Rocky Mountain Launches The 2016 Pipeline 27.5+

Features

• Wheel Size: 27.5+
• Intended Use: Aggressive Trail
• Front Travel: 150mm
• Rear Travel: 130mm
• Smoothwall carbon front triangle, FORM alloy rear triangle.
• Fits up to 27.5x3.25 tires.
• 1x specific.
• Lightweight bolt-on axles save 50g per bike compared to a Maxle.
• BC2™ pivots feature grease ports for easy maintenance.
• Stealth dropper post equipped.
• Internal cable routing.
• PressFit BB92 bottom bracket, IS42/IS52 headset, Boost axle spacing.
• Sizing: S/M/L/XL

The confidence of plus-sized tires in raw, technical terrain is now available in an aggressive trail chassis. The new Pipeline plows through greasy roots and square-edged chunder with authority, while providing near limitless traction on rocky, slippery climbs.

“Early on in testing I realized I could take the ‘stupid lines’ on our local North Shore trails and the big tires would just flow straight through them,” said product manager Ken Perras. “The more technical a line, the more I felt like I was cheating.”

Geometry

The Pipeline is based on our much-loved Instinct platform. Like the Instinct, the Pipeline is stable and balanced, with a massive range of adjustments available thanks to RIDE-9. A neutral bottom bracket drop and plus-specific fork offset contribute to an intuitive ride feel with excellent steering dynamics.

Wheels

Riders attacking technical, choppy terrain will immediately feel the benefits of high-volume plus tires. Their large contact patch and lower pressures improve traction, mud shedding, and small-bump compliance for more on-trail confidence.

Technologies

• The RIDE-9™ system allows riders to adjust geometry and suspension rates to specific riding styles, terrain, and rider weights. Nine configurations are possible thanks to two interlocking chip inserts that move on two separate axes.
• Smoothwall™ carbon uses one of the world’s most sophisticated carbon processes to build frames with industry leading stiffness-to-weight, ride quality, and durability. By using rigid internal molds, we are able to perfect the shape of the internal features and eliminate excess materials. We use different types of carbon in specific frame areas to maximize stiffness and impact resistance while minimizing overall weight.
• FORM™ alloy tubesets are engineered for specific purposes within each frame, ensuring optimized strength, weight, and ride quality. FORM™ tubesets use premium materials to meet our strict requirements.
• Smoothlink™ suspension stays supple yet supportive through a wider range of gears than conventional single pivot or other four-bar suspension configurations. This patented system reduces both pedal-bob and bottom-outs, while allowing us to fine tune variables like braking and climbing traction across a wide range of intended uses.
• BC2™ pivots are lighter and stiffer than conventional bearing pivots. Unlike other bushings, our patented system uses a hardened alloy insert that bottoms out to control the contact of the bushing surfaces, reducing the preload that causes stiction and binding. BC2™ Pivots also feature grease ports for effortless maintenance.

Wade Simmons finally speaks out on what he calls the "de-gnarification" of Vancouver's North Shore.

With apologies to Keyser Söze.

http://www.bikes.com/pipeline
Starring Wade Simmons, Brett Tippie, Geoff Gulevich, Eric Lawrenuk, Andreas Hestler, and Todd "Digger" Fiander
Created by Union Co.
Produced by Brian Park
Thanks to the NSMBA for all their work
Photography by Margus Riga

Rocky Mountain Pipeline

Nox Composites Announces The New Kitsuma 27.5 Carbon Fiber Mountain Wheels

Super wide and super sexy. There are times in life when you just don't care about light weight, pansy mountain bike rims. Like when you're staring down a fall line, psyching yourself up for riding at your limit. These are the times when a rim like the Kitsuma belongs on your bike.

Time and time again, the benefits of a wide rim have been shown. We've been hesitant to go this wide for a long time, since the selection of tires that work well for a rim like this were lacking, but times are changing and tires are now available which take full advantage of a beast of a rim like this. When you put on properly sized 2.35-3.0" tires on this rim, get ready to experience grip and lateral holding forces like you didn't think were possible on a mountain bike. The combination of stiffness, stability, compliance, low rolling resistance and raw grip are game changing. Note: If you are planning to run 2.1-2.3" XC tires, you will be better served with one of our narrower rims.

The Kitsuma gets all of our latest technology, including UniWeave construction, the Anti-Burp Bump, the strongest RockGuard Hookless bead lip we've ever made and of course our asymmetric offset design which improves spoke tension equality by more than 15%. The DH version of this rim shares the same profile but adds about 50g of material to add stiffness and structural integrity for DH style riding.

We offer the Kitsuma 275 as a single rim or a complete wheelset. Our wheelsets are handbuilt right here in Tennessee using only the best components; Sapim CX-Ray bladed or double butted Race spokes and DT Swiss alloy Pro Lock squorx nipples. Hub choices include Chris King, Industry Nine, Hope, DT Swiss, Project 321 and Onyx. To see a comparison of all our hubs check out the hub comparison chart. Wheel builds come with our TPP tape and tubeless valves installed. All wheelsets are built to order and it may take 2 weeks before wheelsets ship.

NOX KITSUMA 27.5