A SUMMER OF ROLLING DEVIATE'S CLAYMORE

Every year, Epic Bike Store employees have the chance to ride a demo bike, in order to have a fleet of bikes to try out for customers to better advise them in their purchase of their next bike. Having a different bike each year also allows us, the employees, to deepen our knowledge of the products sold in store and to tangibly compare the differences between each bike, in which situation is one bike better suited than another, etc.

This year, I'm riding two bikes that complement each other perfectly: a Revel Rascal V1 (my bike from last year) and a Deviate Claymore. Here, I'll be discussing the latter, for a review of how the Rascal feels, I invite you to read the article that my colleague Jess wrote last fall ( https://epicbikestore.com/blogs/articles/revel-rascal ).

Introduction

The Deviate Claymore is a big enduro bike designed with racing as its primary focus. In 2022, PinkBike had a Claymore on test in their Enduro Field Test series ( https://www.pinkbike.com/news/field-test-deviate-claymore-high-pivot-heaven.html ) and all three testers concluded that the Claymore would be their bike of choice for an enduro race. With 170mm (or 180mm) of suspension up front and 165mm in the rear, the Claymore is indeed well equipped to tackle the steepest, rockiest, and most rugged trails on the racetrack. In addition to all this travel, the Claymore, like all of Deviate's bikes, has a single high pivot suspension platform. That's why it has an extra pulley for the chain, to allow the wheel to swing backwards on impact without breaking the chain. If you want to learn more about high pivots and why they're the future, click here: https://www.deviatecycles.com/high-pivot-mtb-1 .

The “Build”

The option to buy a complete bike is a very recent thing for Deviate; at the time we placed our Deviate order, only the frames were available. So I had carte blanche to build my Claymore, with parts that maximized the bike's performance, durability, and most importantly, aesthetics! My Claymore is mounted on Fox Factory suspension (38 and X2), Hayes Dominion A4 brakes (an article is coming soon) on 203mm TRP rotors, a Sram XO1 drivetrain, Raceface Turbine wheels, Continental tires (Argotal front, Xynotal rear) in Supersoft DH casing, a Title Reform carbon 800mm handlebar as well as the 35mm stem and saddle, a Raceface Turbine 165mm crankset, a PNW 200mm seatpost, and PNW Loam grips (my favorite,
https://epicbikestore.com/blogs/articles/les-poignee-loam-de-pnw-bon-ou-pas ). With each part being meticulously chosen, my expectations for the bike were high. I must say that I was not disappointed. I added a progressiveness token in the fork (a total of 3) to balance the front suspension with the rear suspension, which was already very progressive.

The Ascent

The Deviate Claymore is a high-pivot enduro bike with 165mm of rear travel. The person buying this bike is not the type of person who is looking for a bike with a pedaling platform that offers the support of a cross-country bike and it is with this information in mind that I judged the climbing capabilities of the Claymore. Fresh off my Revel Rascal, a bike designed for twisty trails and long days of pedaling on singletrack, (if you clicked on the link above, you already know this), I noticed a difference in the pedal stroke and had to adjust my approach to climbs slightly. The Deviate Claymore climbs quite well, especially for an enduro bike, but you have to be patient and relaxed in your pedaling. If you try to stand up and push as many Watts as Jasper Philipsen did in a sprint at the Tour de France, the bike will crash and all that energy will be wasted. But when you engage an easy gear, you're spinning and you're enjoying the scenery, the climb is quickly over.

The pedaling position encourages this second technique, as you sit upright thanks to the effective 78-degree seat angle, in a position that maximizes comfort rather than outright performance. Because of the long chainstays and good front-to-rear length ratio, you feel right in the middle of the bike, allowing the front wheel to stay on the ground on steep climbs while maintaining good rear wheel traction. In the
more technical trails, the suspension platform provides incredible traction and helps the wheel go over obstacles. The rear wheel bounces less, which helps maintain its line and speed on very technical climbs.

In the world of mountain biking, it's all about compromises. That's why bike companies target each bike to a specific audience and favor certain features over others. Deviate's target audience, as mentioned earlier, is people who are looking for maximum performance in an enduro racing context. These small sacrifices on the climb are insignificant to someone looking for the best possible downhill experience. In my opinion, the Deviate Claymore offers nothing less than the ultimate downhill experience.

The descent

There is a lot to be said for the Claymore's downhill performance; thanks to their
With a high-pivot suspension system, Deviate bikes behave drastically different than bikes with more traditional suspension platforms. On the Claymore, the size of the bike exacerbates these characteristics and makes them more obvious than on the Highlander. Since the axle travel is all the way to the rear, the wheel literally gets out of the way when it hits an obstacle, helping to roll over it without losing too much speed. Additionally, it moves to the rear, which lengthens the wheelbase (more on that shortly).

First of all, with its long chainstays, the geometry of the bike is focused on high-speed stability. However, in order to give the bike a fairly responsive character, the fork angle remains quite conservative (compared to modern bikes) at 64.3 degrees, which keeps the front wheel closer, and thus keeps more traction and responsiveness coming from it. Another very important aspect of the geometry of this bike is the front-center-rear-center ratio.

With the development of modern mountain bike geometry, bikes have gotten much longer with increased reach and a progressive slack in the fork angle. For sizes S and M, this forward elongation is almost exclusively positive, providing more stability and confidence on rough terrain, while maintaining good handling. However, some size L bikes have seen the rider's neutral position migrate to the rear of the bike, in some cases the pedaling position is almost over the rear axle. This bias towards the rear wheel is due to an error (in my opinion) on the part of the manufacturers who keep a single size for the rear triangle from S to XL. This causes a loss of front traction, when the rider has a lot of weight in the pedals and must absorb impacts that arrive quickly.

At Deviate, the bikes are long (1268mm wheelbase, 490mm reach and 441mm chainstays in size L). In addition, the suspension platform makes the bike 22mm longer when using all the travel, making it even longer in the rear, at 463mm chainstays. Also, while their rear triangle remains the same size throughout their range, it only extends from M to XL, which means that the size of the rear triangle is optimized for these sizes. This is also why I chose the size L; I am 189cm, right between L and XL, but the front-to-rear ratio of the L seemed more appealing to me. For some, the bike can be long in tight corners, but for me, I appreciate this lengthening which recenters the weight of my body on the bike, allowing me to keep maximum traction on the front wheel. The character of the Claymore is therefore similar to that of a downhill bike, but more manageable; the dream for going fast.

The Claymore's suspension platform offers plenty of support and is very
progressive. Perfectly adaptable to both air and spring suspension, the start of the stroke is very supple but you quickly find support to manage more powerful shocks. Despite the high-pivot suspension platform, the bike pumps quite well and maintains a rather playful character when you want to take off from a root or a rock. However, as the rear end lengthens however, lifting the front wheel requires more energy. The character of the bike pulls more towards the "composed" pole than the "nervous" pole. But it strikes a happy medium perfectly suited to what I am looking for.

As I mentioned before, the Claymore is a racehorse, a thoroughbred. It is a bike that only asks for permission to go fast. On technical trails, it swallows the shocks without flinching and always asks for more. The rider only has to point the bike in the direction he wants to go and it will keep its line. I tried to find the limit of this bike, to go as fast as possible, I never reached it. The only time I hit the suspension on the bottom was when I underestimated the momentum needed to make the jump at the end of the World Cup at MSA: my ankles still suffer from it.

This brings me to the Claymore's jumping (and landing) capabilities. I had read before my first ride with the bike that it was very stable when landing, especially on drops with a flat landing. This is absolutely true, as the bike lengthens (I repeat myself) it becomes more stable and allows the rider to prepare for the next obstacle, without bouncing it. However, I was afraid about the jumping capabilities: a long, high pivot bike, I expected a cow bike, which does not want to take off from the ground. I was wrong, it is a bike that offers impressive support during takeoffs, even on very steep takeoffs (the last jump of the Habanero at the SDM for example). In addition, as the landings are (almost) always very comfortable, you quickly gain confidence and, all of a sudden, you are in the air in a 30-foot double. While it's not a dirtjump bike, the Claymore is comfortable in the air.

Conclusion

To conclude, you guessed it, I had a magical experience riding the Deviate Claymore for a summer. For me, there is absolutely nothing I would change about this bike, which is a rare case (my colleagues say I always whine, I say I am critical). If you are looking for a fast bike that inspires confidence, that pedals very comfortably and that will finally allow you to
do the big track, drop or jump that scares you, the Deviate Claymore is THE bike for you. Plus, the bike I rode this summer (affectionately named Nessie in honor of the Scottish origins of cycling) is for sale at a ridiculous price right now! Write to us or come see us in store to try it out.