Jamis’ Renegade adventure road bike goes beyond a single classification. It’s a fondo bike, endurance bike, gravel bike and commuter road bike all at once. It’s also looking like quite a high performance bike when called upon to hustle, too. Like when Tyler Wren took 3rd place in this year’s Crusher in the Tushars.
They introduced it this summer just before that event along with a healthy dose of info, but at Interbike we put it on the scale and got a few more details about production spec and builds. We’ve got plenty of pics and notes to share, and their new product video really puts it all into motion…
A full tapered headtube and angular shaping keep the steering precise, but head angles aren’t too steep. That, and having three different fork rakes depending on frame size to keep the trail the same, should help keep it stable despite the relatively short chainstays. The brake mounts are a cam system that threads into an alloy sleeve inserted from the side rather than bonded. This prevents heat from braking being able to weaking the bond and potentially cause the caliper mounts to come loose.
Hidden rack and fender mounts are everywhere, allowing the bike to be fully equipped for commuting or light touring. Or not, with no visual penalty.
A massive BB386EVO bottom bracket system gives them plenty of real estate for oversized downtube and chainstays, and the chainstays drop below the BB center to gain clearance for the chainrings without giving up their wide stance. It’s a clever solution to blend compatibility with efficiency.
In addition to the various forks, the BB drop is different for different size frames, too, with smaller frames getting more drop since the cranks will be shorter. They even use size specific tubing, and the rear end gets different lengths. Longer chainstays on taller bikes helps make it proportional. The goal was to give every size the exact same ride quality.
Since a shorter rear end would typically mean a harsher ride, Jamis dropped the seatstays’ intersection with the seat tube and flattened them out to improve vertical compliance.
Hidden rack mounts at the back of the dropouts and on the fork legs use thread-in eyelets to hold the racks or fenders.
Tire clearance allows for up to 40c tires, or 35c with fenders. All cable and hose routing is internal, and frames are mechanical and electronic compatible out of the box.
Two models are available, both spec’d with Clement Xplore USH 700x35c tires since that brand has so much experience in the gravel/adventure bike segment. The Renegade Elite goes for $4,199 with Shimano Ultegra mechanical paired with BR-685 hydraulic brakes. Rotors are non-Shimano 6-bolt to work with the American Classic Argent Tubeless-Ready wheels. The cockpit is Ritchey Comp alloy up front with a carbon Flex Logic seatpost and Vector EVO saddle to further damp vibration and bumps.
The Renegade Expert gets Shimano 105 11-speed paired to TRP HyRD brake calipers, Alex ATD tubeless compatible wheels, Ritchey bar and stem, Jamis carbon seatpost and Selle Royal Seta S1 saddle for $2,399.
The size 58 with a little desert dust came in at 18.83lb (8.54kg). This very bike just showed up at our office for long term review, look for ride reports later this fall!
Jamis’ Femme Collection offered many women’s road and city/street bikes in the past, but for 2015 they adapted several of their more popular mountain bikes to better fit women. The Halo XCT is based on their Dakar full suspension trail bike with 130mm travel front and rear. Changes include a shorter top tube, lower stand over height and a shorter saddle. It gets a Deore 2×10 drivetrain with 36/22 gearing.
Other spec includes a Rockshox Sektor Silver and Monarch rear shock and KS e10 dropper post. Retail is $2,500.
They also have a shorter travel Halo XC with 100mm front and 90mm rear for $1,300. Both use 27.5″ wheels.
The new Eden is one of two new 650B women’s hardtails. It’s the higher end model, and the new Helix (not shown) is lower end. They start at $400 and go up to $1,500, all with alloy frames.
The Eden gets higher end features like PFBB30, 12×142 rear thru axle, a triple butted frame and tapered headtube. The Helix will have standard features (QR, straight headtube, etc.) and much lower spec, though it does get a bent top tube for lower stand over height.
The Eden Race gets a Rockshox XC32 fork, WTB wheels, SRAM X5 and varies Ritchey cockpit parts for $1,499. Below it, the Eden Comp keeps the X5 group but downgrades to a Rockshox XC30 fork and generally lower level but still capable parts for $1,049. The The Helix runs just $439 to $549 with parts more inline with casual path and very light singletrack use.
