiles, setting up the high speed circuits seemed pretty intuitive once you understand the theory, and having the GRIP2 did improve performance. In Spring Gully and Maiden Gully, the performance remained consistent on berms and climbs, but choppy corners and rock gardens seemed a bit more controlled. The most noticeable improvement was La Larr Ba Gauwa (Harcourt) and One Tree Hill where rock gardens, roots, and off camber corners were far more enjoyable.

Is the GRIP2 are worthwhile upgrade on the Fuel EX in general? If you really want to push the performance on the EX8 and upwards I think it is definitely worthwhile for black grade technical descents and for tackling blue tech faster. But the GRIP dampener does stand on its own and works exceptionally within its native Fox 36 Performance. The low speed compression lockout on the GRIP is something I honestly miss on the new dampener, twist the dual and firm up the fork for a long fire road climb is actually a luxury I have forgone in order to improve traction in rock gardens and roots. So either GRIP has merit, in the Performance 36 they have particular roles for casual riders and enthusiasts wanting an edge.

In relation to this, the ReActiv shaft in the Fox Float Performance does sharpen up the response of the rear linkage. Quickly peddling the EX 8 without ReActiv and then going back to my 9.8, this seemingly minor component does have an advantage in prolonged rock gardens or pumping transitions. So if you are considering the 9.7 (non-ReActiv) versus the 9.8 (ReActiv), while the shock might not be a high priority on your list, the shock is one of the very few proprietary technologies to Trek and ReActiv can help the enthusiast and racing crowd. The low speed compression and rebound tweaks are enough for any enthusiast rider, and since you need to essentially buy the 9.9 to obtain a shock with high and low speed compression and rebound, if you seriously want these controls for serious downhill riding might I direct you to the new Slash? Otherwise, the Fuel EX carbon and alloy chassis with the Fox Float shocks are great.

Some Tough Scorpions

The Pirelli 29×2.4 Scorpion M and R tyres were on Jaeger from April to September, and performed incredibly! While the 29×2.6 Scorpions are the tyres I prefer, I think there is a case for the Fuel EX to run 2.4 wide tyres and especially this set up.

The Scorpion M and R tread are what I consider to be fairly balanced for a trail tyre, they work best on loose on hard pack and medium terrain, but are mediocre on wet/very loose or pure hard pack/tarmac. The rolling resistance is okay, but the grip under braking and heavy acceleration is pretty spot on for 2.4 wide rubber. Rolling the tyre onto the side on tight corners or taking off camber roots was predictable and didn’t fold or ping at awkward moments. Puncture resistance was great, and I get the impression that you would need a suitable accident in order to slash the tyre unlike the Michelin Force XC. The wear characteristics compared to the grip it provides is fantastic, after 500km of riding predominantly single track with some tarmac and fire roads the tread looked as good as the tyres still on the shelves. For the average trail rider, I highly recommend these 29×2.4 Pirelli compounds based on their wear characteristics, puncture resistance and balanced performance in common trail conditions. But, the 29×2.6 Scorpions in the corresponding compounds were definitely something I love.

At this point in writing the article, Pirelli updated the Pirelli Velo website to where 2.2 inch tyres are XC, 2.4 inch tyres are Trail, and the 2.6 inch tyres are Enduro and/or E-MTB reflecting my comments before and after this.

With the obvious trade off that rolling resistance has increased, the 2.6 inch wide varieties of the Scorpion ride like a “medium” and “rear” tyre should for an enduro tyre. Just because they made the tyres thicker, doesn’t mean Pirelli used the same rubber and a slightly enlarged tread pattern. Inspecting both tyres the treads appear differently and the way the rubber interacts with the terrain makes me honestly believe it isn’t the same as the 2.4. Going onto the Pirelli Velo website, the cross section and tyre profile indicates the 2.6 has greater reinforcement near the bead, the sidewall layering extends around the whole carcass, and the knobs are deeper.

Riding both tyres at lower pressures, I never felt like the tyre was flexing too much in high speed corners or that the side wall was prone to pinch flatting. There was ample grip for late braking and technical climbing, but that is to be expected from a wider tyre. Overall I am extremely pleased with the “enduro” Pirelli tyres and how they perform compared to the “trail” cousins.

When I consider that Jaeger initially came with a great set of XR4 Team Issues, which in my Fuel EX 8 I said were one of the best in-house components going for the bike, it’s down to preferences of tyre compliance and how you want to dispatch your grip. The Scorpions feel more compliant overall, but the centre of the carcass feels more firm on the 2.6 Enduro version. The Bontrager 29×2.6 XR4 Team Issues have slightly firmer knobs but the tyre has an overall softer compliance at corresponding pressures. I trust both of them rolling onto the side of the tyre for tight turns, but the Bontragers dig into loam a bit more confidently while the Pirellis handle loose on hard pack a bit better in my testing opinion. These tyres might have equal value to Maxxis Minions, Maxxis Assegai, Specialized Eliminator, Specialized Butcher, Continential Der Kaiser, or whatever other enduro tyres the cool kids are running; but considering the “Trail” Pirellis have only been around for 2 years and this is the first year for the “Enduro” Pirellis, this is not a bad start. Better than the Michelin Force XC tyres which haunt my nightmares to this day…

The Pirelli Scorpion 2.9×2.4 tyres were a fantastic edition to Jaeger, and the 2.6 inch wide versions will continue to impress in the months to come. Should you consider these for your next trail or enduro tyre set up? Maybe, I really like these tyres to extent that Maxxis is no longer the dominant force in tyres in my opinion and in years to come Pirelli could become a major market mover.

Mino Link: Say Hi to the Low Setting

In the first 4 months of riding Jaeger, I had the Mino Link in the Low setting which means the head tube angle is 67 degrees and the bottom bracket height is 33.5cm for my M/L frame size. Confident on the descents of La Larr Ba Gauwa, not bad around twists and turns of Maiden Gully, and only time I ever felt I was in danger of pedal striking was on Hole in the Wall at Spring Gully and on some rollable drops at Strathdale/Kennington. For most people running the Fuel EX, I anticipate that this is the setting they will use for weekend slaying and it works pretty well for trail/light enduro duties.

The Hi setting makes the head tube angle 67.7 degrees and the bottom bracket height 34.4cm which doesn’t seem like much to the entry level rider, but it does bring about some noticeable changes for your climbing and descending applications. Bottom bracket clearance on rock gardens, roll overs, and technical climbs is improved to an extent; and the steeper head tube lends to better turn in on medium to low speed switchbacks. On Milipa (Trail 9) at La Larr Ba Gauwa, while some rock drops seem sketchier with the Hi setting, it pays off for the rock slab technical section near the beginning and the terrible blind left hand hairpin I despise near the end. With Maiden Gully having very few prolonged descents or pucker-worthy steep drops, the advantages of Hi Mino-Link are more greatly appreciated. For trail/XC applications, the Hi setting makes this an engaging bike for technical assaults in climbing and average descents. You do lose some confidence on the steep descending features, but anyone with a high skill level (not so much myself) might notice this but still be able to plough through rocks and fly off drops.

For Bendigo and for most people starting out in mountain biking, I would highly recommend the Hi Mino setting since the raised bottom bracket reduces pedal strikes often experience in rookies learning to hop trees, and does allow more constant power delivery for those riding Spring Gully and One Tree Hill in Bendigo. The Lo Mino setting is amazing by its own acclaim, but I feel this should be used after new riders get into descending more confidently, or for people living in high country where you do descend for prolonged periods and on rough terrain. Neither setting compromises the Fuel EX chassis and makes it unbearable to climb with or descend with, but the settings do bring about the best in certain circumstances. Aside from trips to Bright, Falls Creek, and downhill assaults at La Larr Ba Gauwa, I will most likely have Jaeger in Hi Mino-Link setting.

Rims and Pedals, Some Revised Thoughts

The bike handles as well as what I reviewed in the initial impressions piece, and the Mino-Link has now been experimented with. But outside of this, I have had some revised thoughts about the Line Pro carbon rims, and the Shimano XT flat pedals.

When I was running the Line Pro rims with the Pirelli Scorpion 29×2.4 inch tyres, I agreed with Flow Mountain Bike’s impressions that they are stiff and track well, but this makes them unforgiving and not user friendly for new riders. Since fitting the 29×2.6 Scorpions, the rims feel as rigid and track well in the corners, but now the harsh feedback has been reduced and it handles chunder a bit more easily. This indicates that the Bontrager team have more or less tuned these rims to work with thicker tyres to reduce vibrations through the frame and fork, but also be the compliance that hooks you into high and medium speed corners. The implication of this is in the stock configuration, I now anticipate the rim and tyre set up should work very well for trail/enduro usage.

The pedals are a different story, here Shimano XT pedals have been failing and leaving a lot to be desired when I proclaimed they are bullet-proof and more reliable than any other MTB product. Whoops… It goes that after pressing send on the last review piece, the cartridge bearings seized in the pedals and basic home and shop maintenance could not save them. After speaking to my local bike shop and a few other riders, the Shimano XT flat pedals and a few other Shimano pedals have had bearing issues. Whether this is a manufacturing issue of late or a redesign gone wrong, I wasn’t happy returning to the XT pedals. Instead, I have Bontrager Line Comp pedals on Jaeger. Nylon flat pedals on a carbon bike? Am I insane? Yes and yes, but having only run alloy pedals on my mountain bikes and abandoning cheap nylon pedals on my other bikes, it’s only fair to test what a competition spec nylon pedal can do. Like my Bontrager Line Pro pedals, these have an excellent platform with plenty of studded grip. The nylon feels as solid as the alloy version, but upon pedal striking you no longer get a jarring vibration up the leg or feel like you sparked a wildfire. These perform as well as what an in-house branded nylon flat pedal should, it’s not going to be my best product of the year, but if you are buying a Trek mountain bike and like the sound of a grippy pedal without the full metal weight, these are worth your attention?

The State of Things to Come…

I live in the state of Victoria in Australia, and if you live in Australia you know how bad things got in Winter and early Spring. This meant that trips to Bright, You Yangs and the Border were cancelled, and testing Jaeger became difficult since general wisdom (not so much law) said I should ride at local trails and not travel any further to go riding. That’s why Jaeger has had very few hours at La Larr Ba Gauwa, most of the Mino-Link testing is from Bendigo, and I haven’t really been writing many articles since most of my time has been spent on an indoor trainer and playing Rainbow Six Siege.

Restrictions have begun to ease, the sun is out for longer, and at this point in time I will be going to Bright to do some testing. There will be a new review alongside some Jaeger testing, guided runs of the trails, and some great news coming out of the weekend. But a lot can change in three weeks, so I’m hoping everything goes smoothly.

So until next time, keep safe and stay awesome!