[Closed] Sprinter's Radon Swoop 170 8.0 Progress Thread

where are you planning on riding this behemoth

where are you planning on riding this behemoth

First proper outing will be at BikePark Wales on the 24th June, or maybe Aston Hill if the weather is good before then. But I'm planning trips to places like Revolution Bike Park later in the year as well.

Submitted my order at 1.41am last night!

Good work, had drink been consumed?

The only other thing I'd say you might want to change out of the box is perhaps start with a familiar pair of grips. The Ergons are a funny shape.

Good work, had drink been consumed?

The only other thing I'd say you might want to change out of the box is perhaps start with a familiar pair of grips. The Ergons are a funny shape.

Maybe a bit, but not enough to blame the bike purchase on it! haha

I did wonder about the grips, I've used ODI Rogue Lock-Ons on my last 2 bikes as I prefer a thicker grip. But having looked up the Ergons I might give them a chance as they score very highly in tests, even though I'm not a fan of 'shaped' grips.

I used them for the first ride and found the unusual shape really distracting, so I couldn't tell what the bike was like.

Using thin Deathgrips now (which are actually quite thick), but grips are a personal thing obvs.

I know a lot of people are sceptical about ordering from abroad.

Wont it be coming from bike-discount.de via DPD?

IMO as good as it gets for online bike shopping.

Out of curiosity what height are you and size did you order?

ergon grips are ace apart from in the rain without gloves on.

Wont it be coming from bike-discount.de via DPD?

IMO as good as it gets for online bike shopping.

It will indeed, it's not so much the act of buying it that worries people I think, it's just the possibility of warranty issues etc.

Out of curiosity what height are you and size did you order?

I'm 5'11" and ordered a large, all their size charts and calculators put me roughly in the middle of the large size.

Working day #4 since order (Monday was a bank holiday in Germany) and I've just been given the tracking number for my shipment.

No exact ETA yet as the tracking won't go live until tomorrow, but I expect it will only be a couple of days now it's in the hands of DHL.

Bike finally arrived today, exactly 2 weeks after the order was placed, so a little longer than their quoted 4-7 days!

Bike looks perfect, it was well packaged so that nothing moved/rattled around, and had plenty of protective foam/cardboard wrap to stop rubbing. Even had one of those little mech guard things in the event the box got squashed.

Already come up against my first issue though as the new RaceFace 32t NW chainring doesn't fit as it's 104mm BCD and the SRAM GXP cranks are direct mount, but with a spider that converts to 94mm BCD.

Might as well drop the spider completely and go for a 32t direct mount chainring, but I can't tell which ones are boost compatible? Plus I really want a blue one...

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My god the lawn

And the middle fence panel is a mis-match AND the panels haven't been stained in the STW-approved finish.
This has really spoiled my night.
Nice bike BTW......

Nice bike. Reminds me how little I've used my Radon Slide since buying it a couple of years ago. Probably have to sell it soon 🙁
Lovely bike though. Enjoy!

Haha you guys really know how to take the edge of my excitement... 😆 😆

I haven't even had chance to ride it down the road yet as I took it all apart before I realised the damn chainring was the wrong hole centres...

Bit old school with 650b... 😉

Nice bike mate, enjoy! 😀

Sprinter am about to order one of these too! By large you mean the 20"? I'm undecided between 18 and 20 for me (also 511) as quite like a longer top tube and shorter stem, how does the 20" fit?

If you're near Stroud have got a big pot of fence stain going spare too

that front disc rotor looks HUGE or is just my eyes! NIce bike

I'm also interested in the way these size up.
Anyone else with one care to say what size they and the bike are?

I'm looking to get myself one of these soon, looks lovely.

I'm 6' 2" and was looking at ordering the 18"

I'm 6' 2" and was looking at ordering the 18"

I'm 5ft 7in on the 18in and it fits perfectly. That's the main reason I bought it TBH, there wasn't a 29er with the same dimensions at the time.

I reckon you want to go up a size or two.

Holy seatpost length batman!

Anyone else with one care to say what size they and the bike are?

See above, but how tall are you and what's your inside leg (getting personal I know)?

So what's the general fit and finish like? and lets see some finished shots 🙂

Very high-quality frame.

I did a blog on mine last year, which may be of interest...
http://unduro.co.uk/mtb/first-ride-review-radon-swoop-170/

Nice read, many thanks 🙂

Can't wait to order mine now

It's not for me but I'll tell you my inside leg measurement if you want. 😛
Mrsstu is looking for something a bit more suited to uplift focused riding.
5'9" with a 33ish inside leg*.
*Not 100% sure will have to ask.

Don't worry, she might get the wrong idea if you tell her a man on the internet wants to know her inside leg.

I reckon she'd be firmly in the range for the 18in. The reach is nice and long anyway and I cope with the seat tube height with my stumpy legs (30in inside leg).

I can offer a go on mine if anyone's in NW England.

After much Googling last night I found that what I needed was a BOOST specific (3mm offset to maintain the 52mm chainline) SRAM DM chainring.

Apparently the only place in the UK that I can get coloured BOOST specific SRAM DM chainrings is Superstar Components, so for the very reasonable price of £29.99 delivered it should be arriving tomorrow. Narrow/wide too of course. (especially when the SRAM ones are about £70 and the 104mm BCD RaceFace one which I originally bought was £34.99 despite the lack of a built-in mounting spider!

Sprinter am about to order one of these too! By large you mean the 20"? I'm undecided between 18 and 20 for me (also 511) as quite like a longer top tube and shorter stem, how does the 20" fit?

Just for reference for those that are asking, by 'large' I mean the 20" frame and I'm 5'11". Every size guide they have says I'm in that size bracket. Although if you want to make the bike a bit more 'chuckable' I could have gone a size down.

So what's the general fit and finish like? and let's see some finished shots

Overall very good, well constructed frame and the cable routing is very tidy. Even comes with helitape pre-fitted on the downtube and a good quality stick on chainstay protector! (although I may get one of those neoprene ones anyway)

The ONLY very small criticism I have so far (having not actually ridden it yet), is that where the colour switches from blue to grey, they have basically sprayed the whole bike blue, and then masked it and sprayed the grey on the lower half over the top of the blue.

Which means where they have removed the masking there is now an 'edge' on the grey paint where it finishes, so I worry that over time that might be a point it could chip/flake easily from. Would have been nice if it had a clear coat over the whole thing to 'flatten' the joins, although that would have ruined the lovely matt finish on the grey section.

Finished shots will be coming tomorrow once the new chainring arrives and I can reassemble the drivetrain.

I swapped the tyres for the Minions I already ordered and converted to tubeless while I was at it. Also removed the e13 chain guide/bashring while the cranks were off.

nice one, look forward to seeing the finished build.

The reach is nice and long anyway

By almost any other comparison it's long.

Maybe she needs a Geometron instead?

Our garage isn't long enough to fit two Geometrons in. 😮

Decided to take this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon off work to tinker with the bike as it's too hot to work as we have no aircon at work (who's idea was that!?). Plus I want to go out riding with the lads tomorrow after work so I need to get all the jobs done before then!

List of jobs completed today:
• New pedals fitted
• Removed factory tyres and fitted the Minions
• Fitted tubeless valves and threw in some Stan's while I was at it (rims were already taped up and tubeless ready)
• Swapped dropper control onto the left side of the bar
• Fitted my K-Edge Garmin stem cap mount thing
• Stripped down cranks (took spider off) ready to fit direct mount chainring tomorrow

Jobs to complete tomorrow:
• Fit chainring
• Re-assemble drivetrain
• Add a couple of links and re-fit chain
• Helitape frame and fit new enduro guards
• Put flip chip into DH/Enduro-yo! descend mode
• Ride bike!!!!

Pictures to follow tomorrow, but in the meantime here's my new pedals...

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Bike brother !

I received mine 3 weeks ago, but I got really unlucky: the vivid air was leaking quite badly.

Radon / Bike discount handled that well, they just sent me back the fixed shock, I can't wait to really try the bike...

For the record, I'm about 6ft. and I chose the Large / 20", which is perfect.

So it all came together at last yesterday, new chainring arrived and went on super easy, flipped my flip chip ready for BPW on Saturday and then helitaped various bits of the frame and fitted the enduro guards.

I’m really pleased with the look of the bike with the blue DM chainring and more minimalist MRP 1x chainguide which I stole off m Stumpjumper before I sold it, such a tidy looking setup! Took it out for a 10 miler last night (on the hottest June day since 1976, who thought that was a good idea!?).

Feels so much more comfortable than the Stumpy, steering feels more planted too and I like the added turning resistance created by the slacker head angle.

The only thing I did notice was that the 42t rear ring didn’t seem to spin as freely as I expected uphill compared to the 36t on my Stumpjumper, it was still easier, but not as much as I expected. Then it suddenly twigged that the cranks on the Swoop are 5mm shorter. Would it really make that much of a difference losing 5mm of crank length to the feel of the gearing?

Anyway, enough waffle, here’s some photos!

Overall shot:
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Drivetrain closeup:
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Drivetrain closeup:
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K-Edge Garmin stem mount thing:
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Mmm yeah nice bicycle, I had a spreadsheet shootout between this and a Airdrop Edit. The Edit won and I'm waiting for it to arrive but the Swoop still holds a great deal of sway over me that I don't think will go until I get on my new bike. Had it on the scales yet?

The bike looks ACE Sprinter, i'm about a month away from ordering mine 🙂

Lovely looking bike. think if i was buying a new 275 bike, this would be the one.

Basically looks like a canyon Strive, but cheaper, better geometry, and similar spec for the cash.

Had it on the scales yet?

Not yet, now it's 'finished' I'll hang it off my luggage scales and see what she comes in at. Should be slightly below book figures now I've gone tubeless and spiderless, but not by much.

The bike looks ACE Sprinter, I'm about a month away from ordering mine

Thanks mate, the DM chainring and removing the stock chain guide made such a difference to the overall look of the bike.

For reference the stock chainring is also narrow/wide which I didn't realise initially.

Lovely looking bike. think if i was buying a new 275 bike, this would be the one.

Basically looks like a canyon Strive, but cheaper, better geometry, and similar spec for the cash.

Geometry for me is spot on, I feel much more like I'm riding 'in' the bike not 'on' the bike with this setup so it's a more confident riding position for me personally.

For reference the stock chainring is also narrow/wide which I didn't realise initially.

Err you do realise that SRAM "invented" narrow wide right?

Yes but that doesn't mean every SRAM chainring made since then is NW, especially when it comes factory fitted with an e13 chainguide.

Nice surprise though as the stock 30T ring will be easier to shift on eBay now! 8)

That's really nice. I'm not normally one for blue bikes, but that's very pretty.

Doesn't the rear enduro guard set up like that just direct a spray of muddy water straight up your bum? 😆

I'm probably going to get the entry level one in grey and yellow as I prefer Shimano gears, then just buy the MRP cartridge for the Yari forks further down the line.

That's really nice. I'm not normally one for blue bikes, but that's very pretty.

Doesn't the rear enduro guard set up like that just direct a spray of muddy water straight up your bum?

Coming from a light blue Stumpjumper my worry was actually that this one would be too dark, but having seen it in real life the non-blue parts are actually a really nice matt gunmetal colour. Not as dark as the Radon website makes out.

Fortunately not because the water tends to come from the back (off the top of the wheel) so it's main purpose is really to stop gunk travelling towards the shock, my bum is going to get dirty regardless though with a 'mudguard' that short. 😆

Nice surprise though as the stock 30T ring will be easier to shift on eBay now

Don't be so hasty, give it a few rides and you might fancy sticking the 30t back on.

Don't be so hasty, give it a few rides and you might fancy sticking the 30t back on.

I did think about that but to refit it I'd also have to refit the crank spider which would be a pain, so I'll flog it but probably buy a DM 30T ring at some point. Especially as I still have the original chain still sized for that size ring so it will be an easy swap back.

Took the Swoop on it's first trip to BikePark Wales on Saturday, and despite the questionable forecast was greeted by partly blue skies and around 20 degrees all day!

Broke 12 Strava PRs on trails I've ridden on at least 3 or 4 previous trips to BPW and can't rate the Swoop highly enough! Geometry makes it feel so much more stable, and it seems to carry a lot more speed than the Stumpjumper did.

Here's a quick video of a run down the top section of Terry's Belly to the fire road which only re-opened recently after being closed for 6 weeks for maintainance, so lots of silky smooth berms and of course a PR on my first run down!

Ordered mine yesterday so looking forward to getting my shipping details soon (hopefully)

Ordered mine yesterday so looking forward to getting my shipping details soon (hopefully)

In my experience at least, the quoted 4-7 days delivery was the time it takes to get to your address AFTER dispatch, processing time at their end is roughly an additional week on top of that time.

^^^^ is that video ^^^^ sped up or are you Gee Atherton in real life 😯

^^^^ is that video ^^^^ sped up or are you Gee Atherton in real life 😯

Certainly not Gee Atherton, but nor is the video sped up. (although I don't hang about either) 😆

Just shot in 60fps 1080p (in Superview mode), colour corrected and sharpened slightly and then uploaded straight to YouTube!

Brilliant mate.

I appreciate I'm late to this thread, but

She tried my longest Geometron which was a tad too long then my mates longer which she really liked

Come on, no-one? No-one?

Got any descent video on an actual trail at BPW other than the qualifier bit of Terry's? Be interested to hear how it goes on some of the burley stuff as I have a friend looking at one.

Come on, no-one? No-one?

Omg how did we miss that!? 😆

Got any descent video on an actual trail at BPW other than the qualifier bit of Terry's? Be interested to hear how it goes on some of the burley stuff as I have a friend looking at one.

I spent most of the day doing part-runs while I was setting things up so I wasn't filming that much, these two clips of the jump lines on the A470 which I did near the end of the day are about as gnarly as I've got on film. I'll be heading back out there on the 18th to hit some of the rougher stuff on camera though.

Did a couple of runs down some of the black stuff like 'Coal not dole' and 'Pork Belly' off-camera though and it did feel a lot more controlled, definitely noticed the front end being a lot less twitchy over the rocks and roots.

How're you getting on with it? Did you manage to weigh it? And what size is yours?