Trek Full Stache - First Ride
Trek's 29+ Stache hit the market three years ago, a hardtail designed for riders looking for something a little out of the ordinary, and who harbored desires to monster truck over everything in their path. Now Trek has taken those oversized wheels and created a full suspension frame to accommodate them – the Full Stache. The aluminum Full Stache has 130mm of front and rear travel, and uses an interesting looking elevated driveside chainstay to create enough clearance for those 3.0” tires.
Trek bill the Full Stache as being for backcountry adventures, a bike you could load up with gear and disappear into the wild for a few days or weeks, or cruise around the woods at a more casual pace than all those enduro bros racing for KOMs.
Trek bill the Full Stache as being for backcountry adventures, a bike you could load up with gear and disappear into the wild for a few days or weeks, or cruise around the woods at a more casual pace than all those enduro bros racing for KOMs.
Trek Full Stache Details
• Intended use: adventure
• Wheel size: 29" x 3.0"
• Rear wheel travel: 130mm
• Aluminum frame
• 427mm chainstays
• Weight (size large, with tubes): 32.7 lb / 14.8 kg
• Sizes: M-XL
• Price: $3,700 USD
• www.trekbikes.com
• Intended use: adventure
• Wheel size: 29" x 3.0"
• Rear wheel travel: 130mm
• Aluminum frame
• 427mm chainstays
• Weight (size large, with tubes): 32.7 lb / 14.8 kg
• Sizes: M-XL
• Price: $3,700 USD
• www.trekbikes.com
It's a decidedly niche bike, which is why there's only one complete model for now, along with a frame-only option. That complete model comes with a SRAM GX 12-speed drivetrain, Guide R brakes, and a 130mm RockShox Pike RL up front for $3,700. The frame with a Fox Float RE:aktiv shock retails for $1,999 USD.
This definitely isn't a Fuel EX... The elevated chainstays make the Stache stand out from the crowd.
Frame Details
The silhouette of the Full Stache's front end doesn't deviate much from the look of the rest of Trek's trail bike lineup – it's at the swingarm when things take a turn for the strange. The Full Stache's driveside chainstay curves upwards, passing over the chain before reaching the main pivot, which has been shifted forward to create more clearance for the big rear tire. That clearance also allowed Trek's designers to give the bike a chainstay length of 427mm or 430mm, which is quite short for a regular 29er, let alone one with 3.0” tires.
For riders with dreams of turning their Full Stache into a bikepacking rig, Bedrock Bags, a small company based in Durango, Colorado, have bags available that are specifically designed for that purpose.
Moving the main pivot to a location in front of the seat tube allowed Trek to fit in 3.0" tires and give the Full Stache short, 427mm chainstays.
Geometry
As far as geometry goes, the Full Stache's numbers are close to what you'd expect from a typical, non-plus 29er. In fact, in some ways they're a step ahead of what you'll find on the current version of the Fuel EX, Trek's 130mm 29er trail bike. The Full Stache has a longer reach (484mm for a size large), as well as a steeper seat angle, at 75.9-degrees in the high position. With a 130mm fork the Full Stache has a 67.4-degree head angle in the high position, which drops down to 67-degrees in the low setting.
Smaller riders will have to look elsewhere, though, as the sizing is limited to M, L, and XL. That's due to the fact that the seattube on a 15.5" frame would get in the way of the rear wheel before it had a chance to go through all 130mm of travel.
The new 3.0" Bontrager XR4 tires have a more aggressive tread pattern than the Chupacabra tires that come on the Stache hardtail.
Those tires are mounted up to 40mm rims.
The Full Stache uses Trek's ABP suspension design for its 130mm of travel.
The Knock Block has become standard fare on most of Trek's mountain bikes, preventing the bars from turning too far in the event of a crash.
I haven't been able to take the Full Stache to anywhere quite as exotic as Argentina (the location of the riding photos featured in this article), but I have been able to get out on a few rides on my local trails. Granted, the Full Stache is a different breed of bike than what I usually ride, but I have spent time on the Stache hardtail, as well as on the Salsa Deadwood, a 90mm 29+ bike, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with the whole 29+ concept.
It takes a little extra effort to get the Full Stache up to speed due to the big tires and the overall weight of the bike, but once you gain some momentum it'll truck right along. Slower speed, chunky climbs are where the Full Stache really earns its keep. There's loads of traction, and I was able to easily spin up and over sections of roots that typically require all of my concentration to successfully clean. It's hard not to laugh a little as those 3.0” tires 'blump, blump' their way over everything in their path -- it's kind of like bumper bowling, where you're virtually guaranteed a strike, or in this case, to get up whatever obstacle lies ahead.
For as comically large as the Full Stache appears, it's not a cumbersome beast. Sure, it's more of a rock crawler than a rally car, but it's easier to maneuver through tighter sections of trail than I would have expected, in part thanks to the short chainstay length.
Get the Full Stache onto a high-speed straightway, and before you can blink the green machine will be rocketing down the trail like a tractor-trailor in search of a runaway truck ramp. Those big wheels can generate a serious head of steam – I wouldn't have minded even larger rotors, or maybe a tiny parachute, to help keep those speeds in check.
There is a limit to just how much you can push things, though, and hard cornering and really aggressive riding in rough terrain are when the Full Stache's limits start to appear. The maneuverability is there, but the precision you'd find with a typical trail bike is lacking, which can feel a little strange when really diving into a corner, or muscling through a chewed up section of trail. There's a noticeable amount of lateral movement from the back end, likely a combination of frame and wheel flex, and every so often it'd feel like the front end was going one way while the rear wheel still hadn't received the message. Of course, I doubt that most riders who are considering adding a bike like this to their quiver have high speed cornering performance very high on their list of 'must-haves,' but it's still worth a mention.
The Full Stache isn't a bike for the masses, and it's not meant to be. This is a bike designed for riders with a slightly different approach to mountain biking, the adventure riders rather than the adrenaline junkies. It's not exactly my cup of tea, but I still found myself thoroughly entertained every time I rode it.
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+ one never ends...
F@%&!
I'm bloody redneck!
I got it after taking my Reign bike packing and *not* loving the enduro bike packing experience.... thinking I would use it only for adventures. However I keep reaching for the fatbike when ever I go out riding...
Being anonymous in the bike park is all but impossible, everyone wants to come up, talk about it, lift it up (14.1kg pedals on & Mastodon fork) and everyone naturally thinks it's a tank up hill just by what it looks like. The steepest trail in the bike park is full minute faster over 8:00 mins compared to 9:20 on the Reign. In my particular riding area over the course of 2 hours, the fat bike would easily best the enduro on all but 10-15mins of the steepest/fastest trails. Granted we get quite a bit of loose sandy sections which plays to it's strengths.
So yeah, it is the mountain bike equivalent of a monster truck, but if you measure riding in how much fun you have - easily the most fun bike I've ever been on/owned.
As to Plus tyres they don’t offer much more grip, they sink less into the gloop. Fatbike is a powder ski, regular 2.3-2.5 is a piste ski. Plus is the “Allmountain” ski that works just fine on both. You can ride 2.8-3.0” tyres in absolute sht or on soft forest floor, where regular tyres would just slug or sink. I rode Stache witch Chupacabras over stuff that would be unrideable on anything thinner. Then you can still roll on them on regular trails with certain degree of success. But I’m speaking of cross country/ trail riding.
I haven’t tried 2.8” Minions so it’s hard for me to say anything, but their larger knobs look promising. There was an article on NSMB about putting 2.8 minion on Enduro for riding the Shore and Squamish in winter.
Anyways, I have a hard time believing plus is something for a long travel bike in the summer. Also I found the increased climbing grip hype to be a bit of BS. Maybe it works for people who are not good at technical climbing. The sort that can’t even time their pedaling so they buy short cranks and whine on low BBs. If you see rocks and roots - Get your arse off the saddle!
@WAKIdesigns: But is it better than the 27.5+ that already have an almost 29" diameter? It just seems like overkill to have a 29+ based on how the 27.5+ feels.
I'm intrigued as over here I'm near one trail centre and it gets boring to do the same loop over and over, so summer I'll not touch it and just ride unofficial tracks (the sort that turn to slop with a bit of rain). Kids prevent any adventures further afield... If tyres like this extend the off piste season they might be a good investment?
(Oh, and before it gets raised I'm pretty conscious of not destroying trails by riding them inappropriately and in weather that is silly...)
They're fun everywhere, but that is where they are golden IMHO. And they ride a lot differently than 27+.
• Intended use: adventure?
Sorry but the image of riding the bike barefoot through a paddock yelling “I’m going on an adventure!” popped into my head.
I didn't like it.
29 x 2.4" is plenty for me.
Hands down the worst up and coming descriptive marketing term currently going in the bike industry.
Honestly doesn't bother me. The bike is clearly aimed at customers of Salsa Deadwood. And I like the look of this better. Although pedalling 29er+ tires/wheels sounds exhausting.
Admittedly you don't need a specialty bike to go on an adventure, but shhhhh, don't tell the instagram crowd that. They want you to know they're outdoorsy and hard-core, hence: bikes that are "different," complete with army green paint job and adventure slogans.
So f*cking core dude. so core.
But that weight tho... although going tubeless would save 1lb+ quite easily.
Another intersting detail is, despite also being a full float linkage like the Fuel EX, the pivot and shock mounts are in different possitions.
Not to divert you from NSMB, those guys are killing it and are great people
And @JaredHarzan is correct - it's just a first ride article, a brief overview of the bike with my initial impressions. As for the big banner ad, I'm not a fan of the timing either, but unfortunately I don't have any control over that - editorial is separate from the advertising department.
Or not?
That should be the standard for all bikes in my opinion.
Gotcha thanks
The 29+ wheels could feel really sluggish with longer chainstays so Trek tried to get around it with this. That's why it's only on the driveside
But I also like seeing different ways to do things and this bike definitely is... Different...
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What is the benefit? It's pointless!
What's unique about the stem?
For anyone who might be interested (or indeed, sufficiently bored), check out this little video for more info on Knock Block:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gR0ClsDgck
You don't need a Knock block, a rubber bumper like on a DH rig will do the job.
The adapter is nothing more than a seat clamp, if you crash it will move.