Hardtails make fantastic winter mountain bikes thanks to the simple designs and fewer moving parts. Yorkshire-based brand, Carbon Wasp seems to think so, too, as its new gearbox-equipped hardtail is built to take on the worst conditions the UK can throw at it.
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Appropriately named ‘Carbon Gearbox Hardtail’, Carbon Wasp’s latest mountain bike gets everything expected of the brand. Firstly, its carbon frame is hand-laid in Yorkshire and its geometry can be customised.
It comes in four standard sizes but the brand has sorted it with a 44ZS/56ZS headset, which means it can fit an adjustable headset allowing plus or minus two degrees of head angle adjustment. But the customisation doesn’t stop there as the chainstay length can be chosen by the customer with measurements ranging from 430mm up to 470mm.
As standard, the bike gets a 65-degree headtube, a 76-degree seat tube angle, and a 480mm reach on a large frame.
But at the very heart of the bike, low maintenance is the name of the game as rather than a conventional drivetrain, that’s prone to increased wear in harsh conditions, Carbon Wasp has built the Carbon Gearbox Hardtail with a gearbox either from Pinion or Effigear. The bike’s stays can also be split to run a belt drive and sliding dropouts are included for belt tension adjustment.
Elsewhere the bike can accommodate up to three-inch tyres on 29-inch wheels and its 30.9mm seat tube can fit long travel droppers.
Carbon Wasp’s Carbon Gearbox Hardtail can be picked up for £1,650 without a gearbox or for £2,550 with a gearbox included.
