Sea Otter: 29er Stuff

Here’s a tie-together of many of the 29er bits and pieces we saw around the Otter. We’ll visit many of them again in future stories, but this is where we’ll keep them all together. Sitting comfortably? Then we’ll start at the top.

DT Swiss

The Swiss boys have launched a pair of 29er rims and wheels too. The 29er wheels are the ‘XM1550 29’ – and DT steps away from its usual ‘the name is the weight in grams’ format to explain that the (tubeless) XM1550 wheels are actually 1750g, but in the same Tricon group as its 26in XM1550 wheels. Simple…

There’s also an M1800-29 (right) that uses a normal DT hub and spokes, rather than the forged flange and high tension spokes of the 1550. In addition, DT is making a 29er fork with its twin-shot damping and reverse arch. It’ll come in 100mm or 120mm and tapered steerer or regular.

There’s also a fully carbon, rigid fork that weighs under 600g

Fox – we’ve already seen the new Fox 34 forks in our Fox roundup story but here it is again. And Fox has said that it’ll come in 15mm only and tapered steerer only. No 26in version (that we know of…)

Crank Bros – and what is this sexy gold thing? It’s a new Crank Bros wheel – its whole range has been lightened and revamped, with the addition of carbon rim 29er wheels. This is the top of the range Cobalt 11 wheelset – weighing in a 1350g and coming in 9mm/15mm and 142×12 and 135QR. It’s tubeless compatible too. (There is a 26in version too). Lower down the order we have the Cobalt 3, 2 and 1 29er wheels. 1550g, 1670g and 1690g respectively.

Charge Bikes – we got a sneak preview of Nick Larsen’s own titanium Charge Cooker, when he came to visit, but here’s the first one off the production line.

 

Intense: The Intense Spider 29 has been nicely refreshed with a tapered headtube, new tubeset and Intense’s G1 dropouts, which first appeared on the Tracer and allowing all the different rear axle options.

Titus – The new ‘owned by Planet-X’ Titus showed a very early version of its new Racer-X 29er in carbon. It comes in at 5lbs and will be ready in the autumn. There’s also an entry level 29er appearing in aluminium.

Ritchey – Here’s a steel bike that looks really ‘right’. The Ritchey P-29er is made from WCS Logic 2 tubeset and has a skinny forged and machined headtube that flares out at the ends for the headset cups, making it 80g lighter than a straight 1 1/8th tube. The frame weighs 4.5lbs and will b $1099 for the frame when it comes out in September.

 

 

 

Marzocchi is entering the racing 29er market with its Corsa 29 fork. 1590g and 80-120mm travel via internal spacers. It’ll be out in the end of 2011 and will come in a couple of different versions. This is obviously the top end one with carbon crown/steerer and nickel stanchions with a TST Micro damper. It’ll be 15QR only

 

We featured the new Santa Cruz Highball in a story a couple of weeks ago, but here it is again for comparison.

 

Breezer. Joe Breeze was on hand to talk people through his Cloud 9 29er. Full carbon and very popular, judging by the reaction.

Banshee – Here’s the Banshee Prime, all mountain 29er. You might not have heard of Banshee – that’s because Halfords owns the name in the UK, so Banshee bikes are known as Mythic Bikes. Anyway… Here’s it’s 29er all mountain model (designed by a chap in Edinburgh, don’t you know) and it features 5in/130mm of travel, with a 140mm fork, 150×12 or 135/QR dropouts, a 67.5° head angle (which Banshee reckons is a 66.5 26in equivalent). It’ll come in Medium, Large and XL and is out Spring 2012. In the meantime, it has 74 test riders who are thrashing the daylights out of prototypes to see what needs changing. Banshee reckons the bike will build into a 27-34lb bike depending on spec.

And here’s the Cannondale Scalpel, as revealed on these pages yesterday.

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