As many of you know, I’ve been riding a Redline d660 29er for about three years now and I love it. The frame is lightweight, the geometry fits me well, and the 1×9 drivetrain scratches me right where I itch. Redline recently updated both the d660 and the d680 and at Outdoor Demo I got a chance to give the d680 a shakedown.
At first glance the d680 doesn’t look anything like my d660. The updated frame features hydroformed aluminum tubing with a tapered head tube, which I’m told saves a bit of weight over the older models. The geometry is still exactly the same, though after my test ride I wasn’t so sure. Then again I’m running more of an all-mountain fork on my bike at the moment so perhaps that’s the difference.
Speaking of forks, the d680 is spec’d with a 100mm Fox FIT RLC fork with 15mm thru-axle which is a great upgrade in my opinion. The new bikes are also shipping with SRAM 2×10 X9/X0 components though sadly the 1×9 option isn’t offered anymore (I’m told because of the inability to find an OEM supplier offering a suitable chain retention device).
The d680 will be offered at around $2,900 MSRP while the d660, with the same frame but lower end components, will come in around $1,000 less. I can still recommend my d660 after riding it for 3 years now and the new frames look to be even lighter and sexier!
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Sep 14, 2011