German bike brand Tout Terrain is best known in the US for its Pinion gearbox-equipped touring and bikepacking bikes, but its newest model ditches the gearbox for a good old-fashioned derailleur. The all-new Tout Terrain Catalina is a steel 29er hardtail with 120mm of fork travel that’s being pitched as a bike that can handle after-work trail laps just as well as multi-day bikepacking trips.
The Catalina marks two firsts for Tout Terrain: it’s their first derailleur-based 29er, and it’s the first model the company is selling as a standalone frame kit. The bike was teased at the Sea Otter Classic earlier this year, and it’s named for the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona, where the Arizona Trail and the AZT800 bikepacking route climb through some notoriously rocky, technical singletrack.
Until now, the Outback Xplore has been the brand’s go-to mountain bike. The Catalina is being positioned as the more trail-focused option with shorter chainstays and space for longer-travel dropper posts.
Tout Terrain Catalina build, price, and availability
At launch, the Catalina is offered in a single complete build, the Select 7.1, priced at $4,099 in the US and €3,199 in Europe. That’s notably less than the Outback Xplore II 29, with builds that start at $5,350. Ditching the Pinion gearbox and belt for a standard drivetrain no doubt accounts for much of the difference. Tout Terrain says more Select builds are planned for later this year.
| Frame | Tout Terrain steel, Matte Black |
| Fork | RockShox Reba Gold, 120mm |
| Drivetrain | Shimano Deore 1×12 |
| Wheels | WTB KOM Tough i30 rims, Tout Terrain hubs, 29″ |
| Tires | Continental Dubnital (tanwall), 29×2.4″ |
| Handlebar | Tout Terrain Ergo Rise 18, 780mm |
| Seatpost | OneUp V3 dropper, 150mm |
| Sizes | S, M, L, XL |
| Price | $4,099 / €3,199 |
The Select 7.1 build is aimed at everyday trail riders, with a 120mm suspension fork, a 150mm dropper, and 2.4″ tires. Frame-only options are priced starting at $1,625 / €1,300. Preorders for both the Select 7.1 and custom frame kits are expected to start shipping before the end of the year.
Frame details and geometry
The Catalina frame is built from CrMo 4130 steel tubing, single- or double-butted depending on the tube, and finished in powder coat. Bikepacking is clearly still the focus, with mounting points throughout the frame and what Tout Terrain describes as a generous main triangle with room for a frame bag and extra bottle cages.
Naturally, the frame features a UDH dropout. There’s also a steering stop to prevent bar-on-frame impact in the event of a crash. Tout Terrain says the frame clears 29er tires up to 2.6″ wide or 27.5×3.0.
| S | M | L | XL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seat tube, length (mm) | 400 | 430 | 470 | 500 |
| Top tube (mm) | 595 | 615 | 640 | 655 |
| Head tube (mm) | 100 | 110 | 120 | 130 |
| Chainstay (mm) | 438 | 438 | 438 | 438 |
| Wheelbase (mm) | 1132 | 1153 | 1173 | 1199 |
| BB drop (mm) | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| Head tube angle (°) | 67 | 67 | 67 | 67 |
| Seat tube angle (°) | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 | 73.5 |
| Stack (mm) | 616 | 625 | 634 | 644 |
| Reach (mm) | 426 | 438 | 461 | 473 |
| Standover (mm) | 784 | 803 | 826 | 844 |
| Fork axle-to-crown (mm) | 507 | 507 | 507 | 507 |
| Fork offset (mm) | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
How the Catalina compares to the Outback
Tout Terrain pitches the Catalina as a trail-ready bikepacker. On paper, the Catalina’s 67° head tube angle looks a degree slacker than the Outback’s 68°, but the Outback’s chart is built around a 495mm rigid fork. Tout Terrain also offers the Outback with a 120mm suspension fork, and a longer fork would slacken its head angle to roughly where the Catalina’s sits. When we first saw the Tout Terrain Xplore 29 in 2019, it was running a 130mm RockShox Revelation fork (and 27.5+ wheels!), though the second-generation version builds are more straight-laced with rigid forks.
The Catalina’s 438mm chainstays are 24mm shorter than the Outback’s 462mm stays, which are largely dictated by the Pinion gearbox. Shorter stays should make the Catalina feel more playful and easier to manual and whip through tight corners.
The Catalina also gets seat tubes 20mm to 40mm shorter, leaving more room for longer droppers, and longer reaches across the size range. Otherwise, the two share a 65mm BB drop, nearly identical seat tube angles (73.5° vs. 74°), and the same published wheelbases. The bigger differences come down to the drivetrain and the price: a Shimano derailleur instead of a Pinion gearbox and belt, and a $4,099 complete build versus an Outback that starts at $5,350.
Who is it for?
For Tout Terrain, the Catalina is a good option for riders who might never consider a $5,000-plus gearbox bikepacking bike. At just over $4,000 complete, or $1,625 for a custom-painted steel frame, it lands in the same neighborhood as plenty of other premium steel hardtails, with bikepacking-friendly details baked in.
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