| 2007 Brodie Dissident |
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Brodie takes on the largely unexplored but rapidly growing market of 4X bikes with their slope style Nemesis (Dissident) frame. Brodie REALLY hits the mark with the "flow" that this geometry encourages.
2007 Brodie DissidentSo what's with the the whole Dissident thing in parentheses? We're not exactly sure ourselves. I believe that the U.S. version of the Nemesis will carry the name of Dissident, at least in one of the build kits if not the frame in general. We'll have more to come as we get accurate, updated info. "Whats in a name. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet," wrote Shakespeare (or so my memory recollects). So on with it, who cares about the name? With the NORBA races coming to Deer Valley (Park City, UT) I ventured up there to support Brodie. Luckily for me I spent the second day supporting my own needs for speed on the slopes with a borrowed demo Nemesis. At first glance, the 4X, slopes style bike looks like a really small bike with a severe head angle. To more clearly understand such a bike, consider that 4X (Four Cross) is a hybrid sport, blending the control demands of BMX racing with the suspension demands of downhill racing. In each case, they share the racing, but that's about the extent of it. Take BMX for example, where control is prime, sprinting is key and a small frame aids both. Now take DH, where an abyss of suspension is prime, angles are key and tall, slack frame aids both. Look at it like a math equation.
I hope that at least in some way te chart above helps you work out in your mind what to expect from a slopes style frame, integrated a BMX flow with that of rough technical descents associated with downhill. So What of the Brodie Nemesis (Dissident)?Here's the brief spec sheet, highlighting the Nemesis' characteristics.
I took this treacherous machine up two ski lifts, all the way up to a double black diamond (expert) run called Thieves Forest with two really cool guys Paul & Jim - from near my home town in Orange County, CA - as my guides. They led me astray, my friends, but that was kind of the point. As we began our hair raising journey down, it became immediately apparent the this was no run for the weary or inexperienced. Nevertheless, the bike performed more admirably than I did. Having never before ridden on a 4X bike whatsoever, I was a bit timid at first b-lining straight down steep rockfaces with the 140mm of travel that the Rock Shox Pike 454 U-Air, especially given the low BB height, but I quickly got over that. In most sections, rock or root obstacles bowed down in respect to the capabilities of the Dissident. Depending on how you want to build the Dissident up, you can make any of the following:
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