Radon breathes a little new life into their existing alloy trail riding mountain bike platforms for 2017 with a new Plus sized all-mountain bike and reworked cross-country line up. The German bike company’s popular all mountain Slide which is already available in 130, 140 & 150mm travel versions in aluminum and carbon gets a new iteration with wider rubber for a wider range of riding from aggressive cross country to true all mountain via the new Slide+. Their enduro team has even found it to be such a fun do-everything bike, that one of them even raced it at this year’s Megavalanche. Get a closer look at the Slide+, as well as the updated Skeen after the break…
Slide+
The Slide has been a bike designed to balance climbing and descending for a wide do-it-all trail bike, and it was that universal character that made Radon pick this as the best option to go Plus-sized, extending its range even further. Going up to 2.8″ tires has given the Slide+ the ability to find traction on even steeper climbs and looser terrain, and more reserve for the downhills.
The Slide+ gets its tubeset based on heavier trail bikes to deal with the wider rear end. The 7005 triple butted frame gets a redesigned shock linkage to connect the stiffened rear end and a hydroformed downtube to create a more stable backbone for the greater leverage of the bigger tires. Despite the bigger and wider setup the Slide+ keeps its weight the same as the previous 150mm version of the Slide.
A big difference in going to the 27.5+ tire was having to rethink the suspension as it becomes more inline with a 29er which gets the same effective tire diameter. Therefore Radon dropped travel back on the progressive Horst-link Plus bike to the same 130m of the shorter version of the Slide. The result though feels much bigger, with a shock curve that starts out responsive and regressive before tightening up so you can use even the last millimeters for travel.
The bike gets a slack 67.6° head angle and steep 74.5°, combined with a mid-length reach for a balanced trail feel. It also gets reasonably short for a Plus bike 438mm chainstays. Tech-wise it is generally modern, with Boost thru-axles (X-12 rear), a tapered 1.125-1.5″ headtube, and sideswing front derailleur mounting. It has full internal routing, also for a dropper post.
The Slide+ will be available from December 2016 in two specs for 2600€ and 3000€. Both bikes get light 40mm internal DT Swiss XM Spline One wheels with Nobby Nic tires and light Evo tubes. One build will come with a SRAM 1x setup while the other will be Shimano 2x, and both will get a Race Face finishing kit and dropper posts.
Skeen
Radon’s Skeen gets less drastic updates for 2017. The new version of the Skeen drops the smaller frames from its larger wheeled iteration to give taller riders the rollover benefit of a 29er, while the smaller bikes stick with 27.5″ wheels. With a good bit of size overlap, what this ends up doing is dividing the bike more clearly into two versions. Now the Skeen 27.5 is meant to be more of a trail bike in small through large (16, 18 & 20″ frames) and the Skeen 29 sticks with its cross country focus in medium-extra large (18, 20 & 22″).
The 120mm travel 27.5 version and 1100mm 29er otherwise remain the same with their true four bar travel and a 7005 aluminum frame that together with a carbon rocker arm claims a weight less than 2.5kg/5.5lb. The Skeens get internal routing, stealth dropper compatibility, and sideswing derailleur routing. A tapered headtube, PressFit bottom bracket, and QR15x100 and X12x142 thru-axles to round out their features, with complete bikes starting at 1700€.
