Thanks! Registered UK Company No: 03291752, Jungle Products Ltd FRN: 719212 trading as Stif Mountain Bikes are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Hit compare to see this Stif side-by-side with your bike. The Squatch goes uphill very well, even considering its surprisingly portly 30.1lbs with pedals. When not riding he can be found at the climbing wall, in his garden or cooking up culinary delights. It gives a proper weld surface without sacrificing tube stiffness. Pairing this with the 130mm fork also means there is no drastic head angle change regardless of fork position. It is absolutely great at powering down and over things. You get a similar custom 4130 tubeset and angles that will make . Ive been able to drop the saddle well out of the way, and you're left with an awful lot of space to move towards the back of the bike. Today we are delighted to introduce it's 29" wheeled sibling - The Squatch. This fork features a short 42mm offset to increase the trail value and offer stable handling without having to add to the overall length of the bike. Daring geometry - with sensible fork travel There is a confidence to its handling thanks to the stable steering and extreme in the bike feeling that the low bb produces, which beg you to charge as hard as your tires can handle. For instance, the only compatible chainguide I could find for ISCG-OLD and a 34t oval chainring, I had to buy direct from China. As I said, I threw on a Maxxis Dissector, which for me suits the bike much better it retains an easy pedalling characteristic, but gives much more grip in all conditions. Yeah, it shouldnt! Advertising and commercial: sales@off-road.cc, Mountain bike, bikepackingand gravel bikes. Part: 19RamFox. Predictable in all situations the chunky Maxxis Minion DHF holds tight lean angles, while the low-profile Rekon breaking away more readily for extra fun while keeping the cranks spinning with less effort. The Rekon makes sense to me for summer, but given I mainly ride hardtails in winter, Id always go burlier. Rear tire: Maxxis Rekon 29x2.6, 3C EXO+ TR, DRIVETRAIN Claimed weight for a size medium carbon frame is 1037 grams. Stif Squatch Pro is a progressive hardtail with a steel frame and super-low bottom bracket height, 29in wheels with 2.6in tyres enhance grip and comfort. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state and country to country. Simply going 'along' really isn't its forte. Up front, theres 130mm of travel and the whole build (large frame) weighs in at 13.3kg. Here we have the Stif Squatch in its priciest build, the AM 200. Save 35% + Lezyne pocket drive HV pump when you subscribe to MBUK magazine, JANUARY SALE | Get 3 issues for 5 when you subscribe today, 9/3/3/b/933bbb38cfdad3fa12fb88f53c70db2d9ae3486c_Stif_Squatch_01.jpg, hardtail is truly going to compete with a full-sus, RockShox Pike Ultimate, 130mm (5.1in) travel, Maxxis Minion DHF (f) and Maxxis Rekon (r) 29x2.6in, WTB KOM Trail i30 rims on Hope Pro 4 hubs. Softer 3C Maxxis tyres offer better traction while the bigger 2.6in casings really helps isolate you from vibrations. Frame: 4130 Chromoly The latest issue of MBR is out now, and as, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, RockShox Pike Ultimate, 130mm travel (42mm offset), Hope Pro 4 hubs w/Torque caps, WTB KOM i30 rims, Maxxis Minion DHF EXO/Rekon EXO+ 29 x 2.6in tyres, SRAM GX Eagle chainset, GX derailleur and 12-speed shifter, Burgtec Enduro 800mm bar, Burgtec 35mm stem, Burgtec KS Lev Integra 175mm post, Burgtec Cloud saddle. Shifter: SRAM GX Eagle; 12s A full SRAM GX eagle 12spd drivetrain matches the G2 RSC brakes with centerline rotors in 200mm up front and 180mm out back; and the matchmaker clamp ties them together for a tidy cockpit. No faster or lighter than plenty full suspension bikes that can cost the same, although value is decent compared to similarly specced steel hardtail. The 200mm dropper in place on my test bike was a godsend in these situations, providing the all-important leg clearance to allow for a very dynamic ride on the bike and keep things rolling. Finishing kit is all Burgtec, and the dropper post is a KS Lev. After once building a hardtail with a 160mm fork because MOAR TRAVUL BETTER, in the near-decade since Ive found I get on best with 130mm if theres no rear suspension. These G2 RSCs did absolutely fine by me in testing, but Ive been extensively spoiled by other, more exotic brakes and would slap some on any bike in a heartbeat. Santa Cruz Bicycles pivot bearings are warranted for life to the original owner of the bike. The bottom bracket is pedal-strikingly low at 293mm and, when paired with the bikes length, offers a super stable ride in corners. Thanks for popping by - why not stay a while? Rims: WTB KOM trail i30 Pike Ultimate Rockshox are always very forgiving of setup variance, and Im used to getting them from good initial setups to feeling great. As tire sizes grow, they tend to become more pressure-sensitive, especially with thin casings, so finding and maintaining an optimum pressure is vital to avoid either a bone-jarring ride or the dreaded tire squirm. Unfortunately, the EXO+ casing was not quite up to scratch for the type of riding the Squatch encourages, leading to its early demise and a sad walk back to the van on the Squatchs second outing (thanks to a seized axle preventing the fitment of a spare tube). Given that hardtails are ideally around 20mm shorter than full suspension bikes to compensate for the fork compressing independently, you may want to down size on the Squatch. Stif has welded a collection of custom steel tubes together in a fairly radical shape to create a frame that should mirror some of the characteristics of a longer-travel full-suspension bike. The bike arrived sporting the stock 2.6 Minion DHF EXO front and 2.6 Rekon EXO+ rear, which looked monstrous on the i30 rims, with a huge, rounded profile. Unless otherwise specified we will use a Royal Mail Tracked Delivery service to dispatch your order. A key aspect of the Squatch personality is replicating how full suspension 29er place the riders mass noticeably lower than the axles. It's not particularly happy if you split the difference and ride on flatter singletrack, but if you're a hardcore hardtail fan the Squatch's aggressive ride will keep you happy in the techiest of terrain. COMPONENT REVIEWS Therefore, 78 degrees is the slackest the seat-tube angle will ever be, meaning it effectively steepens as the saddle is dropped. Where a full suspension rig can somewhat isolate impact forces through your legs from effecting the fork, a hardtail has a greater reaction on the fork and so requires some extra support to prevent it from using its travel too frequently. Yes, 2,500 is a lot of money to throw at a hardtail, but for what you're getting the Squatch represents pretty good value. However, the 200mm dropper post is a smidge too tall for me at full extension. Santa Cruz Bicycles will repair or replace at its option any Reserve rim made by Santa Cruz Bicycles that is damaged or destroyed by riding. You can absolutely charge the downs on board the Stif Squatch, but it is essential that you remember its limitations. But the lower centre of gravity puts you in a similar position to a full suspension bike, making it super easy to load the tyre edges fully for maximum grip. Please see the Kona owners manual, provided with your bicycle, for additional information. The geometry and components spec encourages riders onboard the Squatch to charge hard, which can cause havoc on rough terrain when the limited cushion a hardtail offers leads to the rider becoming overwhelmed. In the rare event that the postage estimate won't cover your delivery we will contact you with a postage quote. Shop sale. The sole remedy available under the foregoing express warranty and all implied warranties is the repair or replacement of defective parts with those of equal or greater value, as determined by Santa Cruz Bicycles in its sole discretion. The Squatch is constructed from a 4130 chromoly steel tube set that has been shaped and curved throughout to produce the desired ride characteristic that led their original Morf to being such a success. The Squatch is definitely not just a big-wheeled Morf. Santa Cruz carbon handlebars are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for life from the original date of purchase. 8.71K subscribers The Stif Squatch is a full aggro 29" hardtail that eats descents for breakfast while getting you back to the top efficiently and comfortably. Our Squatch Frame is shipped with a seatclamp, dropouts and rear axle. And even with the 175mm dropper post fully extended, the seated climbing position never gets too tipped back, even on the steepest gradients. 2020 Stif Mountain Bikes Squatch Base 2020 Base Category Hardtail Trail MTB Design Flat Bar, Hardtail (Front suspension) Frame Steel Suspension 130mm fork travel Features Disc brake Somewhat upright stack and reach vs category Somewhat upright stack and reach vs category Somewhat upright stack and reach vs category Geometry Base Build If you get a Squatch as an alternative to your full suss for winter, you might just end up reversing which one you call the big bike. For the Squatch, and probably one of the reasons for its price, the Stif team is using 4130 chromoly tubing. Off jumps and drops, and when playing with manuals and wheelies, the Squatch is definitely on the less playful end of the spectrum, thanks to that slammed BB and reasonably long reach making front end lifting require a little more body English than some. Already have an account with us? As with any hardtail, good geometry is the key ingredient to behaviour on the trail and we wanted to push the boundaries. The geometry is at no point the element holding you back, but the limited ability to iron out the square edges of the terrain leads to an incredibly physical ride where your arms and legs must work hard to absorb impacts that you do not even consider on a fully suspended rig. When it has been fixed, your car has no visible or invisible damage. Santa Cruz Bicycles will repair or replace at its option any frame or rigid fork made by Santa Cruz Bicycles it determines to be defective in materials or workmanship. Settling at 64 has resulted in stable and confidence inspiring feel without any vagueness or steering flop. Tons of details on top of the frame shape include heavily-crimped seat stays flattened widthways (similar to many carbon road bikes) that flex and dampen heavy hits and repeated bumps. Financial Services Register no. First thing's first, the frame. One thing to remember with the low-slung BB is that it generates a longer downtube, so the medium Squatch feels more like a large full suspension bike. Competition comes from the likes of the Ragley Blue Pig Race and Ribble HT 275 Pro, and though they're both cheaper the former by 200 (for the 2021 model) and the latter 300 their builds arent quite as sorted, and their geometries arent as progressive. The steep seat tube angle really comes into its own when climbing seated on the Squatch in the steepest terrain. IF THE WARRANTY IS REGISTERED WITH KONA WITHIN THREE MONTHS AFTER THE PURCHASE OF THE BICYCLE, THE WARRANTY IS EXTENDED FOR THE LIFETIME OF THE ORIGINAL OWNER, with the exception of carbon bikes and frames. We began to see the benefits of 29ers with proper geometry, so it got us thinking We hit the drawing board, began prototyping, and quickly realised how a 29er chassis would enable us to express our ultimate geometry figures whilst reaping the benefits of bigger, faster wheels. Our site uses cookies to optimise your experience. Stanton Bikes Set To Return, With Dan at the Helm? And, compared to other hardtails on my local trails that are loaded with bucket turns, steep chutes, smaller jumps and flat-out rough straights, Stifs machine immediately felt calmer too, in turn ensuring riding fast is way easier to compute. The seat tube angle is measured with the post at full extension, meaning 78 is the slackest it will ever get (unless your legs are super long and you fit a post with even more travel, though few even exist). MOTO Looking at them side by side, the Stif Squatch carries a lot of frame features over from the Morf, but changes a few things. FOX FACTORY RACING SHOX LOGO Sticker By allnewproducts From 1.61 100 Motocross Sticker By deannaburg From 1.39 Fox Racing Sticker By drinkwaffle From 1.39 Rockstar Sticker By VirginiaCummi From 1.29 Official Fox Merchandise Sticker By sallieocha From 3.21 UNIQUE Fox design - Watercolor Sticker By Gawop From 2.14 NO FEAR Sticker After enjoying the success of the Morf for a couple of years, Stif saw room to build on its capabilities by adding 29 wheels and tweaking the geometry to suit. Note: this does not apply to Kona Carbon models. Leave a comment and vote up the most thoughtful comments and each month well pick a winner. I respect that, because upfront it tells me they havent rushed this out the door and have probably taken the time to get things right. Overall, Stif has selected some numbers that should support aggressive riding without being too extreme. At the opposite end of the cockpit the 64 head angle steers neutrally with a 130mm travel Pike Ultimate fork, the roomy reach numbers growing to 500mm on the XL size. Its a bold statement, but its the hardcore hardtail Id buy with my own cash if I was in the market for one, so hats off to Stif for totally nailing its latest creation. Designing the frame around a 130mm travel fork means the frames geometry is preserved as best as possible, regardless to where it is in the forks stroke. Uphill, its a comfy and easy going place to be as the mega-steep seat tube makes light work of smooth climbs. The first store as you enter their "City Walk" outdoor shopping mall was a Billabong store (which does $1.5b revenue - 5x Fox Racing).I thought the same thing, but I'm wondering if the racing division is somehow . Drop the saddle, point it downhill and the bike comes to life. Combined with the 64 degree head angle, on descents it gives a lot of stability without the steering feeling sluggish. As with Stif's last hardtail, the Squatch is designed to mimic characteristics and geometry of a full suspension bike, and to assist with this they've given the Squatch a massive 80mm bottom. The Squatchs steel frame gets external routing for brake lines beneath the downtube, and an internally-routed dropper post. Short and tall riders rejoice - Our seat-tube features a curve to help with tyre clearance and allows for our super short 430mm chainstays. Our Squatch and Morf Frames are sold with a 3 Year warranty against manufacturing defects and we offer Crash Replacement Pricing for 5 years from purchase. Stack reads high on paper at 653mm for M and L and 661mm on the XL frame (with the differences dictated by the 10mm extra length on the headtube of the XL), but again this number should not feel so extreme when compared to a full suspension machine. It took a little getting used to, and provides a lot of room to move around. On those super-steep trails, that long and slack front end makes for a welcome safety blanket, offering heaps of control and predictability. The Pike Ultimate is an easy to set up fork. The SRAM theme continues with a GX Eagle drivetrain and G2 RSC brakes. Stif Bicycles are the spawn of Stif Mountain Bikes, a prolific UK bike shop in operation since 1984. Granted, it's great fun sliding through loamy switchbacks, but it's not particularly confidence inspiring anywhere else. Although the fork has only 130mm of travel, its perfectly controlled by the Pikes top-spec Charger 2.1 damper. To put it simply, this is one very modern seat angle! Got mine just before Christmas, and the teal looks great too. Its a bold statement, but its the hardcore hardtail Id buy with my own cash if I was in the market for one, so hats off to Stif for totally nailing its latest creation. With more than twenty years of mountain biking experience, and nearly a decade of testing mountain and gravel bikes, Tom has ridden and tested thousands of bikes and products, from super-light XC race bikes through to the most powerful brakes on the market. Put on a 140mm fork, Spank Vibrocore wheels, TRP Quadiem brakes. He is also a regular presenter on BikeRadars YouTube channel and the BikeRadar podcast. Although I cannot quite determine the precise level of compliance on offer, I was certainly able to figure out what the Squatch is capable of under the control of an average rider, and I had a great deal of fun in doing so. Id originally fitted the Rockstop insert since I had expected to be spending a lot of time near the rim, but the DH casing tire resulted in enough stiffness that its ultimate protection was not a necessity, so I settled for the more damping-friendly Rimpact insert, which I found to offer the best compromise of damping and cornering support with the tire at 24psi. Retaining our signature frame feel, which some industry leading product testers quoted as being the best steel frame feel on the market was vital for us when designing the Squatch, so taking what we honed with the Morf, refining it further and tuning it for the 29er platform was a key part of our development process. 704348. Uphill, its a comfy and easy going place to be as the mega-steep seat tube makes light work of smooth climbs. Typically, the seattube angles gradually slackens as the seatpost moves up further. As I tested this bike through some pretty wet conditions, I swapped the Rekon for a 2.4 Maxxis Dissector but well get onto that shortly. All material Farrelly Atkinson (F-At) Limited, Unit 7b Green Park Station BA1 1JB. We approached designing this bike in two halves, one for climbing, one for descending two fairly out there numbers that create strong descending prowess and a mind-blowingly efficient climbing manner and its the 78 seatangle that making climbing a total cinch. . Enough travel and control to mop up reasonably hard impacts, without overly affecting rider position and negatively impacting the dynamic geometry. You are here: texture id thermal protecting shine & seal gloss / murcott vs clementine / stif squatch frame weight texture id thermal protecting shine & seal gloss / murcott vs clementine / stif squatch frame weight Didnt look at any for years after that. Stif Squatch first ride review. Dropping into the corners pocket feels natural with a total in the bike feeling, encouraging a more aggressive lean angle which allows for the corners apex to be pushed into with reassurance in order to generate grin forming levels of forward motion. Four years ago, I got hold of Stifs 27.5in wheeled Morf for review, liked it so much I built one of my own, and still have it. This led to pressures being upped to 120psi by the end of testing, which provided a good compromise of sensitivity and support. On these chunky descents is where the tire pressure was oh-so crucial, with the difference of a couple of psi making such profound improvements to the terrain ironing. What I will do then, instead of speculating, is focus on how the Stif Squatch rides from the perspective of a rider used to full suspension machines. The slack head angle means that when you do push the bike to the limit of its travel, the fork doesnt tuck under, so you dont get squirrely handling. To keep things as simple and reliable as possible theres no weird standards theres a threaded BB, a standard 44mm headtube and everyday seat tube and clamp diameters. The tyres I get on a bit better with Maxxis DHF than I used to, but still find it more prone to washing out that a DHRII or Onza Ibex. The Pipedream Moxie is right in the Squatch's firing line too, with similar geometry (though a slightly slacker 77.5 effective seat tube) and a competitive build, but that's more expensive at 2,900. Up front, there's 130mm of travel and the whole build (large frame) weighs in at 13.3kg. The Stif Squatch is a full aggro 29 hardtail that eats descents for breakfast, while getting you back to the top efficiently and comfortably. These felt great right off the bat, and hardly needed any tweaks off the defaults fro me weight. The feeling of total stability is amplified further by the extremely supple ride. The register can be accessed through www.fca.org.uk. Well Bastard Fast is the motto of Stif and proudly written on the Squatch chainstay, and the performance certainly lives up to it in the correct terrain. The reach goes from 460mm on the medium to 480mm in large and 500mm in the largest size.. Handlebar: Burgtec Enduro | 30mm Rise / 800mm Wide While it fits perfectly with the get up a hill easily mentality, its quite a burden downhill.
Difference Between Roles And Responsibilities Of A Teacher,
Army Ranger Vision Requirements,
Ralph Metcalfe Jr Obituary,
Lost Gold Mines Kern County,
Eclipse Rp Deathmatching Rule,
John Heffron Net Worth,
Performance Management Of Pilots At Southwest Airlines,