The Leopard guys were very friendly and informative. There was the owner, marketing guy, and mechanic there and they helped get us all on M1 demo bikes. Importantly, they really worked to get us fit decently on the demo bikes, measuring against existing bikes (or in my case, measurements I'd taken from my bike) and moving components to dial in the fit pretty well, for a representative test. They were very generious with their time, spending 2 hours with us until we ran out of questions and testing to do.
From my testing, the Leopard M1 rode great, with many of the ride characteristics I've enjoyed about my Scott CR-1: quick-handling geometry, stiff, and smooth. Leopard HQ is a few blocks from the popular Half Moon Bay marina restaurants, so the roads weren't too busy and Maverick's hill just around the corner was a great way to put the bikes to the test, both going up and coming down.
What excites me the most about the Leopards is how cool they look. The Joe's custom paint jobs are distinctive, especially the translucent paint over the carbon weave, and the Leopard tube shapes are interesting. The M1 is the most aggressive looking, with varying tube shapes and a rear wheel cut-out. The M1SL has rounder tubes, but still has some unique shaping to keep it from being as generic looking as my Scott. Both the M1 and M1SL have a nice rear-brake cable routing method, with the cable running in a recessed space under the top tube.
The M1 and M1SL bikes are light. With relatively heavy (~1700gr) wheels, a SRAM Red-equipped M1SL weighed in at under 15lbs, no pedals. Some of the other Mice were weighing other bikes, so might be able to say better what other configurations were coming in at.
Besides the road bikes, they had a slick TT rig and a pro-looking cross bike. Ben tried out both and could comment on those.
It was well worth the trip. I'm now definitely leaning towards getting at a Leopard road bike to replace my crashed-out Scott.
Frame Pic w/ translucent blue paint:
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