What happens when a bike brand that started out building downhill bikes moves into short-travel trail bikes? Well, you get a bike like the third-generation Propain Hugene. This trail bike looks the part of a much bigger bike, yet it’s a surprisingly efficient pedaler. Though it doesn’t boast the descending chops of a longer-travel trail bike, it’s still a tight ripper that’s fun to ride pretty much anywhere.
Propain Hugene key specs
- Frame: Carbon fiber
- Travel: 140/130mm front/rear
- Weight: 14.84kg (32.7lb), size XL without pedals
- Price: $5,299 as tested (on sale for $4,239 currently). Completes start at $3,799 and a frameset is $2,749
- Buy from Propain
On the trail
Don’t let the looks fool you: The Propain Hugene is a short travel trail bike. I was reminded of this on rocky descents like the one in the photo above where the bike popped and skittered over square-edged rocks, never bottoming out but delivering a tight, race-tuned feel.
On flow trails, the Hugene absolutely lets loose, mainlining speed and confidence in equally high doses. It’s an absolute rocket that’s speed-bound only by tire choice and pilot nerve.
Though the Hugene is a short-travel bike, it’s not a short bike when measured front to back. Long chainstays make it a fast straight-line descender, while tight switchbacks require a slower approach combined with a bit of finesse. That extended rear end also means the bike isn’t especially playful, which again gives it more of a race-like character.
On especially steep and technical descents, the front end of the size XL I tested felt low, which made the handling feel a little awkward at times. For tall riders like me, riser bars are an easy fix to improve the fit and the bike’s descending capabilities.
With a beefy tire spec and truck-stopping Maven brakes, the Hugene can handle a lot, even if the pilot can’t. There’s simply a limit to how much speed you can get out of 130mm of rear suspension travel without eventually losing control. As a result, a lot of trail bike riders have found 150mm of rear travel is the sweet spot.
Where the Hugene truly shines is when it’s time to pedal. The PRO10 suspension design feels very efficient and confirms that this is indeed a short-travel trail bike that’s meant to be pedaled. Every stroke feels like an instant power transfer to the rear wheel, thanks to the suspension design and the stiff carbon frame, with little output lost to bobbing or diving. And yet, the suspension still feels quite responsive when pedaling through the rough, with good small bump compliance.
Going uphill, the front of the bike remains planted thanks to the 445mm chainstays that ensure a more forward weight balance. Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to come at the expense of rear wheel traction. The long chainstays certainly add to the racy feeling the Hugene delivers, particularly in the enduro sense of the word. Upon further reflection, I suppose calling this a downcountry bike rather than a short-travel trail bike is more appropriate, given the build spec and suspension profile.
On the trail, the Propain Hugene is a quiet assassin, climbing smoothly and efficiently before descending in a manner that can only be described as business-like. That is, it gets the job done without excuses or complaining, or even drawing attention to itself.
Propain Hugene frame features
The Propain Hugene features the brand’s PRO10 suspension design. As best I can tell, the system is VPP-like, and with its vertical shock orientation, it appears to be pretty similar to the Mondraker Raze.
The Hugene features a lightweight carbon upper linkage and stiff, one-piece rear triangle. There’s internal frame storage with a door that opens with one hand at the slide of a button. A single set of bottle cage mounts is affixed to the frame storage door, and no accessory mounts are provided beneath the top tube.
Propain gives riders the option of traditional internal cable routing at the front of the bike or headset routing, depending on preference. Routing the dropper post cable and rear brake hose through the ports on the downtube puts the cable and hose at nearly a right angle, flaring them out to the sides. It’s a unique look and gives plenty of room for the bars to move, though on my test bike setup, the brake hose runs across the bottom of the stem and rattles on the roughest descents.
There’s no flip chip to be found on the Hugene for a simple point-and-shoot setup. In keeping with the brand’s motto, “more riding, less wrenching,” Propain designed their own dust shields for the frame bearings to extend the time between replacements.
According to the brand, even size small Propain Hugene frames can fit a dropper post with up to 200mm of travel, which is impressive. Buyers can choose from three frame colors and more than a dozen decal colors. Not only that, there are two different decal sizes, small and large. My test bike features a Venom Black matte finish with large, matte white decals. Friends remarked that the massive Propain logo really stands out, and not in a good way. I will say that this combo photographs nicely, though I would have chosen the small decals in a color that blends in better with the frame finish.
A size medium frameset is said to weigh 2.8kg (about 6.2lb). Interestingly, the previous generation Hugene featured more travel (140mm rear) and a lower 2.3kg frame weight (just over five pounds) for a size small. It’s unclear why the third-generation frame weighs almost a pound more, though, to be fair, we’re comparing the weight of a size medium frame to a size small frame.
What’s a Hugene, anyway?
The Propain brand isn’t well known here in the southeastern US, and understandably, friends had questions. Like, what’s a Propain, and what’s a Hugene? Honestly, the latter sounds like the name of a Garbage Pail Kid to me.
Propain is a direct-to-consumer brand based in Germany, and the US operations are run out of Vancouver, WA. In a lot of ways, the brand feels similar to Ari (formerly Fezzari), offering buyers reasonable prices and the ability to customize and order online. Clearly, most consumers don’t care where a brand name comes from, as long as the bikes deliver a good value and a quality experience.
Propain Hugene geometry
The Propain Hugene boasts progressive geometry with a 64.8° head tube angle and a 77.5° (effective) seat tube angle. The 508mm reach on the size XL I tested is pretty consistent with other modern trail bikes. Where the Hugene stands out is the long, 445mm chainstay length across all sizes. This gives the bike a stable feel and is a boon for climbing, keeping the front wheel planted. However, it also means this short-travel trail bike isn’t quite as poppy or playful as others in its class.
On paper, the Propain Hugene is nearly the spitting image of my Yeti SB140. The head tube angles are within 0.2°, and both the reaches and chainstay lengths are within 3mm of each other. And yet, the Hugene feels like a smaller bike in terms of both reach and bar height. After much head scratching, I finally got out the tape measure, but quickly realized I didn’t need to. Looking at the two bikes side-by-side, the difference was obvious: the fork steerer on the Hugene was cut shorter than the fork on my Yeti, resulting in a bar height that’s a full 2.5 inches lower while maintaining the same horizontal saddle-to-bar length.
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With a taller bar height, I suspect the Hugene would inspire more confidence on steep descents, and it would also make for a more comfortable all-day pedaler. Of course, a simple solution would be to spec a higher rise bar on the XL builds, or to leave the fork steerer longer so that buyers can customize the height to their liking.
The build
Propain gives buyers a smart spec for the price. The Hugene Signature Spec 2 I tested features RockShox Ultimate suspension, powerful Maven Silver disc brakes, a SRAM GX Eagle Transmission drivetrain, DT Swiss XM 1700 wheels, a OneUp V3 dropper post, and even carbon OneUp handlebars. Schwalbe Albert radial tires round out the build spec.
Given the component options offered in Propain’s custom builder, perhaps the only thing beyond handlebar rise that I would change is the fork from a Lyrik to a Pike in order to save a few grams without affecting the travel. And though I love how the 29×2.5″ Albert tires perform, if this were my bike, I would be swapping these for something lighter and faster rolling once they’re worn out.
Propain does not offer a mixed-wheel version of the Hugene, and from the sound of it, they’d prefer you didn’t even try it. “Geometry and weight make the Hugene so agile and playful that we see no advantage in offering a MIX option,” they wrote online. “So: 29″ only!”
Pros and cons of Propain Hugene
Pros
- Smart spec delivers a good value
- Efficient and responsive pedaler and climber
Cons
- Not an especially playful or agile bike, despite claims to the contrary
- Build spec is overkill given the travel numbers, adding unnecessary weight
- Size XL fit misses the mark based on component setup
Bottom line
The Propain Hugene delivers a tight and dialed ride feel on the flowiest trails, reminding riders that it’s a short-travel trail bike only when the trail gets steep and rocky.
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