Firefox Soulfly 27.5" - Review

The Firefox Soulfly 27.5” is built around an alloy hardtail frame. This frame has been formed meticulously to make sure there is excess material used only in specific places where the impact from the surface is more. This process has made the frame light which helps with acceleration and climbing on trails. The top tube is slightly slanted with a fairly comfortable ride geometry. The strength of the frame helps handle the roughest of trails.The RockShox XC3 TK front suspension fork comes with a massive 1mm travel. The XC3 takes on big bumps easily on trails with smooth functioning of the pistons. But it has its restrictions and huge drops aren’t advisable with this suspension fork. One advantage is that the coil system on the XC3 makes it easy to remove and service. The remote lockout is a great feature and helps reduce time and is safe to have a remote than bending down to operate it manually. During the test ride, while unlocking the suspension the lever came down at full speed hitting my thumb. This is something to watch out for and move the thumb as soon as you click the button to unlock the suspension forks.

The drivetrain on the Firefox Soulfly 27.5” is equipped with Shimano Deore at the front and Shimano SLX at the rear. This 2x1 gear setup worked flawlessly with quick and precise shifting at the front and rear. This gear ratio along with accurate shifting helps accelerate quickly and thus making it a fast bicycle to ride on both rough trails and urban roads. The Shimano Deore M6 2x1 Speed shifters were easy to use but there are no indicative numbers on the display, which is common on all high-end shifters.

This hardtail performance MTB which I test rode came in a full black frame with grey and red graphics. The matte finish paint job was of good quality and gave a smooth finish to the frame. Even though aesthetics are subject to personal choice, the graphics and design of this bicycle was not as exciting as one would except to see on a MTB priced at Rs.74,7. The heavy treads on the tires and the wide handlebar gave this bicycle that MTB flavor to the overall design of the Soulfly 27.5”.

The Shimano SLX M7 Hydraulic Disc brakes handled the braking performance on the Soulfly 27.5”. These Hydraulic Disc brakes are a powerful set of components and can bring you to a halt or slow you down at a controlled manner. Braking on wet conditions and muddy surfaces felt safe without much drag. These brakes are on par with other high performance MTB's and thus making them immensely effective on all weather conditions.The Zoom Alloy 68mm handlebar was flat and wide enough to give the rider superior control over the bicycle. The handlebar could have definitely had better grips with an ergonomic shape as well. The lack of this caused the rider to feel more vibration of the surface, which on a longer ride on rough trails might end up causing fatigue.

The Soulfly rolls on a pair of K114 27.5” x 1.95” MTB tires. The 5-fifty casing technology from Kenda makes the treads bulky, strong and equally spaced out. While the treads are hard and bulky giving enough traction on rough surfaces. But for a MTB with such performance packed components the 1.95” tire width felt smaller. The lesser width might be enough for urban roads but on trails there will be a need for more width to roll over slippery and rough surfaces. The Firefox Velo MTB saddle is ergonomically designed with perfect width, making sure your sit bones are placed well. The overall ride quality was comfortable on urban roads and flat trails.