When I first saw a Dixon trail bike, hell yes. That one looks great, although I’ve only given it the car park test. I only really started to pay attention to the downhill bike when Steve Smith began to do well on it. Good piece of marketing for them isn’t he?

I rode it on some jumps in Wiltshire first and thought it felt good, but I had been off a downhill bike for a while and I was aware that a set of downhill trails didn’t exactly represent the type of terrain the bike was aimed at. My first real chance to ride it on a full–on DH track was down the Innsbruck track in Austria, which I believe to be the hardest official track anywhere. I got down but thought the headangle felt a bit steep on that day. The geometry is slightly adjustable, in the slack setting it is 64º, steep by today’s wacky standards (Mondraker, etc.), but sensible for all but the steepest of tracks.

Wheelbase is good, again I thought it seemed quite short at first but the bike never feels unstable. I love the shape of the frame and all the available room to move around, good for manoeuvring on technical stuff.

I’ve just left it low, I wouldn’t really want the head angle any steeper.

COMPONENTRY

No particular highlight, but the overall package is good and has been reliable.

Not particularly. Maybe the brakes.

Yes, I’d say so. The only part I’ve changed are the handlebars. The bike came with Truvativ Boobar’s which were great, but they were also flat so I put some higher rise bars on there. The kit is all high–end stuff, which matches the performance of the frame.

Obviously it is ludicrously expensive, as are all downhill bikes, but you do get a hell of a machine for your money. And it isn’t going to dent, crack or bend straight away.

SHAKEDOWN

Nearly eight months.

Pretty well, it still looks tidy in the paintwork department. However, the main frame bearings are not so healthy and I have heard this isn’t an uncommon problem. The wheels are a bit dented but that is to be expected. The rear shock could do with a service, but again, that is pretty normal for the amount of riding I’ve done on it.

The shock is stable and has handled everything I’ve thrown it at. Apparently every one of these bikes has a custom tuned Fox shock for the suspension, which I can believe as the bike is so smooth and controlled through its travel.

Good. I have been really impressed with the improvement over the last BoXXer air fork that I had several years ago. Highly tune–able and supple. Most people who have had a look at the bike note that it is light, which is probably helped by the forks.

Well, RockShox’s set–up guide is probably the clearest and easiest to understand of any, so setting up the forks isn’t an issue. Having said that, I used their stock air pressure but set the high/low speed compression controls with settings of my own: loads of high and low compression damping on the steep alpine tracks to keep the front high, less in Britain where I want to be aggressive on the front wheel. The shock is easy to set up too. Fox also have good set–up information on their website and in their manuals.  But I have to say, Devinci’s blurb on their website that covers all elements of the bike is pretty confusing and convoluted.

Mine came with 2.5 Maxxis Minion tyres, which can’t be faulted.

No, but most downhill riders and racers will be changing their tyres so often that they probably won’t be bothered by tubeless.

Every bike could do with a clutch derailleur!

It could be lighter, but it is reassuringly sturdy feeling and has had plenty of top race results to prove that weight isn’t everything.

Nope, it rides really nicely as it is. The seatstay is carbon and the material does make things stiffer, which can’t be a bad thing. I guess that carbon would also get the weight down slightly? And Steve Smith’s results seemed to fair pretty well when he switched to full carbon late in 2012 He won the final round of the DH World Cup in Norway).>>