![]() ![]() Near fat bike tire width and volume but with less weight…rollability that is off the hook and only bested by the 36er guys (all 6 of them), a normal Q factor…well it looked like an adventurer’s dream bike choice and it was embraced mainly by bikepackers and folks who admired what the big wheels did for a rigid hardtail bike. So when 29+, that being a mid-fat sized 3.0″ tire on a 29er wheel…when that happened with the Surly Krampus, a steel, rigid platform, many folks were pretty stoked. ![]() The Lenzsport bikes also have a very loyal following, especially for technical, all day riding. ![]() However, the results were worth it and the Specialized Enduro won accolades across media and customers alike. But getting that big wheel to work in a tight handling, long travel combo took some real nose wiggling and out-of-the-box thinking. Lenzsport did it, BMC did it, and Specialized did it even better, in that you could buy an Enduro 29er right off the showroom floor without dealing with the niche brand or custom builder scene. You remember how it was when manufacturers struggled to make 29ers not feel like river barges when they were ridden on tight trails? The tweaking and packaging, especially on full suspension bikes, took a bit to refine things to where now a modern 29er is a pretty well rounded, agile bike.īut there were some real challenges for anyone who wanted to push that envelope a bit farther, such as bringing 150mms of front and rear travel to a 29er. It’s a big thing, that wheel/tire combo, ending up at around 31″ tall and looks fairly impressive when seen from the saddle. How all that will turn out is yet to be determined, although I have some thoughts about it here, but in the mean time we have been recently riding around on a Trek Stache 9, one of the bikes that is being built around the 29″ x 3.0″ tire. The Stache delivers on the promises made by both big wheels and fat tires, and somehow it makes no compromises in the process.The Plus Wars are heating up to be a pitched battle, and the two sides are choosing between a 27.5″ based Plus tire or a 29″ based Plus tire. When crawling down steep puzzles of rocks and ruts, the newly lengthened front end and unnaturally short 16.25-inch chainstays make it remarkably easy to stay behind the bike and devilishly fun to stab off slow-speed drops. It probably deserves a more aggressive head angle, but its 68.5 degrees never felt twitchy. At high speeds, the capability of the big, soft tires mixed well with the Stache’s delightful flickability. Your results may vary, but the Stache has an appetite for mischief like no hardtail I’ve ever ridden. But I found its playful agility to be well worth the risk of punctures and the extra 2 PSI to keep them from squirming. The thin-skinned, 890-gram tires are partly to thank, so beware if you crave high-speed rock gardens. Beyond the benefits of the overall better spec, the carbon rims help eliminate the sluggish acceleration and gyroscopic stubbornness you’d expect from 29+ wheels. Or if that’s a stretch, the Stache 9.6 drops the carbon rims, bars and cranks, and it goes from a Pike to a Yari while keeping the frame carbon for $3,000.īut the 9.8 offers a ride that’s worth going over budget for. For something this unique and with this build, the $4,700 price fits just fine. And now that the RockShox Pike and Bontrager Line Pro carbon wheelset have joined the 30-inch-and-over club, the flagship 9.8 model got a nice bump in spec. ![]() In addition to stretching the toptube half an inch, this year’s Stache lineup includes two carbon options. Photo Credit: Anthony Smith The Stache 9.8 is the top-of-the line model, and as such includes a carbon frame, carbon rims and various other high-end goodies. ![]()
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