Help me build a Downcountry bike (so you don’t have to)

The urge returns; there’s something about the coming of summer that instigates New Bike ideas

Blame Iceland. Not the discount supermarket. The country. Specifically the excellently outlying bike brand called Lauf that hails from there. Yes, the company behind leaf-sprung suspension forks and comfy carbon gravel bikes.

To cut a short story even shorter, I had a quick go on a too-small-for-me Lauf Elja mountain bike (just to see how the rear suspension behaved when set-up different ways) and was totally smitten. It was just a total stomping machine.

Stomp and go. Instant acceleration. Addictive.

Sure, the lack of inertia also meant it demanded to be pedalled ALL the time. It felt like it had no momentum. Stop pedalling and it was surprising just how quickly the freewheeling stopped. And yeah, the head angle did try to kill me on the more interesting bits of trail. And the lack of cornering and braking traction was something alarming.

But nonetheless, it was an undeniably fun morning out. The sort of morning that means an afternoon (and evening) spent daydreaming mountain bike themed ‘what ifs’…

What if I tried a larger size?

What if I put different tyres on it?

What if it’s all just wheel weight and anti-squat?

Can you get the frame in a different colour?

You’re not alone

And so here we are. I’m sure I’m not alone. There must be plenty of other should-know-better mountain bikers out there who are pondering a new short travel bike.

I think the key with ‘going short’, is to not have it as your one and only bike. Well, if possible. It’s not always financially sensible to own more than one mountain bike. But if conditions allow, don’t bin your trail-duro bike just yet. Why? Big bikes can do small stuff. But small bikes cannot do big stuff.

The best do-it-all bike is a longer travel bike that you can tweak to behave smaller (different tyres, firmer suspension etc). Trying to make a short travel bike more capable just never works. Believe me. Even if you could get the geometry and the traction of a longer travel bike in a short travel weight bike, it doesn’t matter. It’s the lack of weight that can actually make the handling/traction lacking. Weight is useful when the terrain gets hectic.

But…

Having said that, I am clearly still going to try and make a short travel bike more capable. Because, like you, I never learn.

How much short travel do I want? I think it needs to be nearer 100mm than 150mm. Lines just get too blurred otherwise. So 130mm (rear) travel is out. So too is 125mm. Ideally without Horst-Link (too squishy for this task). Ideally without an overly finnicky leverage ratio curve (there’s only so much shock travel to deal with here after all).I’m browsing 100-120mm bikes.

Which instantly brings up the big problem. Geometry. I just don’t hold with the theory that less travel equals steeper/shorter geometry. Bikes is bikes. 65°+ head angles and short reach figures are just… not good.

Taking the Lauf Elja as a starting point. The reach figures are fine (503mm on XL). But the head angle is 65.6°. Not quite my tempo, as they say.

Just slap in an angle adjust headset then? Not so fast with that hammer and two-by-four, Eugene. Like a lot of carbon-centric lightweight-head brands, Lauf use the IS standard for headsets. Drop-in bearings in other words. No external cups. Dang.

But hang on. 9point8 have the answer. They make a Slack-R head-angle adjusting sleeve thing. Which I *think* would knock 1.6° off the head angle. Now, 64° I can work with. Especially if I build the cockpit around 12° backsweep bars that put my grips inline with my stem cap. Hmm…

Priority parts

Suspension-wise. An inline rear shock. A suspension fork with 35mm stanchions. Ideally both dampers to have low speed compression adjustment (instead of climb/lockout switches).

Drivetrain. The new Shimano XTR Di2. Because it’s supposed to arrive with us any day now. Ditto brakes. Probably 2-pots but with 203mm rotors please. Also XTR wheels.

Dropper. The seat tube lengths (and insertion depths) on the Elja are pretty good, so I’m probably plumb a 240mm OneUp V3 dropper in there. On top of that I’ll slide on a new WTB Silverado saddle.

Cockpit. DMR 31.8mm Sweeper 12° handlebars. Some 35mm length 31.8mm stem. Gusset Sleeper push-on grips.

Tyres? Hmm… I don’t really know. I will probably start with a set of Maxxis Forekasters front and rear. Although, I did quite enjoy the new WTB Peacekeepers that were (temporarily) on the Lauf Elja…

Pedals? Not sure. Flats though. Possibly some more HT PA03A composite flatties. In grey.

Looks

What are my aesthetic demands (aside from questionable)? I do think there’s much more of an eye on the aesthetics when it comes to shorter travel bikes. Partly because longer travel bikes are so hard to make un-ugly. Especially pedal assist ones.

The thing is, I find that if I enjoy the handling and performance of a bike, I end up liking that it looks too. Cases in point: the Haibike Nduro 7 and Orange Switch 6. Beauties to my eyes. I have no worries about the rather polarising looks of the Lauf Elja.

What would you do?

What short travel bikes have you got your eye on? Where would your priorities and concerns lie if you were building up a Downcountry bike? What have I got wrong so far? Post your comments below!

p.s. you can read our review of the Lauf Elja in the upcoming issue 162 of Singletrack Magazine (on sale August)