Brett's Enduro Elite 29 Review
This is my first 29er and my first time reviewing a bike. I chose the Enduro Elite 29/6 Fattie because of the great price point as well as the Elite’s components that I know I am able to work on myself if I have to. The frame is carbon while the rear triangle is alloy, so this does add to the weight but not significantly. My bike is currently weighing in at 32lbs.
I have ridden this bike on all types of terrain from Northern Utah to Southern Utah. This bike far surpasses my abilities, so I will give as much information as a novice rider can.
The Enduro Elite 29er is extremely agile for a medium sized bike, even though the frame is a bit larger than what I’m used to comparatively. At 5’10” with a longer torso, this bike fits me perfectly. Coming from previously riding a 27.5 to now riding a 29er, I haven’t noticed any negative impact on the bike’s ability to corner, this was one concern I had with the larger wheels. Large climbs really leave me wishing I had gone with the Eagle drivetrain for the sake of my legs. Even with a 28t upfront the big wheeled bike does struggle on climbs, but the larger wheels do make up for it somewhat with the ability to glide over rocky, rooty, technical terrain.
One of my favorite things about this bike is the stability going downhill. I ride with people much, much better than myself, and before I would always have to get off of my bike and walk it when things got dicey. This bike has given me more confidence riding the same crazy trails and there are only a couple of features I have had to walk or ride around and not because of the bike, but do to my own mindset.
The suspension seems to be great so far. 160mm Lyrik up-front and 165mm Monarch Plus in the rear. There is plenty of travel for anything in Utah. I have only used all of my travel once and that was pretty much dropping to flat. I do wish that the Enduro came with the Lyrik RCT3 because I liked having the extra tunability.
While the SWAT is a great addition to the bike, and happens to be one of my favorite features because it is the first mountain bike that I’ve had where I could actually mount a water bottle, it does tend to cause some rattling when you have items stored inside. The cage has also rattled loose a couple of times, but that is an easy fix with blue Loctite. That being said, it works great so that you can store multiple items for your ride, such as tubes, a c02 cartridge, tire levers and even a wind breaker.
The wheels have some issues as well. Anytime I am going over more rocky terrain I can hear weird high-pitched pings and there is more flex than I would like out of a wheel set. This could be from the low spoke count 24 front and 28 rear or it might be in part that I am a heavier (200lb) rider.
Overall, I’ve been extremely happy with the Enduro Elite 29/6 Fattie. The only thing that I will be changing is a stiffer, higher spoke count wheel set. I have become more confident and comfortable on the Enduro than any of my previous bikes even in the short month I have been riding it. This bikes ability to climb very technical trails and maintain the ability to descend anything with ease makes it the perfect all-in-one mountain bike.
