Diamondback Breaks Tradition With Mason - Long-Travel Hardtail Freerider

Over a year ago, Diamondback showed a prototype long-travel 29er hardtail freerider at Interbike called 'the Dixon' that the designers put together just for 'defecation and smiles.' After a name change and a few thousand dirt jump and trail riding miles in the Pacific Northwest under Diamondback product manager Jon Kennedy, the decision was made to put the bike into production. Kennedy says that, ' the bike was absolutely fun to ride. It had to be in the Diamondback lineup.'


The Mason will feature a different component ensemble than pictured here, and the bike should find welcome fans among hard-core members of the keep-it-simple club. Mason frames will be available separately in small. medium, large and X-large, with complete bikes selling for around $2500 USD outfitted with Avid brakes, Race Face cranks, a SRAM X.9 one-by-ten drivetrain, a 140-millimeter-stroke Fox 34 TALAS 29er fork, a KS dropper post, and WTB 23 R tubeless wheels.


Jon Kennedy is a well-respected member of Washington State's freeriding community, so when he told us that he had fallen hard for a bike so fundamentally different than the eight-inch-travel big-bike weapon of the North, we figured that we ought to mention it. Stay tuned for a ride test of the Mason this Summer. - RC