Bergamont are not a brand you see talked about much in the UK, but they do have a distributor over here and are sold by independent bike shops all over the country. They’re also ridden by 2012 downhill world champion Morgane Charre. We paid Bergamont a visit at Eurobike, asked them what was new, and were ushered toward three new downhill machines.
They’re all models of the Bergamont Straightline, which for 2018 they’ve updated slightly for different wheel sizes, and with features that let you tweak the geometry in several ways too. They’re also offering a wider variety of shocks depending on model, from X-Fusion, Fox and Rockshox.
Flip chips on the upper shock mount, plus adjustable chainstay lengths, mean that you can set the bie up to run 27.5″ or 27.5+ tyres (they didn’t say 29er, though Eddie Masters did cram some in a competition bike with an upside down fork for at least one race this year – there just wasn’t much tyre clearance at all).
There are three models; taking them from the least to the most fancy:
Front to back: Straightline 7.0, Straightline Elite, Straightline Team.The Straightline 7.0 comes in a kind of metallic aubergine with pink highlights.Answer finishing kit and SRAM Level brakes.Sun Ringle Helix wheels, plus Maxxis rubber.Marzocchi Bomber 380 fork.
It’s only been a couple of years since people thought Marzocchi were dead, but thanks to Fox the name lives on and is still being put on new bikes.
Unlike the other two Straightline models, the 7.0 has an alloy swing arm.The 7.0 and Elite have Mozartt chainguides, nothing weeny about them – they have steel rather than alloy backplates.You can flip the chainstays to 432 or 400mm. That’s the same on all sizes and models.An X-Fusion Vector Coil does boinging duties.Here’s a close up of that paint colour.The Straightline Elite upgrades everything slightly, moving up from an X7/X5 drivetrain to a full SRAM GX-DH, and a Fox Performance Van shock.Here you can see the flip chips that let you set a Straightline up for normal or plus tyres.The biggest upgrade of the Elite over the 7.0 is this carbon fibre swingarm.Like the 7.0, it keeps the Answer finishing kit…… the Sun Ringle Helix wheels …… and the Marz Bombers.The frames have some neat touches such as these cable clips…… and molded rubber chainstay protection.The Straightline Team, as ridden by Morgane Charre, is built around the same frame as the Elite…… but principally upgraded with a Rockshox Vivid Coil R2C shock…… and a Manitou Dorado Pro 200mm upside down air fork.Though it still shares finishing kit with its siblings, it has a few other upgrades such as Sun Ringle Add 2.1 wheelset, and an e*Thirteen LG1 chainguide.
You can see more of each including full spec lists over on the Bergamont Global website. Here’s what Bergamont have to say about them: “The best downhill bike that BERGAMONT has ever built sets benchmarks in terms of sensitivity, riding performance and reliability. 15 years’ experience in building gravity bikes and the professional use in World Cup racing all went into developing the new bike. Thanks to its variable geometry via Flip Chip Technology and adjustable chain stay length, its compatibility with both 26″ and 27.5″ wheels and its precisely adjustable suspension, the STRAITLINE is perfectly adaptable to every riding style.”
As well as downhill bikes, these colourful cross forks caught our eye while we were on their stand:
Oooh.Ooooh! We don’t really fancy taking it down Fort William though.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
