Well, with the spring time weather starting to come around to many areas it seems that news and rumors are springing up with the grass! Here are some of the latest tidbits that I have heard out on the wires……

fontana_national_001fontana_national_003fontana_national_004

Specialized Carbon Hardtail 29″er: A reader of Twenty Nine Inches was kind enough to forward these spy shots taken at a California race venue recently showing a Specialized carbon fiber hardtail mountain bike sporting 29 inch wheels. Nothing more can be said for certain, but several things stand out upon examination here.

The head tube bears a striking resemblance to the tapered steer tube road models, as does the entire frame with its gracefully curving top tube flowing into the seat stays. One can only surmise that we are seeing a tapered steer tube fork here that bears some resemblance to a Fox fork. Interestingly the bike is leaned against the trailer on the drive side, but that crank bears a striking resemblance to Specialized’s two piece FACT carbon crank.

When we asked Specialized for a response, all they said was “…good catch.” We did learn that there is a “mini-launch” of some bicycles just prior to Sea Otter planned by Specialized and no doubt the new rigs will be on display at the Specialized Team truck at Sea Otter, so we plan on catching up with this new rig at that time.

29_tubular

GEAX Tubular Saguaro Under Development: The GEAX tubular tire development continues and here we have our first photo of a prototype 29″er tubular next to a 26 inch version. GEAX is working very closely with Edge Composites on making sure that these tires and Edge’s rims work in perfect harmony with each other. Expect to see some prototypes being raced at certain venues throughout the summer. The tire is not expected to be anywhere close to being ready for sale to the public until maybe mid-2010 at this point.

Titanium Bike Cancelled: We have been saying for months that a titanium hardtail was scheduled to be released for sale by a U.S. based company in a 29″er format but that bike has been scuttled now. There are no plans to bring it to production. Reasons for the snuffing of the project were mostly related to the downturn in the economy late last year and a hesitancy by dealers to commit to such a pricey, niche market frame.

Fox Does QR15 29″er Forks For 2010 We have had confirmation that Fox Racing Shox is bringing the QR15 through axle to market in 2010 for 29″ers. No word on travel options or models as of now. This isn’t surprising, as to not bring a through axle fork into the 29″er range would be suicidal for Fox’s 29″er sales. We’ll be peeking around the pits at Sea Otter to see if we can spot some early production models. Fox has sprinkled future product around at Sea Otter before, and this year should be no exception.

2650_59581113001_48354778001_1550748_3135646_n

Giant 29″er Update: Giant has updated it’s Facebook page to include this sneak peek at it’s up coming 29″er hardtail. Looks like Alliance technology which is a mix of carbon top tube/seat stays with hydro formed aluminum down tube, head tube, seat tube, and chainstays. The frame appears to have replaceable drop outs lending to the theory that this will be a single speed capable frame. There was a mention of belt drive by a commenter associated with Giant, but this is unconfirmed at this time. Stay tuned for more as we learn it.