Devinci Dixon SL Initial Review

My local shop recently became a Devinci Cycles dealer and I thought I'd help them out and order one right away. I chose the Dixon for a couple reasons: one is because I'm going to Sedona soon and the big hit style of bike is the preferred steed for that terrain, and the other is because my Maverick ML8 is getting long in the tooth and I thought the Dixon could give it a run for its money.

The Dixon is Devinci's All Mountain/Trail bike and has 145mm of travel in the back and 150mm in the Fox fork up front. I'm not going to get into all the particulars of the build, but the SL version is the nicest with a mixture of Easton Haven and SRAM equipment at a good price point (for this quality level and category) of $5,800.00.

The Devinci is a handsome bike-

Looks aside, the thing is a missile downhill. In fact, it is much more capable than me in that regard and I will never tap its full potential. It is definitely a "downhillers" bike though. It's a bit lighter in the front and begs to be thrown into the corners which is not my style (cause it's scary to do that). This is the Canadian heritage showing through of course.

The Dixon has a unique feature in that it has the option of 2 different geometries to choose from, which are adjustable in about 5 minutes with an Allen wrench. I have been riding it on the "low" setting but am going to change it this week to the high setting. You can see the differences below:

LO

ST   SA HA TT   CS   WB   BBH   SOH   HT     cm in deg deg mm in mm in mm in mm in mm in mm in S 42.0 16.5 72.7 67.0 560 22.0 426 16.8 1098 43.2 347 13.7 727 28.6 120 4.7 M 46.0 18.1 72.7 67.0 585 23.0 426 16.8 1124 44.3 347 13.7 753 29.6 130 5.1 L 49.5 19.5 72.7 67.0 610 24.0 426 16.8 1151 45.3 347 13.7 773 30.4 145 5.7 XL 53.5 21.0 72.7 67.0 635 25.0 426 16.8 1177 46.3 347 13.7 803 31.6 160 6.3

HI

ST   SA HA TT   CS   WB   BBH   SOH   HT     cm in deg deg mm in mm in mm in mm in mm in mm in S 42.0 16.5 73.2 67.5 560 22.0 424 16.7 1095 43.1 354 13.9 734 28.9 120 4.7 M 46.0 18.1 73.2 67.5 585 23.0 424 16.7 1121 44.1 354 13.9 760 29.9 130 5.1 L 49.5 19.5 73.2 67.5 610 24.0 424 16.7 1148 45.2 354 13.9 780 30.7 145 5.7 XL 53.5 21.0 73.2 67.5 635 25.0 424 16.7 1174 46.2 354 13.9 810 31.9 160 6.3

It's not a huge difference but if you are doing lift assisted biking at Winter Park one day, and riding singletrack high in the Rockies the next, it's a very worthwhile feature.  Around here I have a suspicion that the "high" setting will be more what I'm looking for since I don't have the skills to corner like a mad man, and the loose traction in these parts tries its best not to let you corner like that anyway. We will see.

Going up is no problem on the Dixon. It pedals as well as anything I have ridden in this category. It doesn't have the small-bump compliance of my ML8, but it is more efficient out of the saddle than the ML8 or most other bikes in this genre. It's no XC bike of course, but its not trying to be.

The Devinci uses Dave Weagle's Split-Pivot. This is all well documented out there on the internet so if you want more info on that, start google-ing. It is almost identical to the Trek suspension system though.

My Dixon is weighing in at just over 28lbs. with pedals and everything. That is pretty damn good. I will be adding a dropper post, and maybe changing the grips but other than that, the Dixon will pretty much stay as-built. Devinci has a lifetime warranty and the Dixon and all the other pricy models are made right in Canada, next to the mine where they get the aluminum and make the tubing. It's not America, but at least it's North America and our neighbor.

Charlie S.