At a glance, a person may pass over the Jamis Dakar Expert on the way to check out something with radical suspension linkage that someone with a degree in mechanical engineering couldn't understand. In a time when riders convince themselves that they need 3.0" tires and complicated suspension linkage to handle their "intense" riding, simple practicality tends to be forgotten . It is refreshing to see that Jamis has kept a clean look and functional suspension on a bike that is made for putting in miles.

Frame and Fork
The dakar Expert is a straightforward all-terrain machine. The frame is a blend of Kinesis SuperLight and 7005 triple-butted aluminum, keeping it fairly light and stiff. The 3.5" of rear suspension uses a Fox Vanilla RL rear shock with a swing-link to regulate the compression stroke and to help stiffen the rear triangle. The Vanilla also has a lockout feature to help climbing and sprinting when you're out of the saddle. It's simplistic, but a very effective design that works well in all conditions.

Leading the charge is the Manitou Black Super Air mounted up front. The 4" travel Black has external compression and rebound adjusters and the air spring rate can be adjusted with a high-pressure air pump. It also features a compression lock-out and MicroLube-system. With MicroLube we always wondered where the old lubricant in the fork went to when a new one was added.

The decals on the Manitou Black suck - big time. After a couple of rides we had a "LACK" fork, as the one side of the lower leg stated. A couple of weeks later it said "BLA" on the other - not really a sight for sore eyes.

Spec
The component group is an arrangement of some of the best values on the market. It has a collage of Shimano drivetrain parts, including XT shifters, XTR rear derailleur, and LX cranks. The ever-reliable Hayes hydraulic brakes help you maintain control as you cruise along on the Mavic/XT wheelset and Hutchinson rubber. To top it off, the Dakar has a Thomson Elite seatpost and a Syntace adjustable stem and handlebar, making it a steal for the price.

The Ride
When we hopped on the bike for the first time, we already had an idea of how it was going to ride. Not much has changed in the rear suspension design because it's a proven design. We easily adapted to the geometry since it worked well in all situations. The wheelbase is set to maneuver the Dakar around tight corners going up and down the hill, making the bike very agile and responsive to direction. The Hutchinson's ability to hold a corner at speed and its good grip gave us enough confidence to push a little harder. They didn't have a lot of drag on the flat ground and didn't wash out harshly in the loose stuff.

Bikes like this are made to be taken out on expeditions. That means that you are going to wind up spending a lot of time in the saddle, especially while climbing. The rear end had a good balance of compliance and efficiency. It was stiff enough on the way up that we didn't use the lockout a lot of the time, so that the rear suspension could take the edge off of most of the bumps. It didn't seems as though the front end wanted to come off the ground, helping us climb in a more comfortable position without trying to swing our weight over the front tire. The rear suspension played a good part in this, helping the rear tire maintain its grip and making it easy to keep a good center of gravity. We were quick to flick the lockout on the smooth flats and climbs, making the Jamis feel like a hardtail and directing all of the power to the rear wheel.

With such an avid climber, we figured that the Dakar Expert might suffer a bit on the descents. However, its 3.5 inches of travel was good enough to blaze any cross country trail. It softened the resonating blows from stutter bumps and small ruts, like a full suspension bike should. We were able to bottom out the fork off medium, fast drops and on softball-sized rocks, causing the rear to kick a little as the front dropped. In fact, the fork made it difficult to balance the front and rear suspension because of its linear spring curve.

The Black Super Air is loaded with adjusters and the reverse arch is stiff for a standard axle. Unfortunatly we still had a few issues with the fork. Our test riders ranged between 140 and 190 lbs. and all of them thought that the spring rate was very soft. Even while using the maximum air pressure (190 psi), our lightweights could bottom out the fork very easily. The fork suffered from too much sag and dove into hard corners. We found ourselves leaning back more than usual on descents, to allow the fork to skim the terrain.

We would also have liked a better range of adjustment from the damping system. The slowest rebound setting still allowed the fork to rebound like a rubber ball, especially for heavier riders. It also seemed as though the compression damping was virtually non-existent. We appreciated the multiple positions of the Synrace stem/bat combination that allowed us to slightly change the position of the bars for different riding positions. Some riders set the bar forward for better climbing and flat fast riding while others moved them back to improve downhilling.

Short Cut
By sticking with a proven design and giving it some minor tweaks, the Dakar Expert offers an efficient ride. Even the most out of shape tester had energy at the end of the ride and was ready for a second loop. The handling and control of the bike ensured our confidence in the Dakar's design. We would like to see Manitou stiffen up its spring rate damping a bit to help the overall performance of the bike. Since it doesn't have that flat tire feel of an over active rear suspension, we would recommend the Dakar Expert for the XC-and endurance-category.

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