In the present day noticed the world’s prime cross-country riders take to the hillside within the second spherical of the UCI MTB World Cup. Don’t fear, there are not any spoilers right here… Earlier than the Elite racing started, we took a snoop across the pits to see what new expertise groups are experimenting with to seek out these all essential marginal beneficial properties.
Our lap was rewarded with glimpses of recent tires from Vittoria, Specialised, and Schwalbe, new suspension from Manitou, RockShox and Ohlins, and a few prototype brakes from TRP. Right here’s what’s to come back from the world of XC tech.
New XC Suspension at UCI Lenzerheide MTB World Cup
A dive into the RockRider Racing pit revealed the most recent iteration of their XC race machine; a motorcycle that may, ultimately, be available for purchase in Decathlon shops – at the very least within the UK. The bikes being raced right here in Lenzerheide by the likes of Joshua Dubau and Savilia Blunk are slightly totally different to the one we noticed beneath the latter rider at Sea Otter earlier this yr. Right here, they’re up to date with a closely machined hyperlink and shock yoke that are, presumably, lighter than their respective predecessors.
Bolted to that yoke is a prototype shock from Manitou, damping the bike’s 120mm of rear wheel journey. Seemingly an replace on the Mara shock, this one sees a subtly totally different air can structure and a revision to the compression damping adjustment knobs that seems to prioritize the distant lockout characteristic.
The Manitou fork is a prototype, too, prone to be the subsequent iteration of the R7 fork. On the RockRider, it’s set as much as run 120mm journey, identical to the rear wheel journey.
Lower-outs on the dropouts and arch present the model are, to nobody’s shock, trying to shave weight wherever they’ll.
We reckon the brand new R7 will boast 34mm stanchions, versus the manufacturing mannequin’s 32mm stanchions, however will offset a few of that weight acquire with ever extra machining.
The fork nonetheless seems to run Manitou’s Incremental Quantity Regulate air spring. On the damper facet, we see the exterior changes rigged as much as a distant lockout operated by Orbea’s Squid Lock distant.
Elsewhere within the pits, we caught a glimpse of some new digital suspension from RockShox. Nino Schurter‘s Scott Spark is fronted with a RockShox SID SL Flight Attendant Fork.
Forgive me for the totally terrible brightness/distinction, right here. We weren’t permitted to take Nino’s bike outdoors for pictures, so this must suffice for now! On condition that Flight Attendant elements work as a crew, the probabilities are the shock can be residence to the digital damping-adjusting module, although we are able to’t see it because it lives contained in the entrance triangle of the Scott Spark.
Elsewhere, that prototype RockShox SID SL fork was seen all through the crew pits with out the Flight Attendant module. Additional machining on the fork crown offers it away as a brand new mannequin that’s probably even lighter than the manufacturing SID SL at present in manufacturing.
It was invariably paired with what additionally seems to be a brand new light-weight air shock – what is probably going the next-gen RockShox SIDLuxe.
Over at BMC, Jordan Sarrou‘s Fourstroke was rocking the recently-released XC suspension elements from Ohlins; the RXC34 Fork and the TXC Air Shock.
And naturally, it is usually benefiting from BMC’s proprietary Autodrop seat put up that’s built-in with the body. Full bikes include the black model, however folks buying the frameset can get this nickel-coated model that the crew riders have.
Prototype XC Brakes from TRP
Joshua Dubau‘s RockRider was residence to extra prototypes, too; a brand new 2-piston brake caliper from TRP, clamping new 6-bolt 160mm rotors, additionally from TRP. The model don’t actually have a devoted, light-weight 2-piston brake for XC in manufacturing but; it seems like this one will fill that hole of their lineup.
Prototype XC Tires from Vittoria, Schwalbe and Specialised
There was a lot new rubber to be ogled at this weekend. We noticed a new DH tire from Schwalbe on Danny Hart’s Dice, however judging by the “First Journey” emblem and unrecognizable tread sample we noticed on the entrance of somebody’s Cannondale Scalpel XC Bike, it appears additionally they have a brand new XC tire within the works.
As compared with Schwalbe’s present providing, i’d say its tread sample seems most just like that of the Depraved Will, however with smaller, a lot decrease profile blocks and raised mid-tread ridges towards the outboard edge.
A have a look at Henrique Avancini‘s Caloi Elite Carbon FS revealed some prototype XC tires from Vittoria; these have been fitted to his 1,150g Dyneema rope-spoke carbon wheelset. The all-black tire with purple flash scorching patch seems to be a 2.4″ variation on the Mezcal.
Vittoria have a tendency to make use of this purple scorching patch to indicate their Race collection tires – like we see on the Mazza Enduro Race, for instance. These tires run a single compound, as in comparison with Vittoria’s 4C Graphene compound, that’s optimized for racing quite than season-long using. It’s attainable this new XC tire may additionally provide the same, albeit probably faster-rolling, single-compound strategy.
Lastly, Specialised look to be reintroducing the Captain XC Tire. With the recent patch saying its use of Specialised’s T5 and T7 compounds, this one seems to be very near manufacturing.
For extra downhill-focused tech from the UCI Lenzerheide World Cup, try our earlier spherical up.
