On Test: Jamis Xenith Endura 1

After much poking around on the internet for a fast and comfortable carbon road bike I set my sights on a Jamis Xenith Endura 1. Jamis was game for sending us a bke to test, and less than a week later a bike box with my name on it darkened the doortep of Bicycle Times HQ.

The Xenith family of road bikes comes in 2 flavors, the race/competion Xenith siblings and their cousins the fitness oriented Xenith Enduras. Jamis has a huge family of road oriented bikes. See the whole family tree here.

A few things set the Endura bikes apart from the race bikes and most other carbon road bkes on the market.

Eyelets for one:

And rack mounts, along with mid-reach brakes which should prove to have room for at least 28mm tires with fenders, 32mm without.

Other features of note:

BB30 bottom bracket and compact 50-34 crank:

A long head tube for taller bar height with a tapered 1.5 to 1 1/8 headset and matching full carbon fork.

This will be my first long term exposure to a carbon fiber road bike. I expect to put plenty of miles in commuting, recreating, and maybe some long distance endurance type stuff too. I've already made some parts swaps to get my postion dialed in, namely a 90mm stem in place of the stock 120mm, and a 42cm width handlebar in place of the stock 44cm.

More info, full specs and geometry here. I'm riding the 58cm size should anyone care.

Spring has sprung, I've got a fancy new bike to ride, and no rain is forecast for the next few days. Time to ride!