Exile is our all-new hardtail 29er, which uses last year’s Dakota 29 as inspirational springboard and geometry template. With that kind of pedigree, exile has a lot to live up to. And it does.

The flowing aluminum chassis is as beautiful as it is functional, with Kinesis Superlight triple-butted aluminum tubes shaped and formed for low standover, frontal strength in the critical head tube area and gobs of fork crown clearance. What’s more, that burly down tube and overblown gooseneck bend give it incredible torsional stiffness, the kind that makes a real difference for out-of-the-saddle surges and banging your way through rocks, ruts and other fork-twisting nasties.