Grouptest Trailbikes: Radon Slide 150 E1
The Radon Slide E1 came to the party dressed in black. It doesn’t need fancy lettering or stickers to impress us, preferring to achieve this with a well-conceived, high-quality specification, consisting of flawless RockShox suspension, a classy Syntace cockpit, and solid Elixir 9 Trail brakes.
The 26” bike’s geometry feels good as soon as you sit on it: compact but not cramped. The rear end remains stiff without bobbing on climbs ‒ we didn’t need to use the compression damping switch on the Monarch Plus. On really steep terrain it is a good idea to reduce the travel of the fork to keep the front wheel on the ground.
The balanced suspension is impressive: the RockShox Pike works in harmony with the Monarch Plus shock. Both gently smooth out even small bumps whilst remaining high in their travel, with a nice amount of progression at the end to prevent harsh bottoming out. On undulating trails, good speed can thus be maintained by pumping the bike.
The 26” wheels make the Slide 150 frisky. It reacts eagerly when steered without being over-sensitive and can be accelerated effectively out of turns, in part thanks to the steady rear end. The bike is agile and lively; only very steep descents expose its weaknesses. A slacker head angle would improve it here: 67.4° is a little out of date in this respect.
Conclusion:
The Slide E1 150 has great suspension and a top spec. Look no further than the Radon if you want an agile and playful trail bike with 26” wheels.
Go back to the article: “Grouptest Trailbikes: Eight Entry-level Trailbikes”
You can read an in-depth feature about the group test and our conclusions in the actual ENDURO issue #009! As usual it’s free & only digital for iPad, Android-Tablets and Online-Viewer: Issue #009.
Text & Pictures: Christoph Bayer