Diamondback's Mason is comfortable at the front of the pack. An established leader in the slack big-wheel hardtail category, it made sense to continue to push the limits with the emergence of 27.5 Plus and Boost technology. In a nutshell, this new configuration means significant gains in traction and wheel stiffness, with very little loss from its 29” wheel. If you’ve ridden a previous incarnation of the Mason, this may be hard to believe. But it’s true. They made sure to keep the ride characteristics as similar as they could: the butted/formed aluminum frame is low-slung and slack, with a 120mm Rockshox Reba fork that makes sure no trail is too rough. The ride has stayed distinctly all-mountain, especially with the increase in traction from running this wide of a tire. Powerful Avid hydraulic brakes provide excellent speed modulation, while a hill-crushing 20-speed SRAM drivetrain and wide bars round out the build on this trail-shredding machine.