BARRACUDA A2X

You’ve taken your lumps in the NORBA sport class and ended the season on a winning streak. You’ve pumped iron through the winter, ran and skied through the dark months, and pushed away the pie. You’re fit, fast, and cocky enough to show those experts a thing or two. You’ve got a place to crash at the Cactus Cup, and a fistful of Ben Franklins for a full-on race bike worthy of your chiseled quads and limitless lungs.. something like Barracuda’s flagship A2X, raced last season and this by the Dos Equis pro squad. But be warned: fail to kick butt on this thoroughbred and you won’t be able to blame your old BoulderHumper.

You want rigid? The frame, of Tange’s premier Ultimate Superlight Prestige chrome-moly, features a deep-section “DiHedral” shape exclusive to Barracuda. DiHedral looks like a bloated aircraft wing and it gives the frame awesome rigidity when you stand and hammer. But not at the expense of weight: Our 18-inch frame weighed just 4.2 pounds, while the complete bike came in at 4.8 pounds. That’s great considering that only the rails of the Flite-clone saddle are titanium. It’s also very race-worthy, and, just as important to self-sponsored experts, more durable than one-season throwaway frames with more impressive specs.

All that efficient rigidity would be brutally harsh without the superior plushness of the bike’s Manitou 3 fork, about the sweetest elastomer suspension you can get. An added bonus is the Mani-three’s versatility – it takes maybe five minutes to increase the fork’s stock two inches of travel to 2.5 inches for down-hilling or especially rugged terrain.

Barracuda makes much of its fit, with sizes that covered its diverse ’93 squad, from 5’1” Tammy Jacques-Grewall to 6’3” Greg Oravetz. To fine-tune the fit, it offers a bunch of stem reaches and rises the dealer will swap, for free, at purchase. (Same deal with saddles: There are three choices, including a Terry women’s saddle.) Changing stems is easy because the polished aluminum clamp-on stems feature two-bolt, removable bar clamps that don’t require removing controls, grips, and bar-ends. Every stem is also reversible, affording two rise options, but I found the stock 13cm low-rise setting perfect for my 5’10” frame. It worked great with the bike’s rangy 23-inch top tube, affording plenty of breathing room and neutral “forget the bike and ride” handling.

While $2,500 sounds high for a steel bike, it’s reasonable considering the specs: XTR with Rapidfire, not the Barracuda team’s GripShift. Both systems work, and both have their devotees, but switching between them is a bitch. (Good thing the Onza grips were well-glued.) Actually, I’ve come to prefer the new XT group over XTR, for its lighter-touch shifting, lower low- gear, and riveted rear cogs, which shouldn’t break their flimsy, screw-head bonds the way XTR clusters are wont to do.

Barracuda also specs Onza clipless pedals on its top-end bikes, and they work great once you figure out which are the correct elastomer springs (they come with four strengths). Onza also supplies the new dedicated front/rear Aggro/Aggressor tires for the A2X.

The wheels are the popular Bontrager BCX-1 front, BCX-2 rear rim combo, and while the rear held up fine, the front got a little tweaked but not so bad that I couldn’t tweak it back. Those rims, incidentally, come with large, schraeder-valve sized holes, despite their presta-valve tubes. With oversized valve-holes, you’re a universal leech, able to use anyone’s spares.

Onza’s OZ 120 bar-ends have the best shape going, at least for my hands. Just long enough, without those silly extensions that are only useful if you ride brush-choked trails. Too bad the painted-on Onza logos wear off quickly, leaving your almost new bike looking used and abused. The XTR crankarm logos disappeared even sooner, thanks to my extra-sized winter shoes. Barracuda uses durable laser etching on its own parts – seatpost, bar and stem. How about it, Shimano? Onza? Makes your stuff look better, longer.

I’m not green enough (except around the gills some Sunday mornings) to recommend buying a product just to save the environment, but if you buy this bike, $3.50 will go to the Tree Amigos Center, which promotes environmental education and reforestation. For more information, call 616-771-3935.

A2X SPECIFICATIONS
Suggested MSRP: $2,459-$2,549
Sizes avail: 12, 14, 16, 18, 19
Weight: Frame, 4.2lbs Fork, 2.8lbs
Frame: Tange Ultimate Superlight Prestige Cro-Mo
Wheelbase: 42.5”
Seat tube: 18”
Top tube: 23”
Head angle: 70.5 deg
Seat angle: 73.5 deg
Chainstays: 16.4”