24Seven Messiah Review

Published on June 10, 2009

With all the hype on the bike scene being about Slopestyle this year, most bike company’s have been showing off their 4″, 5″ and 6″ go any where do anything steeds with pride.

24seven bikes have been expecting this for a while and have been working away to bring us a hardcore medium weight (39.9lbs stock) hard hitting Slopestyle rig that wont tear a huge hole in your pocket. We bring you the 24seven Messiah.

24seven started building this frame a few years back when the Slopestyle legend Lance McDermott was riding for them, although Lance now rides for another team the guys at 24/7 continued developing the bike and turned it into the British beast that it is today. The frame is made from 6061 aluminium and comes in a battleship grey gloss finish with the rear end in good old black (this is the only colour combo offered). The rear end is defiantly not going to let you down even in the harshest of conditions, its burly as hell with horizontal drop outs that are designed to take a good beating.

One thing that might catch your eye when looking at the frame on its own is the fact that the bottom bracket shell is also the housing for the rear pivot resulting in being able to run the bike as a single speed without having to use a tensioner (when going through the travel the chain length stays the same ). With a quite steep head angle of 68 degrees it has the feeling of stability when launching drops and hitting dirt jumps. The 14″ bottom bracket height gives you plenty of clearance when rolling into steep slopes and hitting the single track.

Rockshox and Fox have got the suspension systems covered with the awesome Fox RP23 at the rear and the big hitting Rockshox 302 Domains up front. Running Hayes nine brakes you know your not going to have any problems in the stopping area as these brakes have been tried and tested for years. Along with Sram X7 rear mech and shifter 24/7 have fitted their own Super Fat SE 3 piece cranks to provide a smooth and reliable running performance. The Super Fats are not the only 24/7 branded components on the bike as most of the finish kit is their own. Slim bars, 50mm block stem, freeride inspired saddle and seat post and also 24/7 hubs (20mm front) laced on to Alex D24 rims are all contributors in making the Messiah such a hardcore Slopestyle rig.

I took this opportunity to take the bike for a blast down some local short-track DH runs as well as single track around the woods. The bike felt good at speed and the front end was easy to lift when needed. The short back end reminds you that this is not a DH bike and the weight is never going to persuade you that this is a UK trail bike. But then the Messiah is not a bike to be picked-up and jiggled about with in a car-park, whilst discussing “optimum weight versus travel” or “pedal friendly geometry design” as its more like a Battle-Axe. You may question your choice of weapon on the way to the battle field, but when it all kicks-off, you will be glad you brought it!

Available fromwww.24sevenbikes.co.uk at a retail price of £1699.99.

Written by Tom Blease TT Bike Park