THE SELL: A cross-country racer as light as it is luxe. THE TEST: “This bike climbs like a monkey on meth,” raved one reviewer after taking the redesigned Top Fuel on a long, steep uphill. More unexpected was the performance on choppy, technical descents, where the new tapered headtube kept the front end tracking and the combination of the four-inch Reba fork and RP2 shock were astonishingly smooth. “This is the most comfortable bike I’ve ridden,” remarked one tester. Our only gripe was with the SLX components. While they performed just fine, many testers felt they didn’t quite measure up to the frameset. THE VERDICT: “You can’t buy a 26-inch race bike without taking a hard look here,”
concluded one tester. 24.3 lbs
Climbing: 4.5
Descending: 4
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