Trek Gary Fisher Rig

bujanda · Apr 4, 2011

So, after my LBS said that the specialized stumpjumper evo is back order till the end of the world I looked at other options like the jamis dragon 29 race, and the trek gary fisher rig.

I used to race track bikes, and trained much of the winter in a single speed with a freewheel maximizing my cadence.
Where I live its pretty flat like really flat. We here have to go out of our way to find hills. Our trails are just bumpyl so a single speed just riding the trails will be fine. But in my mind doing all this crossfit I am going to do a offroad tri where it's a bit hilly. So the trek rig is convertable to 1x9.
Is this stupid of me or should I just buy a geared bike? I like the simplicity of the single gear and the geared for the race. I am mechanically and have built wheels and all.
thanks for opinions

rushman3 · Apr 4, 2011

Buy a geared bike, easy and cheap to convert to 1x9 or even SS ( save the old parts and you can convert back if you want more gears or future resale). Plus lots of bikes to choose from. Demo all you can.

trailof · Apr 4, 2011

I'd say the Rig or similar is a good choice because all you need to do is add the hanger and the axle is adjustable for chain length

WeakMite · Apr 4, 2011

Just looked at a Rig yesterday. Trek builds the bike with all the cable stops needed to run front and rear deraileurs. (though you'll need a different rear hub) ...and they sell a deraileur hanger too.

SuPrBuGmAn · Apr 4, 2011

If you're at all a heavier rider or plan on doing more than super flat trails, you may look elsewhere. The Rig's frame has a history of cracking at the TT/ST weld. My buddy is currently dealing with replacing one and its well documented here on MTBR as well.

Otherwise, its a really nice, really light bike IMO.

bujanda · Apr 4, 2011

Yeah being I was a weightlifter that rode.a.bike in a oval track my guess is im gonna kill the frame. I think that just having one mountain bike it better be geared for now. Later ill build up a steel frame.

eminefes · Apr 4, 2011

SuPrBuGmAn said:
If you're at all a heavier rider or plan on doing more than super flat trails, you may look elsewhere. The Rig's frame has a history of cracking at the TT/ST weld. My buddy is currently dealing with replacing one and its well documented here on MTBR as well.

Otherwise, its a really nice, really light bike IMO.

The 2011 Rig has a different frame design and even a different type of aluminum, so don't jump to conclusions.

p nut · Apr 4, 2011

So will you be swapping back and forth between ss and geared quite a bit?

bujanda · Apr 5, 2011

No if I decide on the Rig vs the dragon 29 race. I will mostly ride it ss and then for a tri or if I go ride up north of where I am at I would ride it geared. I talked to a guy that did the tri I want to do single geared and he said it sucked. So having gears would be nice. However, the trails that we have locally are flat. I really am leaning towards the dragon 29 race, and building a single speed later.
It just seems like with the rig i would be getting two bikes for the price of one, after I get all the things that come with the bike.
I just really want to start riding offroad alot.

reydin · Apr 5, 2011

bujanda said:
Yeah being I was a weightlifter that rode.a.bike in a oval track my guess is im gonna kill the frame. I think that just having one mountain bike it better be geared for now. Later ill build up a steel frame.

My training partner is 64 and weighs in @ 260 and he is on two Rigs, one geared and one single. I'd say he spends 90% of his time in the single (the single is a 2009 and the geared is a 210) and we live in Norcal with lots of climbing, in fact he's doing Sea Otter on the single speed. As to durability, Fisher/Trek has the lifetime warranty thing goin and you can pick up frames on ebay from $300 to $500 all day to use as a spare if you ever do have to use the warranty.

SuPrBuGmAn · Apr 5, 2011

eminefes said:
The 2011 Rig has a different frame design and even a different type of aluminum, so don't jump to conclusions.

Cool, hopefully they've got it worked out. They haven't really been out long enough to know just yet though...

Trek Gary Fisher Rig

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