MTB

Trek rolls out new Gary Fisher Collection 29ers

At its huge annual European dealer show Trek World in Frankfurt, Trek Bicycles last week unveiled a whole swag of new bikes and components, including the new Stache and Superfly 29er platforms.

The Stache is a long-travel aluminium hardtail, while the new Superfly bikes are a super-light hardtail and full suspension rig in carbon fibre. Both are part of the Gary Fisher Collection, the niche of Trek’s range devoted to the big-wheelers that Fisher has been evangelising since the early 2000s.

When one of the founding fathers of mountain biking gets enthusiastic about a wheel size, the world sits up and takes notice. Fisher’s dedication to 29ers, along with the efforts of pioneers like Niner and others, has undoubtedly helped bring 29ers into the mainstream.

Our man David Jaquin was at Trek World in Frankfurt to get these snaps of the new machines.

The Stache

Big-wheelers are no longer considered to have canal-barge handling only fit for bombing fire roads. With riders pushing the limits of 29ers just as they’ve pushed the limits of 26-inch hardcore hardtails in the last decade, you can expect to see a lot more bikes like the Stache in 2013 ranges.

The new Trek Stache is the fruit of a Trek project to create the ultimate 120mm-travel 29er trail hardtail. The frame uses Genesis G2 geometry with E2 tapered head tube. It’s a low-standover design that comes out of the box with 720mm wide bar for control.

**The Stache uses Bontrager’s new 2.3in tyre on Duster rims, the same wide extrusion used on the Bontrager Rhythm wheels to provide a support for fatter tyres**

**The GF initials designate trek’s Gary Fisher Collection. Formerly a standalone brand, Trek brought Gary Fisher under the Trek umbrella in 2010.**

**The Stache frame has ICG 05 tabs for a chainguide with – on the Stache Eight here – custom green Race Face cranks and CNC-machined Turbine rings.**

**Convertible drop-outs give the option of either 142 x 12 or 135 x 5 rear axle by simply swapping out the hardware that holds the rear wheel.**

Superfly and Superfly 100

The brace of new Superfly frames are the result of Project Apollo, an effort to pull together everything Trek knows about carbon frame building to make the lightest, highest-performance bikes possible.

Comfort was an objective too. “We knew we had some opportunities from both a weight and a seated comfort approach,” Trek’s John Riley told Bikemagic.

Initial design using finite element analysis was used to assess different lay ups and structures and then about a year ago, Trek began trail-testing prototypes. Trek race legend Travis Brown was a key tester and “provided an invaluable amount of feedback.”

According to Riley, the resulting frame “has a 30 percent reduction in surface area to reduce weight, but we maintained stiffness. We wanted stiff but also light.”