Trek has invested a lot in tires recently, and it shows. A brand this big shouldn’t have inferior hoops.
Because Trek will never spec an outside brand, insofar as Trek is affiliated with Bontrager, the company needs to sink some money into wheel design. We swapped in a pair of mid-grade Easton EC70s for comparison and were amazed by how much livelier the bike felt. These low-end ones are hefty and plodding and hold back the bike. Look, for this kind of money we’re not expecting Enves, but we continue to be disappointed with even the higher-grade models of Bontrager wheels.
#Trek stache series#
The one area where the Stache screeches to a proverbial halt is the wheels, house-made Bontrager Duster series hoops. The rest of the bits and pieces are alloy versions of Trek’s Bontrager parts (exactly what you’d expect at this price), and they work just fine.
As noted, we love the color scheme, so the Race Face crank, while hardly feathery, is a perfect choice. Shifting is whipped cream-smooth, and we’ve experienced neither brake fade nor the need to bleed in nearly nine months of use. (Answer: weight.) Heft aside, these components work amazingly well. When we ride Shimano SLX parts-third tier in the line-we sometimes wonder why anyone would spend double and quadruple for the higher-grade stuff. And, yes, we love the Incredible Hulk styling, with swathes of paint to match the anodized lime hubs and crank, because it also has plenty of smoky gray to cover the rest of the frame, tempering any obnoxious, hipster-like tendencies. Then again, that means the Stache is more balanced than similar bikes in its category, making it a great all-around ride. Overall, it’s a simply designed frame that is responsive to acceleration, although several testers felt that it wasn’t as quick and flickable as they’d expected. Whereas many 29ers, especially those with a 68-degree head tube, may steer sluggishly, the Stache is snappy and playful. Without completely geeking out, G2 geometry means the crown of the fork is set forward 51 millimeters from the head tube of the bike, which makes the fork angle more steeply (without totally messing up the seating position) and puts your hands farther forward than they otherwise would be to enable quick steering and agility. The latter not only adds strength out back for rougher riding, but ensures wheel compatibility with other bikes in your stable, as these dimensions are all but standard on bikes these days.Īs with most Trek 29ers, the Stache features G2 geometry, which may sound like just a hot-button marketing phrase, but actually really works. It’s a compact but comfortable cockpit, with a press-fit bottom bracket and, happily, 142-by-12-inch rear axle configuration.
The Stache comes only in Trek’s hydroformed Alpha Platinum aluminum, which is the highest-caliber grade the company produces. And after more than six months of beating it up, we’re glad we did. We heard so many people raving about it that we felt compelled to test it.
#Trek stache pro#
It’s an aluminum hardtail with a 120-millimeter fork that, thanks to the snappy, green, color-matched parts, became affectionately known as The Hulk Bike (versus the Captain America GT Zaskar 9r Pro LE). Trek released the Stache in 2013 against that backdrop, and the bike has become something of a cult hit. In some places, the big-bike, jump-oriented crowd has thrown dropper seatposts on these hardtails and torn up five-foot drops, doing stunts on this slacker variety-because under such rigorous riding, full-suspension durability can inhibit performance.
#Trek stache plus#
And the lightest, fastest option was always a bike without rear suspension (although bikes like the new Specialized Epic, which is less than a pound heavier than the comparable hardtail, is blurring that logic), so hardtails have generally tended toward steep head tube angles and 100-millimeter forks.Ī longer-travel hardtail may sound like an oxymoron, but a growing number of manufacturers have rolled out bicycles with 120-, even 140-milimeter forks, no suspension in back-based on the premise that rear suspension is just overkill.Įven in locales with rougher terrain, a hardtail’s lack of creaking pivots and other moving parts, plus its relatively low cost, may outweigh the performance positives of full-suspension. Race bikes have dominated the hardtail category for years.
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