My LenzSport Leviathan
Purchased just in time for Barbie Camp, October 2006

This is a review of the Lenz Leviathan that I wrote just after borrowing it for demo purposes and taking it to Fall 2006 Barbie Camp, after which I opted to purchase it.
Like many, I've gotten caught up in the excitement this fall surrounding all the new 29" FS frames coming our way. So many choices!

Not long ago, as a dyed-in-the-wool hardtailer, I would have dismissed all this. After all, a hardtail is cheaper and requires less maintenance, and the addition of a simple Thudbuster gives just as much plushness at the saddle as most dualies for a fraction of the cost. Not to mention that some FS designs don't fit me well at 5'7", something that is absolutely no problem for a hardtail + squishy post. But I have been getting curiouser and curiouser. My aging joints do occasionally complain on rough descents where the Thudbuster offers no assistance on hits felt through the pedals. And I have only recently become truly aware of what many have known for years: the traction benefits of FS are not merely hype. The FS parade may have been rolling through town for a few years now, but I guess I haven't exactly been hanging out on Main Street to watch it go by.

Anyway, a few weeks ago mikesee took notice of my interest in FS bikes. He let me know that he had a Small demo LenzSport Leviathan sitting around, offering to loan it to me for the cost of shipping. Unlike the short test rides I’d be able to get in on the other bikes, here was a chance to really get to know a Leviathan (which I otherwise had zero hope of demoing at all) for very little cost. Of course I jumped at the chance.

Originally I hoped to be able to ride the Lev back to back with some of the other new frames for a true FS comparo, but (surprise, surprise) they're taking longer to show up at the LBS than originally expected. Cyclepath here in Portland carries Turner, Titus and Niner (representing 3 of the leading contenders in this category) as well as Van Dessel, and can also order Ventana. As of this writing all they've seen is several Niners, but those fly out the door so fast they can't keep one in stock for demo purposes.

So, my grandiose original plan has devolved into a FS vs. hardtail comparo. Gee, how many hundreds of hardtail-to-FS stories have been posted at mtbr over the years? :yawn: But I see a lot of other of my fellow diehardtailers on mtbr contemplating the same thing, so maybe it will be relevant to others on the board who are also shopping. I guess everything that was old before is new again in the 29" world anyway.


This is a long and personal review. I’ve tried to boldface the sections, so if it’s too long or wordy you can skip to the parts that interest you, even straight to the Short Version at the bottom if that’s all you care about.

The Rides

After receiving the Lev and putting it together with a pair of Rampages also courtesy of mikesee, I put in a 38 mile day, riding it to work to dial things in and get an initial feel for the ride. I managed to sneak in a long lunch hour to ride to my local haunt, Forest Park, for a few miles of hilly gravel and mud fireroads, with a few short singletrack stretches thrown in. The ride to Forest Park also includes a very steep pavement approach (10-15% for several blocks) that is a good gauge of climbing efficiency.

Then at Barbie Camp a couple weekends ago I managed to put over 50 miles on it, nearly all of it singletrack. Friday’s ride was a 23 mile loop around Waldo Lake, truly one of my favorite rides in Oregon. This trail rolls up and down over moderate roots and rocks, never gaining a lot of elevation but with lots of short climbs and fun descents. It’s pretty flowy, making it nearly the ideal singlespeed ride. Of the 10 riders in the group, I was the only one stupid enough to bring a geared bike, but to my credit I rode it like a singlespeed. Conditions were plenty wet, often snowy (at first near freezing and crunchy, gradually changing to slick and slushy by the end of the ride. There was snow on a quarter to a third of the route around the lake, and you could always tell when you were approaching a descent by the sound of howling rotors from the riders ahead of you.


Saturday’s ride was a 24 mile downhill shuttle on Trail 99/Peterson Ridge near Sisters, with 4000’ (net 3000’ plus 1000’ climbed along the route) of descending. Conditions could not have been more different than Waldo: typical Central Oregon sand, dust and loose rocks. This ride was a great test of the Lenz’s downhill capabilities, high speed handling and stability in loose terrain.



Sunday I took the Lenz to a section of the Peterson Ridge trail with a short steep climb and some technical features, riding it back to back rides versus my hardtail, having adjusted the bikes to be as comparable to each other as I could make them.

The Demo Bike


  • Frame: LenzSport Leviathan, size S, 3” travel non-Horst 4-bar (aka “faux bar”) design with DT shock. Matte blue anodized finish. Frame weight is reportedly in the low to mid 5s with shock, and fully built weight is about 27 pounds.
  • Geometry: 22.6” ETT, 71*/72.5*, 12.9” BBH, 18.2” CSL
  • Controls: On-One Mary bar, 75mm Syntace stem, Oury Lock-On / Titec Pork Rinds grips, WTB Pure V saddle, Thomson setback seatpost, Time ATAC XS pedals.
  • Drivetrain: SRAM X.9 triggers, X.0 rear derailer, X.Gen front derailer, LX 175mm outboard-bearing cranks with 22/32 rings plus bashring, 11-32 cassette, PC-59 chain,
  • Brakes: Hayes Nine Carbon.
  • Wheels: Mikesee build with DT 240S hubs, Comp spokes and Salsa Delgado Disc rims.
  • Tires: Panaracer Rampage 29x2.35 F&R for most of the rides. Rear run in the “front” (low RR) direction for the first ride and in the rear (high traction) direction for the two Barbie Camp rides, swapped out to a mostly-worn Bontrager Jones 29x2.25 XR for the back-to-back riding. Tires run at 40 psi for the first day’s commute/Forest Park riding, and 20/25 (F/R) psi for subsequent rides.
  • Fork: Reba Race fork w/Poploc, 80mm travel. Pressure set to about 80-90 + and – initially, then upped to 110 + and -.
  • Rear shock setup: didn’t get around to adjusting until after the Waldo, and found that it had been at 60 psi. Upped to 120 psi for the downhill ride, then 100-110 for the back to back compare. Will probably experiment with 80-90 psi next. Rebound damping at the slowest setting for most of the riding, then set 1-2 turns faster for the back-to-back.

The Control Bike

The Rider




I’ve been mountain biking for quite a few years but until receiving the Lev had only logged a handful of miles on FS bikes. I’m a recreational rider, not particularly aggressive and probably a slower than average climber. For me mountain biking is primarily about enjoying and exploring the outdoors, though I still enjoy the thrills of fast descents, darting around on tight singletrack and conquering highly technical terrain. I am accustomed to the wet conditions of the we(s)t side of the Pacific Northwest but also get a decent amount of riding in dry Central Oregon and the semiarid desert regions of southeastern Oregon. I’ve ridden exclusively singlespeed offroad since 2002, with the exceptions of a few trailer camping trips and occasional Forest Park rides with my commuter bike’s 3speed hub. I’m 5’7” and weigh 160-165 pounds.

Fit-wise, I ride with the bar grips ½-1” below the saddle, and I’m don’t particularly like to be too stretched out. Most of the FS 29”ers out there have ETTs in the 23” range even for the smallest models. I can make that work with a 50-60mm stem, but only just barely. Also, I’m a firm believer in getting the saddle positioned relative to the cranks first, and only then dialing in the cockpit length. Compared with some riders I like my saddle further back relative to the pedals – I tend to run my saddles most of the way back, even on a way-setback Thudbuster -- and the steep STs of some FS 29”ers could pose serious fit challenges for me. And nothing else matters if the bike doesn’t fit.

I also need to mention gearing here, because having now been a singlespeeder for a few years I have adopted a pretty unconventional style when it comes to riding geared bikes. I’ve gotten very comfortable with varying my cadence, and I deplore the conventional wisdom that I “need” to keep it in the 80-100 rpm range as a sacrifice to the false god of efficiency. I don’t shift very often, and when I do shift I prefer a big jump of at least 20-25%. The 35% steps between my commuter bike’s gears have encouraged me to maintain this habit. And after several years of SS conditioning I can now put out enormously more power when standing out of the saddle than I can when sitting and spinning.

So my biggest concern with going to FS is that it won’t work well with my pedaling style. Conventional wisdom about cadence becomes even stronger with these bikes because of how they will supposedly waste all my extra out-of-the-saddle power. I don’t see that as a flaw in my riding style, I see it as a design flaw in the bike and I’m not interested in changing my style much. I recognize that all FS bikes share this limitation to some degree, but efficiency under out of the saddle efforts is going to be one of the main criteria in my decision.

To test the Lev’s efficiency, I maintained my usual pedaling style despite the availability of 18 closely spaced gears. I did the Waldo ride almost exclusively in 32x21, very nearly the same as the 34x22 gear I run on my hardtail. It's a gear I feel very comfortable with and that works very well for me except on steep climbs or flat, fast terrain. The only exceptions were three climbs where I downshifted to 32x32. I did plenty of shifting on the 99/Peterson downhill ride, but limited myself to 32x32, 32x21, 32x16 and 32x12. This comes close to simulating the 2x5 setup I would choose to set up on it. And Sunday's back-to-backs were again done 32x21 for direct comparison to the hardtail.

The Results

I evaluated the Lev based on benefits I expect to get from full suspension (primarily traction, followed by compliance at the pedals, technical ability and finally compliance at the saddle), as well as other performance aspects that may be affected such as efficiency, handling and fit.

Traction. Again, for me this is the biggest benefit. In the back-to-back, the Lev's well-worn XR grabbed noticeably better on the dusty technical climb than the Vulture's rear Klaw, my gold standard for rear-tire traction.

On Friday's snowy ride traction seemed quite impressive with the Rampage, although it was hard to compare since I haven't run that tire on the back of a hardtail yet. There certainly were times I could have used more traction and had to shift my weight back more than I’d like to keep the rear planted while standing out of the saddle. This is not a situation most riders will run into most of the time, and I mention it not as a criticism of the Lev but to point out that in certain conditions such as wet snow or slick mud there's no such thing as too much (or, sometimes, enough) traction. More is always welcome. Overall traction was still very impressive though, certainly better than my hardtail would have been, and exactly what I was hoping an FS could do for me.

I will throw my two cents into the chainstay length discussion that’s been going on at mtbr. Devin Lenz has shown, with his prototype Behemoth sporting 17.2” chainstays, that there is no innate design limitation forcing 29” FS bikes to have the 18+” stays that are now standard. Shorter stays would improve traction here, especially for shorter riders like myself whose weight is more forward relative to the rear wheel when standing out of the saddle. It doesn’t really affect my decision at this point because nearly all 29” FS bikes are in the 18-18.2” range, but shorter would be better in my opinion.

Compliance at the pedals. With good front suspension my HT, the limiting factor on descents is the impacts to my feet, ankles, knees, etc. You can only hit stuff so hard before you start to cringe before impact, and at my age my ankles really don't like the odd unexpected hit. On the Lev I found myself launching off every little rock, root and berm in sight. That's certainly not the most efficient way to get down the trail, but it sure is fun, and I found myself doing it just because I could. (For reference we are talking about MINOR air, not like the stuff mikesee has posted pics of on the 'moth!)

At first I thought I was doing this so much just because I was getting into a riding groove, but then I'd try the same stunts on the HT and go "uhhh ... right, THAT's why I don't do that stuff on this bike!" At the bottom of the steep section of the back-to-back test trail, there are about 3 good whoops that you can hit at speed, followed by a creek crossing with a chance to launch off the berm on the opposite side, and then a tight turn that is not really doable if you choose the launch option. On the Vulture I got decent air off the whoops, but came down hard enough off the berm to compress the rear tire enough to have pinch flatted some tires -- and I missed the turn big time. On the Lev I got more air off the whoops with less drama, still compressed the XR pretty hard on the final one (though not as much) and very nearly made the turn.

Compliance at the pedals is more important to me than compliance at the saddle in these situations -- after all, if my wheels aren't in solid contact with the ground, my butt shouldn't be in solid contact with the saddle either.

Technical prowess. Actually, getting on the Vulture on Sunday reminded me of how very capable this HT is -- every time I tackle low-speed technical stuff (rock gardens, logs, root ledges) on it, I am amazed at what I can ride over with this bike, especially when I have the BW's compression set just right. Even so, riding the exact same obstacles on the Lenz is a bit easier -- not immensely easier, but noticeably.

I have not found myself riding harder terrain on the Lev (yet) though, I think for two reasons. One is that my eyes still haven't changed -- big rocks and logs still look as big as before, but I suspect my comfort level will increase with more time on the Lev.


The other is the BB height, but I need to qualify that. On the Waldo Lake ride I felt like I was hitting the pedals and bashring more often than usual – and managed to put a couple of big gouges in the bashring -- but that was when I still had the shock set at 60 PSI. On the downhill ride I had it set higher, but the technical obstacles were also smaller, so it's really hard to say. Again, this is an area where shorter stays would help a bit. I'll need to ride more to sort this out, but I do not think it will be a problem.

By the way, this all may sound surprising, but with the Vulture's EBB where I normally set it, its BBH clocks in around 12.8”. Just imagine how much I disliked the 11.7" BBH on my Karate Monkey!

Compliance at the saddle. I know this is a big deal for most people, and for a lot of recreational riders – especially aging ones like myself -- it is probably the #1 attraction of FS: not having your butt and back feel all beat up at the end of a long ride. That's all well and good, but this benefit comes in at fourth place for me because I can get the same thing with my hardtail. As I have mentioned, my Thudbuster was previously more compliant than the Lev (even at 60 psi), and to make the back-to-back comparison fair I actually swapped my its elastomers for firmer ones and adjusted the compression for similar firmness to the Lev.

Where FS ends up still being a benefit here is that the compliance is better damped. This isn’t a huge deal to me, as I’ve never had a problem with the “launch effect” some experience with suspension seatposts, but it is noticeable. And for what it’s worth there’s weight savings here -- after all, the Lev's frame weighs about the same as my Vulture, without the Thudbuster.

Efficiency. This has simply turned out to be a non-issue on the Lev, especially with the rear shock pumped up to where it is now. I was concerned about this because the few reviews available on mtbr didn’t give me much confidence in this area. On my first ride I felt like I was losing a fair amount of power on steep climbs, even with the Reba “locked out”. Adjusting the Reba’s floodgate to be firmer under lockout helped quite a bit though, as did upping the pressure in the rear shock. At no time on the Barbie Camp rides did I feel like the suspension was robbing me of power (except when I had the Reba open!), even on the steepest climbs, and I left the rear open all the time. Even on the back-to-back, the Lev didn't feel any less efficient or take any more effort to do the test climb. At this point I cannot imagine even bothering to lock out the rear shock except when I’m riding on pavement.

Bottom line: my concerns are unfounded. If it’s set up right, I can ride the Lev like a singlespeed, and enjoy the efficiency of a hardtail with the traction of full suspension. Except for the fact that it’s still not a singlespeed, this is the best of all worlds.

Handling. First of all, any handling comparison between these two bikes is going to be inherently unfair to the Leviathan. First of all, there are innate differences in how hardtails and FS bikes handle, and I have thousands of miles of hardtail bias built into me. Second, the Vulture is a custom hardtail designed specifically for me. Its day-one handling felt more natural and intuitive to me than any other bike I’ve ridden, and it is not likely for any non-custom bike to match that.

I’m still sorting out my impressions of the Lev’s handling. I'm simply amazed how differently the Lev handles from my hardtail. At one point on the back-to-back day I found myself switching back and forth between the bikes rapidly, trying to quantify the difference. All this despite the two bikes having nearly the same angles and same fork offset, the same handlebars and stem length, and ETTs within 0.1" of each other. Factoring in sag, the only major geometric differences are the longer stays on the Lev and the slightly increased length of the Reba.

The initial impression is that the Vulture turns noticeably (but not dramatically) more quickly -- and somehow feels "lighter" in its steering. That surprised me, since the bars and tires are the same, the forks are within 100g of each other and the Vulture's front wheel is somewhat heavier. And despite the slightly slower steering, I found it slightly harder to make the Lev follow my intended line. Fortunately with the Lev's more-forgiving nature it didn't matter if I bashed a few extra rocks! Not that its steering isn't more precise (it probably is, slightly) but I'm just not used to its behavior, and it doesn't always go quite exactly where I think I'm pointing it. This is especially true in faster turns where the suspension is compressing. Again, I don’t think this is a flaw in the Lev, but rather a matter of getting used to how a fully handles – they’re just different -- and getting to know it better will be a fun process.

I should also add that for its intended use -- XC rides with a fair amount of climbing and descending, generally not on extremely tight, twisty singletrack -- I don't need (or want) the handling to be any quicker on the Lev than it is. If it were at its best on the same trails where the Vulture is at its best, there would be little point in owning both bikes.

Nitpicks. I can’t run it singlespeed without a tensioner. But duh.

I don’t like to carry any extra weight on my back. I wish the Small frame had room for a water bottle. There are bosses on the bottom of the downtube, but bottles in that position tend to bear the brunt of our riding conditions, and anything bigger than 16 oz will buzz the tire on bumps.

Uhh… that’s about it. FWIW, I had minor water bottle placement issues on my Vulture too. But I didn’t exactly haul Wade out of bed in the middle of the night to answer for them on a public forum.

The Competition

A quick review of the competition is in order, even if I can’t ride any of them yet. I’ll be honest about my biases here, and I recognize that not everyone may agree. That’s what makes them biases.

The Bottom Line

I can find nothing significant to fault about the Lev as an FS bike. Given my limited FS exposure I can't rule out the possibility that one of the newer designs may do something in way better. I would still like to try out the RIP, the Racer-X and the Turner. But I don't *need* to try them to make my decision, because (1) none of them could be dramatically better than the Lev for my purposes, (2) I’m biased towards the Lev and my primary concern with it (efficiency) has been alleviated 100%, and (3) none of the other three will fit me quite as well. All 3 of these bikes will be at least half an inch longer in the top tube, and 2 of them have a STA a full degree steeper, impairing my ability to get the saddle where I like it.

And as we all know, fit is everything. So that pretty much settles it. The Leviathan is the FS for me. Hmm, now where to buy one? Well, no surprise that although this is ostensibly a demo bike, it is not something Mike needs to have lying around and there is definitely the option to buy it. As if he thought this would turn out any other way! ;) Anyway, we settled an a mutually agreeable price that reflects the bike’s used condition and its (very nice) parts spec. I couldn’t be happier with my decision. Thanks Mike.

Short version


Me likey. Me keepey.

Side notes

This demo also gave me the chance to demo some other stuff I hadn’t tried before:

Panaracer Rampage. Awesome tire. Held its own on the slick Waldo Lake ride, yet excelled on the dry, dusty downhill the following day. Also beefy enough to bash into the loose rocks on the downhill without worrying about flats, and grippy enough that I didn’t have to worry as much about losing control when those rocks rolled around on me. On the Rampage, I could get away with a lot more speed through this trail's soft, sandy corners than I could with other tires like the Klaw, Ignitor or even ExiWolf. There were at least 4 times on this ride where I thought the deep sand would launch me into the bushes, yet the Rampage dug in and pulled me out where no other tire would have.

Note: although wet, the Waldo ride did NOT involve particularly sticky or slippery mud, so I will have to reserve judgment on this tire's performance in "real" NW mud conditions. Also to be fair, I have not yet tested this tire against the new Kenda Nevegal, which may well be better in most of these respects. Here are some Rampage vs. Nevegal pics from Waldo:



SRAM drivetrain. I liked the feel of the X.9 shifters compared with the RapidFires I’ve used in the past, though it was a little too easy to bump the downshift button on the front shifter. When I tried to change out the cable on the front shifter (necessary to dial in the fit properly), I ended up destroying the soft rubber cable change plug, and apparently I’m not the first to have this happen with SRAM shifters.

I like the cable routing on the X.0 derailer, eliminating the stupid cable loop and the incentive for a Rollamajig, though I wonder how if the exposed cable guide could clog up in gritty slop. Also, the design of the upper pulley makes the derailer seem more fragile and complicates wheel removal a bit. Overall, seems like a good design though, and I’ll keep riding it this through the winter to see how the shifting holds up. I will also change it to 2x5.

Reba Race vs. BW1.0. I being able to lock out the shock remotely using the Reba’s Poploc, though I dislike being unable to easily adjust the (non locked out) compression while riding: although I must reach down to the top of the fork leg to do it, on the WB I can dial the compression exactly where I need it, something not quite as easily done on the fly with the Reba. If I could rig the WB’s compression adjuster to be pulled by a cable and hook it up to a thumbie on the bar, that would probably be the best of all worlds in terms of on-the-fly adjustment.

As far as feel on the trail goes, well they both work quite well. I’m not sure I could tell much difference overall yet. That will take a lot more time, and I’ll need to put a lot more miles on both, which should be fun. I will say that contrary to some complaints, I don’t find the WB sticky. I mean, sure it feels sticky when you’re standing over it and pushing down, but once sagged out on the trail it seems to respond to small bumps as well as the Reba.

Hayes Nine Carbon brakes. Yes, they were firm and well modulated, but other than the smoother no-cable feel I can’t say they worked any better than well set up Avid mechanicals. I’d rather not deal with fluid, and the BB7s have such a good track record for me that I’ll be putting them on the Lev.

Avid BB7 tweaks. I’ve been mindlessly running basic Deore levers for way too long. I just swapped my Vulture’s Deore levers out for these and *wow* what a difference in braking response and power. Not to mention that the Speed Dial feature lets you adjust the mechanical advantage just how you like it. I’ll be putting these on the Lev too, along with some better-than-generic cables. Also a tip for those who’ve found tried the Avid BB7s and found them lacking: ditch the stock Avid pads! I learned this a while ago, but it bears mentioning again. Even cheap Aztec pads work way better in my experience, and Galfer pads (which I have on the front of the Vulture) are better yet.
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