Submitted by
Michael
a Road Racer
from Raleigh, NC, USA
Date Reviewed: April 12, 2001
Strengths: Responsive, rigid performance and reliable comps you can abuse; great look.
Weaknesses: The geom/config is a bit crunched -- but just barely -- for taller cyclists, making long rides rough on the upper back nerves... The Comet is fast, but it's easier to top out high on a flat than with the Eclipse. (On a grade, up or down, the aero design/rigid frame lets you crank out some unbelievable speeds.)
Bottom Line:
I'd put it up against higher-end bikes any day; and it's more appropriately/accurately priced than most bikes in its comparison group. That means it's raceable, but not overpriced. It matches the Eclipse spec for spec, but chooses the aero design frame... that helps and hurts depending on what you're doing or what you need. ...can't wait to ride a 2001!
Submitted by
Rick Bell
a Recreational Rider
from St. Louis, MO USA
Date Reviewed: July 19, 2000
Strengths: Excellent grouping of all top-shelf components, there are NO cheap "replace later" items to be found. Quality is superb, what I've come to expect from Jamis from my experience with them. They coax such a sweet ride from a frame that would typically be stiff and unforgiving; I don't know how they do it. Oh yeah, and this thing is faster than @&$#! Not just fast, but it feels fast and handles fast.
Weaknesses: The design and components are all aero; not a weakness unless you're in a strong crosswind, but it's part of the design and it's that way for a purpose.
Bottom Line:
To start things off, the Comet is Jamis's "speed oritented" platform while the Eclipse is the "climbing oriented" platform, BUT the Comet is excellent at climbing also! Ultra-stiff and responsive, but the ride doesn't kill you at all. I'm a little dude at 5'4 and 112#, and I have no problems with the ridgidness of the frame, I love it. Around where I live in Missouri, it's nothing but hills, hills everywhere and you cannot escape them. So most of your riding is on rolling terrain and climbing. For flats, I go to Columbia IL or slightly north of here. This bike handles excellently in any situation, it flies right up hills. Hit flats, and it flies even more, and almost effortlessly. All operation is quiet and smooth, but you may want to fix the typical Ultegra rattling shifter problem of course. The bike is not the lightest, but definitely pretty light at (for my frame size) under 19 lbs complete with pedals. I seriously do not understand how it rides as smoothly as it does, since it is a rigid aluminum aero frame; you would expect it to wallop the snot out of you, but it rides just as supple as any other steel bike I've tried, and loads better than traditionally designed aluminum bikes that rattle and skip around as if you were riding on the moon. I guess it's something with the frame design in combination with the carbon fork, but the '99 Comet had the same frame with a Kinesis bladed AL fork and its riding characteristics were just as impressive; so I gotta say it's just an innovative frame design.
It's a wonderful all purpose racing machine, equally as great for speed as it is for climbing, and easily convertable to a more than adequate poor-man's triathalon or TT setup with the addition of an aero bar and turn-around of the bent seatpost, an option not found in most road bikes.
Strengths: The Comet is very responsive handling, power input is great due to the stiff frame(climbs great due to this). Overall the bike feels fast due to the stiff aero frame and choice of wheels. Lots of mountian bike riders see it and think it's cool that mtb company can build such a great road ride.
Weaknesses: This is just my doing but due to the stiff frame I put a carbon fiber seatpost on to reduce some shock and it made a huge difference I would recomend it for any stiff framed bike.
Bottom Line:
This is a great bike for the money, I don't think you can find a better combo for the money. Very happy with it and would definitly look at Jamis for future bikes first! Be prepared for a stiff, responsive fast ride. I don't know if I would go on a tour(more than a couple of hundred miles or so in a couple of days) with this but for long day rides it's great. I also have used it in some time trials and it is very fast for a non time trial specific bike.
