Bicis para ti@s dur@s Recopilación rigidas-endureras.FoTos dentro.

Matt’s Custom Crust Bike
Brett Rothmeyer — May 3, 2019


Crust Bikes custom frame
Price: $1,475 for frame, estimate $4,000 complete
Online: crustbikes.com

Tester: Carolyne Whelan
Age: 36
Weight: 143 lbs.
Height: 5’ 5.5”
Inseam: 32”

Reach: 16.2”
Stack: 24.4”
Top Tube: 22.8”
Head Tube: 63°
Seat Tube: 74°
BB Drop: 1.8”
Chainstays: 16.5”
Weight: 28.1 lbs. without pedals, specs based on size tested

It’s a charmed life when bikes just fall in your lap. Once, I adopted a Wojcik frame that had been abandoned in a storage unit. This spring, Drew Guldalian lent me his personal Engin titanium hardtail to shred his local Philly trails for an afternoon. Now, I have Matt Whitehead of Crust Bikes’s personal whip. It’s a hard bike to review, because it’s meant for someone else’s body, taste, and riding style, but it was fun to ride and based on a production model bike. The only difference between the Whitehead custom frame and the Crust Shred Eagle is the head tube angle, raked out to 64° like some wild hardtail downhill bike.

Whitehead is a plumber by trade, and “knows his limits,” as he says with cheery self-awareness. That’s why he only designs his bikes and doesn’t build them. While the more popular touring models are made in Taiwan, Crust’s custom designs and the Shred Eagle production mountain bike are fabricated by a friend in Los Angeles, California.

THE BIKE

This is clearly a mechanic’s bike. All the components are pretty dialed, like the SRAM XX1 Eagle group and Shimano Deore XT brakes, but the bike, when I picked it up at the Philly Bike Expo, still had some mud encrusted (hah, get it?) from the last muddy shred session. There are also some wingnutty tweaks, such as a Campagnolo downtube friction shifter used as a dropper post lever. “That’s kind of a pain,” Whitehead said as he passed the bike over to me and I thumbed the lever. “You can just replace that if you want, I don’t care.” But I wanted to test the bike as it was meant to be ridden, quirks and all. Plus, it’s Campy so it looks very cool, if mad scientist-y.

I definitely enjoyed how tight the geometry of this bike felt, considering its slack. It’s compact enough to still be fun at the local indoor bike park, and I caught a few blissful seconds of air over the pump sections of my favorite local trail.



I think this bike, and the production line Shred Eagle off which this prototype is based, is part of an undercurrent of designs going back to smaller wheel sizes with larger tires, and this stocky reviewer is stoked. This bike is designed for a 120 mm fork and 26×3.0+ tires, which I’m running, but can also be built up with a 140 mm fork with 27.5×2.8 tires for additional slack and a slightly higher bottom bracket, respectively.

The head tube angle, an intense 64°, is the only divergence in design from the Shred Eagle (which comes standard with a 67° head tube angle). It’s interesting that Whitehead went for a slack 64° head tube angle coming from a BMX background, where head tubes are usually a pretty stiff 73°-76°. He said he wanted something raked out for going downhill, and this bike certainly goes. He wasn’t sure if he would like it, so he just made this one prototype to test out. He does like it, it turns out, but isn’t going to make this design a regular production model. I have a feeling more bikes will be going in this direction, but being a one-person operation Whitehead doesn’t have the budget to take those design risks.



THE RIDE

29ers sometimes feel like a boat around me as I struggle to make it through tight corners. These smaller wheels were a refreshing change, making cornering easier while still dutifully climbing up punchy ascents. The tires—Surly Dirt Wizard 3.0 front and WTB Ranger 2.8 rear—helped the bike gobble up most any gnarly trail feature.



The seasons jumped from summer to winter like someone had flipped a switch, so I got to check out this bike in dry, wet, frozen and indoor conditions. In each situation, this bike did me proud. I have a few mental blocks on certain local trail sections but decided to give it the ‘ole college try on the Crust custom, and I felt much more confident than I had in the past. I cleared everything with no problem, including the wet bridge that feeds into a muddy, washed out berm and a sketchy log pile at the bottom of a sneak descent that always catches me off guard.





CONCLUSION

This steel bike isn’t the lightest, and the slack geometry doesn’t make it the best climbing bike or the fastest bike in the woods. If you’re more interested in being a “trail ninja” who wins every group ride, then you might not get the most enjoyment out of this bike. However, if you live by the Dirt Rag motto of “Start slow and taper off” then you will find a lot to love in this bike.



As it’s a custom model, you’ll have to reach out to Matt to see about getting yourself one or check out the Shred Eagle for the more standard design options.

 

Transition Throttle Review
Brett Rothmeyer — November 15, 2018

Tester: Scott Williams
Age: 31
Height: 5’10”
Weight: Holiday lbs.
Inseam: 32”
Price: $3,700
Sizes: S, M, L (tested), XL
Online: transitionbikes.com

Reach: 17.7”
Stack: 24.5”
Top Tube: 24.7”
Head Tube: 66°
Seat Tube: 74°
BB Height: 12.4”
Chainstays: 16.5”
Weight: 26.5 lbs.

Tale of the tape
The Transition Throttle is fairly straightforward for what one would expect from an aggressive hardtail in this day and age, especially one born in the Pacific Northwest. The Throttle is accented by long, low and slack (read: current) geometry and 27.5-inch wheels that can fit most 2.6-inch tires. A run-of-the-mill GX build kit is neither earth-shattering nor does it have you desiring immediate upgrades. It’s no surprise the Transition Throttle received the sleeper award in this issue’s hardtail roundup.



Transition has a long history offering well-received hardtails all the way back to when 26-inch wheels were the cream of the crop. For 2017, the company set out to create the ultimate hardtail, one that combines the playfulness of a dirt jumper and the stability of an aggressive trail bike. To achieve the desired ride quality of a brawler hardtail, the company uses carbon fiber in lieu of the typical aluminum to help fine-tune the ride characteristics.



A successful brawler is able to stand in the ring absorbing considerable amounts of punishment. To meet these rugged demands, Sam Burkhardt, product manager, says that the Throttle is, “laid up to meet the same test standards as a 160 mm travel enduro-type bike, so the frame is more than stout enough for anything you would want to do on a hardtail.” And, if your shred-i-ness does happen to exceed that threshold, Transition offers lifetime crash replacement for its frames on top of a 3-year warranty program.

In the ring
Unlike most brawlers, the Throttle’s ability to absorb punishment is not its only asset. The Throttle is well-balanced and light on its feet. With a little gumption on the pedals and a slight flick of the wrist, the Throttle accelerates like a featherweight through tight and twisty singletrack. Even up short, rooted, pitchy 20 percent grades, the Throttle remained firmly planted with a climbing prowess that even some cross-country bikes can’t match. Getting into the depths of the hows and whys would require a trigonometry textbook, or just trust the engineers at Transition know a thing or two about how a bike should ride.

The Throttle is a totally rad bike to ride, and I honestly can’t quite put my finger on why. Everyone who rode it came away feeling there is something magic about this bike. It’s an astonishingly maneuverable bike that prefers to be pointed down, but it’s ability to go up matches that of a more cross-country-esque 29er hardtail with a 120mm fork. If you’re into aggressive hardtails and have a playful riding style, I would not let the 27.5 wheel size steer you away; the Throttle can go toe-to-toe with the best of them. Take the carbon Honzo 29er I reviewed in issue #198; the Transition Throttle feels just as stable on the descents but far more efficient on the climbs. However, if you’re stuck on the 29er wheel size, Transition has the 29-inch Vanquish carbon hardtail as well.

Pro

• Threaded BSA bottom bracket for the win
• Lightweight carbon frame
• Grin-inspiring geometry

Con

• Expensive/no aluminum frame option.
• No Shimano build kit.
• Not enough cons to get to three.

 

Que no dice... La estetica. La "Izquierdita" funcionara, pero es mas fea que el Fary chupando limones

 

Pues tengo el mismo cuadro pero lo he montado sólo en 29", me parece mucho tener dos juegos de ruedas, a veces me tienta coger unas 27,5 plus ....... pero me aguanto!!!!

 

No es "bocatto di cardinale" pero con ese patron de colores esta muy guapa!!

Enviado desde mi Mi MIX 2S mediante Tapatalk

 

Y que tal la NS en 29? En Chain tienes unas llantas Duroc a precio.

 

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/es/es/sun-ringle-duroc-40-wheelset-boost/rp-prod183857

 

No te arrepentirás.
Yo tengo la dartmoor primal y dos juegos de ruedas. 27'5+ y 29
Para hacer el Becerro 27'5+ full y cuando quiero salir más de ruta 29 full .
En un principio las 29 las tenía con cubiertas endureras, pero ahora las llevo con cubiertas más rodadoras y ligeras, para volve la bici más polivalente, dos bicis en una con solo cambiar las ruedas.
También probé en su día la combinación de 27'5+ atrás y 29 delante y viceversa, pero al final me quedo así.
27'5+ ENDURIGIDA
29 Rutear

Enviado desde mi EVA-L09 mediante Tapatalk

 

Pues yo no tengo mucho nivel, pero a diferencia de la 26", lógicamente me parece más complicada de meter en curvas, pero muy rápida por encima de zonas rotas, y subiendo me parece cómoda.
Esas duroc ... tienen buena pinta

 

Esa es una muy buena opción, o la mezcla que han puesto antes de 29" delante y plus detrás. Era mi objetivo pero este año no estoy saliendo mucho en bici, y aún no he hecho muchas rutas importantes, así que por ahora quedó en 29"
Pero dá que pensar lo de las plus

 

La cosa se puede llegar a complicar para las empresas de allí, y, en consecuencia, para los clientes interesados de aquí. Por ejemplo, si bien recuerdo Evanscycles no sirve ya a nuestro país. Ignoro si hay alguna empresa británica más que se haya visto obligada a seguir sus pasos.

 

Para mí es rara de coj**** .
Yo la llamo el veterano cojo de guerra.
Es como si el cuadro, la bicicleta, llevara una sola muleta.
Mira que son raras las Lauf, pero ésas... Ay, madre... Claro, lo expresa un rigidista radical...

 

Chatejo, un servidor no logra ver las fotos... ¿Os pasa al resto?

 

https://dirtragmag.com/articles/transition-throttle-review Ahí salen.

 

Yessss.

 

Muchas gracias, señor.

 

.

 

Curiosamente exhibida en la World Cup de Nove Mesto.
Kingdom Vendetta.
Titanio, 27.5+,Pike de 170mm.

 

Consulta, ahora es necesario 110x15 delante, oséase, Boost? No es mejor dejarse de bicis y comprar directamente un quad o 4x4 que es más duro y más seguro? No entiendo esto de cada dos por tres cambiar cosas.