While Brent Foes’ bikes have always qualified him for the Handmade Bicycle Show, this was his first time at the craft fair. To celebrate, he brought out his latest hydroformed monocoque alloy full suspension rig, the new Alpine Plus.
It’s a full suspension trail bike that’ll handle 27.5×3.0 and is built around Boost spacing. There’s 160mm travel from his linkage driven, single pivot design. Brent really likes this new “Plus” tire size for folks just getting into mountain bikes because there’s so much traction and it rides a little smoother, and doesn’t require as precise of line selection. Of course, if you’re getting into a Foes, you’re probably well beyond entry level…
The front end looks familiar in his lineup, with a well shaped top tube and down tube, gusseted just underneath, and a massive head tube.
Rear tire clearance is tighter than other 27.5+ bikes we’ve seen, but it’s a little better than this picture suggests.
The Mixer 29er/27.5 Enduro bike mixes the same basic suspension platform to get 6.5″ to 7″ of travel with a 160mm fork up front. Or, choose the Trail model with 5.5″ to 6″ travel and a 150mm fork. They launched this at Interbike, where we gave it the full tech run down and some history on the mixed wheel size efforts of past bikes.
Brent said the design makes it easier to pop the front wheel up over stuff because the axle’s sitting higher than in the rear, and the rear tracks really well because it wants to follow the larger front.
The machined chainstay yoke gets a notch to clear chain guides.
The Foes Mutz shows they weren’t wasting time with hardtails, even when it comes to fat bikes. And they aren’t hiding it with this chrome plated finish!
All of Foes’ bikes are handbuilt in California.
