Esker Cycles Releases Rowl Full Suspension 29er
PRESS RELEASE: Esker Cycles
Esker Cycles is proud to release our newest mountain bike model, the Rowl. The Rowl is a full carbon fiber, full suspension 29er with 140mm of travel, equipped with Dave Weagle’s Orion Dynamics suspension platform.
After launching the Esker brand in 2018 with the Orion suspension equipped Elkat model, we went to work crafting up a complimentary offering that would build on the positive influence and desirable ride characteristics that have made the Elkat model a success. Over the next two years, the team at Esker set out to design, engineer, and deliver the kind of bike that you would want to reach for day after day no matter the ride.
At Esker, our mountain bikes are not segmented into unnecessary sub-categories. With the efficiency of the Orion Dynamics suspension platform, and the benefits of modern geometry, we aim to simply make mountain bikes—designed to ride all parts of the trail, and all zones of the mountain. The Rowl continues with that Esker ethos in a 29” wheel package.
“We initially adopted the Orion platform because it has a great balance of extreme small bump sensitivity due to a flatter shock curve than other short-link systems, and Dave Weagle’s signature balance of anti-squat for the best pedaling efficiency. Now applied to our 29” wheel Rowl in a 140mm travel package, it makes the best case for an “entire mountain” bike that we like to build here at Esker,” said Esker founder Tim Krueger.
Modern progressive—or what we like to call Slack & Steep—geometry, combined with the insane efficiency of the Orion platform mean that a 140mm travel Rowl can take you from lunch laps on the townie trails to chunder above tree line without flip chips, shock changes or other gimmicks. Versatility, reliability, and timeless design are standard equipment on all of our Esker models, and the Rowl is no exception.
“The Rowl continues the Esker tradition of building versatile and reliable bikes that will take you out into the backcountry and back time and again. Everything we’ve learned from our past bikes has been applied to the Rowl to further this idea. A rider shouldn’t have to worry about their bike while riding but instead just be able focus on the experience no matter where the trail takes them,” said Esker engineer Anders Broste.
In addition to 140mm of rear travel and a 150mm fork, Rowl features a 65.16-degree head tube angle, 76-degree virtual seat tube angle, 425mm chainstays, threaded 73mm bottom bracket, and a 420mm-490mm reach on sizes S-XL. Completes are offered in 3 build levels, and framesets come standard with an axle, a custom tuned Fox DPX2 shock, and a Wolf Tooth Components headset & seat collar.
The Rowl frame features custom molded downtube and chainstay protection, fully routed internal housing, external brake routing for easy maintenance, and of course, room for a water bottle inside the triangle on all sizes. Rowl completes at the R2 ($4999) and R3 ($5999) level are available now in limited quantities through eskercycles.com.
For more information click here.
MENTIONS: @eskercycles @brettrothmeyer @brianlorence
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137 Comments
Saving people some of the clicking I did then.
All of these are for size Large.
470mm reach
615mm stack
614mm ETT
Fixed 425mm CS length for all sizes
65.16 degree HTA
76 degree STA
Also now in the database...
geometrygeeks.bike/bike/esker-rowl-2021
If you really think they would only sell 3 XL frames than you must ride with smurfs and leprechauns.
It's just a numbers game. They're a small startup and don't have the monies to invest in a super broad range.
I ran into them at Outerbike a couple years ago when they just had a 27.5 bike.
Agree though that 6'2" is going to be about the max on the largest frame but this looks really good, basically their version of a Ripmo. I wonder if there's more frame flex in the rear due to both links being so low, as opposed to having one of them higher up bolted to the seat tube. Anyways, it's a saturated market but I wish them the best.
> leprechauns
Hey...you leave Thomas Voeckler out of this!
Plenty of other bikes that'll fit your needs, easy to move on.
I’ve happily ridden bikes with ~420Mm reach for many years @ 5’10”
So have lots of other people.
Sizing is not a rule written in stone.
Pictured with a 2.6" Terren Tire on the Esker Website
Boost and eventually Superboost allowed them enough clearance to make a strong enough wishbone, fit all the pivot junk, clear a chainring and fit modern width tires. I think that is why you primarily see SuperBoost on DW links or bikes with short 4 bar suspension designs.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NAe4iSKHE
(forward end of the lower link is concentric with the bb)
(argh - how do you link-ify a link?!?)
And as to side-loading, proper engineering takes care of that issue. We use carbon for our suspension bikes specifically because we can tune stiffnesses in certain areas where its needed, and not where it isnt. With this design on the market for over 2 years with our Elkat, we havent had issues with any sort of shock side loading.
It only means side loading the shock if the main pivots, the links, and the rear triangle aren't stiff enough. Everything looks pretty stout.
And it's more like a dw-Link flipped upside down rather that just with the upper link moved way down.
By chance what chainring size are you using and what do you think is the biggest i could squeeze in there? They told me 34T, but i'm hoping to squeeze in a 36T.
My builds of this have gone from 27.5+ with 130 fork and 11 speed drivetrain, to 29 single speed rigid carbon fork, to full bikepacking rig currently. It has impressed me in every one of those configurations, there's really very little this frame can't do well. It would be an excellent monstercross rig, some narrower 29 wheels and fast rolling tires, maybe a stepcast 34 for the XC version.
The updated Esker version checks a lot of boxes and adds a couple things I wish mine had (threaded BB, downtube braze-ons, triple mount bosses). Same excellent modular dropouts.
I'm thinking of running ~25mm rims with ~2.2x29 inch tires, maybe bigger for bike packing. I was thinking of putting a budget friendly 120-130mm fork on there and running the funky Satori Durham bars.
Thanks a ton!
I swap the headset cups, seat stays, shock, and fork on my Guerrilla Gravity every time I travel to somewhere worthy of a big bike. I go from 120/120 to 160/150 in maybe 45 minutes and I have a completely different bike. It wasn't that expensive, and it's not that big of a hassle. Perfect for people that love to mess with their bike, and hardly a gimmick!
I'm glad Esker dropped a more modern bike though. The Elkat was on my short list, but the geo was pretty outdated. Good looking bikes!
DW-link (1-5)
SplitPivot
DELTA
Orion
DW6
Different companies use different branding and move their horst link to different spots, up or down or different places on the chainstay along with using all kinds of different pivot and link styles, shock actuation, etc. But we still consider them all horst links. We don't say hey that's a horst link 7, and that's a horst link 82...
I have +100kg geared up and I’m a pretty fast and aggressive rider, tho.
Nevertheless, nice bike.
Didn’t see this. Looks like a proper solution ????
Or does it mean that it comes as an entire mountain bike, with bottle holders, pedals and a spare tube?
Way to treat your dealer network....
Frame chips from rocks
Creaking lower link
Difficulty mounting the bash guard
They look the same so they must have the same feeling, damn, I thought this whole bike engineering thing had meaning, now I’m confused.
Levy will love it because he can easily fit a 2.2 XC race tire with hard compound and be super sketch on all corners.
Some folks like short chainstays. If you don't, buy another bike. I personally like the geo.
I actually pointed out what it should be good at and who would like it. If you took negativity from that, that's your issue.