It’s not everyday that you get to ride a bike like this. Hambone insisted that I take his brand new Wolfhound 29er SS out for a spin.

First the spec list:
Wheels: Industry Nine’s on Stan’s Flow rims – Custom black and orange spokes alternating every two
Fork: Custom Marz 20mm rigid
Brakes: Avid Juicy 7′s (these will change) w/custom black powder coated Formula rotors
Cranks: Custom black powder coated Shimano XT’s
Post and Stem: Thomson
Bars: Salsa (I think…they weren’t labeled)
Tires: Prototype WTB Stouts

What a ride! Fred Cuthbert makes a killer ride. By far the best 29er I have ever been on. The geometry is a close resemblance of what you see out of Jeff Jone’s stable. It seems to put you in the perfect stand and hammer climbing position that you are often forced into with rigid single speeding. The bike almost felt like it had suspension with the large volume tires and compliant rear end. Nothing quite beats the feeling of a custom steel ride.

If I had the change…this would be the 29er I would buy. I am still not convinced that a 29er is the best idea for suspension bikes…but this thing rails for a rigid. Even the gully runs in the freeride area of our local trail were a breeze.

His interrupted seat tube design allows you to run 16.5″ chain stays on a 29er and still be able to put your seat all the way down. From what he says..and I agree after riding it…it also stiffens up the bottom bracket. The shorter chain stays allow the bike to have the nimble feeling of a 26″ ride with all of the benefits of 29″ tires. It also makes the front end easier to loft with slacker geometry that up until now, seems to be a foreign idea in the 29er market. The bottom bracket has Phil Wood external BB bearings pressed into it which is another really cool feature.

Internal rear brake line routing
Marz 20mm TA rigid fork w/built in post mounts
Built in posts mounts for rear brake

The list just goes on and on. I’d rather have one of these than a Jone’s any day of the week. And the complete design of the bike looks incredible in person. Fred puts an extreme amount of pride and craftsmanship into every frame that he builds and this can be easily seen in his design.

For the finishing touch…Keith Anderson does the paint work that can only be described as flawless. Traffic stops when this bike is racked on the back of my truck.

Related – Industry Nine Post