RADON SWOOP 10.0 REVIEW

THE DIRT
I spent a few months getting to know the 2020 Radon Swoop 10.0, during which time I was able to test it across a huge range of terrain and really figure out where it shines, and where it suffers.

Supplied in the 63.5° setting, the first impressions indicate the Swoop 10.0 is going to be an absolute animal on the descents, with parking lot stability firmly at the upper end of its class. On the climbs the seated position for my 33” inside leg on the Large size feels more stretched than the quoted 76-degree seat angle suggests. I was quick to slide the seat forward a touch on the rails, but even with this adjustment the steeper climbs resulted in a slightly rearward weight bias and the occasional wandering of the front end. This was no doubt exacerbated by the high sag figures I was running for much of the test, but more on that later.

On the shallower climbs, this seated position was comfortable however, and the Swoop was happy to crunch some miles. The rear end has considerably more pedaling support than the previous Radon Swoop, however it is still more active than many in its class such as the Propain Tyee. It is not a terrible pedaling bike by any means, it just lags slightly behind the best climbers for efficiency. Its ability to find grip on the more technical climbs is decidedly mid-pack too, with the rear end conforming to the trail slightly when under power, but not miraculously sticking to the seemingly unclimbable, like some. The static bottom bracket position is not ridiculously low, but the dynamic position ends up being quite low, as a combination of the slightly rearward climbing position and the higher sag figures used. Add in a bit of weight transfer on a technical climb, and those pedals end up sitting close to the ground which resulted in regularly catching obstacles I thought I was clear of. The climb switch on the Fox Float X2 did help considerably to tame this, so it was not the end of the world, but I usually prefer to keep a shock in the open mode for the full duration of a ride if possible.

Once you have gained some elevation, the way down provides an interesting ride, with a slightly different feel to most modern enduro bikes. On the flatter sections of descent, the Swoops’ mid-pack weight and mid-pack efficiency combine to feel, well, mid-pack. This is certainly not a heavyweight and spongy bike, but neither is it particularly zippy. One thing that it does rather well however is gain speed through pumping – there is a decent platform of support in the rear end that generates a healthy amount of feedback and thus acceleration when applying some body English to the bike through rollers and backsides. There is a decent amount of pop on offer too, so you can effectively ride this bike like an oversized pump track machine and be rewarded with a good bit of speed if the terrain allows for it. This is the preferred solution anyway since the low dynamic BB height forces some particular attention to timing crank revolutions.

The rougher sections of trail were the interesting part of descending on the Swoop 10.0. I struggled throughout testing to find any magic combination of settings on the Fox Float X2 that provided the level of compliance that I have come to expect from a long legged enduro bike. I experimented with everything between 22% and 35% sag; zero to lots of low-speed compression, but the story did not ever really change. It was not that the Radon Swoop was making me lose control as such, but it never felt like I had all 170mm of that suspension under my feet to keep the wheel both safe from, while also gripping the terrain below.

Testing concluded with a day spent with suspension tuning company Dialed Telemetry, which was my last resort to find some remedies to my issues. By the end of that day’s setup, in which my concerns about sensitivity were made perfectly clear, the data suggested I was far too deep into the travel and that the rear end was packing up – was my high-sag; compression-heavy plea for more rear end suppleness working against me? After 80psi extra (taking me to a touch below 300 psi) and a big reduction in both compression and rebound damping, we eventually found a better setup that had some nice data to match. It made for a fast and controlled bike, but still failed to provide a terrain-ironing bike that begged me to push through the jankiest of terrain, even with sag figures still in the 28% region. It is a shame really, as the geometry does offer oodles of stability in the slacker headset mode that would otherwise encourage some hard pushing. It is perhaps a problem that could be remedied by a coil shock, where the progressive rear end would likely play nicely, so it is interesting to see the lack of coil build options available for the Radon Swoop CF.

Geometry wise, the average chainstays, reach and BB (when running a normal 25-30% sag) produce a middle of the road bike for lifting the front end and switching direction. The slack mode spreads things out notably, with the front wheel a considerable distance out ahead. As you would expect, this additional overall length produces some drawbacks when it comes to tight-terrain maneuverability – wide setup lines are a necessity here. The 15mm front end length reduction results from the steeper head angle setting helps things in this respect, with a tradeoff of reduced straight-line stability that I would welcome for most riding. The weight of the Swoop 10.0 came to 34.4lbs, or 15.6kg with a set of flat pedals on, which was quickly added to by a pair of tire inserts that were required to add support to the flimsy tires.

Moving over to the dropper post, a 150mm dropper on the size Large is a bit disappointing, with a good chunk of extension out of the frame required for my long legs, and an accompanying lack of space to maneuver on the bike. The 470mm seat tube is also a little longer than we are becoming accustomed to, seeing, and the extra-large’s towering 520mm seat tube is even worse – so the short-legged need to be wary that they may end up with some clearance issues.

The smaller pivots on the Swoop 10.0 frame had me concerned initially that there would be excessive flex, but this did not materialize into any issues during the test period. As a system, it is decidedly average on my stiffness scale, which is a happy place to be. The front shock bolt did fail on its last testing day with no notably harsh impact to cause it, however I would not hold it against the bike as it is not the first, I have broken in my time. It is a relatively quiet riding bike too, with some early cable rattle quickly solved by a slight tug on the gear cable, and chain noise being minimal thanks to the in-built chainstay protection and chain guide.

In this respect, I would suggest the Radon Swoop 10.0 could be a great rig for those blessed to have relatively smooth bike park style trails in their usual riding schedule. It will get you up to the top of a hill without a massive fuss – albeit not at a KOM hunting pace – and provide a supportive ride for the way down that has the progression for the big hits and just enough stiffness to allow for a corner shralp or two along the way. In the right hands it could make for a fast machine without a doubt, but the lack of sensitivity brings with it a lack of confidence at times and stops it from being the natural terrain crusher that I had expected.

In terms of bang for your buck, with a carbon front triangle and general mid to high end components package, the Radon Swoop 10.0 represents some great value at its €3,799 price. It is spec’d with a parts package that is well thought out and has no components that require an immediate swap-out for anything other than personal preference. The 2020 model was fitted with standard EXO casing Maxxis rubber, which I do not consider to be suitable for an enduro machine, but they have gone to some length to improve this in 2021 with EXO+ casings in place. For me, a double down casing would be even more appropriate for a 170mm rig, at least on the rear, but not everyone may agree. A longer dropper would also be good to see on the Large and Extra-Large sizes to allow for maximum clearance.

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