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Anyone ridden FF29 and/or McQueen RoughCut? How do they compare to a Solaris or Bird?
https://kinesisbikes.co.uk/products/kinesis-x-fusion-stans-rolling-chassis
McQueen RC is a great fork, very adjustable. A bit heavy compared with Fox 34, and slight issue with availability of spares for home service, but that's all.
Can't offer anything on the ff29, but I've ridden a McQueen rough cut on my hardtail for six years(so probably an older iteration of the fork). It's fine but not as smooth or adjustable as a pike. It's quite hard (or I don't have the patience) to fine tune the damper.
Unless you're servicing it yourself, you're restricted to Upgrade Bikes, the importer, for servicing. I do a couple of lowers services a year, and have sent it to upgrade bikes for damper servicing twice now. Spare parts can be hard to get hold of. I guess some small local suspension specialists might touch them, but most won't.
Edit. There you go! Martinhutch has more patience with the damper adjustment than me!
I've also ridden a McQueen a fair bit. It's a nice fork. I added some oil into the air chamber in lieu of volume spacers, but it's still not quite got the balance between small bump sensitivity and support that I'd like, but it's decently adjustable, though I don't run much compression anyway and, for me at least, has been very reliable.
The Rough Cut damper is a sealed bladder thing, a bit like a Rockshox Charger and much nicer than the more basic damper the name of which I can't remember. It's a really good fork for the money, that said, I recently changed it for a Manitou Matoc Pro, the current version, and that's simply a nicer, more cultured, smoother and more controlled ride all round. But yeah, decent fork, not quite as sophisticated as really s**** stuff, but I'd happily buy one.
There you go! Martinhutch has more patience with the damper adjustment than me!
I never said I actually dialled it in to your standards, just that it has all the dials!
I twiddled some stuff and it felt nice compared to the RL2 damper that preceded it...
I had the previous McQueen for a few years and it was miles better than the basic pike or revelations I had on other bikes. Loads of adjustability and small bump sensitivity in particular was great
No help on the frame I’m afraid
Kinesis really need to sort out their graphics. They've been dreadful for as long as I can remember and really cheapen the look of the frame.