Van Dessel Brings Back The Country Road Bob, Adds Gnarzan, Updates Across Entire Line

We recently reviewed the Van Dessel A.D.D. and loved it’s versatility. Road, trail, gravel, it can do it all on an affordable aluminum frame. The A.D.D. wasn’t Van Dessel’s first all-around, fun bike. That would be the Country Road Bob. It was ahead of it’s time when it was first launched, and Van Dessel has relaunched the iconic name with updates to fit the modern era of cycling.

Along with the Country Road Bob, the New Jersey brand is also announcing the new Gnarzan and updates throughout their entire line up.

We’ll be following up with Van Dessel after Interbike to get more info on all the updates to their line up and have additional bikes coming in for review.

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Van Dessel Cycles has announced a rich line-up of new releases for 2018 including the re-release of the much beloved single speed cult classic, The Country Road Bob as well as a newly UCI- approved Motivus Maximus in both rim brake and disc brake models.

Better and more high performance than ever, the new Country Road Bob features the same curvy lines riders loved in the first iteration as a single-speed only bike. Out of the box it will include a single speed frame wheel and a fixed cog and lock ring for those wanting to run a fixed gear set-up.  Featuring a double butted 6061 frame and a full carbon fork, the stock Country Road Bob will be equipped with TRP Hylex RS hydraulic brakes, WTB 650b tubeless compatible rims and Byway Road Plus Tires.  For those who prefer gears, the Country Road Bob is compatible with a geared drive train and will come with a derailleur hanger for conversion to a geared bike. This is a bike designed to be used as a gravel grinder, commuter, fixed gear, winter, mountain bike single track, cyclocross race bike.

Van Dessel founder Edwin Bull explained, “My main goal for the new Country Road Bob was to make it as absolutely versatile as possible while keeping the geometry and specifications well suited to cyclocross racing. All you would need to do to have a race-ready SSCX Nationals and SSCXWC bike is to swap out the stock 650b wheelset out for a set of ‘cross wheels.”   Tire compatibility is 47mm-2.1” on 650b wheels and 25mm to 45mm on 700c wheels.  The top tube and seat tube are designed for maximum clearance and mud shedding, as well as easy portage.  The Country Road Bob will be $1499 retail, complete and custom, matching frame bags will be available separately.

In keeping with Van Dessel’s love of the off-road, 2018 will also see the release of an all-new Gnarzan as well as an updated Jersey Devil as the brand’s mountain bike offerings.  Available in November of 2017 the updated Jersey Devil maintains its cross-country hardtail speed machine heritage but with a new found ability to cross over into aggressive trail riding territory. Sporting a completely new rear triangle, The Jersey Devil has been updated with 148 x 12 boost spacing and 27.5+ tire size compatibility  in addition to its traditional 29er x 2.4″ wheel compatibility. This new Jersey Devil is dropper post ready and compatible with Cane Creek’s AngleSet adjustable angle headset– allowing for a slackened head angle.  Whether you choose to call it a modern trail-compatible cross country race bike or a cross-country racing compatible trail bike the answer is “Yes”.  This Jersey Devil is ready and able.

Also making its debut – the all new Gnarzan is an aggressive trail hard tail. Nimble enough for life on the local trails, the Gnarzan has everything it takes to slay it hard at the bike park: a balanced all-mountain geometry, responsive yet durable 6061 double butted frame, boost spacing, internal dropper post routing and 27.5+ and 29er wheel-size  compatibility.

The Whiskey Tango Foxtrot line-up gets both a new limited edition model and a refresh as well. The new WTF 853Ltd will be shown at Interbike and is shipping now.  Featuring a limited run of Reynolds 853 tubing, this model will be rare and a unique bike in its owner’s quiver. The WTF 853Ltd frameset has the same geometry and specifications as the standard WTF, but with straight tubed Reynolds tubing for higher performance and a significantly lighter frame. This frame comes stock with a full carbon fork to further increase performance level over the standard model WTF and comes with matching custom USA-made handle bar bag, made of lightweight material so it can be stored in a jersey pocket, produced by Evan Murphy of The Fridge Goods of Portland, OR.

The standard model WTF gets an update as well.  Featuring fresh new paint, the new 44mm headtube allows for the included steel fork, as well as a tapered carbon fork – not an option on earlier models.  The new WTF is now compatible with Lauf forks for suspension – making this bike more capable and versatile than ever.  The WTF is 2.25” MTB tire compatible in 650b wheelsize with steel stock fork.

Rounding out the list of updates, both the new Motivus Maximus and Full Tilt Boogie road and cross framesets will be Mavic SpeedRelease compatible.  This new quick release thru-axle system is being looked at as a game changer in disc brake acceptance at the professional level as it will make for lightning fast thru-axle changes on a uniform platform.