Trek World 2016 – Highlights of the future

Trek World is Trek’s annual house show in Milton Keynes. It’s open to bike shops and media for a couple of days, before allowing the public in for a ticket-only event at the weekend.

There was a lot to see in the polished concrete aisles. Here are just a few of the highlights.

Stache line now includes carbon Stache! We’ll bring you the full story shortly, but Trek’s 29+ hardtail, with the super short chainstays, now gets a carbon framed version. You like? We like… Trek is among a very small number of companies championing the 29+ platform, but it seems that it’s making a good push of it, given the investment that the carbon Stache must have taken.

And this isn’t just far away, it’s Trek’s kid’s fat bike, the Farley 24 which ‘crushes sandcastles and snow forts’ apparently. Those are 4in tyres on it.

At the other end of the fat spectrum is this Farley EX 8 – which boasts 120mm up front and the same out back, along with 3.8in Bontrager Hodag tyres. If you’re going to be silly – you might as well get really silly, right?

All of Trek’s chunky full suspension bikes, like the Slash, Remedy and Fuel EX get a stiffer, straighter downtube. It’s stiff (and it arguably looks a lot better than the swan neck downtubes of before) but it does mean that the fork crown will hit the downtube in a crash. To prevent this, Trek has a new ‘Knock Block’ technology where the top headset cup has some stops built into it. A replaceable stop is bolted onto the frame to limit lock-to-lock travel. If you crash really hard though, it’ll snap off like a mech hanger. The downtube is still then protected by armour on the downtube to keep the frame safe.

Talking of the new bikes with straight downtubes, we hear that the new Slash (far right) is actually testing out to be stronger and stiffer than Trek’s Session downhill bike. The Slash is one of the machines that you’ll be seeing at the enduros.

Bontrager clothing and shoes.

Not just a component name at Trek, the Bontrager line has grown hugely in recent years, handling all of the clothing, helmets and footwear for Trek now.

Bontrager Shoes

The Bonty shoe range is pretty huge these days, with (nearly) everything from Tour de France race slippers to full-on winter boots.

The Bontrager women’s Tario and men’s Rhythm shoes are really interesting. Both feature a rubberised surface that’s part of the seamless fabric, so that there aren’t any stitching weak or hot spots in the forefoot. Another great plus is that there aren’t any vents over the toes. Good for the colder months we reckon.

Old Man Winter Boots – the On my way! boots (which autocorrect keeps changing to ‘On my way!’) feature a fleece lined, Thinsulate removable inner bootie and a bigger toe box for toe-wiggling room in thicker socks.

Bontrager Helmets

The big Bonty helmet news for 2017 is MIPS. With all the new helmets going MIPS, more protection is better, right?

The Quantum helmet is new for 2017. £79.99 including MIPS and it comes in five colours. There’s a FREE(!) crash replacement scheme if you crash it in the first year. Great work.

Trek Powerfly.

Sure to cause either great excitement or horror, depending on your point of view of e-mountain bikes, is this Powerfly 9 LT Plus. It’s got the chunky tyres, a dropper and 150mm of travel. Oh, and a Bosch motor. How about some self-assisted bike park runs, eh?

Tracy Moseley was on hand to answer questions about her new race bike, but she also had a couple of her T-Mo Racing team mates with her. Meg and Hattie. Keep an eye out for these girls – National Youth Champions in downhill and XC racing respectively, though Meg wants to try cyclocross and Hattie likes a bit of enduro too. They’re definitely ones to watch…

Bontrager Bat Cages – apparently the old Spring Classics road guys have been asking for these old Trek bottle cages for years as they were deemed the only cages that’ll keep your bottle on your bike over Paris Roubaix’s cobbles. Enduro racers take note – someone found the original mould in the back of a shed and the Bat Cages are back!

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