I've been riding my Corratec X-Force 0.3 2012 since April 2013, and I've visited two Enduro races in Finland with this bike.
My first impression of a bike was: "It's so light and so fast! I push a pedal and the bike accelerates very quickly!" My Specialized Bighit 2010 weights 19.5kg, and it doesn't accelerate, that's why I was very surprised when X-force gave me opportunity to turn pedals and go faster on non-downhill trails and in the city.
Corratec X-force is like a XC bike but with downhill capabilities. 140mm of suspension is enough for agressive trail riding. X Fusion E1RL rear shock works similar to Fox shocks. I like to have about 30-40% in the rear with this shock when I go down a hill. When I go up, I use lockout to get better riding position.
Manitou Minute Pro with 140mm of travel and stiff 20mm axle was a discovery for me. This fork with MSRP of $500 works better than more expensive forks of other manufactures. Mars Air system is a perfect combination of air and spring. In the begining of a travel the fork is rather plush - thanks to spring, but with the help of air pressure, you can make this fork rather springy and hard. I don't use remote fork lockout, cause there's no need in it for me. I use about 15-20% of sag, and I think that it's enough for this fork. Small sag gives me good head angle. I'm very happy to own Manitou Minute Pro fork, and I'll be glad to use Manitou forks with my other bikes.
I was very surprised with Continental Mountain King II tyres. Cheap "Sport" version of these tyres has a very good grip. I've got enough grip even in rainy weather. I've also managed to make ghetto tubeless with Conti MK II "Sport". Tubeless feature made my bike much lighter and it began to accelerate much more faster! The only minus of these cheap version of tyres is that they are rather thin. It's rather easy to get puncture when you go downhill without tubes, or with light tubes. I like these tyres and I'm going to buy ProTection version of them.
Shimano XT rear and SLX front derailleurs do their job very very well. I never use high-end shifter and derailleurs. Shimano XT, SLX and SRAM X5, X7 transmission do what they should do without any problems. Maybe they are a bit heavy, but I don't care these few grams.
Overall Corratec X-Force is a very balanced bike with good suspension and workable components. The only minus of this frame is rather steep head angle - 69 degrees. I'm solving this problem with rather big sag in the rear (30-40%) and rather small in the front (15-20%). I'm going to buy Degree headset at workscomponents.co.uk to decrease head angle to modern 67 degrees and after this, Corratec X-Force 0.3 2012 will be a perfect trail bike with enduro capabilities for me.
At Ounasvaara Enduro 2013. Rovaniemi.
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