JesseN wrote:
Any thoughts on something like the Diamondback Haanjo Trail? Not something I'd normally consider, but just found out I have access to a pretty good deal on them that might tip the balance.
I realize it's an old thread, but I have a Haanjo Trail and have been quite happy. The parts spec was unbeatable for the money. Here in the Northern Midwest we do have hills and impressive unpaved routes. We get to play on the same roads utilized for the Rapha Prestige Midwest. Having something I didn't mind locking up outside at work, getting wet, or beating up on has been nice. I also did about a dozen cx races this year on it.
I'll try to be quick since it's an oldish thread
2015 Haanjo Trail
Frame It's big, but doesn't fit big. The reach of my 59 Haanjo is identical to the reach of my large Giant Defy. The Haanjo has 15mm taller stack which has turned out to be perfect. I saw a couple forums saying the frame ran small and I disagree. If you need reach, error towards a larger size. If you need less stack, error towards a smaller size. It's strong. It's really nice to look at. DB did an excellent job blending raw metal and some design. If it didn't say 'Diamondback' on it, it would be even more popular. The chainstay is about the same as all the current gravel and cx bikes. No issues shouldering. The frame is so large you could probably leave your bottle cages on for races. There's also a mount for a 3rd bottle cage underneath the frame. Great tire clearance except the arm of the front derailleur (in big ring and not adjusted absolutely perfectly) would buzz the side knobs of the 40mm tires. Gobs of tire clearance front and back. You could run 2.0's in dry conditions. There's a small frame bridge behind the bottom bracket that has collected mud in the worst conditions.The smaller frame sizes have a slacker head angle and same trail which could/should slow down steering a little. Probably a good gravel bike trait, not sure if it's a good cx bike trait. We see mt bikes going slacker. Some new cx frames like the Focus Mares are going slacker too. Smarter people than myself on the forums can go into better detail.
Wheels The wheels were a pleasant surprise. They aren't super lightweight, but they have a ~21mm inner rim diameter and have stayed very true under 185-190lbs of rider. They went tubeless (with a compressor) with two wraps of Stan's 25mm tape, valves and the stock tires. I tried seating them tubeless with the stock tape and got nowhere. Building up the tape even a little more than two wraps might ease tubeless install pains. The tires aren't tubeless specific, but they have been great in every aspect of being tubeless from 30-45psi. Haven't gone above or below. No issues on xc trails, descending unpaved roads or the couple dry cx races they did. They have been exposed to some pretty silly conditions. HED says they are just an OEM version of their Ardennes and meant for riders up to 250lbs. I have some 28mm Turbos to try on there soon. I also used Stan's Crest rims laced to BHS hubs for cx racing.
Components The brakes are pretty dang good after replacing the crap cable housing with something compressionless like Jaguar. I also put in metallic pads from TruckerCo after blowing through pads in a nasty Halloween race. The rear rotor was upgraded to a 160mm too. Just small tips on getting really good performance from the TRP HY/RDs.
Ultegra is awesome, so we'll leave it at that. No complaints with the cranks. Great shifting. It's interesting they have a threaded BSA bottom bracket, but spec the bike with a BB386EVO crank. Excellent call. The bottom bracket has been great and has seen it's fair share of muck. I threw on a Rotor 3d30 crank (with a P2M from another bike) and went 1x for racing. A RaceFace NW 40t front and 11-32 is a pretty great range. Do yourself a favor and move the rear derailleur's cage tension to the higher tension setting if you are going to play offroad. I definitely prefer the 2x for almost all other riding though.
Saddles and handlebars are personal but they have been keepers for me. The seat measures ~145 and has a fairly flat profile. I was as surprised as could be how well it worked for a couple 5 hour rides. I never used the seatpost since I had a carbon fiber one sitting unused. I would like to go to a zero offset post to counteract that 72 degree seat angle, but have just been running the saddle forward a bit. I swapped the stem for something slightly longer and swear I noticed less flex in the new stem.
I didn't get along well with the headset, but it's still on there.
Finish Hard to find any complaints. Diamondback was on my radar after buying a 2015 Sortie for a steal. That bike had a few build/finish/quality issues. This bike doesn't. Other than the white shifter hoods needing constant cleaning, I can't fault anything else. I kept the bar tape and it re-wrapped just fine after changing brake cables.
Ride Quality It's an aluminum frame without a bunch of compliance built in to it. Run those tires in the 30-45psi range and the ride quality will feel great. Run the tires hard (losing most of the benefits of the bigger tires) and it will feel rougher than most other bikes.
If I could change anything, it would be to have the Shimano hydraulic brake/shifters (The TRP's work great now, but required a bit of playing around with and buying extra stuff) and to get rid of the white fork and shifter hoods on a bike meant to get dirty. That's exactly what they did with the 2016 version!