2013 trek stache 8 pro#

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.

2013 trek stache 8 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. 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.