2007 Brodie Dissident
Areas of Expertise:
If you’re looking for a multi-purpose bike, this very well might be the bike for you. The Brodie Dissident teamed with the 2007 Rockshox suspension excels in a lot of varying riding situations. The bike is easy to dial in to do dirt jumping one day, and trail riding the next. The Dissident comes with Kenda Nevegal 2.5″ DH tires and DH tubes. We swapped these out for some Kenda small block 8’s and immediately reaped the benefits. Brodie does however have a build kit option that fits 4x more that include the 2.35 Small Block tires and at a weight of around 33lbs.
4x / Dual Slalom
- This bike is strong and built tough. Teamed with the Pearl shock, the rear suspension only came in when it was absolutely needed. The Pike, while nice, felt under sprung but tuning the floodgate helped assist in making it stiffer. I would’ve preferred an air Pike for easier tunability. The bottom bracket height was very low (12″ - 12.5″) and it was easy to get into the corners and out of them with ease. At close to 39lbs the Dissident needs a diet if you’re going to use this as a 4x racer. The bike was a bit sluggish with the big DH tires, but immediately upon changing them to lighter counterparts, it not only lost over 3lbs of rotating mass, but it was a lot snappier. The bike, even with smaller tires was still not as snappy as the purebred 4x bikes. Looking at the Dissident as a 4x bike, I felt it was not as easy to get it on the rear wheel as I would have liked and the balance point felt off to truly shine as a 4x winner. It rips corners and can handle the jumps with ease but it’s the snap out of the gate and nimble rear wheel maneuverability that it is lacking.
Slopestyle
- The Dissident can easily shine as a slopestyle bike. The rear end felt very stable, and takes flight with ease. Whether you’re in the air or on the ground, the Dissident doesn’t stray off the path you direct for it. The Dissident is very strong and can take a beating with its oversized and reinforced tubes. The Dissident easily pops out of corners and is an easy bike to preload for whatever your plans might be in the air. The Pearl rear shock is easy to dial in and even has an internal bumper (isolite cushion) that most air shocks lack to protect the shock in the event that you do bottom it out. The Pike fork might need a stiffer coil depending on your weight as I felt it was under sprung. The floodgate on the Pike can help alleviate this but I’d get a stiffer coil to start off with as it was too plush for my weight (80kg).
Trail Riding
- The roots of the Dissident came from their all mountain bike so it comes to no surprise that it;s a very capable trail riding bike. The rear end is stiff and loves to be thrown into and out of the corners and teamed with the Rockshox Pearl shock, you can fine tune the ride to be supple or very firm without any tools. The floodgate is easy to adjust on the fly and each click is noticeable and can fit your desired ride. The Rockshox Pike fork itself is beneficial as well since you can adjust the fork to 95-140mm of travel with its U-Turn. Swapping out the tires and downhill tubes immediately made the bike snapper and more nimble on the trail. The other thing to keep in mind is the gearing on the Dissident. It comes with a 12-25t cassette and you’ll probably want a bigger cassette if you’re going to be trail riding this bike with its 36t chain ring. The seat post collar also wasn’t the best construction and it would be in your best interest to swap it out.
Dirt Jumping
- The Dissident is a balanced bike and its geometry is very friendly to jumping. The Pike shock can be dialed down to 95mm with the U-Turn. Adjusting the floodgate on both shock and fork can easily stiffen up the bike as much as is needed.
Downhill’s
- The Dissident can handle some mild downhilling so long as you pick your lines carefully. Teamed with the 2.5″ Nevegals and downhill tubes, traction wasn’t a problem. With 4.5″ of rear travel, the Dissident is not meant to be setup squishy. The Rockshox Pearl is one of the best air shocks I’ve ever felt and it can be dialed in very easy. The air chamber on the Pearl didn’t require as much air pressure as other air shocks, so it should have less stress on the shock as well as lasting longer. The coil Pike could’ve used a stiffer spring as it felt under sprung but tuning the floodgate on the fork helped stiffen up the ride. The bottom bracket height is low (12″ - 12.5″) so don’t plan on getting to crazy on this bike. There is also plenty of clearance for the big tires and mud which is a plus.
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