carbon-bike

For 2017, Kona has updated its full-suspension, cross-country Hei Hei with two 29er models in carbon: the DL and Race DL.   Kona increased bike stiffness and dropped the weight by giving the two-bike line full carbon frames weighing 1800 grams (just under 4 pounds). Kona’s own Fuse Independent Suspension—a design that eliminates a pivot at ...

Not to be outdone by big brother, Juliana announced an updated Joplin to coincide with the new Santa Cruz Tallboy (since they’re basically the same bike). The new Joplin shares a frame with the Tallboy, but comes with a lighter suspension tune designed to offer a plusher ride to lighter-weight riders. The suspension promises to be ...

Tester: Emily Walley | Height: 5’4” | Weight: 110 pounds | Insteam: 29.5” Originally published in Issue #189 As women’s mountain bike options continue to evolve, it can be difficult to find the ideal bike for your skill level as well as your wallet. If you are a new rider, with undetermined commitment, the options ...

Tester: Mike Cushionbury | Height: 5’10” | Weight: 155 lbs. | Inseam: 32” Bike sizes: S, M (tested), L, XL | Price: $7,460 Before Cannondale’s new 27.5 Habit had even been released, it gained considerable momentum and interest when WTB/Cannondale rider Jason Moeschler won the coveted “All-Mountain World Championships” in Downieville, California, thanks to a ...

Tester: Justin Steiner | Height: 5’7” | Weight: 165 lbs. | Insteam: 31” Bike sizes: S, M (tested), L, XL | Price: $4,899 Polygon is a name much more well known outside the United States. Unless you follow World Cup DH racing, where you’ve surely seen Tracey and Mick Hannah rocking Polygon’s Collosus DHX race bike, ...

Updated March 1 with information from the bike’s official launch at Frostbike 2016.   Heller Bikes, the carbon-only mountain bike brand from Quality Bicycle Products (also the parent of Surly and Salsa, among others), announced its presence at Interbike in 2015 when it dropped a fat bike on us. Heller has now added to its ...

For a while there, the patient was touch-and-go. Assets were on the operating table. Little passion was moving through its blood. After its sale to BST Nano Carbon in late 2014, Ellsworth looked like it might not pull through. The 2015 lineup wasn’t released at all. “We weren’t dead,” joked company founder Tony Ellsworth. “We ...

Tester: Mike Cushionbury | Age: 45 | Height: 5’10″ | Weight: 155 lbs. | Inseam: 32” Trek discontinued its 26-inch-wheeled Top Fuel cross-country line a few years back in favor of the successful Gary Fisher 29er Superfly FS. Now, as the Superfly grows long in the tooth, the Top Fuel is reborn for 2016. And it’s as modern ...

Tester: Jon Pratt | Age: 45 | Height: 5’11” | Weight: 195 lbs. | Inseam: 31” The Canfield EPO is a sexy carbon 29er hardtail born from the gravity-loving minds at Canfield Brothers. Its very name is meant to take a jab at the carbon hardtail 29er racing crowd. This is by no means a ...