VOODOO BIZANGO PRO
BB height Chainstay Front centre Wheelbase Down tube Seat tube Top tube Reach
For 2022, Voodoo has doubled its Bizango offering, adding a more expensive Pro version at £950, which brings it squarely into the sights of the award-winning Vitus Sentier for the first time. As prize fights go, this is as big as Ali vs. Frazier.
To get in shape for the title fight, Voodoo has wrung every drop of fat out of the new Bizango frame, using triple butted tubes in the front triangle to save weight and improve the ride feel. The geometry has also been updated with a longer reach and slacker head angle to make it more sure-footed when dancing around the ring.
The head tube is tapered, the bottom bracket is threaded, the thru-axles are Boost and the cable routing includes a port for a stealth dropper post. As a result, maintenance is simplified and there’s ample potential for upgrades.
The first of which should be that dropper post, because the seat clamp quickly gets contaminated with grit.
SUSPENSION
The Voodoo easily boasts the best suspension fork on test. It’s a Rockshox Gold 35 with, as the name suggests, 35mm upper tubes. The oversize legs, coupled with the 15mm bolt-through axle, increase stiffness over all of the other forks on test, so much so that It’s actually approved for use on 25kg e-bikes.
It’s not perfect though. On big bumps the damping fluid starts to bottleneck, limiting travel. As such, we could only achieve 110mm of the advertised
130mm travel on fast descents. On smaller bumps the Rockshox 35 gave a supple, comfortable ride, and seeing as this is a hardtail, the harshness on bigger hits merely served warning for what was about to reach our ankles and the soles of our feet. With less dive at the front end, the geometry was well preserved and the handling felt consistent and predictable.
COMPONENTS
Voodoo has really rolled out the red carpet for the Bizango Pro. Kicking off with the gears, you get a Shimano Deore 12-speed drivetrain that makes light work of even the steepest climbs. Shifting was swift and accurate and it never felt like something was going to break when we mashed down on the excellent two-piece cranks.
Long, slender Shimano MT401 brake levers gave one-finger control with loads of modulation, and even though the rear rotor is tiny, there was plenty of power. Too much, in fact, for the lightlytreaded Maxxis Rekon tyre; traction in the wet – whether climbing or braking – was minimal and the skinny width did little to isolate us from bumps. You could improve matters by transferring the more aggressive front Maxxis High Roller II onto the rear and sticking a 2.5in tyre up front. We’d also recommend converting to tubeless, as this would save a chunk of weight and reduce flats.
We’ve no complaints with the cockpit, as Voodoo has fitted a wide 780mm bar and short 45mm stem that gives excellent control, while the locking grips have decent padding. Out back, the WTB Volt saddle has a great shape and plenty of padding, which makes spinning along in the saddle a much more pleasurable experience.
PERFORMANCE
The Bizango impressed us from the getgo with its excellent turn of speed and smooth, silent ride. It reminded us of a high-end modern XC bike on the climbs, where the low weight and roomy riding position helped open our chests for maximum oxygen intake. So we reckon it would feel right at home competing in a cross-country race or taking on a longdistance trail.
With that wide bar, short stem and stout fork, it was easy to get up to pace on the descents, too. And it’s here that the lack of chain slap and cable rattle was really appreciated, removing any distractions and letting us concentrate on hitting our lines. There is more harshness to the Voodoo compared to the Vitus, and it doesn’t feel quite as playful, but we reckon a switch to tubeless and a tyre upgrade would be enough to realise the full potential of the Bizango.