Blake.PThoughts on a nomad vs Bronson? Debating between the two for pretty much exclusively summit county riding, with maybe some Moab/fruita stuff occasionally. I would definitely go nomad but I want to go ride with my dog a lot so I'm concerned about the uphill ability
Shit, I know this dilemma well...I spent a whole lot of time, nearly 6 months, deciding between a Nomad and a Bronson.
I was able to ride several Nomad CC's with and without Enve's, over most of the worthwhile trails here in the Issaquah area; Predator and OTG laps at Tiger, bouncing all over Tokul East and West, testing the climbing abilities at Grand Ridge, and the obligatory ride it like you stole it laps at Duthie.
With the Bronson, I was able to secure a Bronson CC X01 with Easton ARC wheels for an indefinite period of time, which for me was 3 solid weeks of beating the shit out of it anywhere and everywhere I possibly could before I had reached a decision.
In short, the Nomad is an amazing bike that can pretty much ride anything. If you want to steamroll obstacles and straightline tech sections where line choice is an afterthought, the Nomad is the better choice over the Bronson. I didn't feel most of the larger obstacles when I rode the Nomad, I was able to hit sections of trail I normally am more cautious of, and selective of my lines, with a new confidence. The bike improved my confidence on several trails immediately as the bike naturally puts you in a perfect descending position (assuming you set your suspension correctly). The Nomad does has a minimum speed limit however; the faster you go the more fun it is, while the slower you go the more you realize you would be having more fun on a different bike. It is not a bike I would personally choose for mellow singletrack trails, or for any trails with substantial and/or steep climbing; it wasn't fun enough to inspire me to ride harder and faster in those environments. The Nomad can definitely climb, although a much more relaxed, enjoy the scenery, type of climbing style of riding seemed to be the best from what I experienced. You wouldn't buy a Nomad with the expectations of it being a fun bike to climb with anyways, its the downhill that counts.
The Bronson however, is a sneaky little fucker. It has 15mm less rear travel, and 1 degree steeper head tube angle, yet rides like two different beasts, one that travels down and one that travels up. Sure, it cannot take the same kind of careless approach to a rock garden as the Nomad, but what it lacks there is made up in it's ability to be nimble. The bike loves to go fast and change direction, and can intuitively do so when asked. The descending capabilities of the Bronson are impressive to say the least, the bike will go where asked with no question. I found the Nomad to soak up everything but not always necessarily in a good way. The Bronson was able to pump and be more playful in all of the same locations I found the Nomad to lack those same characteristics. With that said, the Bronson's descending abilities still are not quite up to par with what the Nomad is capable of (but look what Danny Macaskill does on a 140mm 5010...moot point right?), yet this is where the Bronson runs away...uphill. The Bronson can climb, not in a sit, spin, and suck it up style like it's big brother the Nomad, but this bike can climb much better than it's numbers and geometry would leave you to believe. During the first week of riding the Bronson demo I had, I was able to destroy both climbing and descending PR's multiple times on every single trail I rode at compared to my main bike at the time, a 2016 Sworks Stumpy 29er.
In the end, the Nomad was better for a smaller percentage of the riding I did where the Bronson was more fun to ride everywhere I went. I knew that I was sold on the Bronson during my first ride with it. Sure, I wish I had gotten the Nomad a few times a year where riding something slacker and with more travel sounds fun, but I wouldn't ever trade my Bronson for a Nomad.
