Ten Years of 29ers: The Fisher Superfly 100 29er and Rumblefish 29er
(9/12/2009)
MBA Staff
It is the ten-year anniversary of Fisher 29er bikes and it has been a wild ride of ups and downs (serious discussions to discontinue 29er models took place in 2003). The big "up" came in 2006 when 29er sales are claimed to have doubled. Continued growth has convinced Fisher to no longer offer the same models as 29ers or with 26-inch wheels. So the cross-country-race Superfly 100, cross-country/trailbike HiFi and all-new trailbike, the Rumblefish, are all 29ers.
We rode the Superfly 100 for a few hours, not enough time to give you a valid ride review (plus the bikes didn't have the proper tires or grips). We will say that tricks like moving the seat tube forward to allow shorter chainstays, using ABP (Active Braking Pivot), changing the two-piece seatstays to a molded carbon unified design and moving the swinglink from the seat tube to the top tube all make this bike deliver a ride that can easily win over devoted 26er riders (like National Champions Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger).
The Superfly 100 29er OCLV Co-Molded carbon frame Carbon swinglink now top mounted. 100-millimeter travel Fox F100 fork Bontrager RXL scandium wheels Active Braking Pivot E2 Headtube Genesis 2.0 Geometry Direct-mount front derailleur
Fisher decided not to spec the Superfly 100 with a SRAM XX 2x10 drivetrain to keep the bike more affordable. Right now, the Superfly will come in around $5500.
The Rumblefish 110mm-rear-wheel travel 120mm Fox F120 Fork Genesis 2.0 Geometry E2 Headtube QR15 fork Direct-mount front derailleur Unified seatstay Integrated press-in bottom bracket Available in small, medium, large, X-large or XX-large.
The Rumblefish comes with a Shimano 9-speed cassette but look close and count the big cog. Yes, you counted 36-teeth to take the suffering out of those steep climbs. Fisher developed it with Shimano (the top three cogs are connected to an all-new aluminum carrier), but it will not be exclusive to Fisher. The cassette will work with Shimano Shadow rear derailleurs (and probably with SRAM X.0 and X.9 derailleurs).
Fisher now gives riders this cool little fork-sag tool to take the guessing out (this is in addition to a similar tool for the shock). A suspension pump has a sticker so you can write down your suspension settings. All this helps assure riders get every inch of performance out of the suspension that they paid for.
