I’ve already written about the Stache 5 and that it was a fun bike but with limited versatility, and I had no real interest in going out of my way to ride a Stache 7 but when the opportunity arose while I was setting up a Farley 7 for the weekend I took it for a spin.
There is nothing here that should surprise you if you read my 5 review. This bike was so much fun it actually hurts my feelings that I will never get one. The Manitou Magnum 34 Comp fork was good, not great but I’m a big guy and forks rarely have that unlimited travel feel the ad guys like to talk about. The bike was sooo flickable for a 29+ I just can’t get over it. I played with sizing and at 5’10 with a decent reach for my height I’m definitely a Trek 18.5 virtual/17.5 actual in sizing. I still love the Chupacabra tires and as a fat bike rider year round the bike felt very light to me. I only had single track available to me so I can say it’s even more fun in the corners than a 5 but I would love to get it on a AM trail in the Rockies one summer to see how it handles some bigger descents (this is totally arbitrary as I’m lucky to live in the shadow of the mountains so a flat section to me is hilly for someone in Sask., that said this bike would be freaking awesome if you lived in Sask or mid west US). Since I had the time to take a closer look and nit pick I noticed that you can’t even mount a seat collar pannier rack to this bike due to the adjustable dropouts having a hood on them.
And again the $3,200 CDN price tag makes this bike just too expensive to justify buying and with the Canadian dollar dropping lower everyday it will probably be $3,5oo by summer. For my growing number of US readers (Hi by the way, thanks for stopping in), if you can pick this bike up on sale for around $2K I would consider it or the Statche 5 at around 1,200 US this could be an option if you’re already interested in this bike. But remember it is a sweet little play bike but not really a bike packer or commuter rig in my opinion. Note for the optimist: you could always deck it out in custom frame bags for bike packing but that gets pricey quick, and say you’re a bike packer/ pack rafter in the southern US, there is potential here for the rider that likes to custom rig all their gear or just wait for the slew of new plus bikes coming out next summer.
offtrailoutdoors1 