TESTED: Mondraker Crafty XR 29

Mondraker have been at the forefront of bike design for some time, their ‘forward geometry’ and shortened stems make them stand out. Magazines and websites, much like ourselves, have raved about this and despite many companies sharing similar ideas in secret, the concept has never truly caught on with the general public. The designers behind such endeavours started out on the downhill platform Summum before integrating it right throughout the range.

Mondraker is new to Australia shores and for our first dip in the range we were given a top of the line Crafty, a 29er, all-mountain weapon in medium. Stocked with some of the best components in the business, like a RockShox Pike up front, a SRAM and RaceFace drivetrain, RockShox Reverb dropper and Formula brakes, this steed is ready for the trails.

First Impressions

I’m wary of 29er enduro and trail bikes. Their shortened wheelbases that mimic 26” and that easy going feel has had me unwittingly on my arse a few times. For many of these companies, the same design practices from a 26” bike feel as if they have been transferred, not converted to the larger wheel size of the 29er bikes. From looking at the geometry Mondraker seem to have avoided this. The wheel base remains short but this effect seems offset by the ‘Forward Geometry’, a longer top tube and a shortened stem, putting the rider much more front and centre in the steering.

The bottom bracket measures in at 343mm, quite low slung for a 29er and coupled with the ‘Forward Geo’ should put you right in the thick of it for cornering. The ‘Zero Suspension’ design is part of the virtual pivot system world and promotes everything zero. Zero unwanted pedal power loss, zero pedal kickback and zero brake jack. One thing I noticed when setting up sag was the exposed nature of the shock to the rear wheel. It currently looks like an easy target for mud.

The Mondraker employees responsible for the spec on the Crafty XR sure knew what they were doing. Treading a fine line, they’ve managed to pull together some of the top stuff in the game. The RaceFace cranks and wide-narrow chain ring are new to me but the SRAM X1 11-speed shifter and derailleur are trustworthy. The range might be an issue at 32t to 10- 42, it runs the risk of spinning out.

Traction is controlled by a pair of tubeless Mavic CrossRocs with Maxxis Highrollers front and rear. The High Rollers seem a little overkill for a 130mm bike but I was taking this to New Zealand – when is too much traction a bad thing? The contact points are handled by in-house Mondraker product with bar, stem and seat all covered.

On The Trail

I probably spent more time on the Crafty than any other bike I’ve tested at AMB, it was with me throughout my month long trip to New Zealand and another month taking on my local trail network. In that time I’ve taken on steep trails, loamy trails, sandy trails, rocky and wet trails, almost anything a rider would or could encounter in the lifetime of this bike.

Harking from a downhill background, 29ersare alien to me at the best of times but the Crafty has given me something to barrack for. Jumping on for the first time, the cockpit felt a little stretched thanks to the Forward Geo and I found myself much more upright. The first quality MTB ride was at FourForty MTB Park and I was a little apprehensive about laying into corners on the 29er straight away, with steep rollovers and at times deep entry, razor thin berms. It was a sharp learning curve but as the trip progressed so too did my confidence in this rig. It wasn’t faltering, and did nothing to support my bias.

Forward Geometry puts you more directly over the steering and when push came to shove, I really found that the Crafty was there for me, more so than any other 29er I’ve ridden before. Some thanks can also be given to the low-slung bottom bracket, giving you a nice even weight distribution and truly planting the bike in turns.

This bike is a remarkable climber, thanks again to the ‘Forward Geo’ which puts your weight front and centre, giving you an aggressive climbing position. I found the 32 tooth ring to 10 – 42 cassette had a gear for any climbing situation but I quickly ran through it on the descent, often spinning out on the higher speed Rotorua trails.

On the other hand the stock Maxxis Highrollers are the reverse. An excellent choice for descending but it often felt like there was much more effort being expended climbing with them, if I were to keep this bike I would opt for something a little more trail oriented. This is an easy change.

The Pike and Float work perfectly together, the ‘Zero Suspension System’ is predictable. You will never have an issue with tracking on the trail and bar adjusting sag and pressure, there was little to worry about with the suspension. The Formula CR1 brakes were strong and reliable, they do make a hell of a lot of noise in the wet though. With easily removable brake lines, it also made bike transport easy as 29ers don’t always pack so small.

The true test for me was whether it could handle tight singletrack, there is a corner track near home that is excellent on getting a bearing on something like this. Quite often 29ers feel like they are dancing through corners and not quite sticking, the Crafty is different. The Crafty feels like a much smaller bike, it sticks in the corners and the Mondraker 30mm almost direct stem and 770mm bars helps you shift and turn the bike like no other. No matter how sharp the corner the bike feels locked in and on track.

The only real issue frame wise with the Crafty is the quick release rear end, which unless checked frequently will come loose. As it very nearly did on me. It seems odd that they didn’t opt for a bolt through, despite the short travel.

Our Take

It’s hard to find a 29er all-mountain bike that doesn’t feel like a beefed up cross-country bike. The 130mm Mondraker Crafty is an all-mountain bike through and through, it will take you a little time to get used to that ‘Forward Geometry’ but once you have, you will have a bike you will want to ride every single day. With a tight component package there is very little you will have to change, if at all, as well.