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The Opus Fhast 1 Review!

Here it is folks, what you've all been waiting for......The Opus Bike Test! I wanted to do one final death thrash on it before I wrote the final review, and one such thrash happened last Sunday. Four and a half hours of riding, going from super mellow trails to gravel road climbs, to downhill only trails. Yes, all the way up to the snow pack again, then back down.

Initial Impressions

As you saw in previous posts, I built the old girl up at Dodge, and when opening up the box the first think you notice is the pearly white paint. It catches your eye and doesn't let go. As you look around the bike you notice the carbon fibre chain stays(a new thing for me on a MTB) and then the insane graphics that make it look like some sort of Euro Pro Team Bike. Like most Opus color schemes, you either love it......or hate it like no other. For me, it looks hot.

The frame itself is insanely curvy and the tubes have more butting, tapering and molding than an extra large ribbed condom. I switched out some components, because I'm a bike snob and tuned it to my liking. Some of the major changes from the build in the Opus catalogue were upgrading the wheels to the very hot Mavic Crossmax SLR's and the brand new XTR cranks. Other small bits include swapping out the bar/stem/seatpost from RaceFace to my own mix of Ritchy, Easton and Thompson.

Off came the Hutchinson Pythons and on went "A Gentleman's FreeRide Tire" as they are called in Dodge, 2.35 Maxxis Hansventures. Or my "training" tires as Mike from Maxxis calls them. Before I came to Dodge, the biggest tire I ran was a 2.0, and now I spend most of my time on 2.35's. Its a must in the area.

The Ride

Despite all the help I'm getting from Opus. I was very apprehensive about riding the New Fhast 1. I didn't know what to think when ordering the bike for a few reasons. One, Opus had only made road bikes before, and this being first production can sometimes lead to weird happenings or geometries.

The second reason being I am a bike snob. I have gotten high end, expensive, custom frames before and only ridden them for a few weeks before buying back the previous bike had been riding. Stick with what works.

I also found that I was DIRECTLY in between sizes according to Opus's catalogue, but on closer inspection of top tube sizes, I realized I was a Medium. Which was odd because I would normally ride a 19", but the Medium was a 17". After riding the bike for a few weeks, I realized the Medium was the right choice. If any readers decide to get an Opus...LOOK AT THE TOP TUBE SIZE.

Upon hopping the Opus and riding the shit out of it from everything to downhill trails where no hardtail should be, to the downtown coffee shop to look more Pro than I actually am, I found that the Opus's handing is surprisingly just where it needs to be. After 3 weeks of riding, I have found NO surprises while riding the Opus. Which is a good thing. This has been one of the only bikes where I've hopped on it and have been comfortable. I've only had to do minimal changes to my seat position and that's it. I'm riding it pretty much how I set it up right out of the box.

For being a cross country bike the Fhast 1 is at home with everything BC has to offer for gnarly trails, but at the same time is also at home on long ski hill climbs where you bite your lip, and grind all the way to the top. The weight is just where it needs to be, with full saddle bag, and "training tires" at 850grams a piece with heavy tubes, the bike still comes in under 25 lbs.

Other than the cranks, I've left the drivetrain exactly as Opus has spec'd it. It is a first for me riding the new(ish) Sram XO, and as far as I'm concerned, it is the second coming of Christ. I'm VERY impressed with it, and I can easily say I am now a Sram guy. I've ridden the old XTR, the old old XTR and the new newXTR, and I wouldn't switch from the Sram build for anything. (Other than a Rigid Single Speed of course) So far, it has been nothing but reliable, and next to no maintenance.

I sighed a little when I saw I would be riding a Manitou R7 this year. My last fork was the previous generation Manitou Skareb, and it caused me to revert to a rigid fork. Yes, it was that bad. Surprise surprise, Manitou, (so far) has gotten their shit together for this one, and the fork has worked great! I'm very impressed with it. Its much stiffer than the old Skarebs, while being extremely smooth, and also deadly light. Even mechanics who hate Manitou in the Valley have been surprised how smooth it is. Manitou has even managed to tackle successfully the handlebar lockout issue. Instead of going super complicated like most companies, Manitou went simpler, and my lockout, (with proper maintenance) has worked great.

The Beefs

Everything has its downsides. While riding the new Opus, I can honestly say I haven't run into any major problems that have caused me to freak out. So far the bike is working great, the geometry is great, and it rides how a good bike should ride. BUT, there is little things. This is digging deep, keep that in mind.

The rear dropouts are very tight to the chain stay on the Fhast 1. So, even with a 6 inch rotor on the rear I find its impossible to put the rear wheel in without scratching the inside of the chain stay. Like I mentioned, its the first year production.

After a few rides I checked over the bike and looked at the derailleur hanger to look for any bends or cracks and noticed that 1 of the small allen headed bolts that hold on the hanger was stripped right from the factory. Since I haven't taken the hanger off, someone else must have done it. Again, a small thing, but might prove to be a pain in the ass later on down the road.

Since OGC is no longer a Manitou dealer, It is going to be a nightmare if I ever have to get any work done to the R7. But at the same time, OGC(dealer of OPUS) is also the new Canadian distributor of FOX, which I'm considering, and I think if I ever run into any major problems with the Manitou, I would hope they would help me out with a deadly Fox Fork.

On my very first ride, 15 minutes in. I hopped on a log and slipped off. When I got up I noticed that one of the Mavic spokes had slipped out of the joint in the hub. Bollocks, I thought to myself, hoping it wasn't a sign of things to come. I walked the bike back the bike shop which was 10 minutes away, and trued it up again. Since then they have been great. Other than that, the Mavic's work supreme, are super light, and look insanely flashy on top of it all.

Also, the white Selle San Marco was cool out of the box, but not so cool after the first ride. The dye from my shorts ran into the saddle which has turned it a pleasant purple. At least its unique.

Conclusion

After rocking the Opus for a few weeks now I'm very impressed with it. The handling can be described as neutral, but is exactly where it needs to be. It seems at home with everything I've been able to throw at it. All of the components have (so far) worked flawlessly, and I would have to think hard about switching them out to anything new.

Opus has gotten the Fhast 1 correct right from the get go. They have obviously put a lot of thought into this bike, and have the experience to know what works, and what doesn't. Every time I hop on the new bike, I seem to like it more and more, and one thing is for sure, if your going slow on it, its not the bikes fault.

Beer and Chips Day

I haven't been riding my mountain bike this week because, while at work I managed to jam my thumb in a kickstand resulting in a giant blood blister the size of a nickle. I still made the bike sale though. I'm not getting much sympathy around the house as Mirelle managed to get trampled by a horse on the same day.

So, lots of time on the roadie where a sore thumb doesn't matter as much. This week also happens to be the last week of my base building phase. Lots of time. I can feel its time to switch over to some speed, the legs want to go faster other than the typical 4 hour long slow distance ride, and I have to remind myself of what the weekly goal is. Whoa Cowboy.

Lots of roadie time is probably a good thing seeing as how there is a stage race this weekend. Crit, TT and Road Race. Remember to wear the training bibs, and shave the legs all the way to my ass because this fella is expecting to loose some skin. It has been raining 26 days straight, and I don't think its going to change for race day.

It'll be interesting to switch from 3-5 hour mellow rides, to 2 hour rides with horrible pain. It will afford me to more time to oogle girls at the coffee shop.

Living the Hobo Life

The more things change the more they stay the same. This time last year i was freezing my ass off riding a single speed, and this year I'm freezing my ass off riding a road bike. Yeesh

Yesterdays ride was brutal. Self inflicted pain at its best. 50km winds with gusts of 70ish. Rain rain rain all day long. In weather like that the only thing you can do it put it in the big ring and listen to "Kick start my Heart" on repeat as high as the volume will go. For 4 Hours. Alone.

Despite the weather one thing remains the same...

Risky Buisness

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have weird tendencies. Most seem to defy logic, but make sense to me at the time. I realized one while I was in the shower after the ride I mentioned in the previous post.

I was thinking about what to make for dinner, and I settled on chicken. I had a miniature panic attack when I realized that one of the two cast iron frying pans was dirty. This means of course I would have to cook with Teflon. Holy Crap. I thought to myself. Teflon. I will shurley be slowly poisoned.

It was here that I stopped myself and put things into perspective. I had just ridden a bicycle for 3 hours, some on busy highway, others on abandoned logging roads in some of the most remote areas of Van Isle, which hold the highest population of Black Bear/Cougar/Mountain Lion in Canada. Alone no less. I also road on a trail over ladder bridges 15 feet over jagged rocks the size of a car that were slick as ice on a cross country bike.......all on a trail called Bucket of Blood.

Suddenly, I realized I might be able to deal with Teflon.

Sea to Sky 2

Same thing on the menu today, climb until there is too much snow to climb any more. This time I added a little bit more structure to work on the ol Lactate Threshold. The trail I was headed to today is legendary on Vancouver Island. People travel from all over just to ride it, which is funny because your pretty much shit out of luck finding it unless someone shows you where it is, even though its on all the trail maps.

The trail in question is called "Bucket of Blood" and to get an idea of how rough Cumberland was before the Hippies took it over, the original Bucket of Blood was a bar in Cumberland where motorcycle gangs and roughnecks would hang out back in the day. In those days you were pretty much out of sight from the police because they would never come up to Cumberland.

Again, up and up and up I went, even throwing in some hike a bike sections before making it to the sub-alpine lake at the top. The lake was still frozen over, and while I was fumbling with my energy bar it started to snow.


The ride down was great, the boys added some solid bridges since I rode it last, and left the trail feeling great. It was when I rounded the corner on some of the lower trails to put in some more time that I saw it happened again!


More clear cutting. Jesus Christ. The whole former race course was cut and I left the old town feeling super bitter. While I was riding home I realized the difference in vehicles coming in and out of my beloved Cumberland. When I arrived 3 years ago it was mostly old Colts, beat up vans and a lot of Jetta's that were all older than I was. The main population was dirty hippy kids who made it day to day depending on how much pot they sold that day. On the other side of the locals, the town was full of old mining people who stayed after the mines closed. If you look into they're eyes you could still see the coal dust flowing through they're veins.

Now, when I make the hike up to the Cumberland I get passed by Hummers and Escalade's, and 2008 Jettas with $1000 roof racks that have never held a bike or snowboard. The only life the roof rack boxes will see is to hold the soccer moms $3000 golf clubs so they don't get any dirt on the heated leather seats. The same seats that will probably burn the car to the ground when shes at her weekly swingers meeting.

Basically I finished the ride pretty miffed, but still loving the reunion with "The Bucket"

Drinking in Autumn

I wrote this entry on April 17th 2006, on another blog. I just recently found it again and thought I would re-post it. It was from the time when I was working at the Riding Fool Hostel in Cumberland.

Working at a hostel, you encounter all sorts of people. Some good, some bad, others you feel indifferent about. Some strike you in odd ways and you begin to wonder about them. One guy who I met tonight was very odd. He didn't seem comfortable talking to people. I guess you would label him "socially awkward," for lack of actually getting to know him. At first I though he might be deaf. He had trouble just making basic conversation, so I thought maybe he couldn't understand what I was saying. I realized after that nothing was really wrong with him. He was just...as he is.

This stranger is on a bike tour. I don't know where he is from or where he's going, but he's living off his bike. Out of pannies and only with himself. His bike is nothing fancy, an old Rocky Mountain, which you can tell has a good few stories in it, with plenty of potential for more. Its old, and rough, but in a good way.

I grabbed the stranger's bike to pop it up on the hook in our bike storage room when I noticed a sticker on the frame. It was partially rubbed off and ripped in places, this sticker also had a story to tell. As I squinted harder to read the sticker that the stranger had placed there, I made out the words, "My Bike Takes Me Places That School Never Could."As I read this I looked up at the stranger and I said to him "I couldn't agree more." He seemed to smile, and then looked down at the floor...It was then I knew I had made a friend. His hair was in knots, and his flannel shirt although wrinkled and torn had more depth than any $150 jersey ever could, or ever will.
I took the stranger up to his room, and I thought about the sticker more and more as the night went on.

The stranger left before I opened the hostel the next morning. Like so many other guests who stumble though the area, I figured I would never see him again.

Sea Level to Snowpack

I started out the day with the intention of doing a lot of climbing. The Comox Vally is pretty flat, unless you feel like going straight up.

I left the house at sea level and proceeded to push the new Opus up, and up, and up. After an hour and half of climbing, mostly on gravel access road, I went as far as I could pedal. Up to an abandoned ski resort, where the snow pack was too high to keep going. If the climb and I were to make love, the climb would be the man. I was worked. Whenever you think you have the eye of the tiger, you are reminded that you are still weak as a kitten.

The abandoned ski resort is call Forbidden Plateau, and was ironically the victim of too much snow which caused the lodge to collapse. Despite that, the mountain hides one of the best "locals only" trails in the area.

Unfortunately, when I rounded the corner of the climb to the entrance of the trail, there was just too much snow to make it in, even if the entrance was 15 ft lower in elevation, it would have been rideable. So back down I went

(remember all the winter storms we were told about...this is the result)

New Bike Day!....for Andrew

You've seen it here first folks, Andrew Brown has turned to a life of crime, jumping fences and other tomfoolery. Kids these days.

The Pain Train

Becoming faster and stronger as an athlete requires some experimenting. A process of finding what works and what works better, while also finding out what doesn't work at all. Last year I threw myself into the experimenting warzone so to speak. I moved away from my comforts, lived in a hostel, and took only my rigid single speed with the intentions of doing nothing but riding and seeing what would happen. This was coming from years as a trained athlete, with daily scheduled routine and repetition. That scheduled routine didn't work for me, I got burned out, I went too hard, and I started to hate my bike.

For these reasons I had to get away from anything scheduled, I wanted to have fun again. As I rode more and more I couldn't shake the feelings of riding as an athlete. I knew generally the techniques and methods of getting fast, even though it was what I didn't want to do. As I went with the crowd and started to do more and more races in the area, the desire to rip shit started to grow more and more, and it seemed my mind was consumed by racing again. This time on a rigid single speed.

I rode hard for the first few races but as form improved, so did my results. I just couldn't get the top end speed that I knew was there. Because I was totally winging riding(no coach, just general knowledge) I emailed a friend, and former Canada Games coach Sue Rodgers on how I could build this top end speed I would need to ride at the top.

Sue said that what I was lacking was probably on the mental aspect. She said to find the longest hill I could find, and ride up it as hard as I could until I could taste puke in my mouth, then slow down, and do it again. This, she said, would help me break down the mental barrier in my mind.

So, the next day I rode as hard as I could. I called it riding "The Pain Train." Many times while racing(especially on a single speed) you ride so hard you don't know whether your going to throw up, or shit you pants, or both at the same time. It took a few solid runs, but I finally got to that state.....after that I limped home and collapsed on my couch. A couple days later, I did the same thing. It seems after you know what to expect, it gets a little bit easier to push to that level.

A few weeks later was another Van Isle Cup race. I prepared as normal, and managed a 3rd in Elite(of 30ish). Needless to say, I was a little bit more able to cope with the pace of pushing myself to the red line, and dealing with the throw up/shit my pants feelings. After that race, I had the confidence and the knowledge, just how hard I could push, and I managed to have a great season.

The Sprall

I got my first steady ride on the new Opus today(short term review later). I headed toward my favorite 3+ hour loop in Cumberland. I use to ride it a couple times a week when I lived there and its the perfect mix of flow and tech with just a little bit of spice.

I was riding on the logging road before the trailhead when a goddammed logging truck sped out and nearly got me. Pretty surprised I kept pedalling and when I rounded the bend, the woods opened up and the entire trail had been clear cut. Holy Crap. I shed a single tear and looked for where the trail would start up again, but it was ALL gone. After a few minutes of exploring I turned back and rode to a different trail. At least the rugged beauty of Cumberland will look more like skankhole suburban Ontario now.

The Vicious Cycle

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Cloudy, Rain Rain Rain, Nice(work day), Rain, Rain, Rain, Cloudy, Rain...........and repeat.

New Bike Day!

Yesterday was new bike day...a Christmas in March so to speak. I got the new gal shipped to Dodge City for a good environment to give birth to her. Everything went together well, even the new XTR cranks seemed to go together smoothly, especially after I passed them off to Dan to figure out.

I even found my favorite kind of wine again, after looking all over North America....perfect!

(changing light bulbs)

(Dan Espeseth, the best rider/bike mechanic you've never met)

Japanese Dream

The illucid 5 hour ride has been harder and harder to get lately. The past few days have had more water and wind than a German toilet fetish video. Today! I thought to myself as I awoke and saw the sun shining through the blinds. As I eventually arouse and made the morning coffee I noticed it was blowing pretty steady, and then, like so many other days this week...the rain started. Its currently about 60km winds and raining like a sunovabitch. No worries.........it makes today a perfect NEW BIKE BUILDING DAY(Opus MTB)!!!!!!!!!

Last night was kinda rough. The crew at Black's Cycle were treated to beer and sushi by the BC Norco Rep. Very solid guy to say the least. He used to be the warranty man at the legendary Syncros Components....and had plenty of scandalous stories to go along with it.

My night went well after I had only 2 beers, one being an 8% Lucky, which promptly made this fella pretty happy. The Sushi tasted great, but even better with the odd Japanese beer that I couldn't pronounce. After some good bike talk, I managed to pedal my way back home, just before the night rains hit.

Everyone these days has their pants'ed monkey riding a bike.

I live a very boring life by the way. I don't know why I have a blog because my daily routine doesn't change very much. Ride or work....all the same days. I only eat about 5 different meals because I get the same groceries every week and the most excitement of my day is when I manage to steal some new food from Andrew, or have a beer. My online dating isn't going very well either.

The new job is great, but is getting in the way of getting solid double days in on the bike(welcome to the real world), but I'm hoping that will change once daylight savings time happens next week. The Yanks finally got something right.

Me and Brownsound were suppose to head to a race in Vancouver last weekend, but the entire Comox Valley has been sick, so it was a no go. This weekend however, is a pretty deadly stage race(why I'm trying to get more double days in), hopefully we can make it over.

What Would J Cash Do?

Today's ride was freezing. 2 degrees. It was like being in the Maritimes all over again. When I left Courtenay, I decided to go south down the island and as I got further and further it got colder and colder....Holy Crap. By the end of the ride I was in slush. My gloves, which were wet, also managed to freeze to my handlebar as well.

On the other side of things, My body has been changing back into a cyclist's body. A month ago I was a pretty fit, average build 20 year old, with a slight beer gut, but with all the road riding it means that my upper body gets wasted and slowly starts to strip down to that of a 14 year old boy. I also find I get weak as a kitten. One time a few years ago in the peak of the summer, me and my girlfriend at the time went bowling. I was so weak that after a couple games I had to get her to finish my turns because I just didn't have the strength to throw the ball down the isle. I was pooched.

The better you are at cycling(not that I'm Lance) the worst you are at everything else. Back to buying my shirts in the youth section at Wal-Mart.