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MOUNTAIN BIKE ACTION
HANDMADE BIKES THAT’LL MAKE YOU DROOL
WORLD’S
WORLD’S
BEST
RIDERS
RIDERS
SHARE
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SECRETS:
SECRETS:
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THEM!
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Att’n Retailer: Please display until JUNE 2
BEST
DEAL
ON A
DOWNHILL
DOWNHILL
BIKE WE’VE
WE’VE
TESTED
EVER TESTED
$4.99
$4.99US $5.99CAN
MOUNTAIN BIKE ACTION • JUNE 2011 • www.mbaction.com • PRO RIDING SECRETS •
JUNE 2011
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est
Downhilling On The Cheap
The Airborne Taka
he news of Airborne’s return is a little misleading.
The only return is the brand name and Jeremy Mudd,
who was product manager for the original Airborne
and is still a driving force in bike design and spec’ing at the
new incarnation. The first Airborne had a run from 1997 to
around 2005, selling titanium- and aluminum-framed mountain and road bikes directly to riders. When they went away,
riders were left holding the bag (or bike, in this case).
The all-new Airborne is taking the same approach by only
T
The bike arrives.
A tight package.
All the parts.
$1400 yard sale.
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selling directly to the rider, but the brand name is now
backed and owned by Huffy Bikes. Huffy, who sells more
bicycle units than any other American bicycle company,
knew that the Huffy name would be a hard sell to hardcore
riders, and the Airborne opportunity offered immediate
name recognition. Now, all they needed to do was back the
name up with the right product. Our Taka (“falcon” in
Japanese) assemble-it-yourself downhill bike arrived a few
days after we ordered it.
Not quite ready to ride.
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Airborne Taka
Taking shape.
Dueling with the dual crown.
Trimming the seatpost.
Snugging up the front wheel.
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The dry run.
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Airborne Taka
WHO IS IT MADE FOR?
It is obvious that the Taka is made for the downhill racer
on a tight budget. The not-so-obvious rider is the guy who
already has a small collection of bikes. He has a 5-inch-travel
trailbike and maybe a 29er hardtail, single-speeder or crosscountry race bike. He has watched other riders shuttling
downhill-specific trails or headed to the races, and while he
thought it looked like something he wanted to try, the price
was way too high for a second or third bike in the fleet. The
Taka solves this problem with a retail price that would just
about cover the fork and wheelset cost of a high-end
downhiller.
WHAT IS IT MADE FROM?
The main frame is welded aluminum tubing that has been
heavily reinforced with open-ended gussets. The advantage
of this design is that peak stress is directed away from the
vertical axis of the tubes and towards the more lightly loaded
sidewall areas. Aluminum castings are used in the
swingarm/shock mounting area, for the dropouts and to connect the seat tube to the bottom bracket shell. Even though
the bike uses a dual-crown fork, Airborne overbuilt the front
end with a 1.5-inch head tube. This construction makes a
Sherman tank look flimsy. The rear suspension is a simple,
high single-pivot design.
WHICH COMPONENTS STAND OUT?
When you keep in mind that this bike sells for under
$1500, everything stands out. The suspension components
from Marzocchi, the Avid brakes, FSA crankset, WTB
wheels, Maxxis tires, and Kore bar and stem sure don’t
appear to be budget items. Strip the bike of all these parts,
sell them individually, and you’d probably make a tidy profit.
But then you wouldn’t have a bike to downhill, so maybe
that’s not such a great way to cash in on your Taka.
HOW DOES IT PERFORM?
Buildup: The company line is that the Taka arrives via
FedEx close to assembled with detailed assembly instructions. Any rider with a few basic tools can have his Taka
ready to roll in under a half-hour. Nice story, but our Taka
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arrived without assembly instructions, and the fork was not
attached to the frame. The front brake was not attached,
and the wheels were separate from the frame. This was not
the slap-on-the-bar and adjust-the-saddle assembly we
thought it would be. Airborne claims a detailed assembly
guide is in the works, and the fork couldn’t be attached to
the frame because of shipping limitations.
Setup: The Marzocchi 888RV fork offers an external
rebound adjuster, but there are no external compression or
preload adjustments. Since it is a coil fork, this means if the
fork is too stiff or too soft, you will need to experiment with
different springs or adjust the oil level. The stock fork feels
tuned for riders in the 160- to 180-pound range. The
Marzocchi Roco R is also coil-sprung and has an external
rebound adjustment, adjustable bottom-out resistance
air valve and spring preload.
Moving out: If you are not used to a downhill bike,
things will feel weird at first. The cockpit is cramped,
the stem is short, the bar feels wide, and you are sitting
inside the bike—not on top of it. Don’t worry; when you
start down the run, everything will begin to
fall into place.
Hammering: Airborne has a
lot of experience, and they used
their wisdom wisely by locating the swingarm’s pivot
where the rider’s pedaling
influences have the least
effect on the rear suspension. The pivot is bullseye
in line with the chain as it
is pulled onto the chainring.
The Taka pedals well, and
the drivetrain is smooth and
quiet while cycling through the
chainguide.
Cornering: Airborne gives you big
fat tires, lots of coil-sprung suspension, and quick steering
for a downhill bike. The result is a bike with quick reflexes
that allows you to change lines easily. Airborne also gives
you enough frame and fork rigidity to stick just about any
line you can imagine. The bike likes the rider to brake early
and flow through the corners rather than use a brake-hardand-pedal-out technique. That’s fine, because you have to be
a Superman to make the latter tactic work.
Climbing: This bike isn’t intended for climbing. If we are
talking about the little jammer rises found on some downhill courses, the efficient pedaling performance comes into
play. Out-of-the-saddle efforts will compress the rear suspension, but this is fairly normal for this type of bike.
Descending: The Taka gets plus and minus points while
descending. On tight technical courses, it carves it up while
soaking it up. As the speed increases, experienced downhillers on the wrecking crew would have liked a more slackened front end to slow things down. The bike got too nervous at high speeds. While the bike doesn’t employ suspension linkages that mess with the rear wheel’s travel curve,
the tried-and-true single-pivot design gets it done. Very similar designs have won World Cup downhills—and we are not
talking about in the 1990s. It may not roll over flat-edged
bumps the way more complicated suspension designs do,
but you don’t have to work around chain growth issues or
complexity.
Braking: There’s no getting around the fact that a singlepivot rear suspension with this much travel is going to pro-
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Airborne Taka
Easy entry: If you have ever
thought about adding a downhill bike to your quiver, Airborne
has removed the biggest
excuse.
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Airborne Taka
duce noticeable firming of the rear suspension under braking. This reduces traction and requires you to pick
smoother (and not always the fastest) lines through the corners, or learn to brake earlier and float through the rougher
sections. The Avid Juicy 3 brakes reached their power limits
quickly, and fading from overheating was noted on a number of the crewers’ ride evaluations.
TRICKS, UPGRADES OR TIPS?
Upgrade your Taka to Avid Elixir 5 brakes as soon as you
get it. This is an upgrade that will set you back at least $220
(the street price on the 5), but move you forward in confidence and control.
It is nice to have external adjustments on the shock. It
would be a lot nicer, though, if you could get to them with
the shock on the bike. The bike’s frame configuration
makes it very tough to get your fingers where they need to
be to make the adjustments.
The frame’s paint chipped off quickly, but this is a downhill race bike. If you are worried about the pretty paint job,
you are not the downhill type.
We assemble between 50 and 60 bikes (and a few Ikea
desks) a season, so it was not a big deal for us to assemble
the Taka. Airborne can’t expect everyone to have the same
mechanical experience, however, and their target rider, a
guy who owns trail and cross-country bikes, will find the
assembly a daunting task. Our bike needed someone well
versed in assembling and installing a dual-crown fork. You
had also better be sharp on cable routing. In our opinion,
the bike needs to be more assembled out of the crate, and it
needs better assembly instructions, which Airborne claims
are on the way.
Downhill on the cheap: Wearing ten-year-old motocross
pants and borrowed gear, the Taka rider gets a feel for downhilling on Southridge Racing’s Fontana downhill course. No,
we won’t give up trail riding, but the Taka is a nice addition to
the fleet.
BUYING ADVICE
There is no reason why a beginner or sport rider
couldn’t podium or win on the Taka if the racecourses are
tight and techie. If the races in your neck of the woods are
flat-out speed runs, the Taka will prove to be a tad bit
twitchy for you. Still, this is not a bike that looks like a
downhill race bike: it is a downhill race bike. If you already
have a stable of bikes but are missing a long-travel gravity
sled, the Taka is an affordable way to test the downhill
waters. ❑
AIRBORNE TAKA
Down and dirty: A sweet chainguide system. A hard-to-get-at
shock. Open-ended gussets. A brake that needs an upgrade.
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Price
Country of origin
Weight
Hotline
Frame tested
Bottom bracket height
Chainstay length
Top tube length
Head tube angle
Seat tube angle
Standover height
Wheelbase
Suspension travel
Suspension travel
Frame material
Fork
Shock
Rims
Tires
Brakes
Crankset
Handlebar
Shifters
Front derailleur
Rear derailleur
Chainrings
Cassette
Highest gear
Lowest gear
Pedals
$1400
China
41.1 pounds
(800) 546-9091
16"
15"
17"
20"
66°
60°
30"
44.5"
8" (front)
8" (rear)
Aluminum
Marzocchi 888RV
Marzocchi Roco R
WTB LaserDisc DH (26")
Maxxis Minion DH (2.5")
Avid Juicy 3
FSA MOTO-X w/ E-Thirteen LG1 chainguide
Handlebar... KORE Torsion Race (28.5”)
SRAM X-5 trigger
None
SRAM X-7 mid-cage
FSA (40)
SRAM PG950, 9-cog (11-32)
24.75 feet (per crank revolution)
8.5 feet (per crank revolution)
Weighed with Wellgo platforms