Fattie Fun!
We've been really fortunate to have a real mild and nice Fall in the valley this year. Fall riding is some of the best of the year. The smell of the leaves decomposing on the forest floor, combined with the colors and the cooler weather make for great riding.
I went out to California this past July, visited friends, raced mountain bike national championships, and went to Specialized for the 2016 model year launch. While I was out there I got a chance to see a lot of new and exciting things that are just making their way out now, along with some really fun rides.
Out of the events at Specialized, my favorite was the riding portion of the day, of course. We had a road, mountain, and city day while out there. The first day was the road day! We did a great loop from town that included a 7 or 8 mile Reddish Knob Type climb up to a state park. The best part about this was the road is only an out and back, meaning there was almost no traffic, a rare thing during my time in California.
On the mountain day we headed over to a park a few miles up highway 101 where we could choose pretty much any bike in their line to try out. I chose a Stumpjumper 6Fattie, and a Camber 29. I liked both bikes very much but the 6Fattie, with it's 3” 650b (27.5”) tires was the one I kept riding. Our time was limited that day but I knew I had just rode something that was going to change the way people ride.
With this in mind, I was really excited to get some in the shop as demo bikes. We now have a Stumpjumper as well as a Fuse hardtail in the plus size and I've been logging some good miles on our terrain with it. After riding it up and down mountains it still blows me away with how much it smooths out the rocks and grips everything so well! I find myself ignoring my brakes much more frequently on it.
I will be even more interested to see how it is on snow compared to a normal tire bike, as well as a fatbike. It does float through mud quite a bit better than a normal bike, so it should be fun!
-Chris
Stumpjumper 6Fattie Comp Carbon (features the SWAT door!)