Well as some may have seen of the book of faces, the new bike in the shed has had its maiden trip out. So whats the verdict? has the whole exercise been a colossal waste of time  and money? or have I inadvertently created cycling nirvana?

The truth as it usually seems to be is somewhere in the middle. I chose the Coed Llandegla trail centre for our first soirée together for several reasons. I know it well, I also know it’s all rideable on a hardtail for a personage of my modest abilities, and most importantly its got an excellent cafe for the important post ride refuelling.

The weather was truly ‘Welsh’ as I hopped nimbly out of my car in the car park. Actually that’s a bit of a lie. I sat in the car looking at the driving flurries of sleet bouncing off the windows thinking that I was sadly under dressed  for the occasion, while cursing the met office iPhone app which had produced clear sky’s and scattered sunshine later in the morning. Eventually like a reluctant tortoise poking its nose out of its shell I ventured outside and started to pull the bike out of the boot.

It passed its first test just lent against the wall of the trail centre as I was attempting to adjust the position of the shifter and brakes on the handlebar. It got a good long glance then a nod of approval from a fellow masochist as he walked past. That was a heart warming moment. I am sometimes shallow enough to crave my peers approval – its only human nature after all, and that look then the slow nod of approval made me feel like I was a proper paid up member of the mountain biking fraternity again.

Yes, yes, but how did it ride I hear you cry? It rode very well. I felt instantly at home on it and apart from a few stops and starts up Llandegla’s long fire road climb out of the trail center to fine tune the seat height and controls position it didn’t miss a beat all the way round. Ok I didn’t venture down the black trail, but after a long lay off the bike like I’ve just had that would have been beyond me anyway.

I’m not going to rattle on like a cycling magazine bike tester about the head angle of the frame making the bike descend like a demon or possibly making a minuscule change to a  shorter stem would unlock untapped depths of the bikes potential. It just felt right to me. it would probably feel horrible to a lot of people who have only ridden the super slack long travel big wheeled monsters sp beloved by the ‘rad’ and ‘mint’ generation, but this sort of simple relatively conservative sort of hardtail seems to be hard-wired into my cycling DNA. I just feel more comfortable on a bike like this. And being comfortable equates to riding better and faster because I’m not worried about what the bike is going to do. I set all my bikes up with unfashionably long stems and narrow (for todays taste) handlebars. I’ve found I don’t need a dropper post because I’ve always been able to get off the back of the saddle without needing one thanks to my longish arms and hobbit like inside leg. I like the front end to be quite ‘pointy’ and direct with quick steering, and I always run my saddle a bit higher than most people would find comfortable.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this deeply unfashionable bike suits my riding style much, much better than its green bang up to date big wheeled stable mate. Don’t get me wrong, in the right hands and under a better, fitter and braver pilot the big wheeled Cotic under the dust sheet in my garage is I’m sure the faster bike, but not for me. It always felt as if the bike was in charge not me when I was rattling along at speed on the Cotic, each corner or berm would become a struggle to wrench the bike round to my chosen course as the big wheels span faster and faster spitting me down the trail at impressive but rather uncontrolled velocities. On the little blue Sanderson its much more man and machine in at least partial harmony. This is a bike which responds to little touches to the bars, turns in when I want it too and goes were my mind wants it to without fighting me back.

The other great thing about riding a bike like this at a trail center is nobody expects you to be that fast. It’s a bit like driving a classic car. Other road users make allowances for you and don’t get impatient if you’re holding them up and they dont try to race you away from the lights. On the Sanderson I didn’t feel as if every super fit person that breezed past me on the climbs was looking at the bike I was riding thinking ‘all the gear and no idea’, and when I caught one chap on a big spec Specialized at the end of a singletrack section his surprise was visible as he clocked the short wheezing bloke on the hardtail glued to his back wheel. Of course as we entered the next downhill rocky section he disappeared into the distance with contemptuous ease, but it still felt good. I’d even managed to catch some inadvertent air and had greased the landing without letting out any involuntary squeaks of fear……

Are there any downsides? well yes of course there are. Just like ‘no man is an island’, ‘no bike has no room for improvement’. Some of the components are undeniably showing their age, the shifts are a bit slow and lazy compared to a box fresh bike and the old coil spring Rockshox is certainly on the crude side compared to todays more exotic offerings. It’s also most certainly a hardtail. Coming down the last descent on the red trail at Llandegla was a bone shattering experience, a section which is rough but fun on my full suspension Lapierre became a ‘hang on and hope’ white knuckle blurred vision rollercoaster on the blue Sanderson. Some of that’s lack of riding practice and skill, but it does reinforce how a good full suspension bike can smooth out the trail for the average rider, allowing them get away with riding lines that are instantly punished on more primitive machines. Sitting typing this a couple of days later at my kitchen table my lower back and dernier are still complaining a bit about the punishment they endured.

It was though overall a throughly enjoyable days riding, and I think with a few tweaks and  possibly a suspension seatpost this little blue machine is a keeper. That of course means my 29′ wheeled experiment is at an end. So if anybody out their fancies a nice bright green hardly ridden Cotic Solaris check out a well-known internet auction site.