Bogdan_CH
Member
It is very beautiful, I would advise you to join even for few minutes the slash+ group on facebook. You will get plenty of them.
The major issue of the green paint, to me is that I can feel that it will end up with tons and tons of scratches. There is just no varnish so you need to wrap it and even that cannot protect everything.
For me until now, I still did not have the strength to put my DomA4 brake, but any break using dot fluid on such paint you would have to be very very careful. You will need to protect your bike against it to avoid damaging for good the paint.
I think at the moment I am very close to 22kg even maybe a bit more but, with current trail condition in north of France, using DD/DH casing and low psi (20/20 something like that), the bike grip is just awesome (assegai/dhr).
I rip the trail and honestly the geometry is just incredible for me coming from an enduro 160/150 (2022 Spectral). The feeling of stability and safety net on drop is incredible, I really feel the bike like a cushion on drop - due to pivot + vivid I guess.
I can't recommend it enough, but you need to know that:
- after each ride, I dismount wheel, motor guard, motor guard, battery and clean everything
- you might need to dismount from time to time the motor to add carbon grease to avoid creaks at that position (so far did it once after 10 ride)
- motor is still not going to give you that much power but, I am not that old, early forty so not a big deal yet
- price of the 9.7 was 6.3k making it a steal, now at 8k I would not buy it.
Thanks for the honest write up.
I've requested to join the group. Hope to see the magic once inside.
I'm in a similar situation with you, 37 yrs old, love my acustic bikes that I plan to keep ( Pivot Firebird for trips like Finale Ligure and my YT Tues 29 that I trash at bike parks) but my time on the bike due to family / age / work habbits etc. becomes less and less so I need to maximise my time outside , therefore a little assitance would really be welcomed. Still, I plan to enjoy ridding the bike. I slightly tried a full fat , but I just don't feel ridding a 25+ kg bike down the trails. Ideal would be low 20's so without being a weight wenny so I think the Slash+ can get near that figure. Just as a reference I ride everywhere with EXO+ inserts and in 3 years I only flat once (gash on the sidewall)
I clean my bikes regularly just that hope this would not become to crazy as the Slash+ is high on bearings and pulleys.
The bike I'm looking at is 6K flat, I can get in on my company so that would be a 5K without VAT . For the same money I found a Kenevo SL 2 Expert with much better parts ( 38 Perf Elite, GX T type, better wheels, etc. ) but I'm honest, for some longer trips, the 320wh won't make the cut.
Love the new Vala, ticks alot of boxes, but can't find it lower than a 7500 euros and at least for me, that kind of money and a 38 Rythm fork is a cookie just too HARD to swallow.