RIDDEN & RATEDdecent amount of modulation.
There was enough power on offer
to suit the intentions of the bike
and on some steeper single track
never felt like I was reaching for
more power.
Being a steel bike does mean
a trade off on weight versus a
carbon-fibre, alloy bike but I
didn’t find this to be overly so.
About the only time I felt the bike
being weighed down was riding
sections of tarmac road with the
large tyres, they don’t want to roll
fast on tarmac with all that width
and tread, they’re designed for all
out traction and comfort on dirt.
I did swap the tyres over to
more-regular AM-spec 27.5x2.3”
wide for a quick comparison test
and that did make the bike roll
faster on those segments but
when hitting single-track again,
I found it to be far less fun that
on the fat tyres! So it’s a case of
horses for courses here.
Saddle and Post
It’s also good to see a
comfortable saddle option in the
specced WTB Volt. I’m a huge
fan of WTB saddles and put them
on all my bikes, so not having to
swap it out straight away would
be a plus. For longer rides it’s a
comfortable option but not so
large as to get in the way when
attacking tighter and more
technical sections.
Mated with the simple and
reliable TranzX SP15 Dropper
post with 1x style lever mounted
under the left brake lever, the
saddle and post is something
that should suit most riders and
matches the bike’s purpose
well. I’ve run a virtually identical
dropper post under a different
brand’s label on a previous
bike and really didn’t have any
dramas with it. While the lever
isn’t the most solid feeling unit
out there it’s been reliable for me.
Riders over six feet tall might
want to look at a longer dropper
option or just run the seat post
high. At my height, 120mm of
drop from the post is acceptable
at the cost of the occasional
adjustment before switching
between longer rides & shorter
trail ripping sessions.
Gearset
The gearset is the SRAM’s NX
Eagle, compared with the higher
options in the Eagle food chain
there’s a bit more weight and only
reaches down to a 11t cog at the
top end and 50t at the low end of
the gears.
But one piece of good news
here is that the NX Eagle runs
on a standard 9/10/11 speed
Shimano style free hub so you’re
free to refit whatever components
you like on that. For example,
setting it up as a single speed
bike with appropriate adapter
and taking advantage of the
horizontal dropouts.
You can refit aftermarket
2x gearing if you want to go
that way, with a direct mount
front derailleur and a new 2x
compatible dropper lever. But
sticking with 1x12, NX Eagleshifting works well and with its
large 32t x 50t maximum gearing
and 11-50t rear cassette range
there’s great climbing ability and
ratio shifts between gears are
smooth so you’re virtually always
in a comfortable pedalling gear.Wheels
The wheels are WTB i40 rims in
32 hole laced to Surly house
brand hubs. They’re a huge
40mm internal width but still with
respectable weight along with
newer version of WTB’s Tubeless TCS
system, TCS 2.0. The rim is supplied
with an inner strip that covers
the large internal section with a
supplied red-coloured 'Tough Strip'
to cover the inside of that strip. The
Surly tyres are tubeless compatible
so all you’ll need is a pair of
tubeless valves and sealant to get
the setup going.“First thing I noticed was the huge amount of attachment
points...Pannier rack points on the rear seat-stays combine
to make this a versatile bike packing or touring machine.”
One note on the wheels, when
refitting the rear tyre make doubly
sure you’ve done up the rear
axle bolt to the right torque spec.
If it’s not tight enough you may
experience the axle moving in
the dropouts from pedalling or
braking forces. It’s a minor point
but important, as otherwise you’ll
chip some powder coating off the
chain stays or dropouts.Suspension
Front suspension duties are taken
care of with the Rockshox Sektor
RL fork. Running the Motion
Control damper with adjustable
compression and rebound plus
an air-spring on the left hand
side for its 140mm of travel. The
Debonair air spring has trickled
down into this model now and
offers a larger negative air spring
for less initial stiction.