Leonard, Nick, and Aaron,
I’m sure there were many more people involved but yours are the only names I have. Thank you for my 2XL Draft! The bike is an absolute revelation to ride.
I’m 6’6”, 220 pounds, have long arms and legs, and have been riding MTB bikes for 37 years now (yep, I’m old). I only rode road bikes (a semi custom ’95 Merckx with an MX Leader frame and full Campy group) on occasion. I did have a 24” Ventana “El Ray” but after 3 broken chain stays, I sold that bike. I also had a single speed 24” Ventana “El Commandante” but after snapping the downtube on it on a ride, have ridden the replacement far less.
The Draft is amazing in how it fits me! For the first time ever, I actually have the sensation of being “in” the bike vs perched on top of it. It was incredibly comfortable on the first ride. On top of that, the 200mm cranks are also amazing! At first, it felt strange how much higher my knees were at the top of the pedal stroke but I quickly realized that the longer cranks made the bike far easier to accelerate, easier to climb, easier to maintain a cadence, and soon just felt “right”. Coupled with the wheel build (36H Velocity Aileron rims, Clydesdale hub), it is very responsive with very little flex out of the saddle but the ride (40mm tires) isn’t that far off from a steel frame in compliance. Tracks dead on with zero head shake at any speed, even with hands off the bars.
Thanks again, to all involved. It took a long time to get the bike (the COVID pandemic has screwed up supply chains in the bike industry pretty badly from what I’ve been told and seen) but it was completely worth the wait! I guess a Zinn MTB is in my future now.
Take care,
Robert
