Lenz Sport Behemoth

I’ve had my Behemoth for about 3 weeks and have so far ridden it in Tucson (home base), Phoenix (mmm.. South Mountain), El Paso and Austin (City Park). It’s got some good hours on it.

On my first spin I was immediately impressed with how well the bike pedals. Under cover of darkness I forgot I was riding such a “big” bike as a cruised home on city streets. In Austin I followed the 3M half marathon to downtown, then turned around to pedal up to Emma Long City Park, where I did two deliciously technical laps before pedaling another ~8 miles of pavement back to the hotel. I picked up around 50 miles. No complaints. A lighter bike might have been faster, but it didn’t bother me. In fact, I passed two groups of roadies on “King of Texas Highway” (or whatever 360 is called) — on hills!

This bike loves to climb technical trail. It begs me to try harder/steeper/bigger technical climbs. There’s just something about the way it rolls up stuff that is almost intoxicating. I love technical climbing and this bike makes it even more fun. I haven’t made many breakthroughs in terms of cleaning climbs I’ve been working at for years, but the bike certainly climbs as good as or better than any other bike I’ve pedaled. On some sections I’ve had to throw up the ‘no challenge’ flag, because it was just that — not challenging.

I’ve had some really awesome experiences with the bike on downhill, but also some frustrating ones. It’s pretty sickening how fast I can ride certain types of trails. I’ve never experienced such an ability to control a bike at speed. The thru-bolt fork and beefy wheels are extremely confidence inspiring when pulling hard corners and fighting through rock gardens. Also, I’ve noticed that the consistency of brake power afforded by discs makes very steep sections much easier to negotiate. The seemingly endless suspension on both ends is too much fun for ‘hucking’ off obstacles on trail. I can pull up on the handlebars in places I’d never dream of on my B-29. The landing doesn’t have to perfect and you don’t even need much room.

But I’ve also had some trouble in very technical situations. I’m a hard tail rider and I usually run my forks stiff (tons of air and little/no sag). I like the precision and ability to be *exactly* where I want to. I’m still getting used to both ends compressing when trying to set up for certain lines and when making very precise turns/line adjustments at very slow speeds. If I’m moving above 2 mph I don’t have any problems, but when things get really slow/tight it seems hard to control. I am making improvement, but there have been sections that I expected to ride but have ended up dabbing on (or not trying). I think it’s just going to take a little more time.

I’m a GPS freak, and I record almost every (interesting) ride I do. I have the most tracks locally, of course, so I did a comparison with myself in Behemoth mode vs. all my other bikes (B-29, and various other 26ers including FS) over the last ~3 years. The ride was a loop that, as far as I know, I’m the only one in town who rides. I call it Hot Water Hill or Agua Caliente to Milagrosa. The Hot Water Hill climb is an extended, granny gear climb that tests not only skill but aerobic capacity. On days when I am tired I dab all over the place. When I’m not tired I still dab.

And I dabbed with the Behemoth, but it was definitely a good (above average) run. Over the course of the ride I cleaned 3 sections I’ve never ridden before, including 2 I’ve never even tried. One was on the lower section of Milagrosa. Confidence was so high I just went for it.

Anyway, the interesting part of the GPS comparison is that the ride on the Behemoth was the fastest (in terms of moving time) for the loop — by 2 minutes. Second place was a day last spring, on the B-29, when I was in great shape and spot on.

Why was it faster? Looking at the playback it is clear that I was riding significantly faster downhill (on some sections) compared to all the other tracks. But was it fast enough to counter slowdown on the super steep, my heart is jumping out of my head climb, PLUS gain 2 minutes? The answer is that I wasn’t climbing slower. I was in the top third for time reaching the top, including re-trying a few sections on the way up.

Was I trying harder or “racing?” Nope. I didn’t think to compare the rides until after I got home. Besides, you can’t really race this loop. You just do what you have to in order to survive — which is a lot.

Anyway, I thought the result was interesting, if nothing else.

The bike at the turn around (peak) of the John Krein trail:

As shown it weighs around 31-32 lbs (bathroom scale). Size large.

Climbing lower Agua Caliente: