unoveloce
07-02-2008, 01:18 PM
Long time lurker, first time poster. I figured I'd post his here because I didn't see any reviews of the bike in the reviews section. Lewis at Unreal Cycles, who was an absolute pleasure to deal with in every conceivable way gave me a nice deal on an Unreal Junior frame and Marzocchi DJ1 with the in-house Tike wheelset. Tike wheelset is pretty sweet, it comes with axles to run both the front and the rear as QR or thru-axle. I've been skate-parking it for a few months and haven't had to true the wheels yet.
Anyway, I built the bike up with some avid bb7 brakes, avid levers, a
'08 Marzocchi DJ1, and some holzfeller cranks. All went together smooth, though the adjustable dropouts had some nice tight tolerances which required a little sanding of paint to get everything together properly. Frame requires full housing runs from the levers, but the routing is clean and effective.
Got it built up, then tried various spots for the adjustable dropouts. There's four spots to bolt the dropouts in, each of which gives noticeably different handling. I have it bolted to the second shortest wheelbase option, which works well for dirt-jumping and general gnar-shredding. Might go longer if using for slalom or four-cross. Its pretty quick and responsive with the DJ1, but not twitchy.
I've got a Fisher GED and a Kona Cowan and I've been only riding the Junior since I got it. Its got the longer cockpit of the Kona with the standover and chainstay length of the GED.
Pluses:
- Stiff
- Geometry has low standover height with long top tube. Makes for roomy cockpit and lots of knee room for tabletops;)
- Looks cool. Nicest example of hydroformed tubing implementation I've seen.
- Adjustable chainstay length via dropouts. Setup bike for fast stuff or skate park.
- Replaceable dropouts let you run QR or thru-axle.
- Ultra-low stack height due to integrated headset
- DJ1 + Unreal Junior gives quick and responsive steering.
Minuses:
- Frame has enhanced my sex appeal, though the attention mainly comes from squirrels and badgers. Is that normal?
- Not sold on integrated headsets in general, but so far no problems from mine
- Since there's four positions for the adjustable dropouts, may take some fiddling with chain length or cog choice to run single speed.
Anyway, I built the bike up with some avid bb7 brakes, avid levers, a
'08 Marzocchi DJ1, and some holzfeller cranks. All went together smooth, though the adjustable dropouts had some nice tight tolerances which required a little sanding of paint to get everything together properly. Frame requires full housing runs from the levers, but the routing is clean and effective.
Got it built up, then tried various spots for the adjustable dropouts. There's four spots to bolt the dropouts in, each of which gives noticeably different handling. I have it bolted to the second shortest wheelbase option, which works well for dirt-jumping and general gnar-shredding. Might go longer if using for slalom or four-cross. Its pretty quick and responsive with the DJ1, but not twitchy.
I've got a Fisher GED and a Kona Cowan and I've been only riding the Junior since I got it. Its got the longer cockpit of the Kona with the standover and chainstay length of the GED.
Pluses:
- Stiff
- Geometry has low standover height with long top tube. Makes for roomy cockpit and lots of knee room for tabletops;)
- Looks cool. Nicest example of hydroformed tubing implementation I've seen.
- Adjustable chainstay length via dropouts. Setup bike for fast stuff or skate park.
- Replaceable dropouts let you run QR or thru-axle.
- Ultra-low stack height due to integrated headset
- DJ1 + Unreal Junior gives quick and responsive steering.
Minuses:
- Frame has enhanced my sex appeal, though the attention mainly comes from squirrels and badgers. Is that normal?
- Not sold on integrated headsets in general, but so far no problems from mine
- Since there's four positions for the adjustable dropouts, may take some fiddling with chain length or cog choice to run single speed.