My cockpit is set up fairly tall and wide to favor technical descents. I have a tall stack of spacers between my headset and stem, and run 760mm Raceface Atlas bars with a half inch of rise. Although I started out with a 50mm stem on the bike, I’ve since brought it down to 30mm. This setup is particularly confidence-boosting when navigating some of Colorado Springs’ ledgy and steep lines.
The biggest disadvantage here is that this high and wide cockpit causes the front end to wander a bit on some of the steeper climbs in the Front Range, which is why I rely heavily on the Pike’s travel adjust to drop the front end 30mm on extended uphills.
I’m currently running 2015 Magura MT5 NEXT brakes, set up with 203mm front and 180mm rear rotors. They’re incredibly powerful and modulate well. They’ve also been on the bike for nearly a year, and haven’t required any maintenance beyond pad replacement.
If I was going to change one thing about my setup on the Zeus, it would be the rear shock. The Monarch is a good shock, but I often feel like running it on this bike pushes it to the edge of its intended use. It heats up a lot on long descents and isn’t very adjustable or progressive. The highly tunable Cane Creek DBInline or DBAir CS are high on my list as potential replacements.
As long as we’re getting into nit-picky details, I will say that dropper posts have been a bit of an issue for me. I’m currently running the KS LEV, which is infinitely adjustable and user friendly. Removing the post is as easy as unhooking the cable from the actuator at the post’s collar – a feature that I’m constantly thankful for, as I often have to put my bike in a box to travel.
That said, I’ve had multiple mechanical issues with the LEV that have required servicing, so it’s not what I would consider a perfect post. But other posts that might be more reliable — such as the Rockshox Reverb — lack some of the user-friendliness that KS offers, so I’ll be continuing to run the LEV for the time being.
On the Trail
The Zeus is my go-to trail bike. It’s the kind of bike that begs you to take risks, whether that’s charging brakeless down a section of trail you’ve never ridden before, or trying to gap the entire rock garden that everyone else just rolled through.
In two years, it has seen everything from 8000 vertical foot shuttle runs in Colorado, to wet and sloppy tech in BC, to some of Utah’s rowdy old-school freeride trails.
Additionally, it sees a fair bit of park riding during the summer, and even gets entered in the occasional DH race.
Climbing on the Zeus is fairly efficient, but certainly not quick and snappy. The suspension linkage is a single-pivot design that doesn’t bob much during seated climbing, but definitely doesn’t reward standing up and sprinting the way a VPP linkage might. Sprinting up a climb just isn’t something I try to do on this bike, and I’m pretty okay with that. I’ve actually grown to love picking my way up extremely techy climbs, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can climb pretty much anything on the Zeus that I could on a full on XC whip.
I’ve also found that the Zeus truly shines when I take it on mountain biking road trips. If you’re at all like my buddies and me, a road trip involves camping or driving all night, riding all day, and doing your best to ignore whatever terrible weather Mother Nature sends your way. Washing bikes is often not an option. Usually around day 4, my friends’ bikes are clogged with dirt and mud, creaking on every pedal stroke, and shifting badly. The Zeus, on the other hand, will usually require no more than a bit of chain lube to be ready for yet another day of thrashing.
In a few years, it may be time to get a new all-mountain bike – probably something I’d build up to be lighter and more flickable by opting for a carbon frame and a derailleur. This future bike will probably be more efficient than the Zeus, but at the cost of some durability and reliability. But even if this new bike is more capable than my current setup, I expect to keep the Zeus around for years to come since I think I’ll always love having a bike that can handle so much abuse without complaint.
Cool,
Although I don’t do this type biking at 59 I enjoyed your article. You kept me engaged with your knowledge of the equipment and willingness to share how you chose to build your bike. Keep riding