#CHAINRING FOR STACHE 7 FULL#
#CHAINRING FOR STACHE 7 PLUS#

The Full Stache is easy to ride, it seems undeterred by loose surfaces and remains quite relaxed down narrow or rocky steep chutes. Our first trip to the trails was a fun one, we were pretty open-minded about it, and because of that we weren’t too critical of its appearance, we just wanted to see what it was capable of. Charging at the gutters the bike doesn’t flinch, wind it up to speed and grab a handful of brake and the tyres let out a roar, sounding like someone is attempting to ice skate down their driveway in summer. The frame’s geometry puts you nice and low in the bike and standover height is very generous it’s odd seeing the tyres so close to you! Give the bike a bounce and with 18 psi in the big balloons it feels like you have swapped out running shoes for enormous basketball shoes. The Full Stache looks big, but spinning around the block we were surprised to find the steering quite light and the wheels didn’t feel too far away from the centre of the bike like we feared. Let’s ride! Punching down rocks, and back up the other side.

It will no doubt receive a few odd looks but consider what they’ve achieved we forgive it for appearing a little unconventional. The head tube is tiny, reaching a comfortable height for the handlebars was easy despite the tall wheels. Check out how close the tyre is to the chainring, the ultra-short 427mm stays mean the main suspension pivot needed relocation in front of the BB. All the regular frame features found on Trek’s suspension bikes are here the Active Braking Pivot, impact protection and the Knock Block and geometry adjustment via the Mino Link. The suspension pivot has been shifted forwards to make space for the wheel and short 427mm stays. A stumpy little headtube helps the bars stay low despite the tall wheels. The chainstay measurement is 427mm, quite considerably shorter than the Norco Sight 29er, Trek Fuel EX and Santa Cruz High Tower. While the Full-Stache is based on the Fuel EX platform, it looks so different. To fit everything in, Trek has had to get very creative with the frame design.

Quite a wild looking frame you have there! We can imagine the engineering department dreaming up ways to make 29×3″ wheels work in conjunction with dual suspension. In comparison to the other big guns Giant, Scott and Specialized they produce come pretty quirky bikes for niche areas of cycling. Trek isn’t afraid to give things a go, take a look at their entire range and compare them to other brands with such a representation in the market.

#CHAINRING FOR STACHE 7 PLUS#

Who’s keen enough to make a 29″ plus bike? The Full Stache combines momentum of a 29er with the traction of plus bike into a lively package. No way would a regular hardtail be this confident. They have proper bite, not just a large contact patch. The Full Stache, however, comes with a 3″ version of their immensely popular XR4 tyre which we’ve had great experiences with on their Trek Remedy and Fuel EX. The 3″ Chupacabra on the earlier model Stache hardtail was quite vague with its very rounded profile. The 2.6″ tyres on 30-35mm rims had many traction benefits of plus tyres, but still retained the predictability and support of a 2.4-2.5″ tyre.īontrager has stepped up and produced a proper tyre for hard riding, too. Since then, the rise of 2.6″ tyres have nearly made the classic 3″ tyred plus bike somewhat redundant, take the Canyon Spectral, Pivot Mach 5.5 or Merida One-Forty for example. We settled on the very general statement that plus bikes are great on sub-2K hardtails for entry-level riders on technical terrain, or on short-travel duallies for riders that require bulk traction for their conditions. We ranked some of them well, while others were a little too loafy and slow, we found they suited some trails well but lacked overall performance. We’ve seen plus bikes come on strong and somewhat fade away, the high volume 3″ tyred traction hounds barged their way onto the mountain bike scene a couple of years ago to a very mixed response. Plus bikes, are they back, or did they never go anywhere?

Chainring for stache 7