Review: Structure SCW1 Janus
TLDR:
Great bike. Better going down than up, but only because of a super low BB. Climbs great, seated or standing. Goes down like it has coils front and rear.
Long Ass Review:
I'm an old man and so Facebook is still relevant to me. Bow Cycle's page popped up and said that Structure was giving away free demos of the bike. All you need to do is book it online. So I did.
I picked it up and the process was too quick. They took my credit card, charged $1,500 and handed me the bike. No idea what the front or rear shock pressures were set to. Noticed right away that the front tire was on backward. Not sure if that is by design or just bad QC. Likely bad QC as the MAXXIS was lined up perfectly the same way as the rear tire. That also confirmed for me that it wasn't a previous rider who had a flat that put it back on the wrong way. To be fair, the clerk did offer to take it back and check it out, but I was short on time. The seat was too high, but with a dropper, it didn't matter.
The bike came with pedals... barely. More on that later.
Loaded the bike into the back of the 340,000 km truck I have borrowed as this thing will only go on a rack that can hold a road bike. My NSR won't work and neither will throwing it over the tailgate. Drove out to do my standard Merlin Loop. I've done this look about 6 times this year. 5 times on my 2019 Nomad V4 and once on my latest 2020 Tallboy V4. Have done it numerous times on my 2017 Remedy 8 as well. All this to say, I am well versed in this loop.
The loop consists of an easy ascent up white tail to Bragging rights, then on to Merlin and returning on Reconnect to Long distance to finish at the bottom of Bragging rights. It's about 15kms with some short technical sections (not really) and a long flowy descent.
I got to the parking lot and revealed the bike. You could hear people talking about it right away. Words like "cool" and "interesting" and "expensive." I also heard "that was on a magazine cover." People still read magazines?
Anyway, I asked @bigboom to join me on my ride short notice. While I waited for him to arrive, I started looking over the bike. Fit and finish is superb. Super impressed given Structure is a relative start up. Looks like chainstay protection could be beefed up quite a bit.
Build kit is ok. Typically shitty shifting GX needed adjustment. This was my first time riding Magura MT7s. Any Magura's for that matter. Super impressed. Linear and light touch. Really great.
One thing that puzzled me while waiting in the parking lot was that I spotted 165mm cranks. This was on a Large / XL bike. Seemed rather short for what it intended for tall people. I find out later why.
@bigboom arrived and we set off on the trail. Up white tail, it happened. Pedal strike. I gave the benefit of the doubt to my riding technique, but it happened again and again and again. It was so bad that that even @bigboom noticed that either my pedals were hitting or the cranks themselves. He rode up beside me and took a good look and noticed that the BB was riding super low.
I checked the website on way to the parking lot and all I could find was a reference to 30% sag in the FAQ. No chart or anything to suggest shock pressures for a given weight. No idea how the bike was setup for the guy before me. He must have been taller and likely heavier. I took a picture of me checking sag in the parking lot. Looks like 30% to me.
Rounding the last corner before getting to the bottom of Merlin, there is an up hill that starts after a blind corner. I usually drop full granny and bam, my foot goes flying off the pedal. I've done plenty of demos and have never gotten such potato pedals on any demo. Usually at least get some composite $50 ones with some decent spikes. This bike is expensive and I would have hope for a better set for a true demo. I don't know if this was a Bow Cycle decision or a Structure decision. I'd say it was a bad one.
Now, this bike can climb. According to Strava, I had my second fastest time from the bottom of Merlin to the campsite. This is with 165mm cranks and pedal striking all the way up. haha. The rear, however feels like it get hung up when going over larger bumps. You can feel the bike tug back as the suspension compresses. Out of the saddle climbing is impressive. Grip is never lost, even on loose stuff (everything in WBC is loose right now). The front never wants to lift and it doesn't wander when climbing.
I like the Merlin downhill. I like it on my Nomad, I like it on my Tallboy. Incidentally, my fastest time is on my Tallboy. Go figure. This thing was fast and poppy, but felt like it was coil sprung. So smooth. I really enjoyed it going down hill. My second fastest time while on the Structure. You really notice the anti dive when braking hard and you don't feel like you are going to run out of fork. One thing I noticed was that it felt like it had a tendency to want to stay upright, it didn't like to lean. I could have been imagining it.
So as I was writing this review, I looked up the specs on the bike. The Structure website could use some work as you have to click on "Full Sizing information" on the page. Your cursor doesn't change to a hand (Win 10) so it doesn't look like linked text. The BB is measured as being 2mms higher than my Tallboy. Weird. I don't pedal strike with my TB in the low position and long wheel base. Confused.
Great bike overall. Would I buy one? Yes, if they can figure out how to raise the BB. The bike goes up and down. With the low BB, I would relegate it to down only duty or bike park duty.
The demo experience was a bit tragic though. It's a $10K bike ($7K USD, don't know what Canadian pricing is) and the experience should reflect that. To be handed a bike with no setup is a disappointment.
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Originally Posted by benyl
