mustang1

I bought a hardtail 29er Voodoo Bizango (the one designed by Joe Murray, previously I htink he was at Kona). A cheap low end hardtail but wow, what fun! I bought it due to the rave reviews and recommendations from MTB friends. It's my first MTB for almost a decade (I"ve been a roadie for that time and got rid of my old Peugeot MTB).

I knew one day I'd come back to MTB and my CX bike (with road tires) just wasn't giving me the buzz I wanted. People say a CX bike is like a rigid MTB from years back, but that's (IMHO) completely wrong. The geo on an MTB is *completely* different to a CX bike, and that's a big deal.

The bike was left at work until I had time to bring it home, but I couldn't wait any longer so I hopped off to work in the car and brought it back. In the days of my previous MTB I didn't know much about bikes and used to go out wearing just jogging bottoms and t-shirt, and so it was today I went out in the same attire, with sneakers (the Bizango comes with great wellgo pedals as standard). I had a fantastic time, even though I was out for only 30 mins. I cant believe I live on the edge of the woods and I didn't have an MTB.

I probably wont upgrade it, and it looks like the mtb bug is here to stay (I already have a couple of road bikes and a cx). I'll go out with some MTB friends (who were very helpful showing me the mtb ropes) on a couple of events, and then I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get a full sus.

So what do I think of the bike? I dont have picks but you can check our a review here:
VooDoo Bizango 29er mountain bike review £599.99 | MBR
The bar is rather wider than I'm accustomed too and a couple of times I got a little too close to lamp-posts, only ralizing my hands were that far out at the last second, otherwise things would have got interesting. It's also rather slow on tarmac but I expected that, and the tires make quite a buzzy sound (also expected). I took it to a place where I ride my CX bike (fitted with 35mm slicks compared to 2.25in knobbies on the mtb, maxxis ardent) and it's def faster, but I think it can be even faster once I get more accustomed to it. THe wide bars really promote an elbows out stance which is unusual for me.

I'm quite happy with the geo of the bike (even though I'm inexperienced in mtb). The frame quality seems very good, and ditto with the paint finish. Unusual for bikes costing even double what the Bizango did, you get a head badge and also a 15mm bolt through front axle. Like I said, it's my first MTB and first bike with sus fork so IDK what to compare it to, but the reviews suggest the Suntour Raidon LO is very good, akin to a lower end Rockshox.

Next I want to get some powerful (to-see) lights and eventually get into some off-road night rides; might examine slime for the tires too but I'm not going tubeless. I'll keep the pedals as they are for a while and eventually move to clipless like on my other bikes. Those 29er knobby tires sure are chunky big. The bike's a lot heavier than I'm accustomed to (about 14kg) but on the trail it doesnt seem bad. The gear range and ratios seem fine and I love the shimano 395 hydro brakes. The bike has a slightly jagged feel in the steering, I think the headset needs adjustment.

Before purchase I figured I would get buyers remorse once I took it home, but I have NONE! Thanks for reading, and have plenty of fun out there!

trail_monkey

Well I will start this off. Congrats and hope you have many more rides to come. That looks like a nice bike. I bought my second "real" mtb last spring and it was a $575 entry level XC hardtail by Jamis. I have really been enjoying riding and slowly upgrading components since. I too like my geometry so much better than my old Diamondback hybrid style. When I get on this jamis it "just feels right". I don't know how to explain it but I feel like I can do almost anything on this bike. I am sure you get that feeling as well judging from what you wrote. Show some pics. You can see pics of mine at the end of the "Post your rigs version 3.0" thread on this forum. Good luck!