OK so the bike is not designed for it! And it probably invalidates my warranty – BUT I decided to see what would happen if I took my Raven Sport out for a spin on the hills.
To give the bike a fighting chance I changed my front wheel (717ceramic, DT Revolution 32, Hope hub) for a slightly stronger one (717normal, DT Competition 36, XT hub). I also removed the mudguards and upped the tyre to 1.95 (these fit on the OLD version of the Sport). I switched my Brooks saddle and Thomson seat post for a plastic saddle with a sprung seat post. Finally I switched brake blocks to Koolstop Salmon.
The Route was from Swansea to Cardiff following the High Level (mountain bike only) Route 47 from Neath to Pontypridd and then Route 8 to Cardiff. Total route length is about 50 miles with a total ascent of over 1800m. About 1/2 of this is only suitable for mountain bikes. My buddy was on a true xc machine.
For the first dozen miles the route is flat and is on a decent surface (towpath or better). I had the edge of drop handlebars here. Next comes a steep on road climb again I was well in front. Next an off road climb. To my surprise I continued to pull ahead, I had expected the rough surface to level us.
However once on top it was a different story. Now we were travelling quicker those suspension forks on Marks bike gave him an advantage. However the Raven Sport still had acceptable performance and I managed to keep up.
My Nemesis approached. How would the Raven Sport cope with off road downhill?
Very Very Painful. The handlebars were vibrating like a jackhammer. I had to take it slow while Mark just powered on down! Not only did his suspension forks allow him a much faster speed but when he did have to slow down he could out brake me with his disk brakes.
Finally we got down to better tracks and then roads. The road into Pontypridd is FAST. I recorded 96kph my fastest ever speed on the Raven and that was with knobbly tyres. It was a little too fast for Marks bike. His Hayes hydraulics blued his front disk and the smell of the pads was strong! My rim brakes were fine but unlike mark I was alternating back and front.
The last ~12 miles was on the Taff trail (Route
a gently descending route into Cardiff on well-made paths. Unfortunately Mark started to have problems with his gearing and he experienced chain suck twice. (I smiled inwardly to myself knowing this was a problem I couldn’t have.)
Overall the bike stood up well to the experience, - better than Mark’s! However I can’t recommend it, the downhill is too painful. Two of my fingers are still numb 20 hours later! If I was riding an off road route where there wasn’t a downhill section then maybe.
I bet the Raven Catalyst would have being superb all the good bits about the Raven Sport Tour plus suspension forks and stronger tubes.
As they say there are horses for courses. The Raven Sport Tour is very adaptable bike –
I love mine. But if off road is your bag then try something else.
