If our聽sources are right, adventure bikes will be the talk of , the U.S.鈥檚聽biggest bike show, which starts next week in Las Vegas.
We鈥檒l have a few editors聽wandering the aisles to see if the聽new bikes live up to the hype (last year we聽were promised lots of cool e-bikes at the show but came away disappointed). In聽the meantime, the fact that this limited-edition bike, a collaboration聽between聽Specialized and Poler, the Portland-based makers of some of our favorite聽outdoorsy and adventure travel gear, just popped up in our inbox is a promising聽sign.
The , which will retail for聽about $1,960 and comes ready to roll with a pannier rack and two Poler panniers,聽will be available September 6 in limited numbers聽through Specialized dealers. The company is having a launch party in Portland聽Friday evening and recently created a 鈥攚hat they call an聽鈥渋nspirational platform鈥濃攄edicated聽to the collaboration that features a three-day,聽368-mile ride across Oregon.
It鈥檚 not a brand-new bike鈥擲pecialized first聽debuted their AWOL line of adventure bikes a year and a half ago鈥攕o why all聽the聽hoopla now? 鈥淚 just really like the bike,鈥 says Erik Nohlin, the lead designer聽for urban and adventure touring bikes and mastermind behind the Specialized Lab聽program, 鈥渁nd I wanted to have聽some more fun with it. So I basically took聽command and decided to become the ambassador.鈥
We鈥檙e glad he did. We鈥檝e ridden early聽versions of the AWOL series and love them for everything from riding around聽town to rallying up the dirt roads in the foothills outside of town. We鈥檙e also聽happy to see a big, traditionally high-performance oriented company like聽Specialized invest more R&D into adventure bikes (and let their聽hair down a bit and chill out with the scruffy聽dudes over at Poler).
Ultralight聽carbon fiber road bikes are great, and we love all the new ripping, full-suspension聽27.5 mountain bikes with dropper seat posts we鈥檝e been testing lately, but聽nothing聽is better than a rugged and versatile bike that鈥檚 comfortable enough to ride聽all day on pavement but can also handle light off-roading. You can race聽cyclo-cross on one, enter a gravel聽grinder, or load up the panniers and go聽bike-camping for the night.
As Nohlin put it, they鈥檙e the ideal bike for 鈥渄oing聽real shit.鈥 We couldn鈥檛 agree more.
$1,960,