Ryve 115 29 Demo Ride

You know those new carbon plate running shoes that have been shattering marathon records due to their soles’ increased energy return? Demo’ing the Living Link on the Ryve kind of felt like that… That’s the best analogy I can think of to describe the unique ride of the Ryve – it feels like it returns the energy from suspension compression into a little nudge forward. For as well as the bike climbs, it’s so much fun descending too! Very stable at speed and the Living Link gives a little extra nudge, again, to power out of corners and pop over features. The Ryve impressed me as an ideal bike for technical XC marathon races and all-terrain backcountry epics - both capable like a trail bike, and easy climbing like an XC bike.

The demo experience was smooth as well. The bike was waiting for me when I arrived, Spot gladly helped with some small adjustments I requested, and I was out riding within 10 minutes, followed by a thoughtful and informative ride debrief with Spot when I returned.

A pocket rocket, every nudge on the pedals means Go! If the ups are more important than the downs, you want a smooth ride over moderate terrain and have the skill to move when the terrain gets chunky, this is your bike. It wants to go fast. Most of the fun, point it at most anything personality of a trail bike, but far lighter and more maneuverable. Most of the speed of a true cross country racer, without the twitchy steering. Sound fun? The Ryve may be your bike. Way different than a Yeti SB115, which feels slower, but plusher. Honestly, this feels as efficient as my hardtail while climbing, but without getting shaken like a hardtail either up or down.

This is an amazing bike. It climbs very efficiently, is a blast on the downhills, and is just fast everywhere. This is the first full suspension bike I've had that climbs like a hardtail, plus it is just a blast to ride. The details are really well thought out on this bike and Andrew and his team are wonderful to deal with. I've ridden a ton of endurance races and this should be at the top of your list to consider. It's great to support local companies like Spot and the service level is fantastic.

PR'd every uphill segment I rode. Fast and responsive!

I demoed the Spot Ryve 115 on Green Mountain, just a few miles away from Spot's corporate headquarters in Golden, CO. The ride started with a climb, which, initially, sold me on the bike. It is a spectacular climber! There was no noticeable pedal-induced bob in the rear suspension. The trail was dry with intermediate levels of chunky rocks. The Ryve's rear tire never lost traction. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm erupted near the peak, and I quickly had to make my way down the mountain. This involved taking a lesser-groomed trail down. Perhaps it was the headtube angle or my lack of confidence on an unfamiliar bike or the unintentional trail's angle of descent, but descending felt "twitchy" to me. Having lots of saddle time with an Ibis Ripley v4, I immediately missed its descending prowess. In my opinion, if the Ryve 115 were to slacken its head tube angle by 0.5 degrees, this bike would be an unbeatable trail bike. I recommend it if climbing is your thing, but there are better bikes for descending.