steel

Tester: Helena Kotala Age: 27 Height: 5’3” Weight: 127 lbs. Inseam: 29” The Jamis Dragonfly is a little bit of everything. Parts of it seem decidedly old-school, like a steel hardtail frame and 26 inch wheels. But these seemingly archaic standards are combined with modern geometry, boost spacing, a dropper post and plus tires to ...

The Jamis Dragonfly is a 26plus steel hardtail designed as a women’s-specific bike, featuring a shorter top tube in relation to seat tube, lower standover height, a shorter wheelbase and smaller sizing than its counterpart, the Dragonslayer. The Dragonfly comes in two different models—Sport and Pro. I tested out the Pro, which upgrades from the Sport with ...

Words and photos by Zach White There’s a big part of me that wants to give REEB a huge middle finger of a review due to the simple fact that there was no Oskar Blues beer offered while picking up or dropping off our REEBdonkadonk loaner at their bike-and-taco shop, CyleHops CANtina (Editor’s Note: This ...

Words by Maurice Tierney. Photos courtesy of www.firstflightbikes.com. Richard Cunningham founded Mantis Bicycles in 1981. Ever the innovator, Mantis made a variety of bikes, including the fillet brazed Sherpa, Pro Floater suspension bike and Flying V monocoque frame. Here we have an early Valkyrie X frame bike, made just before elevated chainstays came into vogue. ...

The old Surly Karate Monkey got a few small changes over the years but, for the most part, it was the same bike that helped 29ers gain mainstream acceptance starting in 2002. It was launched that year at the very event we’re now detoxing from (Interbike). We covered the new Karate Monkey earlier this year and brought ...

For the Canfield Brothers cultists, there’s a new steel hardtail on the block. Canfield updated one of its staples: the steel, get-rowdy 29er Nimble 9 to be Boost compatible, slacker and more sparkly. The Nimble 9 combines the revered ride quality of a steel frame with a slack 66.5-degree head angle and stubby chainstays adjustable ...

Ed note: This is part of our initial bike test of three new hardtails introduced at QBP Saddle Drive 2016, each shod with 27plus tires: the aluminum Salsa Timberjack, carbon Salsa Woodsmoke and steel Surly Karate Monkey. Despite their obvious differences, we will draw some comparisons and distinctions among the three, so make sure to ...

Jamis is betting that the rider who wants a steep, short-travel cross-country bike is moving away from steel and looking for newer and lighter materials like carbon fiber. Thus they have redesigned the Jamis Dragon 29 to appeal to the more aggressive trail rider. Looking over the dramatic changes for the new model, I think some pretty wise choices ...

Named for a fire road and peak in Marin County, the 2020 Pine Mountain 1 from venerable bicycle manufacturer Marin has been in and out of the company’s lineup since its inception in 1986. The no-nonsense, steel hardtail has traversed the history of mountain biking, morphing to maintain relevance along the way.  THE BIKE The ...

Chumba’s lineup offers two hardtails: the Stella and Sendero. As the Stella collects its accolades on the cross-country and endurance race scene, the Sendero is off-course looking for anything and everything to pop off. Downcountry, a fun cross-country bike or simply modern hardtail geometry, whatever you want to call it, the Sendero is titillating. THE ...

Editor’s note: Here at Bicycle Times we are as mindful of price as you are. So we gathered together a group of six very diverse bikes to showcase what you can find right now at the $1,000 price point. See our introduction here. Way back in issue #2, I reviewed the Raleigh Clubman (with rim ...

[portfolio_slideshow id=14924957] By Karl Rosengarth To celebrate his 10th year in business, Steve Garro of Coconino Cycles popped the Champagne cork and sent Dirt Rag his Signature Model frame to test. OK, so that’s not exactly how this 650b hardtail ended up at DRHQ, but the part about Garro fabricating mountain bikes for 10 years ...

We were all sitting around the kitchen table at the Dirt Rag office as we do during our weekly meeting discussing the finer points of handmade bicycles. In particularly we were discussing a current test bike in the form of the Oddity Punk Rock Jazz, a piece of art more than a bike, but it also ...

The Surly Karate Monkey is an iconic hardtail that helped popularize 29er wheels back in the early 2000s. It remained unchanged for 14 years, until 2016, when Surly launched an update to the frame that brought it into modern times. With longer, lower, slacker geometry, 27plus compatibility, internal dropper post routing and a frame that’s designed ...

Tester: Adam Newman Age: 36 Height: 6’ 1” Weight: Gaining Inseam: 33” It’s steel. It has wheels. It rides like a bike. To be honest, I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to say? I mean, a rigid singlespeed is about as bare bones as you can get, and you’ve probably already decided if riding ...

By Eric McKeegan Some things just go together. Cream cheese and bagels. Peanut butter and chocolate. Harleys and guys dressed like pirates. Soma and steel. Soma has been turning out high-quality steel frames to fill niches in the industry for years, and the newest version of the Juice updates this hardtail with more wheel size ...

One of the best things about handmade bike builders is the pure love they have for creating two wheeled machines and the time and effort they put into a startup business, just for the simple joy of making and riding bikes. Jon and Erin Acuff of Proudfoot Cycles are no different. When you meet them, ...

By Adam Newman Ah yes, the Kona Unit. At once the least glamorous and most amorous model in the Kona lineup. A no-frills, knobby tire gateway drug for the masses. The Unit may be simple but it has changed through the years, and for 2017 Kona is showing off its versatility by swapping out the ...