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Moots 2012 MootoX YBB 29er
My Moots MootoX YBB 29er is now built. Thanks to Neil at Palo Alto Bicycles for doing his usual top-notch build.
This is easily the most elegant Moots build I’ve yet seen— seen first hand it is absolutely stunning, and I also have the experience of the Moots YBB 26, and the Moots MootoX RSL 29er. The shape of the frame, the stunning Moots bead-blast finish, the pewter headset all come together beautifully, if I do say so myself. The Moots titanium stem and spacers add a further touch of clean elegance. I was slack-jawed when I saw the built bike. In my view it is in another league when compared to the banal paint jobs on many bikes.
The ride
While I’ve only one ride (night-time, had to photograph it clean), the Fox 2012 '34 Float 29' fork is simply amazing in its precise handling and vastly better bump absorption— far superior to the RockShox 2012 SID XX World Cup that I have installed on my Moots MootoX RSL. I was whooping out loud I was having so much fun on a fast night-time descent (using 3 Lupine Betty lights emitting 7000 lumens), going faster than ever before I could go, and with greater ease, and at night no less. I had quite a shit-grin on my face, it was that much fun. Life as exultation.
The Moots YBB soft-tail design and that Fox shock make this a very high speed descender with rock solid steering— set a line and the bike almost reads my mind, with no wiggle or weird stuff. Very impressive, though the penalty is 1+ pounds more weight from the shock, and 3/4 pound more for the YBB feature. The XTR 'Trail' brakes add ~1/4 pound, making it 1.9-pounds heavier than my MootoX RSL. I like the Fox shock so much that I’m even tempted to put one onto the RSL, because the front-end precision is worth a pound of weight gain. But I will defer that pending more extensive riding.
An in-depth report will follow in the days to come.
Click for a larger image.
