Sabbath September AR-1
Even in the lower ranges of the ample rear cassette and the smaller of the compact chainrings, the bike stayed planted yet still responsive to shifts in weight as we piloted over and around rock and tree roots. When the mud really picked up, sticky peanut buttery stuff, the chainstays and seat stays started to pack up, before the cyclocross fork was challenged. That said, this is no ‘cross bike, but if it had just a little more bend in those seat and chainstays maybe it could be…
It was in the more extreme off-road sections that the benefits of the disc brakes really came to the fore. Unlike rim brakes, disc brakes maintain reasonably consistent braking qualities, at least until it gets really horrible or really gritty (see the US National Cyclocross Championships in 2013), leaving your tyres and your skill as the two remaining potential failing points. We may not be putting discs on our road racing bikes anytime soon (for a host of reasons including weight and legality), but they are the ideal solution for this all-condition bike.
Unfortunately, the suppleness of the frame and the brilliance of the brakes are let down slightly by the Whisky fork in this application. The fork is built for cyclocross, it’s laterally and vertically stiff, perfect for carving into sticky corners on a soft pair of tubulars. This stiffness, perfect on the road and between the tape, is less ideal for long rides over fire trails and lanes. It felt out of place on this otherwise relaxed, supple bike when the going got bumpy, particularly in rougher conditions on a road tyre. You can’t have everything, but we’d trade some of the precision and rigidity of the Whisky for a slightly softer ride quality. The production bike uses a Kinesis disc fork: We haven’t ridden this fork, but we’re hoping it’s a little softer than the Whisky.
Conclusion
Like it’s siblings, the Sabbath September does everything it promises. We continue to be impressed by both the craftsmanship of the frames Sabbath produces and the ride qualities of the bikes in a variety of conditions.
If we’d had a little more time with the September, we might have thrown some racing tubulars on the bike taken it to a cyclocross race: We believe the confident handling, ample tyre clearance, and reasonably light weight would have made it a contender until the conditions got really muddy.
We found the frame really excelled when the rides got long and the terrain mixed. We’d swap the fork for something with a little more compliance, but otherwise this is another excellent addition to the Sabbath stable.
[rps-include blog=127.0.0.1 post=30120]
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