REI has reworked their house cycling brand to create Co-op Cycles. They took feedback from their members (REI is a Co-op, hence the name) to get the desired new features and married them with the good stuff from Novara. The new brand will replace Novara and have a more aggressive lineup that’s less focused on the city commuter and more on touring, all road and mountain bikes.
The lineup is launching with DRT (mountain bikes) and ARD (all road). Following soon are ADV (adventure), CTY (we’ll give you one guess), and REV (youth) bikes. Matching apparel options will coordinate bike and kit for the intended use.
Starting with all road, the ARD 1.4 is a carbon gravel road bike that comes with 700×28 tires (clearance for 35mm treads), thru axles and cable/wire routing that can be done internally or externally to suit your tastes.
Hidden fender mounts on the fork and rear triangle give the bike year ’round ride-ability.
It’ll display in REI stores with 105 for $2,299.
The ARD 1.2 is essentially the same bike in alloy, but it adds the ability to carry a rear rack. It also gets Shimano 105 but with mechanical TRP Spyre brakes at $1,299.
On the mountain, the DRT 2.1 is a 27.5+ bike running 2.8″ tires that’ll also take Boost 29er wheels with up to a 2.25″ tire. Like the big brands, it gets a long, low and slack trail geometry.
It’s ready for a stealth dropper post (not included) and is spec’d with Shimano SLX 1×11 and an X-Fusion McQueen 120mm fork. Retail is $1,599.
The DRT 1.3 steps down to Deore 2×10 and a Suntour Raidon 120mm fork for $1,099.
