Trek updates its Farley fat bike with carbon models, 197mm rear spacing

WATERLOO, Wis. (BRAIN) — Trek on Friday announced changes to its Farley fat bike model, with new carbon frame, fork and rim options and a change to 197mm rear spacing.

The model year 2016 Farley, with three new aluminum bike models and two carbon-frame models, will be available this fall. A carbon frame and fork also will also be offered separately. 

Trek said the move from 177mm to 197mm rear spacing allows the use of 25x5-inch or 27.5x4-inch tires. The frames have a sliding horizontal dropout to tailor the bike's geometry for either wheel size.

While the outer diameter of 27.5x4-inch and 26x5-inch wheels are within a couple of millimeters of each other, Trek said the wider 26x5 tires are better in loose terrain while the 27.5-plus tires are faster on groomed snow and dirt trails. The sliding dropouts allow users to shorten the wheelbase slightly for improved performance with the 27.5-plus tires on dirt trails.

The frames also have a new PF121 bottom bracket, which Trek said allows greater tire clearance with no increase in q-factor.

The Farley 5 bike model has a new alloy fork that saves 250 grams over the previous fork.

Trek is also offering a fork with carbon legs and alloy steerer on the Farley 7 and Farley 9.6 models, while the Farley 9.8 model has an all-carbon fork that weighs 550 grams.

The new carbon Farley frame weighs 1,300 grams for a size 17.5.

The Farley 9.8 bike model has new Wampa carbon wheels with hookless, tubeless-compatible rims. Trek did not release pricing for the new models.