VENTANA HAS DISCONTINUED PRODUCTION OF EL CHAMUCO!

This review was penned sometime in early 2004. We still believe in El Chamuco. Yes, the Devil has been discontinued. God seems to be doing a sorry enough job that his services are no longer needed.

When I finally built up an El Chamuco frame in a hybrid XDreamTrail format and took it onto the Moab Slickrock Bike Trail, I was astonished at its performance. A couple of weeks prior I had tested one on a really sweet singletrack outside of Rancho Cordova, California as a guest of Sherwood Gibson. It was a good introduction, but not perfect, considering that the bike was set up as a magazine test bike. I had to borrow a pair of road shoes and ride with SPD pedals (that I absolutely hate). The ride was pressured by a setting sun and a burrito that sat on my gut like Jabba the Hut. The ride was great, the bike was great, but I just couldn't concentrate on it. The drivetrain was skipping and I had no time to stop and tune it. The bike felt awkward because of the pedals, stupid shoes and a slightly ill fit. I felt awkward. It was not the bike, really. All the blood in my body was concentrated in my stomach, so my legs felt like lead. I was impressed with the bike, but not excited at that time. This changed dramatically with the purchase of our first Chamuco in Moab, built by myself and set up for me and for the terrain I ride.

Frankly, the Chamuco is a revelation, the real deal of single pivot bikes. It is going to be quite a while before anyone will be able to pry this thing from my full finger gloves. I had a good guess that this single pivot bike would be pretty good just by looking at the pictures, even though I have never been much of a single pivot affectionado. All the ideas were right. The construction is flawless. There are a couple of problems to deal with in the design and execution of the frame, but overall, it is just what we asked for our rental needs in Moab. Here are the grades for aspects of performance and construction when built with a Marzocchi Z=1 and Hayes disc brakes:

           Construction and finish: A-
           Lateral Rigidity: A
           Rear end braking response over rough terrain: B
           Acceleration over rough terrain: B+
           Drops and jumps: A
           Overall downhill performance: A-
           Overall handling performance at speed: A
           Overall handling performance in tight situations at slow speed: B-
           Ease of build: A
           Cable routing: C
           Rear shock performance: A
           Geometry (bias to Moab riding): B-
           Overall value: A+
           Overall grade: B+

The grades above are by comparison to the best multi-pivot bikes. When compared to other single pivot frames (graded on a curve) the El Chamuco gets an A+. Top of the class.