Sneak peeks »
Astrix Huckster freeride frame
I was at a local bike shop yesterday and they’d just had a visit from a sales rep whose company distributes Colorado-based Astrix mountain bikes. The rep left the shop with a couple of frames for people like me to look at; I checked out the unfortunately-named Huckster, a full-suspension frame targeted at the freeride / downhill market.
The Huckster features 8″ of travel and a Manitou Swinger 4-way coil over rear shock. Astrix has developed the Motolink suspension system a patented design that “isolates the shock from the rear system while the suspension remains active and neutralizes pedaling over a broad range of suspension travel.” Combined with well balanced angles (66.5 degree head angle, 67 degree seat angle) and a reasonable bottom bracket height (14 inches) the Huckster looks like a decent all-round freeride bike. There doesn’t seem to be any adustability with the frame, although not having ridden it (yet), I can’t say whether this is necessary.
Using the shop scale the Huckster frame weighed in at about 11.25 pounds, which is in line with other frames in the same category. The frame runs a 135mm rear hub, which is an interesting choice when many of the bikes in the category are moving towards 150mm rear hubs. Astrix went the 135mm route to increase the versatility of their product by making it compatible with the widest range of available wheelsets.
Suggested retail on the frame is $1499 (usd) or $1999 (cad).