27-5

The hardtail renaissance continues with Niner’s all new SIR 9. Niner bills it as a “do it most” bike, and that sums it up pretty well if you ask me. And if you are reading this, it is easy to assume you are asking me. Some highlights from Niner: Reynolds 853 steel provides the supple, comfortable ...

  The 140 mm-travel “Trail” variant represents a new 27.5 branch on a Hei Hei family tree that is deeply rooted in cross-country riding. Our $5,999 DL model occupies the middle price point, with the $7,499 Supreme perching on the top rung and the plain old Trail ringing the register at $4,199. Kona designed the ...

Words and photos by Jeffrey Stern Hoo-Koo-E-Koo. The first time I read that Miwok Indian named fire road on my Tamalpais trails map I fell in love. With the letters, how they flowed like the purest of singletrack sections into one beautiful word – and a beautiful trail at that. Cutting across the mid-section of ...

At $1,499 the 27.5 Hawk Hill may be the lowest-priced bike in our upcoming group test of under-$2,500 full-suspension trail bikes, but it’s far from overmatched. Judicious use of house-branded components keeps the budget tight, without cutting corners on important bits such as the Shimano Deore Shadow Plus derailleur, Shimano hydraulic disc brakes and high-quality ...

Cannondale’s Bad Habit could not have rolled into our Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania headquarters at a more appropriate time. As the trails began their late-season transition into an array of conditions from pristine hard packed to mud, slop and snow, the Bad Habit was ready to impress. On more than a handful of occasions, I found myself ...

The 29/27plus platform has another option, this time in the form of a aluminum frame made in Colorado. Guerrilla Gravity looks to take a slice of the shorter-travel market with this 120 mm travel frame, the Trail Pistol. Eagle-eyed readers will notice the change to a Horst link/chainstay pivot. Why? Guerilla Gravity says: “Marketing, mostly. ...

During some discussions at Sea Otter this spring, Trek dropped hints it was working to simplify its trail bike line up. This was right before it dropped a new full-suspension fat trail bike, so I wasn’t sure how to take that statement. These simplification ideas became more clear few weeks ago when Trek invited us to Squamish ...

The Fuel EX wasn’t exactly an “old” bike, even by bike industry standards. It wouldn’t have taken much for Trek to redesign the rear end of the Fuel EX 29 to accept a 27plus tire, slap a new Fox 34 Plus fork on the front and ship it out. It would have been an above ...

Words and photos: Emily Walley and Justin Steiner The mountain bike market is a flurry of activity right now as frame, wheel and tire manufacturers strive to sort out where the current evolution and specialization of mountain bikes will end up. On one end of the spectrum, we have enduro bikes with descending capabilities that ...

It was with some excitement that we read this press release. John Parker? Missy Giove? Frank the Welder? 27plus and 29plus bikes? Yes to all those things. John Parker’s new bike company will debut at Sea Otter 2016. Here’s the press release that got us all excited: John Parker, founder of Yeti Cycles, announced his return ...

Finally, I get my grubby mitts on a bike with them thar plus-sized tires. My portulent partner for the next few weeks is Marin’s Pine Mountain 1, sporting a pair of 27.5 x 3.0 inch Schwalbe Nobby Nic tires rolling on wide-bodied Maddux DD40 rims. Those tires and I are bound to become best buds, ...

This newest Mojo has almost nothing in common with the steel hardtail that first wore that nameplate. But like the original Mojo, the Mojo 3 is a pretty lust-worthy trail bike. This bike doesn’t break any new ground for Ibis. It continues with Ibis’ successful combination of the industrial design ascetic of Roxy Lo, the smarts ...

Disclaimer: Junket- a free trip by a member of the press to a place where something (such as a new bike) is being promoted. Let’s get that out of the way first. The new Santa Cruz Hightower was introduced to select members of the media on a trip to Chile for the first running of ...

Cannondale’s new Habit is a 120 mm travel, 27.5-wheel trail bike. I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon riding one. Here is what I thought. Unlike Cannondale’s longer travel offerings, the Trigger and the Jekyll, the Habit has no fancy handlebar actuated travel adjust, just a simple single pivot design with a swing-link actuated shock. ...

As we reported in February 2015, Santa Cruz has added a 27.5 option to its 2015 Highball lineup. The original 29er model also received minor geometry tweaks, but in both wheel sizes, the hardtail remains true to its cross-country, racy roots. The CC designation denotes an upgraded carbon frame that, thanks to some nips and ...

Fox kicks off the 2016 product news with an announcement that may signal widespread industry acceptance of the plus size tire as something more than an oddity: A Fox Factory 34 fork for 27.5+ tires. Fox claims plenty of clearance for tires up to 27.5 x 3.25, travel from 110 mm to 150 mm, 51 ...

If the past decade is any indication, there may soon be as many tire sizes as there are gears in a cassette (though that is also growing year after year). 26 is too small. 29 is too big. 3.7 isn’t fat enough. 4.8 is too fat. Where will it end? Perhaps it never will, but Dirt ...

Editor’s note: This is one of six bikes we’ve gathered together that fall between $1,900 and $2,600. Read our introduction to see the other five and watch for our long-term reviews of each in Dirt Rag #182, due on newsstands and in mailboxes any day now. Subscribe now and you’ll never miss a bike review. GT’s ...

Quite a few bike manufactures are making women’s specific bikes these days and many of them are employing the tweener, 27.5 wheel size. Raleigh has joined the party with its 2014 Eva hardtail line which has switched to 27.5 wheels throughout. Last year’s Eva models were all 29ers and I had the opportunity to review ...

Giant Bicycles made a bold move this year by committing most of its line-up to 27.5 wheels. From hardtails to full-suspension, across the board you’ll see the middle wheel size. Though Giant didn’t totally eliminate 29ers this year (you can still find one or two versions each of Anthem, XTC and Trance, compared to a ...

If you have a serious bike obsession equal to mine, shopping for new bike products can break the bank. Thankfully, Nashbar is a competitively-priced company that carries a plethora of products, including bikes, like this offering, the $500 Bee’s Knees 650B Single Speed. The Bee’s Knees is a simple, fully rigid singlespeed with working man’s ...

This morning we brought you news that Specialized was readying the release of the new 27.5 version of the Stumpjumper FSR and now the brand has posted photos and details of the two models on its website. There are two models, both of the EVO persuasion, which get extra travel and a more enduro focused ...

Cannondale unveiled its new 2015 OverMountain line this week, and while we couldn’t be there (for reasons explained below), we still got the scoop on the new 27.5 Jekyll and Trigger bikes. Both models make use of Cannondale‘s new Lefty SuperMax fork and travel-adjust Fox DYAD pull shocks.

Earlier in the week we brought you news that the Cannondale OverMountain team would be riding a new Lefty SuperMax fork for 2014, and here is what it will be bolted to: an all-new 27.5 wheeled Jekyll. The 26-inch wheeled Jekyll was enough to get Clementz to the top of the podium in 2013, so ...

This year marks drastic changes for Intense Cycles. With a new CEO, CFO and COO in place, company founder and owner Jeff Steber along with his original business partner Marv Strand both agreed, “This is a very exciting time, a reinvention of our brand.” Steber added, “I designed a guitar before I could play one ...

We’re big fans of Knolly Bikes, and had nothing but good things to say about the 140mm Endorphin we reviewed last year. Now the British Columbia-based brand is taking things up a notch with the new 150mm travel, 27.5 wheel Warden. Check it out:  

For more than a decade, Spank Industries has strived to create reasonably priced performance bits. Spank’s Subrosa line (rims, handlebars, grips and saddles) is said to be all mountain light, but freeride and downhill strong. We put this marketing to the test on the Intense 951 EVO downhill bike featured in the upcoming Issue #176.

I’ve always held an affinity for full suspension trail bikes because they facilitate a great deal of the flow I thrive on when trail riding. But since I spent many days riding and racing a fully rigid fixed gear on these same trails when I was young and foolish, I can certainly appreciate the connectedness, ...

There was no fanfare and no press release, but a handful of 27.5 versions of Specialized’s tires have become available on the brand’s website. There are versions of the S-Works Fast Track (2.0), Ground Control (2.1) and Butcher (2.3) listed. The new tires are notable in that Specialized doesn’t make a 27.5 bike to fit these ...

Some spy shots floating across the web today: Kiwi Brook MacDonald posted this pic on Instagram of his 27.5 Trek Session that he’ll be racing at the New Zealand National Championships tomorrow: Meanwhile, Kevin Aiello was spotted in Bootleg Canyon, Nevada, with this 29er KHS prototype at the Mob ‘N’ Mojave race. Aiello raced a ...

After years of fits and starts the final wall holding back the flood of 27.5 trail bikes broke, as more than a dozen manufacturers brought new or redesigned models to market. One was something of an unlikely source: Breezer. Yes, Joe Breeze was a key player in the birth of mountain biking but in the ...

Just as the 29er movement was exploding, Giant stood firm in its belief that bigger wheels were not a replacement for the good ol’ 26-inch standard. As large wheels became de rigueur for most other brands, Giant began to dangle off the back of the pack, both in progression and image. Sure, its full suspension ...

The idea behind the Silver Series from Lynskey is to offer titanium bikes with a lower price tag, relative to the higher-end models in the company’s lineup. The Silver Series saves some shekels by eschewing extensive tubeset manipulation, sticking to stock sizing, and offering a single build kit. The tweener MT 650 rings the register ...

The Burner name was first given to the original Turner, a full-suspension cross-country bike released in the mid-‘90s when the “NORBA standard” hardtail dominated the market. Over the years, the Burner evolved and took some hiatuses from production. This latest version is fast becoming the standard mountain bike of the 20-teens, the 27.5 trail bike. ...

Editor’s note: Here at Dirt Rag we don’t really do “comparison tests” or “shootouts” or declare “winners”. Every bike we review has a story to tell, and they’re all interesting. That said, we rounded up six full-suspension trail bikes in the $2,500-ish range to see what’s really out there in the heart of the mountain ...

Editor’s note: Here at Dirt Rag we don’t really do “comparison tests” or “shootouts” or declare “winners”. Every bike we review has a story to tell, and they’re all interesting. That said, we rounded up six full-suspension trail bikes in the $2,500-ish range to see what’s really out there in the heart of the mountain ...

Just a month ago we previewed the build up of our Intense 951 EVO test bike. Now with some hours on this boundary-pushing machine, it’s time to weigh in with a First Impression. Aside from this being a very slick and purposeful looking, US-made bike, two characteristics really stand out; one, 27.5-inch wheels, and, two, ...

by Zach White If you’re a Rocky Mountain fan, and/or a fan of the Godfather of freeriding, Wade Simmons, you may have caught what appeared to be a marketing move a couple of years back, as the Canadian company hyped up a custom bike made specifically for the living legend. Technically, the Pipe Dream introduced ...

This weekend at Crankworx Whistler, Maxxis is launching a new signature tire, created with downhill World Cup champion Troy Brosnan. The Dissector is designed especially for dry, loose conditions. Beginning in early 2018, Brosnan and Maxxis engineers worked together to find the right balance of rolling speed, cornering traction, and braking traction for the Dissector. ...

At this year’s Sea Otter, there was a lot of fresh stuff to see. Some brands were bringing out their classics in new colors, while others had exciting product launches or were showing up at Sea Otter for the first time.  

Editor’s note: For this review of Hutchinson’s Griffus tires, designed especially for gravity shredding in dry, loose trail conditions, we sent “Janker” Ted Jaramillo, an enduro racer riding for Transition and based in Northern New Mexico, to Digne-les-Bains, France with Hutchinson to test these tires at the EVO bike park. Janker Ted knows what a ...

Surprisingly, in a recent year-end survey conducted by Dirt Rag, we asked riders if their wheels were set up tubeless, and of the near six-thousand responses, 52% responded no. This was really surprising to me considering how long tubeless technology has been around. However, even if you’re not running tubes in your wheels, you still ...

This contest has ended. Congratulations to the winner: Matt Bellia! Subscribe to Dirt Rag Magazine and sign up for our weekly newsletter so you don’t miss a chance to win our next bike giveaway. Check out Marin Bikes here. Marin bikes has partnered with Dirt Rag to give away a Hawk Hill 3 Having fun on the trail was at the front of ...

Time to get stoked for the next season of downhill. Santa Cruz has just released the latest version of their V10 model and the new Reserve wheels for DH.  The latest version was a project two years in the making, the newest V10 has arrived—but wait, there are two! As Santa Cruz developed the 29er race ...

Trek has released their updated Marlin, their entry level bikes that come in both “standard” and as a “women specific design” (WSD). Between the two model lines, not much is different. The smallest sizes (13.5″ and 15.5″) of the WSD models have a more sloped top tube for standover clearance compared to the slight slope ...

Canadian bicycle company Devinci has been in the game for over 20 years, and today they unveil their update to their all-mountain Troy line for 2019. There are a number of options for both the 29 and 27.5 carbon models to be set up with the new SRAM 12-speed Eagle. In addition to getting just a ...

Tester: Eric McKeegan Age: 44 Height: 5’11” Weight: 165 lbs. Inseam: 32” Canyon has made its long-awaited entry into the U.S. market. One of the biggest consumer-direct brands in Europe, the looming threat of Canyon has been touted as the best thing ever for consumers and the worst thing ever for established brands and their ...

Tester: Evan Gross Age: 30 Weight: 185 lbs. Height: 6’ 2” Inseam: 36.5” A different Trigger by the same name … again. While the last several generations of Trigger have been fussy to set up, largely misunderstood and plagued by swingarm cracks, the 2018 hopes to solve many of these issues by reverting to a ...

If you want my opinion, and maybe you do if you’re reading this, Transition’s new 27.5-inch carbon hardtail has relegated all other bikes in this hardtail round-up. Hands down, I won the review bike lottery. Since arriving at the Dirt Rag Headquarters, the Transition Throttle passed through various staff members hands for a quick rip here ...

Tester: Karl Rosengarth Age: 59 Height: 5’10” Weight: 150 lbs. Inseam: 32” The 27.5 Hawk Hill is an entry-level bike that passes muster. The frame is built from 6061 butted and hydroformed aluminum alloy. Judicious use of house-branded components saves money without cutting corners on important bits such as the Shimano Deore Shadow Plus derailleur, ...