Opus Stakh

(MTB bikes look better dirty)

I figured it was time for a new ride. The problem however was the I had no coin to throw down. After thinking about new Mountain bikes for months I decided to take the plunge and borrow some cash. With my strategically laid down new part purchasing along with using some of the newer parts from the old rig I managed to put together a pretty sweet new ride for myself.

I decided on the Opus Stakh. Opus has always been good to me and my Fhast was one of the best riding bikes I have ever ridden, so it wasn't a hard decision to stick with them. There have been many Stakh's floating around PEI the past few years and everyone Ive spoken to has always had good things to say. Because of this I figured I wasn't going to get any bad surprises.

When I pulled then new frame out of the box I was shocked to see I had been given the 2009 paint scheme. Most of Opus paint jobs you either love or hate, and for me this was one of the worst. In my opinion it looks like the french tried to pay tribute to the Crucifixion of Christ with the black, white, and crimson color combined with the weird barb-wiring like font.... I was honestly thinking of painting the front triangle before building it up. hah

I waited a week or so for the remainder of the parts to roll in and between hectic work and drink schedules I build up the new girl. To my surprise and shock the bike doesn't actually look that bad built up. I threw on a mix of Sram XO, Mavic CrossMax wheels which are always solid and the new Fox F100. Ive never ridden a Fox but their reputation is something to hear.

First Ride:

Unreal. That's all I have to say. I took the rig out to the trusty St Catherine's trail on a down pour kinda day(only days I have off really). Despite the rain I had the new rig looking at me begging to be ridden. I have test ridden a few duellys of many brands in my time, but never liked any of them which was why I stuck to the tried and true hardtails until this bike.

I imagine its the VPP technology that Opus used to design the bike but its simply unreal. The bike handles great and instead of feeling like your always working against the bike , it feel like it is complimenting each pedal stroke. I find the bike is the best tool Ive ridden yet for finding flow on trails that have a hidden line. The Fox fork is everything I imagined it to be in a dream fork, and I can see why people have been ignoring the few extra grams in favor of them.

The Sram components are tried and true and have always proven to work well. I would go as far to say I prefer Sram over Shimano XTR now.....which was a bold statement even a few years ago.

I haven't run into any problems with the rig after a few weeks of riding. Its still proving to be a dream machine for me. I find myself looking for the odd couple hours that I can rush out to the trail to get a quick ride on the rig.....its proving to be something that motivates me to ride!

I'm moving to Halifax in a few weeks and I'm looking foreword to doing some exploring on the new rig on some gnarlier trails and testing its limits!