Jamis Dragon 29er

[upcruiser]

Anyone here have any experience with these? I get a deal on Jamis through work and have been looking into the Dragon 29er Race. Seems to fit the bill of what I am looking for, a good quality steel hard tail, single track ripper.
http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/hardtails/dragon/12_dragon29race.html

 

[RttH]

I have never ridden a 29er but Love riding a Jamis Dragon 26er steel. Steel gives such a smooth ride. I think the 29er would be a dream ride!

 

[Christophe Noel]

I'll just say this - if you get a deal on a bike, any bike, that's pretty sweet. You can deal with a lot of shortcomings with any bike if you get it for the right price. So, to nit-pick the Dragon 29, and I do mean nit-pick:

- The Avid Elixer brakes will probably be troublesome. Avid deserves ten lashings for their abysmal braking system. We warranty about 20% of the Avid brakes we roll out the door, and my buddy at SRAM/Avid says that is just about normal. Is it a deal breaker? Heck no.

- The geometry is a bit steep. That's great if you want a high spirited ride. If you want something a bit more relaxed, it's possible it might be a teeny bit more racey than you want. Deal breaker? Not at all.

Other than that, looks like a fun rig. If you get a deal on it, that's all the better.

 

[upcruiser]

Great, thanks guys. Yeah, I do want a sharp handling bike. I swear I had more fun back in the 80's and early 90's on a nice, snappy hard tail then in recent years with full suspension. Guess I want to go back a bit. Maybe the grass is greener?? I think it would suit my riding style anyway and I want to get back into doing some racing this summer for fun. Good intel on the Avid brakes. Thanks. Yeah, it sounds like it is a pro form basically. We used to get a smoking deal on Santa Cruz bikes too but that went away a couple of years ago, same with a deal for Moser bikes.