Well, the new year is in full swing and the ’08 stuff is here! Took a short 4 mile loop yesterday, just to get friendly and familiar with the Ignition 3. Jeremy and I will be testing out this bike. It’s a medium and came in the beautiful “Emerald Sand” color.
Marzocchi MX Lockout
The most pleasant surprise on the bike is the Marzocchi MX fork. Are you kidding me? Five inches of Marzocchi quality travel and a lockout knob on a $849(Msrp) bike? Ridiculous. Technology has come so far that neat little innovations like this are filtering down to the entry level bikes. Very cool. Climbing was a piece of cake with the fork locked out but I forgot to switch it back on a short downhill and it was rickety and scary. Once you flip that switch back though…mmmmm…buttery Marzocchi travel.
Like that color!
One of the other things I noticed right away was the drastic 2 inch rise on the UNO alloy bars. At first I was asking myself what the hell those bars were  doing on there. After riding it for a while, I understood. The high rise really slows down the responsiveness of the steering so the bike doesn’t feel twitchy like a cross country rig. This allows a lot more room for error when steering through lines and gives the bike a more playful feel overall.
The Avid mechanical disc brakes are great. Always a solid performer and the rear shock seems nice and plush. I was considering buying the FSA Gamma Drive crankset about a month ago. It’s a very inexpensive outboard bearing crankset and I’m happy to report they were silky as good be. Time will tell how durable they are.
Ignition resting….shhhh
The one concern I have is with the sloping seat tube. I’m well within the suggested rider size for the frame but the geometry is such that once you raise the seatpost the saddle gets further from the bars. At full length I found I was reaching more for the pedals than the bars though. I almost felt like I was on one of those Electra cruisers with the pedals way out in front. Jeremy may fit better on this with his long frame.
Overall the bike doesn’t handle like a speed demon but that’s not what it was meant for. This is dubbed as an “all mountain” rig and it sure does feel comfortable on the downs and the ups(that’s all of the mountain right?). I started out slow and easy but I’ll put the Ignition 3 through some more rigorous terrain and really try to thrash it as best I can. Check back in for a full review.
First off, I really dig your blog. Totally got it bookmarked in the favorites now!
$849 is a pretty smoking deal, however like you mentioned the frame geometry doesn’t lend itself to adjustability. Also it’s only available in 3 sizes! Really hate when manufacturers do that, and you can’t actually test the bike out. Sort of a deal braker.
I’m glad they still put on Avid mechanicals. I was looking at the Mongoose entry-level when they had a couple demo models and they’re now throwing on Promax hydraulic disc brakes. Yuk.
Jeff,
If you’re in the SoCal area, you could test ride the Ignition during one of our group rides. Just let us know!
RL