The Carbon Wasp Compound-150 is a 150mm travel full-carbon trail bike made in Yorkshire. And we’ve been for a spin on one.
- Brand: Carbon Wasp
- Product: Compound-150
- Price: £2,600 frame only
- From: Carbon Wasp
- Tested by: Benji for 2 weeks
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According to the bods from the Carbon Wasp Factory, the Compound-150 is “designed to get you quickly to the top of the trails but still master any technical features on the way back down. With 150mm of plush and progressive rear travel, combined with a strong and stiff carbon frame that is handmade in Leeds.” The frame is available to order as of right now.
We’ve been developing the Compound-150 for a few years now, alongside our shorter travel 120 frame. The Compound-150 is a real do-it-all frame that can handle anything you can throw it at, up or downhill. The light but robust carbon construction makes for an agile frame that is as much at home on all day mountain epics as ragging your local technical sections. – Adrian Smith, Chief Designer and Owner of Carbon Wasp
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Details
The Compound-150 is based on the 120mm travel Carbon Wasp Truffle, with a modified carbon lay up to cope with the increased abuse the longer travel might invite.
The frame is fully constructed from carbon fibre with the front triangle, swingarm and linkage each made as a single piece. The frames are made entirely in Leeds using pre-preg carbon fibre sourced from within the UK. That means Carbon Wasp can keep a tight control over quality and ensure shorter lead times.
Fully sealed cartridge bearings throughout. And the frame uses flex-stays to reduce complexity. The frame can fit either 29in or 27.5in rear wheel (there’s a choice of lower shock mounting position to maintain geometry).
The Compound-150 includes insertion depth for long travel dropper posts, ISCG mounts and a BSA threaded BB shell. Internal cable routing. Standard Boost 148mm rear axle. UDH mech hanger. To maximise build options the frame has clearance for 2.6” tyres and up to a 38T chainring and it uses an IS rear brake mount. All this comes with a lifetime repair or replace warranty.
There is downtube storage but you can opt to have a plain down tube in case the aesthetics of it are not quite to your taste.
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Geometry
The Compound-150 is available in 4 sizes of front-triangle and has modern reach numbers (480mm on large) and head angle (63.9deg). It features a 30.9mm seat post with a 250mm minimum insertion depth.
Recognising the need for rear centre to grow with each frame size but also recognising that personal preference and riding style have an influence, Carbon Wasp provides six options of chainstay length. Each size of frame can be fitted with any of the six stay lengths. This gives a range of 435mm to 460mm in 5mm increments.
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Suspension
Carbon Wasp Compound-150 is a rocker linkage single-pivot with flex-stay.
Shock progression is a massive-sounding 42% but that figure is taken across the full range of travel form 0mm to 150mm. From sag point to full-compression the progression is 29%. Which is still on the higher side of things
Anti-squat is 108% at sag, which is pretty standard. Anti-rise is around 111%.
Pricing and availability
The Carbon Wasp Compound-150 is currently available as frame only, with or without a shock.
Oh, and Carbon Wasp doesn’t paint its frames, they fit a wrap. Frames come with any single colour wrap of your choice. More elaborate custom wraps are available, but you’d better call with your ideas to get a price!
Frame and Cane Creek Kitsuma Air: £3,050
Frame only: £2,600.
First ride thoughts
First of all, I can confirm that full-travel is perfectly achievable (on the Cane Creek shock our test bike came with, runnig 30% sag). In terms of pedal performance, despite the anti-squat being over 100% and all that, the super progressive nature of the rear suspension does make for a shock that is very happy/eager to dip into its travel. Running the shock with minimal low speed compression (LSC) and/or rebound will lead to bobbing.
Which is fine. I ended up turning the LSC up significantly (I left the low speed rebound quite open) and really liked the punchy but non-chokey feel. I did turn up high speed rebound a tad to help deal with big impacts and flat landings etc. Again, all good. The Cane Creek shock is a fabulous thing that you can pretty much get to behave however you want; from super supple slow-mo slippery traction hoover, to firm and rapid rock smasher.
I’m not going to make any claims as to the frame/chassis feel right at this point. I haven’t ridden the bike enough yet. I’ve only really just got the cockpit, tyre and brakes dialled.
What I will comment quickly on is the geometry. It’s really good. It’s really, really good. The circa 64° head angle, 480mm reach (Large) and 77.5° seat angle are all common and very decent numbers. The two standout figures that really floated my boat were the chainstay length and the seat tube length/standover. As a taller rider (185cm) I’m overjoyed when chainstays are 450mm+. Cornering and descending ability increases hugely. And everyone benefits from acres of standover and dropper travel ability.
As for the aesthetic. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t get this test bike incarnation. I’d get one with a simple black wrap and without the downtube storage. The down tube storage is not executed well enough in comparison to what other brands offer. Sorry!
Regardless of the B&Q storage zone, I’m really enjoying riding the Carbon Wasp Compound-150 so far. It isn’t just copying the mainstream in terms of geometry or kinematic. It’s its own thing.
Who are Carbon Wasp?
Carbon Wasp was set up several years ago and have been making components and frames for other brands for some time as well as their own brand parts. The parts they have designed, developed and made have been used by world class riders on road, track and triathlon and have featured in the Tour de France, multiple World Championships and the past two Olympic games. But they’re a mountain bike company at heart and have been developing MTB frames since the start.
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Review Info
| Brand: | Carbon Wasp |
| Product: | Compound-150 |
| From: | Carbon Wasp |
| Price: | Frame only £2,600 |
| Tested: | by Benji for 2 weeks |
