My New KTM Myroon Prestige Mountain Bike

KTM Myroon Prestige Hardtail Mountain Bike

The Bike

I have been riding a Specialized S-Works Epic since the very first one was released and even before that I rode a Specialized FSR, I need to go back to 1994 and my Trek 9900 to find myself riding a hardtail bike. This year I opted for a change and applied to be an Ambassador for KTM Bikes, same name as the motorcyles, factories in the same city, but completely different and seperate companies.  For the past 10 years I have worn the orange of Cycletherapy Bikes, the owner Ernie and his staff have always been nothing but wonderful to me, going that extra mile when I needed help with bikes, parts, etc, they helped me be prepared and finish so many races, and I want to Thank him for all that he has done over the years.  I am now an Ambassador for KTM bicycles, they are trying to get a footprint here in the US and very big in Europe, headquartered in Austria. A month ago I sold my Epic  and was ready to ride a KTM I was really looking at their full suspension bike the Scarp  a really good looking bike, but at the time I was ready to order none were available in my size so I opted to order the Myroon Prestige Carbon Hardtail Framset with a Fox 32 K Float SC Fork, a top of the line XC race frame and fork, wanted to build the rest of the bike myself, I love building up bikes!  The past few weeks have been exciting times coming home every day and having new parts to play with, the bike build is as follows:

Frame: KTM Myroon Prestige 15" frame
Fork: Fox 32 K Float SC w/Kashima coating
Drivetrain: Shimano GX Eagle DUB, Boost, 1 x 12
Brakes: Shimano XT BR-M8000 Disk Brakes
Seat Post: Truvativ Noir T40 Carbon
Handlebar: Truvativ Noir T30 Flat Bar

Stem: KTM Prim +/- 6 deg 110 mm
Pedals: Shimano XTR
Saddle: Ergon SMR3 Pro
Grips: Ergon GA3 Orange
Wheels: borrowing a set of Stans No Tubes MK3 Arch Wheels

So there you have the build, the bike is just over 19 lbs the top of the line KTM Myroon weighs in at just about 18 lbs super light for sure. I didnt go for top of the line parts but I didnt build the bike cheap either it was a happy medium.

The Ride

So after a week of assembling in the basement I was excited to try out my Myroon, I am lucky to live 1/2 mile from a set of rail trails that can take me to 4-5 parks with singletrack trails and miles of dirt roads. On July 14 I took her out for the maiden voyage, my very initial thoughts were that this bike doesnt really feel much different from my previous XC full suspension bike, probably because my old bike had brain technology so that it rode like a hardtail on flat surfaces. As I kept riding I noticed that on some of the washboard bumps I could feel the back end of the bike drop in but other than that I was really enjoying myself. Since that initial ride I have ridden the Myroon 4 more times on singletrack, backroads, two track, needless to say I have really tested the bike on different terrain. More thoughts since July 14th, the frame is bit longer than my pervious bike and it climbs like a mountain goat, no lightness at all in the front, the bike is light nimble, and steady even on the roughest of climbs, some of this has to do with my wheels but I will get to that. The bike is fun to ride in singletrack and corners really well, one place I did notice a bit of a differance was on technical downhills but it was much less than I anticipated, I think this is because the wheelset I borrowed from a friend has 26 mm rims which allows me to run 2.25-2.5 tires, much bigger than I ever used for XC racing, I've been riding them with 20 lbs of pressure and they do a great job of sucking up whatever the trail throws at me, again only a slight difference between this bike and FS, so later when I get my wheels I am going with what I have now, I'm really enjoying the wider tires they sure help with the ride. My last bike was set up for races like the Leadville Trail 100 or Bike 4 Peaks in Europe, I ran Shimano XTR 2 x 11 with a Hope T-Rex 40 tooth expander this allowed me to ride in my big ring 90% of the time, on the Myroon I went with SRAM Eagle GX 1 x 12  which has a cassette range of 10-50 and I love it!  I'm sure I could climb just about anything and still have small enough gearing for the flats, it shifts really smooth once I correctly dialed it in.  Overall I real happy with the change in bikes and want to Thank KTM Bikes for the opptunity of being an Ambassador, I look forward to riding lots and lots of miles and throw in some racing here and there, and if you see me on the trail and want to try out an excellent XC bike, just ask!!