UK handmade carbon body maker Carbon Wasp launched a brand new mountain bike designed to shine in moist & muddy winter situations with a self-explanatory identify – the Carbon Gearbox Hardtail. A challenge in improvement “for a number of years”, Carbon Wasp describes their new Gearbox Hardtail because the “final” bike for winter mountain biking, combining trendy path geometry, hardtail simplicity, and gearbox sturdiness. A motorbike “designed to face as much as the worst situations you may throw at it and nonetheless come again for extra“.
Carbon Wasp Gearbox Hardtail: UK-made mountain bike body
Carbon Wasp is all about their handmade carbon mountain bikes. Now, their new Carbon Gearbox Hardtail appears like a cool possibility for riders searching for a low-maintenance path bike to get them by mud & snow season! And whereas it’s not precisely low cost, the Carbon Wasp Gearbox Hardtail has a very palatable pricetag, particularly when you think about that it’s made within the UK, with numerous customization prospects.
We principally know the body builder for his or her UK-made carbon path bike – the 120mm Truffle. However final fall additionally they confirmed us some nice-looking 3D-printed titanium crankarms for Pinion gearbox bikes, that would prevent a straightforward 170g.
That bought us pondering a bit… what was the carbon gearbox hardtail they have been displaying us these mild cranks on? It seems, that appears to have been a improvement prototype of this new Carbon Wasp Gearbox Hardtail.
“That is our tackle the trusty winter hardtail; a gearbox bike for any situations. We’ve been making gearbox bikes for years and we poured all the things we all know into this body. It may be customised and tweaked within the development and the set as much as go well with any type of using on any terrain.”
– Adrian Smith, Carbon Wasp proprietor & bike designer
What’s customized?
Carbon Wasp constructed the Carbon Gearbox Hardtail for mountain bikes to tailor it to their particular person wants. One advantage of solely promoting frames is that each bike is a customized construct. In addition they needed riders to choose which gearbox they like.
Pinion looks as if the business default as of late, and the brand new digital shift SmartShift variations additionally make for a clear setup. However there’s one other attention-grabbing French gearbox maker that we haven’t actually talked about a lot in years, though we have now seen them pop up from time-to-time… Effigear. Their newest Effigear Mimic gearbox bolts as much as the identical mount as Pinion, however really has sooner engagement and will be run with a hard and fast rear hub, distinctive variable steps between its gears extra like a conventional derailleur system, and it’s operated with customary mechanical SRAM dropbar or flat bar shifters. Extra choices is at all times higher, proper?
Carbon Wasp additionally builds their bikes with fairly customary tapered steerer headsets, too. However if you would like they’ll make you a straight 56mm headset to run an angle regulate headset to additional tweak your geometry.
The brand new Carbon Gearbox Hardtail does function fairly trendy path geometry – a slack 65° headtube angle, steep 76° seat angle, chainstays as brief as 430mm, and medium-long 480mm Attain on the dimensions Giant that I might journey. However additionally they customise geometry a bit if have another wants in thoughts.
Tech particulars
- full carbon hardtail body made in Leeds utilizing UK-sourced pre-preg
- appropriate with Effigear and Pinion P-Line or C-Line gearboxes, together with SmartShift
- removable flat carbon plate sliding dropouts with integral tensioners for chain or belt drives
- designed round a 140mm suspension fork
- 4 inventory sizes (S-XL) or customizable geometry
- inner cable routing with full information tubes, conventionally routed into the aspect of the downtube
- inner body storage beneath the bottle cage, with battery entry in the event you select a Pinion SmartShift setup
- ZS44/56 Zero Stack tapered headset customary, or optionally ZS 56/56 to suit an angle-adjust headset
- Increase 12x148mm spacing
- IS disc brake mount
- 30.9mm dropper seatpost
- max 29 x 3.0″ tire clearance
Carbon Wasp Gearbox Hardtail (& Fats Bike) – Pricing, choices & availability
Now, Carbon Wasp runs a small UK workshop, and builds every bike one by one for the customer. So, they principally promote simply frames-only, or right here together with the gearbox. However in the event you want, they’ll additionally put collectively an entire customized bike construct, too.
The brand new Gearbox Hardtail frames sells for £1650 for the carbon body solely in a coloration of your alternative. Or get it with a Pinion gearbox already put in for £2550 (~$3230/3065€).
Particularly attention-grabbing this time of 12 months, Carbon Wasp additionally makes a Gearbox Fats Bike hardtail for a similar worth designed for as much as 26×5″ tires (or doubtless ~27.5×4.5″ if that’s your desire.) All the different tech particulars look to be the identical.
So, it appears such as you simply should resolve how deep snow & mud you anticipate in your rides.
Launched this summer season on their Truffle, Carbon Wasp not paints their frames, however slightly wraps them in a sturdy single-color vinyl. They are saying it higher protects put on areas of the body, whereas additionally highlighting the body’s straight-out-of-the-mold carbon fiber weave in between. They do like their traditional Wasp yellow, however any single-color wrap is included in the usual body costs. Extra complicated patterns & colours are additionally potential, for an extra charge.
Even with its totally handmade development in Yorkshire, Carbon Wasp says they’ll get a brand new Gearbox Hardtail to you in simply 4 weeks, in the event you order yours right now.
