Originally Posted by
travbikeman
I wonder if the shop since it is in the DC region receives enough business that they put this as a perk for people to buy from them. dunno...but I do remember when I typically went in for these, I usually walked out with other purchases, where it was tubes at time, gloves or other stuff. But the guys there were super friendly and it made for a great atmosphere, so I'm hopeful they will continue on unlike other shops.
My 17yr old son went with me when I purchased my Giant Trance, so he test rode a Stance 1 and he is totally in love with it. Even though I warned him, it has quick release rear wheels rather thru axle.....on a $2200 bike.....
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/stance-29-1
But he does make a good point that it will help him with taking wheels on and off since he puts his bike in the trunk of his big car.
I would skip for sure if it is still QR nothing against QR but modern MTB is far beyond that and the benefits of thru-axles are well proven. I can still remove a wheel pretty quickly and honestly I would want to carry a tool with me anyway and would keep one in my car as well just in case. If I was really desperate I would just take the
Bosch Electric Screwdriver and the right bits and be fine. That thing is quite awesome and certainly a boon for removing 6b rotors and stem face plates quickly.
I would go with a Specialized Stumpjumper or maybe something a little more exotic like an Ibis Ripley AF or Santa Cruz Tallboy which will cost a bit more but are really great bikes. There is probably some other stuff out there that would be a good bet but that odd QR "boost" spacing thing is just silly and makes it useless for upgrades and with a cheap loose ball hub I would want to upgrade. If it were 135 QR it is at least easier to find wheels but I would rather have boost so I can upgrade wheels or at least 142 spacing at the rear though a lot of stuff has gone boost and honestly when building my hardtail didn't matter in the end I don't need cross compatibility with anything and if I have it cool good stuff.