AVANTI TORRENT 2 27 · 2017. 11. 27. · jump muck-ups. For good-natured fast and flowing trail riding, the Fox 32 was ideal. But with the capability of the frame, the Torrent is

BIKE REVIEW

AVANTI TORRENT 2 27.5 PHOTOGRAPHY BY GAVIN WALKER

Avanti have been quietly producing very good suspension bikes for the last few years. We say quietly, because despite Avanti being a New Zealand company, we haven’t seen that many of them on the trails. That doesn’t seem right, especially given what a well-designed suspension platform they have going in their new Torrent, Coppermine and Ridgeline models. We’ve got a review of the 29er Coppermine coming up soon, but first up, the 140mm travel 27.5 Torrent 2 - a great all round trail-bike.

THESE BIG TYRES LIKE TO DRIFT, IF YOU DO.

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BIG STURDY PIVOTS THROUGHOUT, ALONG WITH A STOUT, WELDED HOLLOW ROCKER LINK RESULTED IN ENVIABLE FRAME STIFFNESS. THE FOX CTD SHOCK WAS A GREAT PERFORMER AND HAD A REAL PRESSURE-SENSITIVE SWEET-SPOT FOR THE TORRENT.

MORE STURDINESS IN THE FORM OF A TIDY HEADTUBE GUSSET. THE FOX FLOAT 32S COMPRESSION TUNE WAS A GOOD MATCH FOR THE AVANTI, THOUGH WE SOMETIMES WISHED FOR BIGGER DIAMETER LEGS.

FRAME

The heart of the 6061 alloy frame is what Avanti call the ‘True-4’ suspension platform. It’s a rocker-driven horst-link system, giving it a variable axle path - the aim of which is to decouple chain and braking forces from acting on the suspension. It’s a design used by many manufacturers, often with great results. Also notable is the burliness of the frame - the tube diameters, the drop-outs, the thru-axle, the pinch bolted main pivot, and the hollow-box welded link are all built for stiffness and longevity. We don’t expect to see many of these frames breaking, or flexing, or being anything other than sturdy and stiff as all hell. We like that a lot. Enduro bearings throughout continue the reliable theme. A FOX CTD Evolution shock takes care of the bounce, with enough room left over for a drink bottle in the main-frame.

Frame features include a 1.5” tapered headtube, 12 x 142mm dropouts, ISCG-05 Mount, and a port in the seat-tube for stealth dropper compatibility.

PARTS

It’s a bit of a mixed bag parts-wise, with Shimano Deore brakes, SRAM X9/X7 gearing, a Mavic Crossride wheelset, E13 cranks, and Avanti’s own Zero brand taking care of stem/bars/post/seat/grips. A Fox Evolution Float 32 with 140mm travel is fitted up front.

FIT

The Torrent is what we’re going to call a ‘traditional’ fit, so our 180 cm (5’11”) testers chose the 48 cm (19”) large frame for its 610mm (24”) horizontal top tube, giving proper reach with a short stem (we ditched the stock 80mm for a 50mm after one ride). We say traditional, because a lot of bikes are coming with this kind of length in their medium sizes these days (the GT we reviewed last issue, the Kona in this issue, etc). Out back, the Torrent has moderate length (440mm) chainstays. One thing

Avanti don’t seem to make much of a thing about is the Torrent’s adjustable geometry, thanks to a small and tidy shock-shuttle at the lower shock mount. Switching this around (a two minute job) let us choose between a 67 or 66.5 degree change to head angle (and 73.5 or 73 effective seat angle) and a 5mm drop in BB height with the slacker setting (340/13.3” in low setting). We tried both settings over the testing period and preferred the steeper option overall, for reasons we’ll get into, but the option is there and it’s a nice touch from Avanti.

RIDE

First off, all three of our testers loved the overall ride of the Torrent. The geometry is great and so is the suspension feel. In terms of parts, the SRAM X7 shifting was great at first, but lost some of its snappy shifting towards the end of the testing, with the X9 rear derailleur feeling a little sloppy in the pivots and needing its clutch tightened. The Shimano Deore brakes performed well, if not with quite as much power as their higher tiered siblilngs. As for the ride though:

First off, the suspension action under pedalling is pretty ‘neutral’, though we noted it does pedal uphill with a bit more zip in the smaller chainring, as running the big 38 tooth up front in combination with a cog a long way up the cassette for climbing produces a bit of chain-induced squat, which can make the Torrent feel sluggish. We found it was better to choose the granny ring and smaller cog on the cassette (for the same gear-inches) to produce a more sprightly uphiller if tackling a rough and steppy uphill. Otherwise, setting the shock to Trail setting offered plenty of compression damping without stifling the suspension too much, while the Climb mode was best left for pavement work or smooth gravel climbs, or riders who like the (bumpy) feel of a hardtail uphill. Downhill, we set the shock to Descend (duh!), and

SHIMANO DEORE BRAKES PROVED RELIABLE THOUGHT NOT QUITE AS STRONG AS SHIMANO’S PRICIER OPTIONS. ZERO’S 740MM WIDE FLAT BARS WERE IDEAL.

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sometimes flicked on the easily accessed Trail setting for more support in high-speed, bermy type trails. Alternatively, if we were feeling lazy, we could leave it in Trail mode all the time and give up just a little small-bump sensitivity.

The Torrent isn’t afraid of using its travel, and in fact it did take us some time to find the perfect pressure setting for the shock. It’s possible to run the shock quite soft, and while this feels great going down, it can also make the Torrent feel a bit slow uphill. It’s also possible to set it up too firm, because it will get full travel, even when it’s too firm. We kept adding air to the shock in 5 psi increments until the bike felt chattery over small bumps, then we let 5psi out and found a sag setting of about 15% was the best overall setting. Because the Torrent likes to move into its mid-range travel easily, this didn’t produce a harsh ride like many bikes would with such a setting, and we still regularly got full travel - the Torrent’s ride is linear and plush.

The frame is noticeably stiff, and the slack head angle and low BB, especially in the slack and low geometry option, encourage fast and furious riding. But ironically, the

stiff chassis and aggressive geometry did highlight some shortcomings for ragged riding - notably in the fork, wheels and tyres. While the Torrent is an excellent trail bike, in its stock configuration it’s a bike that lets you ride as good as you are, but not any better. And, let’s face it, it’s hard not to want the bike to make you ride better than you are. We reckon the Torrent frame has the heart to do it, if the lungs, kidneys and liver would keep up (sorry, that was a weird body metaphor there). The Kenda Honey Badgers are fast-rolling and pretty grippy and suit the fast-moving trail bike character of the Torrent very well, but they’re not particularly tough when faced with rocks (we’ve sliced one in the past). We fitted WTB’s Vigilante Race tyres for some particularly rocky test-rides and found a new level of confidence in the bike was provided by the large volume, sticky rubbered, strong sidewalled tyres. With this new rubber we chucked the Torrent into rocks and over blind-drops and smashed over wet boulders with nary a concern for popping a tyre or slipping out. The Torrent can dish it out! But… it did mean we treated the wheels pretty harshly, and they didn’t much like it. We needed to re-tension

them a couple of times but could still often hear the straight-pull spokes pinging and popping under hard cornering loads. In the same vein, up front the fork wasn’t up to the burliness of the frame. We liked the Fox’s new tune for 2014, which was more supportive in the mid-stroke than in past years, although we still had the best performance setting it up quite firm, with just the last 20mm saved for over-shot jump muck-ups. For good-natured fast and flowing trail riding, the Fox 32 was ideal. But with the capability of the frame, the Torrent is crying out for a Fox 34, to really let you unleash your inner enduro-pinner.

With its sturdily built frame, the Torrent was never going to win any lightweight competitions, and we couldn’t care less (regular readers will know we don’t think weight plays a very important role in how capable a mountain bike is, up or down). At just under 32 pounds with pedals, adding a touch more with a slightly heavier fork and wider tougher rims isn’t going to make any discernible negative impact, but it would make some noticeable improvements.

Leaving aside our wish for components that could match the capability of the frame, the

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AVANTI TORRENT 2 27.5Torrent will still support you in your quest for on-bike fun-times straight out of the box. The 27.5 wheels allow for chainstays that are short enough to make popping the front wheel easy enough, yet still keep it planted for confident cornering on flat corners. It doesn’t mow through things like a 29er’s wheels can, but then it’s also easier to chuck into a corner suddenly.

Aside from wishing for some burlier bits, were there any flies in the ointment? For a New Zealand designed bike, we were surprised to see limited rear tyre clearance in the chainstays. We did get some pretty big rubber in there, but we noted some rubber marks on the right chainstay where clearance is particularly tight and the wheel had flexed the tyre into the frame. We also didn’t have a good time with the E13 chainguide. It’s hard to say whether it was damaged in a crash (yeah, we did go OTT a couple of times), but after a week or so of getting along very nicely indeed, it became the bane of our existence, regularly dropping the chain, causing a weird kind of chain-suck and generally being a PITA. We had it seen to by a competent mechanic (not one us monkey-fisted testers), but by the last week of the test-period it was

hanging on by the skin of its teeth. Maybe it was an anomaly. We’ve got the Avanti Coppermine here for review next, with the same chainguide, so we’ll see how that one goes…

Of course, it needs a dropper-post too and we fitted one for most of the review, but leaving it to the buyer to choose their own, or fit one they already own, is a reasonable position to take on a $4,500 bike.

Overall, the Torrent was a strange bike to review. It is a great trail bike as is, but because the frame is so capable, we felt it outstripped the gnarliness capability of some of its key parts, and that made us wish for a more bad-ass build kit. On the plus side, we reckon the Torrent would be ideal for a rider looking to get straight on a great trail bike, build their skills, and as parts wear out (as bike-bits are wont to do) replace them with burlier versions, allowing the Torrent to progress in-step with the rider. Either way, we reckon the Torrent is a great trail bike, well suited to the majority of trail riders, and aside from any national pride considerations, we think it deserves to be out there under more New Zealand riders on its own merit.

SIZES S-38cm, M-43cm, L-48cm

COLOUR Black/Orange

FRAME ADT 6061 Ultralite Hydroformed Alloy, 27.5” 140mm Travel

FORK Fox 32 Float CTD, 140mm, 1.5” Taper, 15mm Axle, 3 Position CTD Damper

FRONT DERAILLEUR SRAM X-7 Direct Mount

REAR DERAILLEUR SRAM X-9 Type 2

SHIFTERS SRAM X-7 20 Speed

CRANKSET E-Thirteen TRS, P3 30mm Alloy Spindle, 38/24T

BRAKES Shimano Deore M615 Hydraulic Disc, 180/160mm Rotors

WHEELSET / RIMS Mavic Crossride Wheelset, 15mm/12x142

CASSETTE SRAM PG-1050 Cassette, 12-36T 10-Speed

HANDLEBAR Zero Strike Pro Butted Alloy 31.8mm

HANDLEBAR STEM Zero Strike Pro 31.8mm Alloy Ahead

HEADSET FSA Orbit 1.5E ZS Threadless

GRIPS Zero Force Dual Lock-on

TYRES Kenda Honey Badger 27.5 x 2.20, Folding Bead

SADDLE Zero Zealth Pro, Cr-mo Rail

SEAT POST Zero Strike Pro 30.9mm

BOTTOM BRACKET E-Thirteen Press Fit F30

CHAIN SRAM PC-1051

REAR SHOCK Fox Evolution Float CTD, Custom Tune, 3 Position CTD Damper

EXTRAS E-Thirteen TRS Dual Guide

WEIGHT 13.9kg (30.5 pounds) w/o pedals

PRICE $4500

SUPPLIED BY Sheppard Industries

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