Initial Impressions

The first thing I noticed was a really stiff front end. The steering felt very precise and defined. I was riding "Point and Shoot" style and getting away with it. The other big difference was a huge increase in bottom bracket and rear end stiffness. When out of the saddle climbing it felt very stable. It was like all of my pedal power was going straight to turning the rear wheel.

When descending the rear end did not feel dead but instead snappy and was easy to through around when preforming cutties and rear wheel lifts. Cornering felt about the same but it was hard to really tell due to the slopping and icy conditions. The geometry is unchanged from the Paragon so I guess I'll hype up the new handling characteristics to the rear end stiffness.

Fatttt BB junction = Uber stiff

The Superfly has much narrower stays than the Paragon but still has ample clearance for mud and the occasional critter that may happen to pass through... poor chippies. With less mud clearance comes more heel clearance though. Not once on my ride did I have my shoes rub the stays, two thumbs up on this one.

The new Bontrager XXX lite grips are my new favorite part on this bike other than the frame. They weigh 15g and are nicely shaped (similar to skinny the ESI grips) but will require gluing to keep for moving once I find the perfect position for them.