The Tripster ATR was a new concept for me, many companies were introducing Cyclocross Bikes and dressing them up as ‘Do it All’ bikes, I wasn’t keen to do that as many of the design aspects that make a really good CX bike do not really translate that well to a bike for distance and adventure over multi surfaces. Compared to a proper CX bike, the ATR has a lower BB, slacker head-angle and longer head tube, of course you CAN race a CX on it, but it’s not really designed with that primary use in mind. The ATR is designed for long distance adventures on and off road, it’s designed to be super stable on descents and off road, even when loaded and overall, it’s designed to be FUN for general hooning about on!
Anyway, enough waffle. Someone on twitter alerted me to this Singletrack World thread, forums can be scary places, so I was very happy to see that all the Tripster ATR owners in the thread had really understood the spirit of the design and were fully using the bikes for their intended purpose. As you read through, you can see that many of the riders have built their ATR’s in various different ways to suit their mood and riding style at that time: Perfect!
Some of my fave bits;
“..I have finally put the bike back in the bedroom as i’m so shattered i can barely keep my eyes open – so that’s a total mileage well into 3 figures…..I can’t wait to get back on it t’morn for the journey along the river to work , i might take the extended off road long route.”
“Mine gets very muddy on a regular basis.”
“…at this moment if i had to choose to save only one bike or just own one bike i’d choose the Tripster without the slightest hesitation as it is just utterly amazing.”
“In short, it’s an utterly superb bike. I stripped my carbon road bike down within a few months as I wasn’t riding it and am now down to just two bikes in the garage – this and the old 456 that’s brought a spark back to my mountain biking. The Tripster robbed every spare hour I had for bike rides…”
“It’s a proper bike – like what you ‘ad when you were a kid. None of this ‘hardtail / full suss / downhill / enduro / BMX / roadie / fixie / tourer / commuter’ rubbish. It’s just a really, really good bike.”
“It’s quick, sprints, climbs, descends, ride all day comfy. It is absolutely without fault. Dunno how Dom did it, but it rockets away when you press on, yet never does that carbon ‘pea on a drum’ thing on the rougher roads.”
“Bah – I’ve been found out. It’s an absolute corker; you really won’t be disappointed. I’ve ridden some very nice bikes in the last 20 something years and the Tripster’s the best of the lot.”
“Have been lucky enough to have ridden stacks of different bikes over the years but safe to say this is easily the best thing I have thrown my leg over. Would sell the kids before this now!”
“Its ability off road is stunning and now having frame bags made for a 1000 mile continental shelf supported adventure next year.”
‘ATR’ stands for ‘Adventure. Tour. Race’, but this bike really is about getting out there, opening your mind to a different way of riding, pointing the front wheel in the direction of an open space and seeing where life takes you.
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