Words and pics by Mr. Joel Holly

Riding mountain bikes during last couple of years has the bikes are so good, I have to pinch myself to make sure it is the real life. My initial ride on the new Process 134 DL 29 was like the You tube clip of the young boy in the grip of dental narcotics, but unlike the experience of our pint-sized meme-star these drugs don’t wear off.

I’ve ridden the Process bikes since 2015 like my first love the Process 111 with its short, mega-stiff, rear end and longish reach. I have been on the 153 29er for the past year or so and totally love it. It keeps many of the traits of the 111: it’s a big bike and absolutely crushes most of the trails in the area. It makes moves I never dreamed of before seem routine.

Although the 134 on paper looks much like my much-loved Process 153 it really rides much differently.

The first thing I noticed was how easy the bike is to get off the ground. Some of this was due to a little extra air in the can to compensate for the single volume spacer, but even into the second half of the rebound damping adjustment on the Rockshox Deluxe Ultimate shock the bike remained noticeably easier to bunnyhop than the 153.

Secondly it is an amazing climber. Our ride had some sustained grinders and steep punchy climbs. The bike blew my mind on all of them. I did not even stop once to push (scouts honor). It has tons of traction and very little suspension movement under seated grinding (sounds dirty but isn’t). I felt as if the years had melted away and I was once again a young buck approaching my 3^rd decade but without all of the insecurity stuff this time. Once these visions ceased I retuned to my 41 year old body and had cleaned yet another climb and that’s when the real fun started.

A few notes on the shock: If you are going fast and riding rough terrain you WILL want to add volume spacers to the Deluxe Ultimate (It comes stock with one in the can) I ran it at 25% sag and in the firm compression on the open setting I did not have to touch the climb switch and I easily used all of the travel.

All of the Process bikes have been capable descenders. My first ride on the 29er 153 was filled with gapping sections of trail I never saw as gappable before, the bike is simply an unstoppable trail monster. The 134 is not the mountain flattener that is larger stable-mate is, but it is long enough to be stable at speed. Due to it’s low bottom bracket, and of course less suspension travel, it requires a bit more finesse in the rough and edgy. This same low-slung nature however makes for some really fun cornering. The bike shines when leaned into tight-bermed and flat corners. The 134 sports a more progressive leverage curve and the rear end ramps up more than the 153, but with the linear feel to the stock shock set up this bike felt super plush on the party side of things. Its not the point and shoot bike the 153 is but it can still stand some aggressive downhill riding.

I was able to get my paws on the AL/DL model and really there wasn’t a spec on the bike that felt like it held the whole package back. The suspension is easy to set up and the fork and shock both have simple controls and just the right amount of adjustability. The SRAM NX/GX shifted to both the low and high gears when I pushed the buttons so really what else can you say about a 12-speed drive train with a huge range. The bike also comes with a TransX dropper post which in my experience is super reliable and really cheap to replace if it does fail (it won’t). The Process 134 is one heck of a ride for the money it’s a great value mountain bike that will stay on the relevant end of the spectrum for years.