As we approach “show season”, we are starting to hear rumblings and see sightings of future 29″er products. Soon Eurobike, and then Interbike will come along with all the expected new arrivals. In between now and then, we will see more brands holding “dealer camps”, and we will undoubtedly see and hear rumors about 2012 products. For now, here are a few things to chew on….
Image courtesy of Kona Cog, Kona’s blog.
Kona Teases New AM/Trail Full Suspension Platform: This has been getting a lot of run on forums and internet sites lately. Kona has introduced the newest 29″er they have come up with dubbed the “Satori”. This bike features 130mm travel and Kona describes it as being an “aggressively oriented” full suspension rig. As such, we see several details that would lead us to believe the bike should perform as advertised.
Image courtesy of Kona Cog.
Here we can see the rear of the bike which will feature a 142mm X 12mm through axle, beefy drop outs, and the pivot location on the seat stay. We suspect that more companies will adopt the 142 X 12 standard for the rear axle on similar travel bikes as well. This should help make the rear of the Satori feel solid and flex free.
Image courtesy of Kona Cog.
Kona departs from the old “walking beam” type linkage to this “swing link” type linkage to drive the rear shock. This has become a popular set up on 29″er full suspension designs of late.
Image courtesy of Kona Cog
Kona claims this bike should be sub 30lbs in production trim, have a 68* head angle, and will be spec’ed with X7-X9 level components, and Easton Vice wheels. Look for the Satori to hit dealer floors in the fall. For more details, see Kona Cog.
Image courtesy of Vassago’s site.
Vassago Releases Details Of “Black Label” Frames: The long awaited “Black Label” model from Vassago has been revealed on Vassago’s site. The project has been teased for quite some time, but now seems to be reality.
Featuring a True Temper OX Platinum frame, sliding drop outs, and revised chain stay length, the frame is said to be a result of race team input. The Black Label frames are said to be built in the U.S.A. and are offered in three sizes: 16″, 18″, and 20″. Vassago says the Black Label frames are available now in limited quantities.
Image courtesy of Surly Bikes
Bigger Than Huge?! If you have never laid eyes on a Surly Pugsley, or any other “fat bike”, you might laugh, or stand in awe, (or both 🙂 ) when you do. Fat bikes have that effect on people. Certainly, Surly has the legacy in these types of bikes, offering arguably the most recognized bike in this category to this day in its Pugsley model. Now we’re hearing that Surly may be in the process of one-upping themselves.
Rumors have been swirling for weeks amongst fat biking freaks that the Minnesota based company was going to announce a bigger tire than the enormous Endomorph and Larry models they already have. There were a few “leaks” of information, then Surly pretty much admitted something was going on in this blog post here.
What is it? Well, if rumors be true, we’re hearing that Surly is going to introduce a fat bike with tires that will purportedly be well over 4 inches wide! Yes, an entirely new, bigger than life, humongous bike reportedly to be dubbed “Moonlander“. (Which seems to be pointed at by the image on the aforementioned blog post linked above.) Stay tuned, we hear this crazy rig is possibly to be shown during the fall trade shows sometime.
Tire Delay To Improve Your 29″er Tires: We told you months ago that Continental Tires were to introduce some tantalizing new treads this year. So…..where are they? Seems that due to production issues with Continental’s contracted factories, where the 29″er line is produced, the tires have been delayed, and delayed again, and again. So many disappointments have seemingly resulted in a future benefit for 29″er fans of Continental tires.
Our sources say that since Continental finds itself “behind the 8 ball” in terms of tire production and availability at a time when 29″er sales are increasing remarkably, the decision has been made to move production of the 29″er tire line to Germany. This will also mean that all the higher end casing technologies that are only used for German made Continental tires will now be unleashed on the 29″er tires Conti makes in the future. “Black Chili”, anyone? 🙂
No word on how soon this may happen, but with all the “hub-bub” about 29 inch wheeled bikes going on now in Europe, this certainly will be on the fast track to reality.
29″ers Garner Acolades: The print magazine, Bicycling, has announced its annual “Editor’s Choice” awards and 29″ers show up well in the lists. (In fact, they get their own categories in some cases.) The editors gave “Best Value Bike” to Salsa’s El Mariachi, (image above), and “Best Of The Best” to Santa Cruz’s Tall Boy carbon full suspension device. Pretty cool. Look for the entire eight page feature with more bikes in the August issue which will hit news stands July 5th.
More Evidence That 29″ers Are “Big”: We’ve been talking about this subject in the past, and now comes another chunk of evidence that 29 inch wheeled bikes are re-invigorating the retail mountain bike segment. This story, recently published by trade magazine, “Bicycle Retailer and Industry News“, again points out that 29″ers are the only thing growing in sales numbers for local bike shops mountain bike sections.
Front suspended 29″ers have increased in sales by a reported 142% and full suspension 29″ers a triple digit increase of 118%. These figures were referenced from a report by the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association in the “Bicycle Retailer and Industry News” post linked here. This seems to be a pretty significant increase in the face of the other categories declines in sales on the mountain bike side. It was also noted that 29″ers seem to be cannibalizing 26″er sales, which we felt would be a reason many mountain bike companies would drop 26 inch wheeled hard tails, (at the least), from their line ups in the near future.
That’s about it for this edition of “News And Rumors”. Stay tuned for more soon…
GT-Thanks for the update! Good report as always. I have heard it said(I only ride a rigid 29’r, so I don’t know), that the big wheels really shine on hardtails and rigid. That the ride feel between full suspension 26’rs and full suspension 29’rs is minimal or at least less that that of a hardtail. Your thoughts please…since you ride EVERYTHING you would be a good person to ask. Thanks in advance.
P.S. I realize that you do not want to piss off full suspension riders.
Vassago Black Label – VerHauen = $1,159.99 WOW!
Walt will build you custom for less……..
@yogi: I’ve tried to keep a 26″er ride on FS going at least once a year or so, (hard to do when I don’t own one!), and there is a difference in how the wheels react. To my mind, for most terrain, it seems to be an advantage to have larger diameter wheels. Now that might be different if I lived for doing DH, or big air, or what have you. I still feel 26″ers have a place there.
But despite all the arguments about what travel amounts feel like 26″ers, or how big wheels don’t do this or that, I still feel that full suspension bikes benefit from what 29 inch wheels bring to the table, just like rigid bikes and hard tails do. At least for the majority of all terrain riding.
Yes, but Walt will grumble, blog about doing this or that for 4 days and building nothing, and he’ll get sick at least 4 time before you get a frame from him. And it will take at least 6 months on a backlog of only 20 or so people.
That said, he does really nice work.
Always like the News and Rumor posts. Thanks GT.
i gave conti germany a call some weeks ago. the new 29er tires should be available in august.
Hi, you may want to check the new hardtail 29er from Kona:
http://cog.konaworld.com/archives/7997
Hey GT,
Is Bontrager ever going to release the new G2 switchblade or has that fire been put completely out? I know it was not mentioned here, but I keep checking the rumor post hoping to hear something. It looked like it was a finished product quite a while ago and then it just disappeared.
You also missed this:
http://cog.konaworld.com/archives/7968
Also, Acros 29er wheelset:
http://www.bikerumor.com/2011/06/27/other-new-goodies-from-acros-block-lock-headset-shot-peened-29er-wheels-more/
P.S.
Is everything OK with your European branch, AKA c_g ?
Haven’t seen his post for a while.
@Slim: Yes, you are correct. The carbon Switchblade fork was being ridden in final production form at a Press Camp I attended in Utah almost two years ago now.
Last I heard was that Trek hasn’t released the funds to manufacture the fork. That there were “other, more demanding projects” that were taking the money away from this fork for production.
I’d like to see it happen, but Trek seems disinterested in putting it out there. Perhaps now that the Europeans are getting on board with 29″ers, and given their penchant for light weight equipment, maybe the tide will turn and the Switchblade will be released.
While we’re talking about things we didn’t talk about – any hint of a Roscoe 29er from Trek/GF Collection this year? Pretty sure I will cast a vote in this category this year, and would like to know all the players.
A good future blog topic might compare what is now in the market in long travel 29er equipment (Tracer 29, Lunchbox, for example) with whatever might be coming soon.
$1,000+ for a non-custom steel frame? Nah. I’m good.
When I saw the pic of the FS Kona, and before I scrolled down to read what it was, it looked like it could be something from Transition, with similar lines and the swing link as the Covert. That got me excited, but it’s still cool.
I have heard that Specialized will introduce an entirely new line of 29ers. I am hoping to read the full story here soon.
26 is dead.
A little birdy told me to be ready for some major rear suspension design changes in the Trek 29’er line for 2012. Should be interesting.
I know this is an older post but for anyone still listening… Rumour from yesterday has it that MSC
are developing a 29er version of their impressive MPS2 simple single pivot linkage. Something like a big prother to their new 26″ race/trail bike prototype which just popped up on their website.
Given the supeb performance of their 26″ dual sus platforms – the Hunter and Zion need to be ridden to feel how good the engineering really is, this will be a 29er boinger that I will put money aside for.
It should also be light – their duallies are lighter than Scott’s at the moment (bet nobody knew that!)
After hearing this immediately lost interest in the Nicolai..