Titus El Guapo

6″ All Mountain

I saw the pics of the new El Guapo about a month ago and was pretty excited. Eventhough most vital statistics hadn’t really changed the new front triangle looked pretty good.

I met up with Bikerbob at the Titus tent and he grabbed an El Guapo when I was on the Bastardo. We switched off a couple times, in fact I think I got more time on the EG than he did. I think he was trying to keep me off the EB because he wanted me to buy an EG. Either that or he was just digging the Bastardo so much he didn’t want to give it back.

I was surprised by a couple of things about the El Guapo eventhough I rode it last year and rated it as one of my favorite bikes of the demo. This year it felt a little bigger (it’s not), and little heavier (it’s not), a little slacker (I don’t think it is), and a little less long legged trail bike and a little more All Mountain Nomad beater. It climbed well and seemed to squat less than last year yet still remains active over smaller ledges. The thing just eats up rough choppy downhill terrain like an overweight pubescent teen eats up Cheetos. This particular Fox 36 Float (TALAS maybe) was the only one I rode in the two days of demoing that felt acceptably good. It was rigid as youʼd expect but also soaked up the chunk nicely. The small bump compliance wasn’t quite on par with my two favorite forks of the show but was pretty good and it ramped up nicely.

After seeing the new front triangle in person I wasn’t quite as smitten as I was by the photos but it is still a beaut. I didn’t love it so well that I would hesitate to pick up an ‘08 leftover for a considerable discount though. It’s mostly just aesthetics although the new one is supposed to be .25lb lighter I believe. I don’t think they raised the BB height any but I didn’t get any pedal strikes this year and it seemed like I had several last year. I did drop the chain twice on this bike so a chain guide would be helpful here too.

The ride felt quite balanced but like I said above not quite as nimble and flickable as the one I rode last year. May have been set up….. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It seemed more capable of steamrolling junk instead of floating over it like last year. It flew straight and landed like you’re falling into grandma’s old feather bed. Nice. I was having so much fun riding it that I forgot to stop at picture rock on this run and shoot the usual plethora of pics but Bob got one pic of me airing it out and I swiped a few from various other locations including Dominator 13’s review on the Titus board.

Bottom line: It felt like a bike. Nothing really stood out either good or bad which is a good thing. It just worked really well and did everything right. Combine that with Titus quality, CS, and stiffness = No complaints….. but in the end it wasn’t enough better than my 6.6 to trade it in for one.

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