After months of testing and getting final production going, Fezzari introduces its new Cascade Peak 27.5+ full suspension mountain bike. We first saw a prototype of it at Sea Otter with a raw finish and before they had the final component spec. Now, it’s got a proper paint job, an impressive build kit and a price that’ll leave some scratching their heads.
Roll over the break and find to see the Cascade Peak in all of it’s glory and if this kind of purchase is in your future…..
The Cascade Peak 27.5 Plus is a pretty standard single pivot design frame with 110mm of rear travel, a tapered headtube, and Boost 148 rear spacing. The bike is equipped with a full XT build, (including brakes), Raceface Turbine Cranks, Fox 34 120mm fork with the FIT4 damper & Fox Float DPS, Performance Series rear shock with the 3 position lever and Evol aircan. The WTB Bridger 27.5 x 3″ TCS Tubeless Ready tires are wrapped around WTB Scraper i45 (45mm wide), hoops for that signature “plus” performance.
Fezzari may not be a household name yet, but they’ve been growing steadily for more than a decade with a direct-to-consumer model. Tthey’re not a general online retailer, they’re the actual bike company. By eliminating a lot of the overhead and shared margins that get thinned out between distributors and retailers, they are able to price their well equipped products far below similarly equipped competing models. Though you’re giving up test rides and pushing down on the shocks in the showroom, Fezzari goes the extra mile to service their customer from afar in many ways. And it’s hard to argue with the price.
For $2,799 you get a Shimano XT/Race Face/WTB build that doesn’t skimp anywhere.
The tradeoff? To avoid the fiduciary assault, the bike arrives partially assembled, requiring the customer to finish the build out of the box. Like all Fezzari bikes, the Cascade Peak has been assembled, tuned, and test ridden at the factory, then taken apart and boxed up for shipping. Fezzari has put together a great assembly video that is good for what I would consider a pretty mechanically inclined person, (with a torque wrench), but anyone with less of a skill set should rely on the expertise of their local shop to properly assemble and tune the bike. (The general consensus is that a shop will charge you the standard tune-up rate between $75 give or take, and tweak it a few weeks from then to compensate for any cable/housing stretch/compression).
Fitting a bike, especially for newbies is about the most crucial thing you figure out first. Though nothing replaces a true professional bike fit, Fezzari has put a lot of effort to create a system to give a customer the closest fit possible without being there. Many of this is subjective to personal preference, but they swap out items at no charge to get the fit as close as possible.
- Frame Size (most other companies stop “customizing” once they determine the proper frame size for you)
- Handlebar Height and angle (degree rise on bars and tilt)
- Handlebar Width
- Stem Length
- Stem Angle
- Steerer Tube Length
- Seat Post Length
- Crank Arm Length
- Seat Positioning (fore/aft)
- Seat Post Offset
- Brake Reach
- Fork Setup (on mountain bikes includes predamping and rebound setup for rider weight and riding style; this may require either coil switch-out or air adjust)
- Rear Shock Setup (on mountain bikes includes predamping and rebound setup for rider weight and riding style; this may require either coil switch-out or air adjust)
- Tune Front Derailleur
- Tune Rear Derailleur
- Tune Front Brakes
- Tune Rear Brakes
- Adjust brake lever positioning for rider size (up/down and in/out)
- Adjust shifter positioning for rider size (up/down and in/out)
- Wheel check (rim surface, spoke tension, wheel true)
- Tire Pressure
- Pre-installation of accessories as long as packaging allows (i.e. cycling computers, fenders, mobile accessory kits)
- A Fezzari Technician personally rides every single bike and tests it to make sure it rides perfectly before it ships.
If all that sounds good to you and you’ve got skills and tools, maybe it’s time to hop on the plus-sized bandwagon.
