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Remind me of my old flexy Amp B3 or a K2 razor back - - I'm sure all that carbon will make it ride better .
Nine thousand two hundred pounds.
Nice to see soft tails making a come back
Hawt xc bike. Trek just need to tone down their downtube branding.
Having just watched the accompanying video, I think their down tube branding is the least of their problems.
For that price, Neff needed to win on 'reveal' weekend to convince me it was better.
It proves that buying a mysteriously new highly marketed big brand bike that the Pro’s use won’t make you a faster rider. It’s not about the bike...
Loving my (N1NO!) Scott Spark though 😀
Looks good to me. Not at that price tho.
I don't mind it, but it's no better/worse than many others, it's a bit 'cleaner' in some ways, but unless it weighs 5kg and has pedal assist, it won't be turning me into a race god.
I'd be concerned in the real world about dirt between the top tube and the "shock". Most people don't have a mechanic that travels with them and it looks like it'd get dirty and be difficult to clean properly without some bits being taken apart.
Well, it's not like it starts at £9200. The entry level is a bargain £4000 🙂
To be fair though, the entire range comes with carbon wheels too.
Hmmmm...
It’s ok - I always get a bit concerned when I see something on a bike fame that’s “designed to flex...”
Not sure about the geo either, the HA isn’t all that progressive..
Loved the vid though!
Jolanda ❤️
I thought the video was good. Especially the kid at the skate park 😀
It’s ok – I always get a bit concerned when I see something on a bike fame that’s “designed to flex…”
Quite a few longer-travel carbon frames already do that to some degree - e.g. Orbea Occam - I've not seen reports of failures.
Cannondale did something pretty similar back in the 2000s... softtails been around as long as I can remember, so it's nothing new really. Looks good for sirrious XC racers.
Quite liked my old K2 Razorback. It had 10mm more travel than this Trek!
It’s ok – I always get a bit concerned when I see something on a bike fame that’s “designed to flex…”
Just imagine how much lower the loadings are compared to a hardtail that doesnt flex.
Looks good for sirrious XC racers.
Suspension so good its like floating on a cloud?
Shades of the K2 Razorback crossed with a Trek STP.
Does manage to look fast stood still, so in my book that a win!
Would love to demo one just to see how it feels.
I always loved the look of the mid 90s ritchey softails, the look mind, never rode one so don't know what they were like in reality, those had what an inch and half of travel? The new supercaliber looks to be a bit of of a softer, softail... I think once you go over 2" of travel it's a suspension bike, not a softail weather it bends or pivots (IMO).
But is it a concept due for a revival, is this a tacit admission that 4" XC suspension bikes are actually a bit too bouncy for XC racing?
Specialized brain comes to mind.
Well, Pauline Ferrand Perot and Nino both won the world champs on 4" full sussers and MVDP has won every short track he's entered on one, plus a few XCO races too.
Therefore:
is this a tacit admission that 4″ XC suspension bikes are actually a bit too bouncy for XC racing?
No, Its just a bike Trek built.
Its a very nice looking bike that Trek have built though.
For the general amateur XC rider it looks ideal - for me it would be a great SDW bike and the odd race. Only problem is the £4k starting price. It could actually replace my Fuel Ex and my old Superfly - it could become my one and only MTB.
It was more idle musing than a serious question really, just thinking about who is actually going to be buying this bike.
And I suppose these days it's only going to be serious XC privateers that would stump up for a bike like this, most regular mtberists will either be content with a HT or willing to accept the ~2kg penalty for 5"+ of bounce for mid-ride gnat shedding, the only real world application for an efficient modern softail is XC racing, which is probably less fashionable than a couple of decades ago so I don't reckon they'll shift many unfortunately...
Maybe thats their pricing strategy. Why buy a £1500 hardtail and a £2500 fs when you could have a £4k softail?
Answers on a postcard marked:
More money than sense,
C/o trek bikes.
I'd be interested in something like that coupled with a longer, slacker 120mm aluminium front end. I wonder how much weight is saved by the proprietary shock vs a short link (basicly a mk1 spearfish).
And who/how will it be serviced....
just thinking about who is actually going to be buying this bike.
Rich guys, like the one in the pool in the video (which is fantastic btw).
Just watched the vid. Funny, but - a new kind of bike? Nope. I reckon Cannondale might have something to say about that. But even the Scalpel wasn't new.
I think there was a titanium one made by Ritchey that was the first, way back in the 90s? Or was it.. Litespeed or some niche ti merchant?
Kryton57
Subscriber
And who/how will it be serviced….
Looks like a fox float shock, just with a custom body? I guess all the service parts are the same as the standard shock.
I think there was a titanium one made by Ritchey that was the first, way back in the 90s? Or was it.. Litespeed or some niche ti merchant?
Dean and Moots both made softails. Dunno who came first, there's probably variations going back to the dawn of double diamond frames.
As an XC racer currently looking to go from a hardtail to a FS, I've certainly been interested in this bike since the rumours began. 4k with a crap groupset is an ambitious entry point though! Speccing carbon wheels on all models makes it clear who this is aimed at, but I've got them already. A model with alu wheels and a better groupset would be far more attractive. Frame only price is mad.
Can't see this being a winner for them, but hats off for trying something new (or old, depending on your viewpoint).
I always lusted after a factory painted Trek STP... there's just the small matter of money 😀
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I was going to argue that a carbon wheelset is faster than an upgraded groupset. But it's NX and the gravitational field caused by the cassette spinning swallowed my argument so I cant.
The 9.7 has the coolest paint job by far though.
It looks like a lot of the flex is actually undamped as the springs (flexy seat stays) are in series with the shock rather than in parallel like in any conventional spring/damper suspension.
Previous flex stay designs like the older Cannondale Scalpel still had the shock in parallel via a small rocker and the flexures in the chain stays were only providing the kinematic joint - similar to flexures in place of spherical joints on F1 wishbones.
Not sure you would get much extra flex in the stays vs what the shock moves? Even at full compression in the video the bend is only about as much as a hardtails stays are usually formed into an 'hourglass' shape. Just looks wierd as we dont normally see that bend side on.
Even the scalpel used the stays as a spring as there wasnt a pivot at the bb either. The reason it doesnt need a link is it's using a strut bolted to the frame at both ends, kinda similar to yeti switch links, but bigger and with a damper built in.
Google "Hetchins stays" for similar wierdness.
Is anyone else finding that frame flex video arousing?
Maybe it's just me? but when you look around at a lot of the bikes nowadays £4000 for a carbon bike with carbon wheels didn't seem that bad.
Specialized charge about £3700 for the Epic with NX
Doesn't make it a good thing. MTB needs more bikes like the Bossnut and Scandal. The top fuel is better vfm but even that is £2600 for the entry level spec.
Definitely not a new bike...softails were last decade I think? Apart from the marketing mince in that video, it was good...the mince being the 'facts' being stated about the bike...everything else was good.
Liked the dig at the type of person likely to buy the bike as well.
It'll sell and those who buy it will be telling us how much of a change (for the better) it has made their riding...if it works then all good, but it isn't new and doesn't appeal to me (but then I'm not mainstream in the MTB world now - I wear lycra and have 1 bike that isn't a 29er (thankfully!)!).
Not sure you would get much extra flex in the stays vs what the shock moves? Even at full compression in the video the bend is only about as much as a hardtails stays are usually formed into an ‘hourglass’ shape. Just looks wierd as we dont normally see that bend side on.
Probably true, but whatever flex there is will be undamped.
Even the scalpel used the stays as a spring as there wasnt a pivot at the bb either. The reason it doesnt need a link is it’s using a strut bolted to the frame at both ends, kinda similar to yeti switch links, but bigger and with a damper built in.
With the Scalpel, the flexy chainstays are fully damped by the shock via the rigid seat stays and rocker. I suspect most of the spring rate is actually coming from the air shock too, although there will be some additional spring rate from the chainstays.
Chain stays have a pivot, not a true soft tail?
Well yeah, it's effectively a single pivot full susser with springy seat stays instead of a rocker linkage.
I'm still struggling with the idea that the seat stays are providing the spring rate (or at least part of it) without being damped. A bit like fitting a spring in series between the shock eyelet and frame mount on a conventional shock. It's not something you would ever consider doing.
I guess with only 60 mm travel the trade off in weight saving might be just about worth it. But I can't imagine the suspension control is going to be as good as a bike with a conventional 4-bar rear. Or at least not as tune-able. Also looks like the shock might suffer from stiction due to the bending moment.
Be interesting to see how it rides.
lol @ rOcKeTdOg
🙂
orangespyderman
Subscriber
I’d be concerned in the real world about dirt between the top tube and the “shock”
That was my thought too... a wee stone trapped in there and its grinding your frame away.
I like it, even like it in the yeti “colourway”
£9k is a bit steep though innit.
That’ll put most people off it 🤪