Last Bikes Hit The FASTFORWARD Button With The V2

The humble hardtail is enjoying quite the resurgence lately. Having been reinvigorated by bigger wheels, fatter tyres, and progressive geometry borrowed from long-travel trail bikes, the modern hardtail is proving that you don’t necessarily need a rear shock to have a good time on the trail. Of course us Brits have known the virtues of the ‘hardcore hardtail’ for many a-year, particularly due to their resilience and ease of maintenance in the face of foul weather. But a recent influx of new bikes from BTR Fabrications, Stanton and Shand is proving there’s momentum behind this new breed of hardtails, and they’re also highlighting just how much fun they can be to ride. Need any proof? Check out this sweet little video of the new Stif Morf that we showcased just yesterday.

Throwing another ‘ardcore ‘ardtail into the mix, the new V2 FASTFORWARD has just been dropped courtesy of Last Bikes, and it looks to be an absolute scorcher. The original FASTFORWARD was conceived last year, and was brought to life via Kickstarter after a successful campaign that reached its goal within just 22-hours of going live. It seemed a lot of riders out there were very interested in an enduro hardtail, and Last delivered. The new version (V2) takes the same concept, but adds in a few updates such as big-wheel compatibility so that you can fit either 29in or 27.5+ wheels. Check out the word from ze Germans below;

“Now it‘s in the second edition, which comes up with some improvements in the details, it ́s called FASTFORWARD (V2). The conceptual framework of the Enduro hardtail has proved to be very successful, so it was not touched in it’s foundations. Steel remains the material of choice and still the bike can be ridden with 29 inch and 650B Plus wheels. The FASTFORWARD (V2) shines despite the big wheels through an agile and playful riding cha- racter and owes these fun features due to an extremely flat steering angle in combination with unusually short chainstays. For the second edition, some details have been changed: The ISCG-tabs are 1 mm thicker now. The tolerance of the seat tube diameter was slightly changed. For the rear axle there is a new part which integrates with the chain tensioners, that avoids any slipping of the hub. In order to deliver the best possible order processing and product quality, the FASTFORWARD (V2) is a limited edition of 100 frames. The frame and different buildkits can be preordered in our shop: www.last-bikes-shop.com For testing and looking we have all sizes build up in our Showroom in Dortmund, Germany. Delivery will start in November – right in time for the winter season.” – Last Bikes

The Last FASTFORWARD V2 features:

• sizes: medium, large, x-large
• colours: matt black, transparent red, transparent green, transparent blue, clear coat
• frame material: Sanko Japanese 4130 CrMo, custom multi butted
• max. fork travel: 150 mm (optimized for 140 mm)
• seat post size: 31.6 mm diameter
• available with stealth and external dropper post routing
• CNC machined and tapered head tube
• max tyre widths: 29×2.35in and 27.5×2.5in
• removable 180mm postmount disc brake mount
• removable cable guides
• bottom bracket: 73 mm BSA threaded
• ISCG 05 tabs
• front derailleur: Shimano SideSwing only
• investment cast dropouts w/integrated chain tensioners
• hub width 135 mm, hub is offset 6 mm towards the drive side
• weight 2.6 kg

About LAST

LAST is a rider-owned bike company from Germany based in the Ruhr area. Led by Jörg Heydt and Jochen Forstmann – both active mountain bikers with long-standing race experience – production and distribution of high-grade frames for mountain bikes started in 2000. The line-up ranges from hardtail and full suspension frames to complete bikes of different equipment options that can be individually customised. LAST is a house-to-house distributor and offers their customers direct contact with the manufacturer so that there are outstanding possibilities for advice and prompt and competent direct service if need be. For years now, LAST has been present at all major biking events in Germany and successfully participates in national and international competitions with a racing team. In 2015 LAST team rider Aiko Göhler won the 4X-World Championships riding the TREMONIA frame.