iklan 6 DIAMONDBACK HAANJO COMP - bicycling24

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Sunday, March 25, 2018

DIAMONDBACK HAANJO COMP


IN 2014, I said in a review of the then-new Haanjo Comp that “it isn’t built for a singu-lar purpose, but it is remark-ably capable at a lot of different kinds of ride experiences.” Four years later, I wanted to check out that assertion. Had the bike changed? Had my percep-tions? Or did it still ring true? Call the current edition a 2017.5 model year. Diamond-back revamped much of the Haanjo line for 2018, but not the aluminum Comp; this holdover might be our favor-ite in the lineup and makes improvements over the pre-vious version (see chart).

The 2014 version was a little confused, geometry-wise, with a cyclocross-ish lower stack and gravel-ish long wheelbase. It also had a (mostly) hardworking parts kit straining to fit inside its price range. Now, the geom-etry has settled, with a more upright rider position meant for long days on variable terrain, and stable, reassured steering that felt great whether I was picking my way up rocky sin-gletrack or speeding down the paved descent on the other side.
iklan 3
The parts are sterling: a SRAM Apex 1x11 drivetrain and full hydraulic disc brakes, with a cockpit and rims from Hed. I was never overgeared, even on steep, loose climbs. On the road, the gearing jumps were mostly manageable, pro-vided I was happy to cruise at my own pace; fast groups on hilly terrain might be a differ-ent story. The 38mm Kenda Flintridge tires (testers rave on page 74!) roll surprisingly well on pavement and have sure grip on gravelly trails.

The Haanjo Comp is still broadly capable for gravel and adventure riding or commut-ing, with a sturdy frame, full fenders, and rack eyelets (we’d love a third bottle-cage mount). And the move to thru-axles is welcome, but also the source of our lone hangup with the bike: The axle nuts on the fork and rear dropout are not attached to the frame; a simple O-ring holds them loosely in place. When fixing a front flat trail-side, the nut fell out at some point and was lost in the grass.

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Ride over. This is a design flaw we’ve addressed once before with Diamondback on a dif-ferent model, and we’re disap-pointed it hasn’t been fixed. The updated Haanjo Comp is still a good bike and an excel-lent value that will adeptly take on all kinds of all-road adventures. In fact, this is even more true than it was the last time I tested this bike. Just remember to bring a spare axle nut.

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