Trek is teasing a mountain bike release for Thursday, September 5, and Jolanda Neff gave spectators a preview at the UCI World Championship races this weekend in Quebec, Canada.
Details about the new mountain bike are scarce, but here’s what we know.
- It’s a full-suspension, XC race bike and it’s fast. Jolanda Neff took second in the women’s race on Saturday ahead of rival Kate Courtney, who finished fifth.
- The rear shock is nearly hidden, positioned high in the front triangle and tucked just below the top tube. This position seems like it might limit rear travel to 100mm or less, which makes sense given this is an XC race bike.
- The bike is absent of an Active Braking Pivot (ABP) on the rear axle, which Trek uses on most of their full-suspension bikes.
- The bike is carbon fiber (naturally) to keep it lightweight. This also appears to allow for the unique tube shapes necessary to accommodate the unusual shock position.
- Trek updated the Top Fuel in May, to give it more of a trail bike orientation, with more travel. It could be possible that the Trek Factory Racing team wants a more determined full suspension XC bike in the line, as athletes like Emily Batty and Jolanda Neff went between the Pro-Caliber hardtail and the previous Top Fuel, depending on the World Cup course.
- There is a remote lockout with internal routing (see the cable in the photo below).
Your turn: What else sticks out to you about the new bike based on this photo?
Looks like there is internal routing for a lockout lever and even the shape of the shock itself looks a little odd. Maybe some electric/digital ‘smart’ tuning?
may as well just ride a hardtail
What’s really interesting is the lower pivot that is not shown here but has not been hidden for the entire XC season….there is no linkage just a one piece swing arm of sorts that u shapes around the seat tube. That alone indicates less travel as there just isn’t much room for it to move. Will be interesting to see the geo numbers and what this design can create in low weight, seatstay length and HT angle.