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Three weeks ago, John laid out a quick look at dirt drops on early mountain bikes by using his 1983 Steve Potts as a vehicle for the discussion and today we’re looking at our favorite modern drop-bar 29er mountain bikes. But first, we’ve got to define what a drop-bar 29er mountain bike is!
Esker Cycles’ Lorax is back and better than ever. The 2024 Esker Cycles Lorax Titanium is a boost drop bar MTB, with touring accouterments, and a 120 mm suspension corrected fork, designed for long-distance touring and adventure riding. Let’s take a closer look…
The Schwinn Cimarron remains one of the more affordable 1980s MTB frames and when a bike is affordable, creativity blossoms. Check out what Alexander did with his 1987 build, featuring the wild and kooky Suntour S-1 rear mech!
Over the years, I’ve had the ability and privilege of throwing my leg over a number of fat tire, drop bar touring bikes. From the almighty Tumbleweed Stargazer to the readily available Kona Sutra ULTD, these robust bikes with an off-road and load-bearing geometry make for great interstitial, genre-bending machines for all sorts of riding.
Yet before brands like Salsa were even making high clearance, drop bar, 29er, disc brake, production touring bikes, a brand called Singular Cycles in the UK shifted the paradigm with its Swift in 2007 and, later in 2008, Gryphon models. These frames featured high stack numbers, fit big tires, and most importantly, had rack/fender/cargo bosses aplenty.
This year, Singular debuted its custom Gryphon Titanium, and once again, I’m questioning which bike to crown “best in class.” Check out my full-length review below…
