PINKBIKE FIELD TEST
Propain Spindrift
Words by Mike Kazimer, photography by Tom Richards
The new Propain Spindrift has a whopping 180mm of front and rear travel, and the German company says can be used for everything from flow trails to bike park laps. The 29” version is reviewed here, but it's also available with 27.5” or mixed wheel configurations.
The Spindrift's new looks are striking – it stands out from the crowd of Horst Link clones, with a dual link suspension design that's called PRO10. The new configuration of that system positions the shock in front of the seat tube, where two counter-rotating links compress it from both sides as the bike goes through its travel.
Along with the updated suspension layout, the Spindrift's internal cable routing has been refined, and the brake and derailleur housing now run inside the frame, rather than underneath the bottom bracket shell.
Spindrift Details • Travel: 180mm rear / 180mm front
• Wheel size: 29" (27.5" and mixed options available)
• Head angle: 64.5°
• Seat tube angle: 78°
• Reach: 475mm (lrg)
• Chainstay length: 445mm
• Sizes: M, L (tested), XL
• Weight: 33 lb / 15 kg
• Price: $8,599 USD
•
propain-bikes.com There's chainslap and downtube protection in the right places, plenty of room for a water bottle inside the front triangle, and SRAM's Universal Derailleur Hanger to make a replacement easier to find if necessary.
It'd be easy to expect some radical geometry numbers to go along all that travel, but Propain exercised some restraint, and didn't go too crazy with the Spindrift's numbers. With a 180mm fork the head tube angle sits at 64.5 degrees, the seat tube angle is 78-degrees, and the reach on a size large is 475mm. Those numbers are paired with 445mm chainstays on the 29” version, and 435mm on the 27.5”.
This bike has Propain's “Highend” build kit, which is a pretty self-explanatory name. That gets you a Fox 38 fork and DHX2 coil shock, SRAM's wireless, electronic AXS drivetrain, Magura MT7 brakes, and Crankbrothers Synthesis carbon wheels. The final US price is still up in the air, but according to Propain it's expected to be somewhere around $8599.
All of those niceties put the total weight at 33 lb.
ClimbingA 180mm freeride bike typically gets cut a little slack in the climbing department. After all, you're probably not looking at a bike like this for long cross-country rides. The thing is, the Spindrift climbs very well – so well, in fact, that I didn't ever need to use the climb switch on that coil shock. This was my first experience with the PRO10 dual-link suspension design, and I came away impressed. Mike Levy's results in the efficiency test backed up what I felt on the trail, with the Propain putting down the second fastest time out of this group of five long travel machines.
Along with being an efficient pedaling bike, there was an unexpected lightness to the Spindrift's handling, which made it much more versatile than I'd anticipated. The overall length and head angle aren't extreme, which helps keep it manageable at slower speeds. Combine that with a nice and steep seat tube angle and you have a bike that's well suited for grinding out the miles on the way to a rowdy descent.
Now, the Spindrift still doesn't have the same snappy handling that a shorter travel bike can bring table, but it does hide that 180mm of travel very, very well on the climbs, and it's a bike I'd happily grab for a big day of technical adventuring. Its closest contemporary on the climbs was the 27.5” wheeled bike we can't talk about yet, and the Rocky Mountain Altitude. The Altitude is a slightly more active climber, and I was more likely to use the climb switch on the bike, but otherwise both bikes have a level of maneuverability that's not all that common in this travel bracket.
Descending
The Spindrift's easygoing nature remains on the descents, where it has an energetic, relatively playful feel, a stark contrast to the brutish nature of the Norco Shore.
Riders looking for the absolute longest and slackest bike they can get their hands on may want to look elsewhere, but I think for the vast majority of riders and riding locales the Spindrift strikes a nice balance. It'll go fast when you want it to, and the coil shock provides a smooth, bump-gobbling ride, with good acceleration for those sprints out of corners. There's also enough support to prevent harsh bottom outs on bigger hits, and for keeping the bike from getting bogged down in all that travel.
That supportive suspension also helps the Spindrift maintain speed through rollers and berms, and to pop off the lips of jumps. Super short chainstays often get cited as being necessary for a playful bike, but Propain's balanced geometry on the Spindrift seems to have imbued it with a similar level of peppiness.
The 445mm chainstay / 475mm reach ratio felt very well balanced - there was no need to fight the bike to get it do do what I wanted. Interestingly, the Rocky Mountain Altitude's chainstay / reach numbers are very similar, and I had the same thoughts about its handling.
There was great traction for dealing with loose conditions, no matter whether that was slippery, marbley dust, or slimy mud. I did find myself wishing for a longer dropper post on really steep trails – the 150mm post on our test bike wasn't enough on those descents where you want the post as far out of the way as possible. On that same topic, I do wish the seat tube length was a little shorter to ensure that riders of all heights could run the maximum amount of dropper travel possible.
How does it compare to the Slash and the Altitude, the most enduro oriented bikes in this bunch? Quite well, and even though it's billed as a freeride bike it could shine on the right course – the Whistler stop of the EWS comes to mind – since it has the quickness and responsiveness that you want between the tape. Overall, the Spindrift has more than enough travel to deal with the roughest terrain around without becoming unmanageable on slightly less wild trails, traits that make it well suited for all sorts of big-mountain adventures.
Comedy Gold right here! never gets old...
So are you Chinese or Japanese?
I live in California last twenty year, but, ah... first come from Laos.
Huh?
Laos. We Laotian.
The ocean? What ocean?
We are Laotian--from Laos, stupid! It's a landlocked country in southeast Asia. It's between Vietnam and Thailand, OK? Population 4.7 million.
youtu.be/Y1vQhCHelJE
kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Strickland_Propane
first one starts with the Laos bit
youtu.be/LrGucxOZxlc
I f I want to spend really something I buy Unno, Antidode and if I dont want to and have something else there are still those options: Ancillotti, Crossworx ,Nicolai
As a final note, keep in mind that the timed testing was only done on one trail, and shouldn’t be taken as the final say as to which bike is the best.
I have to say that it was a little harsh with an air shock but I am running a coil now and it strikes a very good balance between comfort and support in my opinion.
Im sure Propain have tested 63.whatever and decided that they like the bike more like this. I like having options, otherwise every bike would be a 63.5 hta/78 sta/480mm reach blob with the only difference being weight and kinematics.
Stop riding downhill immediately for your own saftey. You can take it to Centre Parks for the weekend. Anything more challenging may result in unwanted combustion.
I was looking at the bike i started riding on the other day (Specialized Hardrock comp - circa 1962, or might as well be). The head angle was so steep i'm pretty sure the fork was pointing back in towards the frame. The best thing i can say about that bike is that i took it to BPW, it tried to kill me and made me take the plunge and buy a 'proper actual mountain bike'.
Every reviewer has personal bias, but that's why I like all PB reviews to be by Mike or Mike, because I know where they're coming from, especially with the sheer number of reviews they've done. You learn to understand what a reviewer likes/doesn't like and how that translates to you and your riding. Every time PB switches to a European reviewer of a bike, I don't feel I know the reviewer/terrain well enough to form a judgement based on what they say. (I used to live in the Sea to Sky, so know the terrain well)
The Enduro mag test that they did recently with a bunch of pro enduro racer bikes was interesting. They settled on slightly shorter reach than your average rider/reviewer would pick and about 760mm bars because that's what made them fast (at their ability level - this is the important caveat).
Also the plastic piece that holds the cables near the head tube easily falls inside the frame, and is really hard to get it after it falls in, which is why I currently ride with tape wrapped aroud the headtube and a that fking piece of plastic rattling around somewhere in my bottom bracket area.
Internal cable routing is just awful. Can we go back to external cables already?
Even with all those problems i'd say it was great buy since i got it for 2640€.
Decals / Frame Protection / Frame Badge - All three have had peeling issues, which isn't something I'd expect from a bike having had only 2 months of use (7 rides total). In particular, the chain-slap protector and the head tube Propain badge are both stuck on with some crappy glue which hasn't appeared to have set properly. Now both are standing off the frame slightly, meaning that grit and dust are likely to build up inside the gaps behind them. I could glue them down myself I guess but I'd be afraid of using the wrong type of glue (any ideas from PB community would be greatly welcomed!). The "Propain" decals along the frame are also a bit cheap and have also started to peel away. For the record, I am in no way hammering this thing.
Daft pricing on their small parts delivered outside of Germany - I ordered some spare mech hangers recently, having stupidly forgotten to order them with the bike at the time. Delivery costs from Germany to the UK is a flat rate of £53 (with no alternative option aside from physical collection in Germany). That amount is insane given that the hangers cost only £18.74 and weigh probably no more than 50 grams each. So, to buy one mech hanger, I would have to pay £71! I ended up buying three, so I'd hopefully not have to do it again for a while. I also organised my own courier to collect from store in the end and saved myself £20 on delivery. It's worth noting that Spindrift owners won't have this issue as they got lucky with the Sram UDH compatibility, but any other spares for them will likely involve the same postage issues.
Poor Website Design / Customer Service - I've noticed that their website is a bit "incomplete", with links that just take you to nowhere. There's a whole "Propain Friends" community on their website (insert inbetweeners joke here), that I'd like to partake in, but the links just don't work. These dead links seems to occur more with their English website rather than their German original, but given that the company now caters to an international market, they really need to improve their customer relations game. As for their actual customer service, I've not made any official complaints to them (yet), but in the few email's I've sent to them regarding my bike order etc., I've noticed there's there's a bit of a language barrier. I've had email inquiries misunderstood on multiple occasions, which was a bit awkward to solve at the time. This is a minor gripe however given that they are a German company and English is clearly not expected to be their first language.
I think Covid 19 and the mad rush for bikes this year has a lot to answer for the above complaints and to reiterate, I am VERY impressed with the actual Tyee's performance (which clearly is the most important thing) but I saved up some hard-earned cash over the course of 2018 and 2019 just to buy my dream bike, and it appears from some of the issues I've experienced, that they rushed my build, or at least that it didn't go through a rigorous enough quality control assessment. Which was a bit of a shame to say the least given the approx. four month wait for it to arrive.
I also think Propain as a small-ish company are at risk of becoming another "YT - bad customer service" story, especially to their consumer base outside of Germany if they don't sort out their website and international delivery shenanigans. If you're reading this Propain, I don't profess know anything about running a company, but you need to improve that English website and those delivery options, big-time.
As for your glue question, I'd use contact cement (eg. Evo-Stiik Impact) - should hold well and if you need to rip it off and start again you'll be able to rub off the glue residue pretty easily.
FYI - I went for a 27.5 Medium with a Fox coil.
I would describe myself as a 30 yr old decent rider, but one who's had about 10 years away from a long travel bike and I would describe the Tyee as very forgiving and confidence inspiring. This has been great for my re-education in enduro bikes because I've had a few awkward landings and cases on jumps (mainly due to me being out of practice) and every time, the Tyee had taken it in its stride. No big crashes or major losses of control, the suspension just does its thing and helps save me from any embarrassing spills (so far at least).
If , unlike me, you feel yourself to be a more confident, faster rider, pulling big whips etc. you need only watch the George Brannigan vid of him at Queenstown to see how well it can shred.
In the same way Kazimer describes in his Spindrift review, the Tyee climbs brilliantly and the carbon variant probably helps keep that weight down if you are a weight watcher (I'd be curious to know how the AL version climbs if anyone on here has one?).
In terms of other bikes I'd ridden prior to the Tyee, there aren't many that I could directly compare the bike to because like I said, I'd been out of riding bigger travel bikes for a while. (Long story short, I switched to riding XC and BMX for a few years due to moving to a very flat part of the UK). I did however test ride the Mondraker Dune (AL) and Superfoxy RR (CF) at a demo weekend before buying the Tyee, and I would say in term of handling, the Tyee feels better than both of these in both the climbs and descends. The Superfoxy may have had a slight speed advantage on the ups (I may have been on a 29er, I forget), but overall, I think the Tyee is more well rounded.
If I had to make one complaint about handling with the Tyee, I would say occasionally, I will struggle to maintain speed / momentum on the flatter, more flowy terrain, but this could be down to my fitness more than anything. I'll let you know after a few months of winter training on the pump track whether it's still the same way next spring.
(Apologies for the essay, I know you only wanted a sentence or two! Feel free to DM me if you need any more advice.)
P.S. - Big thanks for the Evo- Stiik recommendation, looks like exactly what I need!
"Ooooh, Propain friend"
Inbetweeners reference inserted.
I do agree with you for their website, the "Propain friends" category and my account information weren't usefull at all... And the information by emails after you ordered the bike aren't the best you can have on the market for sure ! A lot of people here in the forum ask questions about the payment status which is not updating himself too...
But, after 3 bikes from them : the first Spindrift in 2017, the Rage AL (downhill) in december last year, and the 4bidden (dirt/4x) in april, I did NOT had problems with the decals/stickers.
I even think they improved themselves a lot between the Spindrift and the Rage. But you're the second one that I read, who had problems with the decals. So, perhaps, they do have problems now with the assembly of the bike. I hope they will paid attention to that in the future !
For the customer service, i had to contact them for my first Spindrift (2017 model) in 2019. I broke a screw in the upper links and had to bought new ones. Their responses were quick and the solution were really cheap (15€ for the upper link and 2 screws), but like you, i had to use small and short sentences to be understood. If they sell a tons of bike in the USA or outside Germany, it could be usefull to recruit people who speak different languages.
To conclude, their services are good, but not perfect. I would clearly buy another bike from them (that Spindrift for sure), because they are top quality for the price. Their builds are good, the configurator is really usefull, and even if they are growing up you don't see them everywhere outside Germany. I would just like some improvements on their website and the order tracking
It is a German company after all haha!
Does anyone know - or can PB reach out to Propain - how to calculate the minimum height that let's say a bikeyoke 160mm will give at full extension and at max insertion?
(difficult explanation, but anyone who has looked at the geo table will see that the 'frame height' is a bit weird, and that the inseam for the different dropper posts can never be the height of your crotch measured from the ground)
Under the headline "technical data" you can find:
max. Seatpost insert length
29" & Mix: M 215 mm / L 220 mm / XL 250 mm
27.5": S 200 mm / M 220 mm / L 230 mm
Then use this formula for any new frame you are considering to determine how long of a dropper will fit: X - Seat Tube Length + Max Insertion = The max overall length of any new dropper post you are considering.
* Stolen from the interwebs
But I do think this build kit doesn’t show Propains strength: what they offer in terms of value at their configuratior is the possibility to get a really nice performance Mtb at the price of a low budget mainstream developer. And what’s better, is that they ride better than most premium bikes out there.
Yes, definitely a good option. I purchased a 2020 Tyee in January, and it’s just amazing!
Wish they would offer shimano gears, that would be perfect.
By the way, that sponsor beer Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (that I really like), costs 3.50 euros per small bottle (0.35 l / 12 oz) here in Finland. Not nice.
www.alko.fi/en/tuotteet/723974/Sierra-Nevada-Pale-Ale
i do however have to admit that i was worried about the long seattube too. however found out that is only a problem on paper...
On the size L (my size) the difference is even bigger (241mm vs 220mm).
So there's 2cm less to insert, and for my 1,80m a 160mm dropper might be a close call....
Seems like if that was really an issue than DHers would be running "tiny droppers" to get their seat down that last little bit? OR like a reverse Specialized Wu dropper to drop and move the post forward a little so the rear wheel wouldn't contact it at max travel? OR custom cut out seats to allow clearance to drop the seat further, little baby DJ seats OR just no seat for shorter races...? Wider and padded top tubes? I mean some riders get what they get to help sell their sponsors bikes/parts. But SOME riders would only have to ask and if their sponsors thought it would help win races or might start development a new product they'd get it fab'd up in the blink of an eye!
Now I'm not saying there's anything wrong about making your bike look cool. And obviously many DJ and slopestyle riders truly need their seat that far out of the way AND some people do throw that kind of style on their trailbikes. And were not all built the same so obviously some people are trying to make due between frame sizes, etc. So I'm not saying it never matters. I just think sometimes the super long dropper thing is more about style than necessity...?
Next lets discuss how many of us need larger than 200mm front rotors off a race track.
Sorry, channeling some Waki there... back to work!!!
I "want" to drop my seat as low as possible because I have long torso/arms and short legs. I need a big bike but those tend to come with corresponding large seat tubes.
No fun to have a seat that can't drop sufficiently out of the way and limits my ability to move around the bike.
BUT again I think most people just do it for the trendz....
very tempted to get myself a new toy
From what I've been reading, they started becoming available in the US in February of this year. So maybe they just weren't quite available at the time.
I was looking at the Tyee today as well. I'm actually a bit curious how the spindrift and the Tyee compare. As it seems the spindrift already does pretty well on the climbs, and doesn't sound like it is "too much" bike for mellower trails.
According to their website, they have some available for delivery in early January, depending on which component spec you were thinking.
www.propain-bikes.com/us/bikes/enduro/tyee-al
www.propain-bikes.com/us/bikes/enduro/tyee-cf
How can they get everything else so right but overlook that?
Suppose I could get the AL model and take a hacksaw to it.
The geo is really ideal, love the long CS length without having excessive front center. It's also very light for what it is. A Mezzer and an air shock would get you a 31.5# trail bike which is phenomenal.
This brand is one to watch.
Bold statement.
"Geo that's really ideal."
Personally, I would like a little longer reach for my height without having a long seat tube and dropper limitations. This is a little older school geo in that department. Also wouldn't mind a little slacker, after all this is their "Freeride" bike, it's not supposed to be that good of an all arounder. It's supposed to be the most capable of ultra steep gnarly stuff that you still need to pedal to access.
Take one of the best 180mm forks off of it and put an air shock on it to save a lb or two? Seems as though at that point one would be better served with something in the 150-160ish range.
Also checked the Tyee's specs and pricing and the Tyee geo isn't as ideal for my tastes and frankly the cost is no better than the LBS bikes.
Still, the Spindrift is an interesting 'AM' bike option from my view for the guy that pedals AND goes real big.
What is it , gold plated titanium with diamond rims and bionic tires .
As absurd as the price is , there WILL be some fool that buys it , insisting that it makes him a better rider , what ever that means.
but about 6k$ out of my price range.
I kind of felt like the review should have been more positive given that it was efficient pedalling, playful on the downs and also just 1sec off the fastest - I mean it sounds almost perfect!
I bought mine a week ago with the 190mm Zeb and I'm planning to get a spare 27.5 wheel for the rear along with a 180mm spring assembly for the Zeb. That let's me run the fork at 190mm or 180mm and the rear wheel at 29 or 27.5, which will have allow me to significantly change my head angle and BB height depending on what riding I'm doing on a given day.
For normal enduro-epic style of riding, 64 HA, IMO, is really enough.
Should arrive in april when the snow has melted (if we gonna have any) and bike parks will open
Congraz on your purchase though.
m.facebook.com/157301537620724/photos/a.2874545829229601/5596341967049960/?type=3&source=54&ref=page_internal
Maybe change to “the” or “their”
Na it is not good enough if you still hit your saddle and cant go down trails. What is the reason for a dropper if it is down, still in your way?
Like others also said, big legs is a thing. The first dropper as we now have it except without the remote is 20 years old by now, you call that a few years back? Crazy!
Before I have a to small drop I take this 20 year old dropper without an remote If I cant move around.