carbon

Heller Bikes launched last year as a QBP-affiliated brand that aims to give the customer “the best bang for the buck” and create quality bikes at an affordable (relatively-speaking) price point. The brand’s first bike was the Bloodhound carbon fatbike, soon followed by the Shagamaw, a 27plus carbon hardtail. For Saddle Drive this year, the ...

The Beargrease is Salsa’s trail-oriented fatbike and in 2015, became the brand’s first carbon fatbike. It was designed to be agile, fast and totally singletrack-capable, dispelling the myth that “fatbikes are slow” (yes, they are slower than an XC race bike but quicker than you think if you’ve never ridden one). As the happy owner of ...

Tester: Eric McKeegan Age: 43 Height: 5’11” Weight: 165 lbs. Inseam: 32” At first glance, the Pivot Switchblade doesn’t seem to be much different than bikes with similar travel numbers and 29/27plus wheel compatibility. But look closely and you’ll start to see a lot of small differences that add up to a compelling machine. Those ...

Tester: Scott Williams Age: 31 Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 lbs Inseam: 32″ Back in 2012, Kona unleashed the Honzo, an aggressive all-mountain steel hardtail featuring geometry that was long, low and slack before those aggressive angles were common among trail bikes. After spending some time aboard my friend’s Honzo, I felt like it suited my ...

By Zach White  Monster truck. If Dirt Rag would allow for a two-word review, that’d be the summary of Intense’s new 29-inch, 160 mm/155 mm front/rear travel Carbine. From the flashy, neon paint job to the ability to roll right over anything it was pointed at in Sedona, Arizona, last month for the Magura/Intense press ...

A new fork from Otso Cycles boasts the largest tire clearance of any cross/gravel fork and is the next product in the component brand Lithic. Lithic is a project of Otso, with the aim of bringing very specific components to market.  The new Hiili full carbon fiber fork joins the Corundrum drop handlebar and Beryl wheels ...

When the Cannondale Bad Habit Carbon 1 rolled into HQ, I was skeptical at first. Big ol’ meaty 27plus tires, 120 mm of front and rear squish, the fork was missing its right half, and a dropper. For Pete’s sake, a dropper! I admit, my skepticism was likely driven by the fact that all of ...

For 2017, Bontrager has added new Trail and XC wheelset options at an affordable price point. Line Pro 30 TLR Line Elite 30 TLR Line Comp 30 TLR Kovee Elite 23 TLR $1,200 $600 $300 $700 27.5” – 1539g 29” – 1608g 27.5” – 1708g 29” – 1794g 27.5” – 1978g 29” – 2080g 27.5” ...

Kona knocked it out of the park with the Honzo CR Trail DL. Featuring a stealth matte black finish, aggressive all-mountain geometry and a reasonably lightweight package, this Honzo is a grand slam. It took all but five minutes on my initial ride to develop an attachment, which quickly led to confirming with our Tech Editor ...

“As our first carbon fiber frame, the EPO continues our tradition of making bikes that we want to ride,” said Lance Canfield, co-owner and designer. “And that includes hardtail 29ers that are as much fun pointed downhill and in the air as the are efficient on the way up. And with the EPO’s carbon frame, ...

Tester: Katherine Fuller Age: 30 Height: 5’4″ Weight: 120 lbs. Inseam: 31” Price: $4,200 Sizes: S, (Tested), M, L, XL Online: Kona Bikes I laughed when the powers that be said I was getting a “race” bike to test because racing is not exactly my thing, but it immediately became apparent that approaching this review ...

Rocky Mountain is jumping in the full-suspension, plus-tire game with its new carbon Pipeline: a bike with 150 mm front suspension, 130 mm rear and room for 27plus tires (up to 3.25 inches). The bike is 1x-specific, features internal cable routing, stealth-dropper routing, a PressFit BB92 bottom bracket, Boost spacing and is offered in sizes ...

Let me tell you, few things make quite an impression as seeing one of these in person. The Carbonara fat bike fork is the second major product release from Lauf, after the Trail Racer mountain bike fork, first for 29ers and then for 27.5. Hailing from Iceland, Lauf is a small company dedicated to bringing ...

One of the more interesting features of Ibis’ Tranny 29 hardtail is its two-piece frame. Not only can it be taken apart to fit in a airline-legal bag, it can also be used to tension a chain for singlespeeding. Now you can take your Tranny fat-biking by replacing one piece of that two-piece frame with a ...

Carbon fiber has come to dominate the high end mountain bike market when it comes to frames and components, and more and more brands are using it in wheels as well. Stan’s NoTubes first molded its Bead Socket Technology design in carbon last year with the cross-country and race oriented Valor wheels, which we were impressed with in ...

Whisky has just released a new fork that should make the minimalist mountain biker and weight-conscious bikepacker quite happy. Sticking with their number system, Whisky has assigned this model as the No. 9 Boost LT. Coming in at 660g, it is quite lite for a mountain bike fork.  I mounted this sleek beast on my ...

Walking the expo at this spring’s Dirt Fest Pennsylvania, I couldn’t help but marvel at all the killer new bikes on display. As a fan of vintage bikes, a vast majority of my experience with frame construction materials is constrained to steel, aluminum and titanium. Carbon fiber, at least as we know it today, was ...

Apart from wheel sizes and the number of gears involved, the biggest trend in the mountain bike industry in the last decade has been carbon fiber. You can get carbon anything these days: frames, rims, handlebars, brake levers, stems, seatposts, cranksets, chains… ok, maybe not chains, but the Gates Carbon Belt Drive is pretty close. ...

The Mach 4 has always been an important bike for Pivot Cycles. It was the brand’s first big hit, and long a mainstay of the lineup. But let’s face it, a 26-inch bike with 100mm of travel is a hard sell these days, and the new, fourth-generation Mach 4 Carbon has not only embraced all ...

Editors Note: This review was originally part of Issue 211, if you would like to receive copies of Dirt Rag to your door so you can impress your friends Subscribe Today! By subscribing to Dirt Rag now you will not only be supporting independent mountain bike journalism but you will also be receiving our next ...

Light Bicycle AM928 Wheelset – $1,269 us.lightbicycle.com By Scott Williams Back in 2010, the carbon wheelset market was just starting to gain momentum, and low-cost, unbranded carbon fiber rims started emerging online. One of those companies was Xiamen Light Bicycle, a global manufacturing company that started with carbon rims shipped directly from the facility in ...

Fyxation has released two new editions to the Sparta fork line-up, opening the fork use up to a larger audience. First, is Sparta QR, which takes the original 11/8″ aluminum straight steerer carbon fiber fork and makes it compatible with 9mm QR hubs. The Sparta QR retails for $299.   Second is Sparta FCR, a full carbon version of the ...

Editor’s note: Dirt Rag #206 was our DIY issue, where we built a bamboo bike, a steel frame, and fixed a carbon bike. This is the carbon edition, written by Scott, our Operations Manager. Like what you see? Subscribe now to catch all of 2019 and follow along on all our hijinx. Dirt Rag #208 ...

Race Face is excited to introduce their new down-country XC/Trail wheelset, the Next SL. Next SL wheels are ready to maximize your trail riding; light for XC, but wide and strong for aggressive days on the mountain. Designed to complement their award-winning Next SL Crankset, Next SL have been designed to take full advantage of the ...

On Monday, Ibis launched its newest carbon hardtail, the DV9. Inspired by Lili Heim, the varsity XC racing high school daughter of Ibis co-owner and CEO Hans Heim, this bike is designed to be fun, fast, and affordable. With 67.4° travel on a 120mm fork (68.5° on a 100mm fork), the geometry is slacker than ...

…between ridiculous and awesome! Are you tired of waiting for your toddler at the top of a climb? Do you find yourself taking out unnecessary “extra” bolts and other heavy componentry so that your three-year-old can hold more momentum on the flats? Has your child learned how to ride a pedal bike but their downright ...

PUB Wheels has partnered with us to give one lucky winner a PUB Carbon Wheelset of their choice! See the plethora of wheels here.  You can earn 20+ entries by clicking below! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Full carbon wheels are not a new idea, but this is the first from a mainstream brand that I can remember. Scott has be slowly ramping up the technology at Syncros since it was purchased from Ritchey a few years back. These wheels are a no-holds-barred implement going as fast as humanly possible on a race ...

Alex Rims is entering the world of carbon trail wheels with the Recon 3.0. Boasted to be able to take the same abuse as an aluminum wheel and rumored to cost somewhere in the $1200 range, the Recon 3.0 could be a budget conscious carbon nut’s dream come true. The Recon 3.0 has the ability ...

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 ...

Tester: Scott Williams Age: 31 Height: 5’10” Weight: 175 lbs. Inseam: 32” When the Pivot LES first stormed bike shop floors in 2012, it was obvious Chris Cocalis of Pivot Cycles was ahead of the curve offering a hardtail with a short chainstay and slack, for cross-country standards, 69.5 degree head angle with a 100mm ...

Tester: Stephen Haynes Age: 39 Height: 5’11” Weight: 210 lbs Inseam: 30” If acceptance into our popular culture is predicated on a product or brands’ appearance in a Wal-Mart store, then 27plus as a wheel size has arrived. I noted this arrival on a recent trip to the purveyor of all things cheap and excessive ...

By Zach White Specialized listened to feedback from riders about both the 27.5 and 29 Enduros and made some small geometry adjustments for 2018. Tired of hearing “lower, longer, slacker”? Too bad, because that’s a big part of what changed. Stack heights see a slight reduction, reaches stretch 5-15 mm, and the head tube angle ...

When Pivot made subtle updates to their LES for 2017, the sliding dropouts and sub 70º head angle which made the LES a crowd pleaser when it first came to fruition in 2012 remained intact. As Gordon “Quadsworth” Wadsworth, the 3x National Ultra Endurance (NUE) Series singlespeed champion states, “Budda don’t need no grease.” With ...