A little over a year ago Trek introduced their new Stache 29"+ bike, a regular 29er sporting 3 inch rubber to add an element of rugged capability to the high rolling speed of the wheel size. It worked a treat, and now they have introduced carbon models to reduce the overall weight - and increase fun presumably - even further. The 9.6 is the lower range offering, if you can call a £2700 bike 'lower range,' and sports a 120mm RockShox Yari fork, SRAM Guide R brakes and a SRAM GX 11-speed drivetrain. Bontrager hubs and SUNRingle rims make up the wheelset.
Everything about this bike says fun to us. Those 29"+ wheels can just go anywhere, literally anywhere, and are pretty much unstoppable through all sorts of technical rocky and rooty ground. They stick to anything and float over soft mud like it was tarmac.
Trek have taken these properties and multiplied them tenfold by using every trick in their armoury to make the bike more trail friendly - like slack head angle and long top tube for a stable and confident ride, bolt through axles front and back and tapered fork. All that with the light and stiff frame just make the Stache a bomber bike from start to finish.
Their Stranglehold dropout at the back also gives the opportunity to run anything from 27.5"+ to regular 29" wheels in the unlikely event you get bored of the 29"+ size - a comfort when you are investing in such an expensive frame.
A real hoot to ride, the Stache 9.6 is everything you will need to cover ground like a steamroller. Rocks, roots and drops flatten out, allowing you to get on with maintaining speed and ticking off the miles. Or even just simply tackling terrain more technical than usual. If you want a super-capable trail bike but aren't keen on the maintenance and care needed to run a full suspension, this is about as close as you will get without adding springs.
