Following up the introduction of the AMR adjustable travel, all-mountain bike last year and the off-road adventure RO AMR build, German bike maker Ghost has targeted their 2017 mountain bike range more at exploring farther from the trailhead. They’ve take their popular AMR bikes and added some 29er versions for those riders looking to cover a bit more ground quickly. At the same time they’ve created a new version of the bike – the H AMR – that adds wide tire flexibility to the switchable frame for either 29″ or 27.5+ builds. On the hardtail side they’ve made some similar moves, giving the carry-over Asket a 29″ version, as well as alloy options. Plus they’ve added an all new 27.5+ Roket hardtail, that like the H MAR, gets adventure aspirations, complete with fully decked-out bikepacking and Pinion drive options…
The H AMR is designed as Ghost’s premier back country bike. With the move to fat 27.5+ tires it takes over that mantle from last summer’s introduction of the RO AMR. Of course with the move to wide Plus tires comes the ability to swap in a set of 29er wheels as well. Last year’s AMR series bikes rolled exclusively on 27.5″ wheels, but Ghost saw this as an opportunity to add even more adjustability into the flipable lower link AMR suspension design.
The new H AMR gets 140mm of fat tire travel front and rear, which should let it smooth pretty much any terrain you’ll encounter, and will be available in both carbon and aluminum frames. (Both bikes share an alloy rear triangle.) The new bike uses metric shocks, and while Ghost only lists one set travel for the 27.5+ bike, it uses the same AMR suspension design which suggests that travel could be altered by inverting the lower shock mount. With the move to the bigger wheelsize also comes Boost spacing.
In Ghost’s alt-setup ‘X’ series, the bike will also be available as the H AMR X complete bike, with a P1.18 Pinion 18 speed gearbox and full AMR bikepacking bag setup for no-maintenance adventures. It even will be spec’d with the same front hub dynamo found on the RO AMR, presumably to power your GPS and/or lighting for your trip. The aluminum-only H AMR X keeps the same travel and suspension layout, but drops the adjustable lower suspension mount in order to fit the Pinion gearbox.
The off-road expedition bags were co-developed with Czech outdoor adventure company Pinguin, and will also be available through Ghost dealers for any other AMR owner.
On the non-Plus side of things the shorter travel 27.5″ SL AMR will be joined by a 29″ sibling, available in both carbon and aluminum front triangles. The bigger wheeled bike will offer the same 130mm front and rear travel as its shorter legged predecessor, in the hopes of building a faster rolling trail bike. The existing 27.5 version will carry over unchanged.
The longer travel 27.5″ SL AMR X with its 150 travel front and rear will also make its way into 2017 unchanged in both carbon and alloy frames. It will also get a 29er option, but in this case only in aluminum. the new 29″ SL AMR X will keep 150mm up front, but will pair that to 140mm in the rear, as it seems there just wasn’t enough space for all of that travel out back while sharing the same front end like the other bikes do.
One benefit of adding the bigger 29″ wheels to both the shorter and longer travel AMR bikes though, is the added stiffness benefits of Boost hub spacing at both ends, something the 2016 bikes lacked.
On the hardtail side of things Ghost has taken the same backcountry exploration ideas and put them into the new aluminum 27.5+ Roket. Essentially just a reconsidered version of the Asket with the ability to run 27.5″ x 2.8″ tires, the new Roket is meant to be an affordable and low-maintenance way to get into fat tire adventure riding. Like the plus tire full suspension bike, the Roket also gets an update to Boost spacing.
Like the H AMR X that targets a similar style of off-the-beaten-track riding, a Roket X will also be built with a Pinion C1.12 for care free adventures. It will also gets its own hardtail frame-optimized set of bikepacking bags, and the SP hub dynamo to round out its adventure-readiness. For those wondering about the feasibility of running a big bikepacking saddle bag on top of a dropper post, we were equally skeptical at first glance. However it seems that by setting the lower seatpost strap just loose enough, it will slip past the dropper’s shaft while still offer enough side-to-side stability to not really swap (we’re told.) I can imagine that packing the saddle pack too heavy will make it harder to get the post back up, and I can’t imagine long-term durability of the dropper wont be affected. But after growing to love being able to climb with a really high saddle and descend with it dropped, this will be an even bigger benefit on a bike weighed down with your camping gear.
Lastly over to the standard Asket hardtail. For 2016 the bike had been 27.5″ only and limited to a carbon frame. But now for 2017, it will add two new alloy versions, one with 29″ and one with 27.5″ wheels. Both new aluminum framed bikes will get updated to Boost spacing front and rear. And while the carbon 27.5″ frames will carry over unchanged for 2017, the will now all get spec’d with Boost-spaced forks for improved front wheel stiffness and handling.
For 2017 Ghost has also added a new 27.5+ 140mm full-suspension e-bike called the Kato FS. The bike uses Shimano’s new STePS E8000 drive system, with its short wheel base, and gets spec’d with 140mm Boost forks.
Across the board all of the new bikes get internal tapered headsets, PressFit 92 bottom brackets, and 31.6mm dropper seatposts.
