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Update from Gilligan… indeed it is an awesome ride. Total comfort, total speed. It stays glued to the trail… except, of course, when it’s in the air… and that was pretty often today. It was the most fun I’ve had on a bike in ages. It was almost like cheating after years on a Litespeed hardtail. I am an old codger now, so I need the plushness of 5.5″ of air suspension.

Jamis have really stepped it up in the freeride and dirt jump department for 2008. My son and I had the chance to extensively test the Kromo and Parker II at the demo day last week. I must say, I was impressed by both bikes… here’s my reviews.Both of these rigs were designed with input from slopestyle madman Jordie Lunn, and I’m pretty sure he’d feel comfortable doing his wacked out 360 flips and monster gap jumps on these machines.

Both bikes are in the 34-35 pound range, which is not so bad for a dual suspension freerider, but might seem a little hefty for a single-speed dirtjumper.

Versatility by Design

Review by Gilligan

Parker

The Parker II is set up as an all-mountain rig that leans heavily toward the freeride side. Other builds in the Parker line include a slopestyle jumper, 4X gate-racer setup (Parker III) and a 3-ring all-mountain ride (Parker I).

• multi-link 7005 aluminum frame with oversize, gusseted headtube
• Rock Shox Domain Fork, with travel adjust, 35mm stanchions, 20mm axle
• dual front chainrings with bashguard
• 31.8mm Syncros bar and stem
• Hayes hydraulic disc brakes with 185mm front rotor

The key to this formula is the Rock Shox Domain fork, which has a very simple travel adjust that takes it from 115-160mm. Raise the seat, and a few turns of the fork adjuster totally change the geometry from slacker freeride dropoff monster to aggressive trailbike, with the bars a couple inches lower than the saddle. Like the Kromo, there is no discernible flex in this beefy frame and fork, though the 100mm of rear travel definitely takes the edge off of all trail bumps and also does an acceptable job of soaking up dropoffs.

The RockShox Lyric fork’s enormous 20mm thru-axle really keeps the front wheel tracking true, and the 185mm front rotor allows the Hayes disc brakes to stop on a dime if you are too scared to hit the new gap jump at Raccoon Mtn. Yeah, I chickened out, but I can vouch for the bike’s jumpability because one of the teenage dudes who was swapping bikes with us sailed over the gap easily on his first attempt.

The Parker is not a downhill bike with 7 inches of travel, but for the majority of riders, the 4 inches of rear-end motion will do the job. I can see this bike as a fun trail bike, with the beef to handle anything you throw at it if you decide to hit a few jumps, drops or even blaze off-trail straight down the side of the hill. I can see taking this thing on all-day excursions… it’s so versatile and fun to play with. In short-fork high-saddle mode, it climbs like a bulldozer and rails like a bobsled. In long-travel mode with the saddle dropped to the frame, it just wants to go fast downhill and up in the air.

I will gripe about the pedals. The Parker is the kind of bike you want to ride with skate shoes, but the stock pedals are just not flat or supportive enough and they will kill your feet unless you are sporting hiking boots. The only other component choice I would question is the crank & bottom bracket. They don’t seem quite burly enough compared with the rest of the package, but they would be a fairly simple replacement item along with the pedals.

Check the full specs at JamisBikes.com

Review by Gilligan

Kromo

The Kromo is specifically designed for dirt jumping:

• burly 4130 chromoly steel frame
• SR Duro DJ-D 100mm fork
• stout, 3-piece WheelPro cromoly cranks
• tiny, heavily padded SDG I-Beam saddle
• 31.8mm Syncros Bulk bar (Wiiiiiiide) and stem

The Kromo is a fun little bike on the trail, with very quick handling due to the super short chainstays and wheelbase. This bike launches skyward at every opportunity, which is a good thing because it is so unforgivably stiff that it will beat you to death if you neglect to bunny hop every other rock in the trail.

There is literally no discernable flex in the entire bike… not even at the bottom bracket. All that stiffness translates to a very surefooted feel on the trail, but it is not very forgiving if you case or drop to flat. But hey, this is not a freerider, nor is it a cross-country racer. It’s purpose-built for dirt jumping.

Willigan was launching every jump on the trail, and he always seemed to get back on line easily, even with the very slippy dry leaves that covered the trails at Raccoon Mtn. He rode the bike pretty much all day, so I’d say he’s sold on it.

I came away very impressed with the SR Duro fork. SR/Suntour has come a long way in the fork department. I’d cautiously say this unit rivals the older DirtJumper Series from Marzocchi, though the SR is not nearly as progressive as the newer ‘Zokes.

About the only components I had issue with were the pedals and grips… I’d go with some nicer Azonic pedals with a bit flatter cages to save the old feet, and likewise with the grips… this thing is begging for some wired-on Ourys, Yeti LockOns or similar fatass grips to deal with the vibrations coming up through the frame… plus you’ll want some endcaps after a couple of bails or the bars will be holepunchers.

Interestingly, the frame comes set up with a chainguide mount and rear derailleur hanger… so you could set it up as a gate racer or hardtail freerider. You’d also want to bolt on a front brake, but it’s ready for that as well. The large size frame (still pretty small for those of us coming from the oldschool XC world) feels like it could handle a taller fork, like maybe in the 120-130mm range if you are looking for slacker handling and more travel.

Check out the full specs at JamisBikes.com

Extended Testing Reveals…

This thing is great fun. I went ahead and got it for Will for Christmas, but I did take it for an extended urban ride a few days prior to the gifting.

I hit some of the bigger loading docks and a few downtown dropoffs, and I have to admit I need a bike like this. As much fun as it is to get out on the mountain bike for a long trail ride, it’s not always practical, especially during the winter months of early darkness. The urban assault ride is a great skill builder, and this genre of bike excels at, well, let’s just come right out and call it hooliganism.

I also got the chance to do a high-speed bomb down a steep gravel forest road. The Kromo was very predictable and confident, easily launching off water bars, railing berms, drifting corners. Pure unadulterated joy on that run.

I priced a few similar rigs at some internerd outlets, and it appears the Kromo is an excellent bargain at $775 retail. Similar rigs build out at $1200 plus… you are unlikely to find a better bargain on a burley little jumper bike.

Everything on the bike seems well suited to its purpose, but I still have to criticize the wheelset. Granted, this was a demo bike and had seen a small bit of test riding… but the wheels were a disaster. Tons of loose spokes, especially in the high-stress back wheel. The wheelset itself has decent enough components, with oversized hubs, heavy duty spokes and extra-long nipples, but I guess the machine that built them was having an off day. Still, nothing that could not be fixed with a spoke wrench and 5 minutes’ work.

Another miss is the stem. It has very exposed bolts on the rear which stick out and inevitably come into contact with kneecaps at inopportune moments. final criticism goes to the setup on the rear brake rotor. It slips a bit on the hub, so when you rock back for a wheel hop, it creaks loudly. I disassembled it, liberally lock-tited all of the screws and let it dry for an hour or so… but it still slips. Not sure whether to blame the rotor or the hub, but something needs to change. I’m going to try an OG Hayes rotor to see if it works better.

Plus side

• Awesomely tough frame with great geometry
• Nicely adjustable and good-feeling fork
• Burly tubular cromoly crankset
• SDG I-beam post & saddle

Being negative

• Knee-killer stem
• Get a grip — really!
• Loosey goosey wheel build
• Noisy rear brake rotor