Demo Days of Summer!
With the hot weather and long sunlight hours hitting their full stride, there is no better time to be out riding. Here in California this time of year really puts a shine on the meaning of "the golden state," regardless of our budget woes. And it's a perfect time to swing a leg over one of our bikes - our intrepid sales grunt Danny Ward will be running two more demo days before he gets a mental health break. So, if you're in the northern half of California, mark the following dates, times and locations:

Saturday, July 25th
Another Bike Shop
2361 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
10a.m-4p.m
831-427-2232


Saturday August 15th
Bicycle Emporium
483 Grass Valley Hwy
9a.m-3p.m
530-823-2900



Danny'll be carting around a size run apiece of Blur XC and LT carbon bikes, as well as Driver 8s, V10s, Hecklers, Superlights and Julianas. Demo riders must go to the shops referenced above to check in, and are encouraged to bring their own shoes and pedals. At ABS, ask for Chris. At Bicycle Emporium, Curtis is the guy. Danny will be on hand making sure the bikes are good to go, as well as plastering stickers onto the foreheads of badly behaved children.



Tallboy on the Horizon
We've been hinting about a 29" bike on our blog for a while, and now that we're getting the thing closer to finalized, we're ready to show a little more skin. So to speak. We have photos that are absolutely how the bike will look in final trim, and we've got geometry charts, and we've got some final prototype mules that we've been kicking around. The basic nuts and bolts of the Tallboy have been getting massaged into place for over a year now, and the big wheel beast has taken shape into something we're really happy with:



Carbon fiber frame - This'll be our third carbon fiber bike, and the more time we spend working with the material, the more we are able to push into new definitions of stiffness and strength. Following in line with what we were able to achieve with the carbon Blur XC and LT models, we're kicking around Tallboy frames that weigh right about 5 pounds (with shock) and are so insanely flex-free and fun handling that they blow all our earlier assumptions about big wheels and chassis flex right out of the water. Tapered head tubes, massive but super light chainstays and rear triangles, absolutely rock solid frames, and they're still around 2 pounds lighter than most of the similarly targeted competition. Super stiff, super strong, super snappy.

VPP suspension - The Tallboy will have 100mm of travel. The lower link features the same 15mm aluminum pivot axles, titanium hardware, angular contact bearings, grease ports, durability and ease of maintenance as found on our Blur LT. There's also a carbon fiber upper link, with the same trick hardware and angular contact bearings on the big axle. Clean, neutral pedaling without bob or feedback, and plush bump eating suspension performance across the board.

Dialed geometry - Big wheels work well for a lot of people, but are a godsend for the big and tall set. As such, we're sizing the Tallboy all the way up to XXL - which comes with an appropriately Andre the Giant approved 25.9" top tube and 45.6" wheelbase. All Tallboys otherwise feature the same short and stiff 17.5" chainstays and sweet handling characteristics. They're designed to excel in the "fun to race, really fun to rip singletrack, go for a big huge ride and come home with a sore face from grinning all day long" spectrum of riding.

We're stoked with how they are progressing, but they aren't going to be ready for prime time for a few months yet. Pricing is still being finalized, bikes will be showing up ready for delivery in October, and we'll begin taking orders around the middle of August. Not quite there yet, but real close...bikes will be showing up ready for delivery sometime in November.

Until then, keep an eye on the blog to see how things develop.



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