GT Karakoram Elite Complete Mountain Bike 2017

There's no shortage of full squish, over engineered rigs on any given trail, but there's something to be said about the clean simplicity of a hardtail like GT's 2017 Karakoram Elite Complete Mountain Bike. 29in wheels, no suspension, and a lightweight alloy frame is about as pure a combination as mountain bikes get. Sure, the longer wheelbase, steep head tube, and big contact patch of wagon wheels can make dicing though techier terrain a little bit more difficult, but that's more than made up for with roll over anything speed when you're blazing across singletrack,The Karakoram Elite is built up with components as straight forward as the frame itself, with Shimano's workhorse names scattered throughout the drivetrain and brakes, an FSA crankset, and Schwalbe Rapid Ron Tires. It's capped off with a 100mm travel fork, which just enough to smooth out the bumps without sapping speed.