There are too many all-black wheels these days – stealthy matte carbon rims, black spokes, black anodized nipples, and hubs painted black everywhere you look. It’s all so boring. A few brands are fighting back. And now it’s nice to see DT Swiss spicing things up a bit with this all-silver limited edition aluminum FR 1500 Classic gravity bike wheelset. You get all their best tech for enduro, freeride & DH – premium 240 hubs, fast DEG engagement, user-adjustable DF anti-kickback function hidden inside – and now in glorious shiny silver.

DT Swiss FR 1500 Classic Silver DEG DF LTD gravity wheels

Now frankly, I’m more than a little annoyed by the fact that DT Swiss decided to make this entire limited edition wheelset campaign in Black & White.

Sure, it looks artsy. And it’s true that there’s no color to be found on the wheels – outside of some red bearing seals pressed inside the hub or the red DT special grease inside the oversized star ratchet.

But what makes a silver wheelset really shine is how it differs from bland black wheels, and how it reflects the colors of everything around it – whether that’s the paint job of your bike, or the trees and wildflowers next to the trail.

See what I mean!

Shiny silver gravity wheels are awesome.

Like, the set I custom-built myself.

OK, enough ranting about shininess. Onto the core tech…

Tech details

There’s nothing new on these limited edition wheels, just proven rims, spokes, and hubs laced together to build a bombproof wheelset for whatever type of gravity-infused mountain biking you prefer

• super tough FR541 aluminum rims with extra impact resistance & built-in pinch flat protection
• 30mm internal x 35mm external x 21mm deep
• tubeless-ready
• 605g per 29″ rim (claimed)

• built on 240 Classic DEG DF 6-bolt disc brake hubs
• fast 90T / 4° Ratchet DEG engagement

• adjustable 0° / 10° / 20° DF anti-kickback device inside
• Boost 15×110 & 12x148mm spacing only
• laced 3x with 32 RevoLite round double-butted J-bend spokes and Pro Lock Squorx alloy nipples
• only available in full 29er, curiously
• SRAM XD only, although Shimano HG & MicroSpline DEG freehubs are available separately
• ASTM Cat 5 rated for DH, with a rider+bike weight of 140kg/309lb
• 2030g wheelset weight (claimed )

DT Swiss FR 1500 Silver LTD wheels – Pricing, options & availability

Technically, an ultra-tough aluminum Freeride & DH wheelset at 2030g… they’re really not terribly heavy, meaning you definitely could run them on an enduro bike, too. In fact, it’s actually about 100g lighter (at the hubs) than the shiny silver DT wheels I built up myself with a lighter EX511 rim, RevoLites & the pastel limited edition 350 DEG hubs last year.

I love riding those custom-labeled wheels on my long travel enduro test bike, and expect to see them again close up next month with some all-new tire tech, coming soon!

Officially, DT Swiss calls the FR 1500 Classic Silver DEG DF wheelset a “limited edition”. And it will only be available in some international markets. But there isn’t a set limited number of wheelsets available. So, it’s more a case of pick up a set before they stop making them.

We do know that the shiny silver gravity wheels sell for $1034 / 900€ for the pair. And they are only available in a full 29er set with a SRAM XD driver. But at least you can swap in another standard DEG freehub for Shimano or alt drivetrain compatibility. The FR 1500 Silver LTD wheels are available now from select European dealer shops in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland & the United Kingdom, plus Canada & the USA. OR you can snap up a set online from Bike-Components.de.

DTSwiss.com

The post Limited Edition DT Swiss FR1500 Gravity Wheels Shine in Classy, Classic Silver appeared first on Bikerumor.

Purple ano is one thing, but until Fox starts coating their stanchions in a Barney-inspired hue, you’ll have to go for gold if you want more stuff matched across your bike. Now, Formula is making that a bit easier with the new Kashima-coated Cura brake sets.

Available on the Cura 4-piston brakes, both the caliper and master cylinder get the Kashima treatment, applied exclusively by the Miyaki Company in Japan. It’s not just a cosmetic option, though, they say the coating on the master cylinder’s piston gives the brakes a smoother feel.

The technical and performance features carry over unchanged from the standard finishes:

• Four 18mm thermoplastic pistons
• Low roll-back seals
• Two-piece lever with feeling control system
• Tool-free reach adjustment
• Sintered pads fitted; organic pads included in the box
• Weight: 400 gr (85 cm hose, 160 mm 1-piece rotor and mounting hardware)
• RRP: €310 per brake (adapters and rotors sold separately)

They pair nicely with Formula’s new Japanese Gold anodized two-piece rotors (160/180/203mm options, €70/76/86 respectively), and are compatible with all of their monolithic rotors and two-piece rotors.

New Avinox Compatible Brake Rotors, Too

Got one of the new Avinox equipped eMTBs? Formula has a compatible brake rotor for them, with the speed sensor ring integrated into the rotor for a cleaner, lighter setup. It’s available in a 200mm diameter with 2.3mm thickness, 6-bolt only. MSRP €80, available in September.

RideFormula.com

The post New Kashima Formula Cura Brakes Cure Your Fork Matching FOMO appeared first on Bikerumor.

When Avinox launched its new, even more powerful, M2S drive unit earlier this year, YT was among the 20 or so brands that announced new bike models to go along with it. At the time, the brand only shared details about the tricked-out, top-of-the-range Decoy X Launch Edition. That bike is now being joined by a four-bike CORE range with prices ranging from €4,499 to €7,499.

YT Decoy X CORE Details

All of the Decoy X CORE models are built around the same hydroformed aluminum frame with 160mm of V4L (Virtual Four Link) rear-wheel travel, a 170mm fork, and a mixed-wheel configuration. With plenty of travel and a fairly aggressive geometry, the Decoy X falls into YT’s e-enduro category. 

The new Avinox M2S drive unit is shared across the Decoy X range. This powerful new motor puts out up to 1,300W of peak power and 130Nm of torque, with shorter bursts of up to 1500W and 150Nm of torque in Boost mode. All CORE models and frame sizes also get the 800Wh battery for maximum range.

Geometry

YT gave the Decoy X a geometry that reflects its e-enduro intended use. It’s long, slack, and low, and looks ready to get after just about anything you’re willing to ride it down. It has a flip-chip that makes some minor changes to the head tube and seat tube angles for those who like to tinker with their setup. 

Some of the key figures include the 64.2 (H) /63.9 (L) degree headtube angle, the 78.4 (H) / 78.1 (L) degree seat tube angle, and 442mm chainstay across all sizes. Reach measurements start at 435mm on size small, and grow in 20mm increments, up to 515mm on the XXL. Check out the chart below for the nitty-gritty details.

YT Decoy X CORE Range: Builds and Pricing

The top-tier Decoy X Launch Edition is already on the market and still available for purchase. It’s now joined by four more affordable CORE builds, ranging in price from €4,499 to €7,499.

Decoy X CORE 4: €7,499

• Fork: Fox 38 Float Factory, GripX2, 170mm
• Shock: Fox X2 Factory
• Drivetrain: SRAM S1000 AXS Transmission – hardwired
• Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 220mm f/200 mm r HS2 rotors
• Wheels: DT Swiss HX 1500 w/ 240 DEG hubs, 29” front, 27.5” rear
• Tires:
  • Front: Continental Kryptotal-Fr 29’’ x 2.4 WT I Super Soft, Enduro
  • Rear: Continental Kryptotal-Re 27.5’’ x 2.4 WT | Soft, Downhill
• Handlebar: Title AH1 35, 800mm, 38mm rise
• Seatpost: YT Postman v2 (length varies by frame size)
• Saddle: SDG Bel-Air V3
• Color: Red Pearl
• Claimed Weight: 25.1kg / 55.3 lbs. (size S)

Decoy X Core 3: €6,499

• Fork: RockShox ZEB Ultimate, Charger 3.2, 170mm
• Shock: RockShox Vivid Ultimate
• Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission 
• Brakes: SRAM Maven Silver w/ 220mm f/200 mm r HS2 rotors
• Wheels: DT Swiss HX 1700 w/ 350 DEG hubs, 29” front, 27.5” rear
• Tires:
  • Front: Continental Kryptotal-Fr 29’’ x 2.4 WT I Super Soft, Enduro
  • Rear: Continental Kryptotal-Re 27.5’’ x 2.4 WT | Soft, Downhill
• Handlebar: Title AH1 35, 800mm, 38mm rise
• Seatpost: YT Postman v2 (length varies by frame size)
• Saddle: SDG Bel-Air V3
• Color: Reflex Silver
• Claimed Weight: 25.0kg / 55.1 lbs. (size S)

Decoy X CORE 2: €5,499

• Fork: Fox 38 Float Performance, Grip, 170mm
• Shock: Fox DHX Performance
• Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 70 Transmission
• Brakes: SRAM Maven Base w/ 220mm f/200 mm r HS2 rotors
• Wheels: DT Swiss H 1900 w/ 370 LN hubs, 29” front, 27.5” rear
• Tires:
  • Front: Continental Kryptotal-Fr 29’’ x 2.4 WT I Super Soft, Enduro
  • Rear: Continental Kryptotal-Re 27.5’’ x 2.4 WT | Soft, Downhill
• Handlebar: Title AH1 35, 800mm, 38mm rise
• Seatpost: YT Postman v2 (length varies by frame size)
• Saddle: SDG Bel-Air V3
• Color: Black Magic Bolt
• Claimed Weight: 25.4kg / 56 lbs. (size S)

Decoy X CORE 1: €4,499

• Fork: MarzocchiBomber Z1, Rail 2.0, 170mm
• Shock: Marzocchi Bomber Air
• Drivetrain: SRAM Eagle 90 Transmission 
• Brakes: SRAM DB8 Stealth w/ 220mm f/200 mm r Centerline rotors
• Wheels: WTB Sporterra Tough, 29” front, 27.5” rear
• Tires:
  • Front: Continental Kryptotal-Fr 29’’ x 2.4 WT I Super Soft, Enduro
  • Rear: Continental Kryptotal-Re 27.5’’ x 2.4 WT | Soft, Downhill
• Handlebar: Title AH1 35, 800mm, 38mm rise
• Seatpost: YT Seatpost (length varies by frame size)
• Saddle: YT Saddle
• Color: Pale Green
• Claimed Weight: 24.8kg / 54.7 lbs. (size S)

YT Decoy CORE Range: Availability

The new CORE Range of YT Decoy X eMTBs is available for preorder now in Europe and the UK. According to YT, availability in the U.S. will follow later this summer.

yt-industries.com

The post YT Officially Launches Its Avinox-Powered Decoy X CORE Range of eMTBs appeared first on Bikerumor.

When I rolled into Nové Město na Moravě last week ahead of the XC World Cup, I expected to see several mountain bike pros racing, or at least training on, prototype 32″ cross-country bikes.

What I didn’t expect was that the only 32″ wheels I would spot over the weekend would be on a gravel bike and a trail bike (besides the mullet trail bike I brought to play with… more on that soon.)

And it was DT Swiss – who just a couple of months ago assured us that they were taking 32″ things slowly – that would be behind both of extra-big-wheeled gravel and trail setups…

32″ DT Swiss XR 1700 Spline aluminum cross-country wheels

First up, a set of pre-production aluminum cross-country wheels on a gravel bike, but this time with an actual product name. We’ve seen a lot of smaller wheel makers debut 32″ wheels and 32″ prototypes. And even some DT prototypes that were just marked as ‘DT Swiss’ on the rims. But never a model name.

So marking these as XR 1700 Spline wheels is a pretty big milestone for one of the biggest wheel makers out there, and a behemoth in the OEM wheel market.

Interestingly, XR classifies these as a mid-tier wheelset for DT Swiss, and their highest spec level with an aluminum rim. (X 1900 would be their entry-level alloy, and from XRC 1700 and up they’re all on carbon rims.)

Caveat emptor

*Editor’s note: Now, you may be asking yourself if your eyes are going blurry from staring at your screen too long, because you can’t definitely read the model name on these prototype wheels anymore? Don’t worry, you are not going blind from too much Bikerumor browsing, today. Yes, the logos did get blurrier.

Because unofficially, DT has since confirmed that the naming of these wheels may not be accurate. Even though these labels align with DT’s product naming strategy, these are prototype wheels, very much still in development. It seems they were probably sent with labels to Superior, both to test their bike and to mock-up what Superior’s gravel prototype would look like when it goes into production in 2027. We’ve been assured that the wheel naming and precise specification are still subject to change before 32″ DT wheels eventually make it to market. Maybe there will be an XR 1700 Spline wheelset like this in the future, maybe not.

A closer look at the production-labeled aluminum rim, and we get quite a bit more useful information.

The 686 bead seat diameter confirms that these XR 1700 wheels are 32″ – as it we couldn’t tell how giant they were. They are 28mm internal. And the feature Tubeless Crotchet rim bead, aka, hooked and tubeless-ready – like all DT alloy rims.

Take a look at the hubs and we see that they are built up with 350-series straight-pull centerlock disc brake hubs. Plus, there’s a small text note next to the XR 1700 marking on the rim, confirming the obvious that these 32″ wheels are named ‘XR 1700 Spline’.

32″ XC wheels, but on a gravel bike

So, production-level 32″ DT Swiss XR 1700 Spline cross-country mountain bike wheels on a… gravel bike.

I guess that supports the Boost MTB standard idea for all 32″ bikes at the moment – excluding Dirty Sixer’s adamant insistence that bigger, heavier riders will need something significantly stronger than current Boost hubs.

The gravel bike fitted with these new wheels is a prototype 32″ Superior XR GR, a model the Czech bike maker say they expect to make available to consumers from the start of 2027. We’ve only really covered their latest carbon XR GR. But the entry-level of that gravel bike already includes an aluminum-framed version that looks pretty much just like this bike with conventional 700c wheels.

All-new prototype DT Swiss 32″ XC/Trail suspension fork

Then, across the race venue, we spied what looks like a mid-travel prototype DT Swiss fork on one of the CNC’d I-Train 32 trail bikes that Actofive built for DT as test mules at the end of last year. The prototype fork looks to include features adapted from both of DT’s current top-tier ONE-level forks – in an all-new fork design with slimmer dropouts than we’ve seen on a production DT fork in years.

What’s new in the fork department?

There’s the more angular but smooth fork brace and some reinforcing edges extending down the front of the legs of the casting, akin to the F535 One.

But the reinforcing ridges in the crown shaping are thinner. And there appears to already be some weight-saving, machined-out sections on the lowers, like seen on the F232 One fork.

Clearly, though, it’s all-new. DT likely could have developed a prototype for testing that shared the same crown of those existing forks. But this appears to be a ground-up redesign. Although it does appear that this might have borrowed the same ‘In Control’ 3-position lockout and external compression damping knob from the F535, hinting that it could share the same or similar PlusPort damper inside the right leg.

Behind the back of the arch, it’s more of a mystery.

There are the traditional carved out stiffening webs in the cast arch, with a single set of threads, presumably for a bolt-on fender that wasn’t installed. There are also 2-bolt brackets on the upper inside of the legs. These could easily be used to mount the fender as well. But the design looks more complex, perhaps hiding some other functionality like bleed ports for the lowers?

DT’s main fork seals also always look strangely low profile, pressed deep into the lowers, with no visible retention spring. These look even lower profile than most of their wipers, but that’s nothing entirely new for them.

So, what do we know?

As for any real concrete details, DT Swiss wasn’t sharing anything at the moment, other than the fact that this is very much “still a prototype fork in development”.

What we can probably sus out from seeing it in person, though – it looks like it probably features 34mm or 35mm stanchions. And based on how high it sits, this looks like120-130mm of fork travel. That fits with the frame itself, which features 120mm of adjustable rear wheel travel. Actofive did design the I-Train 32 for 120-140mm travel forks, and describes it not as an XC bike, but as a Trail bike due to the enhanced rollover capabilities that come with the larger diameter wheels and their larger tire air volume.

Now we just have to be patient as 32″ development soldiers on, and most likely these core components will be available later in the year.

DTSwiss.com

The post Spotted: 32″ DT Swiss Suspension Fork & Wheels At Nove Mesto World Cup, But… appeared first on Bikerumor.

Manitou’s 37mm-stanchion Mezzer enduro fork has long offered a unique alternative for mountain bikers looking for something a little different, with its reverse arch lowers and the unique ability to easily change travel to your riding style, plus surprisingly light weight. Now in Mezzer 2.0, Manitou has fine-tuned the fork even more, creating two separate platforms. One lighter chassis tuned for racing and one heavy-duty LT long travel chassis for riders looking to push their enduro bikes harder, and into the bikepark.

Manitou Mezzer G2 is really 2 adjustable 140-190mm forks

The real headline of the new Manitou Mezzer 2.0 fork is simply that it’s actually two different forks now.

Manitou has always stood out for the ease of adjusting the travel of their air forks – just pop open the air spring and clip spacers onto the internal shaft in 10mm increments. That makes their forks versatile for mountain bikers who might want to tinker more with their setup, or even swap the fork from one bike to the next. It is also great for bike shops that don’t have to stock a bunch of different travel options to satisfy customers. But the downside has been that building one fork with 40-50mm of travel range adjustment meant that, at the low end of the travel settings, you ended up with a relatively heavy fork. And at the long end, a fork that probably wasn’t as stiff as the competition.

But Manitou had faith in their wide-ranging 37mm stanchion Mezzer. Their reverse arch design makes it as stiff but lighter than 38mm competitors, with the added suppleness bonus of 5% less seal contact area because of the smaller diameter. So they created a 2nd-generation family that gives mountain bike riders the option to prioritize lighter weight and slightly reduced travel adjustability or a Longer Travel version with increased stiffness and even more travel than ever!

What’s new?

On the outside, the new Manitou Mezzer 2.0 looks almost exactly like the previous model. Sure, the top Pro spec forks now get the same polished silver crowns, like we’ve seen on the latest Mattoc, Mastodon & R8. There was even a limited edition all-silver version of the Mezzer a couple of years after it first launched with a silver tease seven years ago.

But really, Manitou is super low-key with their fork designs – even to the point that the model name is only written on a small shield logo on the side of the fork legs, just above the axle.

What’s new, really, is happening inside.

Active Spring Piston

You still get the great Dorado Air spring that makes for easy tuning with a separate air chamber and Infinite Rate Tune (IRT) chamber that lets you effectively change air spring volume with a shock pump instead of internal volume spacers. But now, on top of (or actually below) the Dorado Air is a new Active Spring Piston (ASP) that adds a small light coil spring to overcome seal stiction, reducing breakaway force in those critical first millimeters of travel. Think of it like RockShox Buttercups, or better yet, like DT Swiss’ Coilpair, since they are the ones that actually developed and patented this technology.

It’s a really effective tech that greatly improves small-bump compliance, so it’s great to see it added to Manitou forks here.

MC² Pro-X & TPC², plus HBO and an ABB

Gotta love a bunch of silly acronyms, right?

Basically, this just means that the Mezzer’s top-tier damper cartridge in its right leg is better than ever. It has a wider damping adjustment range, and it now adds independent external high-speed and low-speed rebound damping (HSR & LSR) controls. Plus, there’s new hydraulic bottom-out protection.

And the forks get a new “air-backed bladder system (ABB) to maintain oil pressure and eliminate cavitation” as opposed to a conventional IFP (internal floating piston) for faster damping, more consistency, increased sensitivity, and less internal friction.

More precise manufacturing and an MBA

OK, the acronyms are out of hand. The MBA here is a new Micromanager Bushing Alignment solution. Smooth functioning of bushings is critical inside long-travel forks. So first, Manitou increased bushing overlap on the Mezzer G2 to increase smooth action. But them, they also introduced more precise quality control of their machined lowers castings to make sure everything stays aligned perfectly.

And to make sure the stanchions, lowers & bushings stay aligned, Manitou added a small new red insert at the dropout of the Pro- & Expert-level forks, so when you tighten down the axle, you don’t pull the legs out of alignment. It’s a small but often overlooked topic that small dropout misalignment can introduce friction into your fork and increase wear. It’s the reason why many longer-travel forks use a floating axle design – where you have to first attach the thru-axle, then separately tighten a pinch bolt to secure it, even leaving what seems like play between the hub endcaps & dropout faces to ensure fork alignment and smooth action.

So, Manitou selects the perfect MBA inserts, measured precisely to fit during their fork assembly, so your hub gets tightened into place with the Hexlock thru-axle, without pulling the legs out of perfect alignment.

New Tech Details

• more travel adjustment ranges: 140-170mm for Pro & Expert, 150-190mm for LT Pro & 140-190 for LT Comp
  (internal travel adjust spacers included with all forks)
• same 37mm butted 7000-series alloy stanchions
• Dorado Air Active Spring Piston with IRT
• MC² Pro-X with HBO sealed cartridge compression damping
• sealed cartridge TPC² rebound damping
• more adjustability: air spring pressure, IRT pressure, new air-backed bladder, HSR & LSR rebound damping, HSC & LSC compression damping

• new polished silver crown for Pro models
• new forged & CNC-machined deep hollow bore crown for all lightweight chassis models
• Hexlock SL2 15x110mm Boost thru-axle now on lightweight chassis models, and Hexlock SL for LT models
• now 29er-only, with just one 44mm offset available
• same 2.7″ max tire width (69mm)
• lightweight chassis now rated ASTM Category 5 (Bikepark & DH) for combined rider+bike weights up to 136kg/300lb, or Cat 4 (~enduro) up to 150kg/350lb. LT forks all rated Cat 5 up to 150kg/350lb.

First Plush Rides

Altogether, there’s a lot of smart new tech in these two new Mezzer 2.0 fork families, promising overall suspension improvements that we look forward to digging deeper into over the next few months.

We’ve just now received a Mezzer Pro gen2 fork to test (actual weight 2058g, uncut steerer with 10mm spacer added to reduce travel to 160mm). And the first couple of rides can be described as incredibly plush.

Now it’s time to dig a bit more into fine-tuning the IRT for the optimal mid-stroke support. And then to test out the wider range of external damping controls.

And after that, to pop it back up to 170mm of travel on a bigger bike and get to some enduro racing on a lighter fork!

2026 Manitou Mezzer 2.0 forks – Pricing, options & availability

The new gen 2 do-it-all trail to enduro to gravity fork is available in four models – two each of the lighter or longer-travel versions.

The simply named Manitou Mezzer (not listed as G2, even though it is) with 140-170mm travel adjustability comes in a top-spec Pro version for $1200 / 1200€ at a claimed 2030g, or a more affordable $900 / 900€ Expert spec that’s just 20g heavier.

The longer travel Mezzer LT G2 comes in the 150-190mm travel $1200 /1200€ Pro model at a claimed 2220g, and in an even more travel adjustable 140-190mm Comp fork for just $600 / 600€ at a claimed 2330g.

There is no entry-level Comp fork in the lighter chassis, or a mid-spec version of the longer travel chassis. Manitou seems to have rightly surmised that those seeing the lightest weight would go for the more premium builds, and those looking for maximum value would be happy with more money in their wallets at the cost of just a hundred grams.

All 4 versions of the 2nd-generation Manitou Mezzer fork are available now in the USA & Europe from your local dealer shop, or directly from the Hayes group, now.

Manitou.HayesBicycle.com

The post Manitou Mezzer 2.0 MTB Forks Ride Trail to Gravity on Light & Adjustable Long Travel appeared first on Bikerumor.

Frameworks kicked off the 2026 race season with a bang. A few weeks ago, at the first stop of the World Cup, Asa Vermette took first place. It was Asa’s first Elite-level World Cup race and his first Elite-level win. 

It was also Frameworks’ first Elite-level World Cup win. But that wasn’t the brand’s first big win of the year. Weeks before, founder and team manager, Neko Mullaly, won the Sea Otter DH on a Frameworks.  

Now, surely we aren’t putting the Sea Otter DH race, as fun as it may be, on the same level as a World Cup DH race. But this race was different, for Frameworks, at least, as they were running a rather large wheel up front. 

Neko’s Sea Otter DH rig consisted of a 32” wheel up front and a 29” wheel out back. He used a Fox Podium fork, lowered to 140mm of travel, to get the proper clearance for the large front wheel. And, upon that bike, he took first place.

Surely, Sea Otter is the place to experiment with crazy ideas like that. However, it seems that Frameworks isn’t done experimenting with 32” wheels. 

A video just released by Frameworks shows Neko “testing out the 32” mega-mullet” at Mountain Creek in New Jersey. Faction Bike Studio designed the prototype mega-mullet, one of Frameworks’ partners, with a bonded front triangle to fit the larger front wheel.

Unlike other dual-crown bikes sporting a 32” wheel, Frameworks uses a Fox 40. To get the clearance needed for the larger wheel, the lowers appear to have been cut, extended, and bonded on. 

A larger wheel puts the bars rather high, and the cockpit is something that Neko says will need adjusting.

Unlike the bike raced at Sea Otter, this mega-mullet has a 27.5” rear wheel. Neko explained that a 29” rear wheel didn’t provide the clearance needed. He also mentions that neither the front wheel nor the tire is up to DH standards. 

Ultimately, they were trying to figure out if the 32” wheel, up front at least, is worth pursuing at the DH level. To do so, they will need components, namely a fork, wheel, and tire, that can handle DH abuse. After testing the mega-mullet prototype, Neko feels that “it is worth trying to find components that are equal to do a back-to-back test with a 29er.” 

So we may see 32” in the DH world after all…

The post Frameworks Dabbles with 32” Wheels for Downhill appeared first on Bikerumor.

To answer a reader’s question on the CFR XC prototype aero Reserve gravel wheels story… Yes, that is a new prototype inverted Cannondale Lefty fork, that we’re going to call the Lefty Nueve. Details are officially non-existent at this point. But the Cannondale Factory team clearly has a new suspension fork at their disposal. And everyone is racing on it, suggesting this isn’t just some one-off R&D prototype.

So what makes it better than the Lefty Ocho?

Cannondale’s prototype Lefty Nueve one-legged XC fork

The 8th-generation Lefty Ocho has been around for a long time – officially since 2018, so we’re not too surprised that it was bound for an update. And based on Cannondale’s previous Spanish naming scheme, we’re going to dub this one Lefty Nueve because I simply like how that sounds.

The Lefty has always been divisive, but love it or hate it from a design (or servicing) perspective, this one-legged fork has delivered top-tier lightweight cross-country performance for decades. Just look at the Ocho. What other XC suspension fork has been raced at the World Cup level for 8 years, effectively unchanged?

But it was time for an update. And it looks like Cannondale design engineers have found some tweaks.

What’s new?

Overall, Cannondale’s prototype Lefty Nueve looks a lot like the inverted Ocho fork. But there are plenty of subtle differences that hint at improvements.

First up, they’ve slimmed down the new upper. It is noticeably thinner just above the bulge for the lower bushing & seal. And then it features a smoother tapered transition up to its widest point at the top of the fork leg.

There, it also transitions more smoothly through its one-sided crown up to the headtube. Before, there was about a ~2cm thick step where the steerer heads up into the frame, whereas now the crown looks to be as thin as ~5mm on the right side under the headset. There is also a new hole under the steerer tube. Maybe that could allow a high fender mount, or a light thru-bolt to tension the headset?

New Chamber Damper controls

The top of the leg also reveals some damper control updates. A new simplified top cap still allows for a cable-actuated remote lockout – which the CFR team used to combine with some variation of a 2- or 3-cable Fox Twin Stick lockout that also operated a dropper post. But now it looks like several racers have opted for different setups to control fork & shock lockout, and CFR’s mechanical Fox Transfer dropper posts.

What has really changed here, though, is that compression damping adjustment is no longer tool-free on top of the fork. Now, there’s a new rubber cover on the front of the fork leg, suggesting internal damping adjustment. Maybe you’ll get both HSC & LSC controls?

More open stanchion guard & new StopLock brake mount

Then, the upper brake line guide is slightly tweaked, with a continuous tube for the race team down to the brake line guide on the updated orange lower stanchion guard – with a bigger window that the team straps its race transponder to. The new guard also appears to now be mounted only to the front & inside of the fork, not the outside of the fork leg.

Cannondale also redesigned the Lefty’s StopLock brake mount with a new quick-release. Although it’s hard to know for sure what all has changed or why at this point. We can see they moved the mounting point for the adjustable brake caliper adapter, a bit back from the dropout, while the arm supporting the caliper moves up and closer to the stanchion. The redesign may make it easier to mount different rotor sizes, or it might just simplify disconnecting the caliper to remove the front wheel.

Besides all that, the lower red rebound knob on the Cannondale team’s Lefty prototypes is also a new smoother round shape vs. the existing ridged knob. That doesn’t necessarily confirm any change, but maybe suggests more fine adjustment or greater rebound damping control?

Coming soon?

Does this Cannondale Lefty prototype suggest a new Lefty Nueve XC fork is just around the corner? Cannondale Factory Racing seem to have settled in on the new fork. And these forks look like production finishes, not working development prototypes. We wouldn’t be surprised to see a new Lefty Nueve very soon.

Cannondale.com

The post Yes, That’s A New Lefty Nueve. Cannondale Factory Racing is Racing Prototype MTB Fork. appeared first on Bikerumor.

The last several bikes we’ve covered from Mondraker have been of the electrified version. This year alone, we’ve seen new offerings like the Zendit and Scree, as well as another limited-edition Crafty – all with big power motors.

But while this latest offering from Mondraker doesn’t have a battery or motor, it is nearly as niche as that – and you are gonna want an uplift!

Introducing the Anark, a long-travel aluminum gravity bike built for freeride and bike-parking anarchy!

The Mondraker Anark: alloy and ready for any gravity ride

OK, so let’s take a look at the big-picture details on the Anark. Mondraker uses its Stealth Alloy for both the front and rear triangles on the new freeride bike. While Mondraker says the Anark is ready to tackle uphill “anywhere, anytime,” they also repeatedly call it a ‘gravity’ bike, noting that it definitely shines when pointed down. 

Fully aluminum park/freeride bikes tend to be on the heavy…uh, um, I mean, durable side. The Anark is no exception, with both builds tipping the scales at over 39lbs. But when you’re taking a chairlift or a shuttle to take care of the big climbs, weight doesn’t matter too much.

Freeride Tech Details

Mondraker designed the Anark with 170mm of rear travel paired with a 180mm fork. Those aren’t crazy numbers – totally in line with fast race enduro bikes that you still have to pedal to the top.

They continue to use the classic Mondraker Zero Suspension System, with a bit of a Summun and Zendit kinematic mashup. Progression is at 25%, with anti-squat at 98% and anti-rise just under 100%, both at SAG. 

The Anark is designed around a mixed-wheel 27.5/29 mullet platform. While it does have a high/low flip chip, this is solely to adjust geometry, and doesn’t accommodate the changes of a larger 29” rear wheel. That said, Mondraker does allow a dual-crown fork, but it must remain at the recommended 180mm of travel. Think, the killer Formula Belva Cory likes to ride!

As mentioned, Mondraker does include a flip chip to adjust the Anark’s geometry. Moving the flip chip from “Standard” to “Low” slackens the head tube and seatpost angle, as well as lowering the bottom bracket. 

Adjustable Gravity Geometry

In its “Standard” setting, the Anark will have the geo you’d expect for a long-travel park bike. The HTA sits at 63.5°, and the STA is 77.5°. The reach is 480mm (size M/L), the chainstays are 445mm, and the stack sits tall at 653mm.

Mondraker offers the Anark in five sizes (S-XL), including an M/L size.

2026 Mondraker Anark – Pricing, options & availability

Mondraker offers two complete bike builds and a frame-only option for the Anark.

The $6000 Anark XR build comes with a raw alloy color frame, and features an Ohlins RXF 38 M.3 fork and TTX22 M.2 coil shock. SRAM takes care of the Maven Base brakes and Eagle 90 T-Type drivetrain mechanical drivetrain. e*thirteen’s Grapple Core wheels wrap up the main components of the XR build.

Those interested in the frame-only option will essentially receive the raw alloy Anark XR setup with the Ohlins TTX22 M.2 coil for a frameset price of $3200.

The even more affordable $4600 Anark R build features the same frame but painted black. For suspension, Mondraker went with a RockShox Zeb Base fork and Vivid Coil Select+ rear shock. SRAM DB8 Stealth brakes and an Eagle 70 mechanical drivetrain round out the build, along with a WTB Sportterra wheelset.

Get your now from your local Mondraker dealer, and get out to hit the uplifts!

Mondraker.com

The post Mondraker Introduces Alloy Anark, a Long-Travel Freeride Bike For Simply Shredding appeared first on Bikerumor.

One of the most interesting and confounding things about the rise of radial tire construction in mountain biking is that you can’t actually see it from the outside. The angle of the casing inside a tire makes all the difference in the world – as we’ve come to learn by riding modern radials.

But you simply can’t tell anything is different by looking at the tire – either from the outside or inside. So how do we know that Schwalbe cross-country radials are here?

Let’s leave that up to a few pro mountain bike teams and their diligent mechanics…

Schwalbe Radial versions of Rick & Rocket Ron XC race tires

Let’s start with the first hint.

Schwalbe often likes to label their all-new prototype tires with “First Ride” on the sidewall.

But when they are trying to be a little more sneaky, or just changing up something inside, a little white ‘Tech Notes’ box on the sidewall provides a good spot for team mechanics and tire engineers to keep track of variations that could otherwise be overlooked.

Pretty much every in-development Schwalbe cross-country tire we saw this weekend featured this white box. But only a rare few got a tracking number. Could that mean that they’ve already ironed out the details?

Now, we head to a well-organized team truck.

We’re no snitches, though, so no need to call out who mis-typed Thunderbird for Thunder Burt.

Keeping equipment for a professional XC race team organized certainly isn’t easy, so this team has stackable crates to keep them all straight. Thunder Burt, Rocket Ron, Racing Ray, and just Rick. But what’s especially notable are two of the bottom crates: Rick Radial V3 and Ron Radial with maybe a 6 or 7?

Undeniably, those are two of Schwalbe’s fastest-rolling, lightweight XC tires.

And when we previously asked Schwalbe about whether the same radial construction that has revolutionized their trail & gravity tires, would also work for cross-country, they pretty much dismissed the idea. The radial construction does deliver a lot more grip at the same tire pressures. But that extra grip simply added additional rolling resistance at the same time, making it a no-go for XC where any loss of a rider’s power is a sacrifice a racer isn’t ready to make.

Someone actually raced Radials in Nove Mesto?

While ‘unnamed’ team 1 did have the radials at the World Cup, we couldn’t confirm that any of their athletes actually raced them. Remember, radials look the same on the outside.

But… in a different team paddock, we spotted some revealing bike setup notes. But no hiding here, the name of the current XC World Champion gives this one away – breaking down her different settings for Saturday’s XCC & XCO races. Saturday short-track meant a bigger chainring, stiffer suspension, narrower Thunder Burt tires, and higher tire pressures. But Sunday’s Olympic-distance cross-country race toyed with either Thunder Burt Radials or Rick Radials.

Ultimately, the dry dusty Nové Město conditions determined the choice of 2.5″ Schwalbe Thunder Burt tires, with foam inserts. Jenny’s mechanic Álvaro noted T.B. RED for her final race-day setup, with awesomely low 1.05bar front (15.2psi) & 1.15bar rear (16.7psi) tire pressures!

The question is, does the RED make reference to the Red stripe denoting Schwalbe’s fastest Addix Speed rubber compound? The Thunder Burt only comes in Speed – no blue Mid (previously Speed Grip), orange Soft, or purple Ultra Soft rubber for an XC race tire. And for the most part we only saw red-striped Schwalbes around the pits (but there were a few with no visible color stripe). Plus, all of Álvaro’s other notes primarily mention casing.

In any case, XC World Champ Jenny Rissveds is clearly riding, testing, and maybe racing Schwalbe Radial XC tires. And they are doing pretty well for her. She finished second in the second round of the XCO World Cup, her first time back to the Nové Město track where she won her U23 World Championship stripes a decade ago, then on some unique XC tire tech, too!

The post Spotted: Prototype Schwalbe Radial XC Tires Raced on the Cross-Country World Cup appeared first on Bikerumor.

Orbea also has its own all-new lightweight cross-country race bike in the works. And this prototype we spotted in Nove Mesto over the weekend looks quite familiar, just not like the Orbea Oiz that we know.

Even though it shares the same core single-pivot layout as the current 120mm Oiz, this new OO Lab prototype mountain bike repositions its rear shock, tucked inside the lower half of the toptube for a more integrated, more lightweight look. But what can we tell from our sneak peek?

2026 Orbea Oiz XC bike prototype spotted in Nove Mesto

Unlike Scott-SRAM Racing, who were pretty much openly showing off their new unreleased Spark, the Orbea Factory Team were being a little more coy with their prototype OOLab XC bike.

In fact, the Orbea mechanics had this pretty slick custom wrap to cover up what may be a version of their unreleased Oiz, already finished in the official Orbea Factory Team paint job? That would suggest that even though some of the raw carbon OOLab-labelled prototypes still looked like a ‘work in process’, this painted bike would suggest a launch very soon!

Besides that bike hidden under wraps, we still spotted a couple versions of the new prototype out in the open as it was being set up, worked on, and raced over the weekend. But most of the Orbea riders were still racing on the existing Oiz.

What do we know about the prototype?

The nice bike we got the best look at was being raced this weekend by #69 Simon Andreassen.

The all-new bike design takes Orbea’s in-line shock layout one step further, tucking the rear shock up into the lower half of the top tube. It still has a shortened link to drive a normal shock, but overall, the raw carbon prototype frame appears more slender and visually lighter than the bikes the majority of the Orbea Factory Team were racing at the Czech round of the XC World Cup.

It’s also a frame design that looks very familiar. We’ve seen several bikes align a toptube-mounted rear shock into the actual tube over the years, including the likes of Commencal, MMR, Trek, and… Yeah, this looks a lot like a Specialized Epic World Cup to me.

This Orbea Oiz prototype looks a lot like the current S-Works Epic 9 that launched just last month, but maybe it’s even closer in appearance to the 3-year-old Epic World Cup.

Even down to the way the short linkage attaches from below to the smooth-ended seatstays and the one-sided upper shock mount bolt.

Tech details we can see?

We don’t know how much travel this new bike gets. A short link only gave the Epic WC 75mm and the latest link-less Supercaliber, just 80mm. In an age of more aggressive cross-country racing, we find it hard to imagine Orbea introducing a new XC race bike with any less than 100-120mm of rear wheel travel.

That little silver link does appear to be longer, more in line with the current 120mm Epic 9, so fingers crossed. than the Epi

I’m genuinely really curious to find out more about this machine.

Until then, we’ll have to speculate beyond the simple facts that we do know. That this next-gen Orbea Oiz will keep a threaded bottom bracket, UDH dropouts, fully integrated internal cable routing through the headset, and 2 sets of bottle cage mounts inside the main triangle.

Is a new Orbea Oiz coming soon?

As for when a new Orbea Oiz XC race bike will drop? We don’t know that yet.

Some signs, like that team-painted bike being hidden from view, point to an imminent launch. This dusty unfinished, raw carbon frameset spotted waiting in the Orbea Factory Team paddock at Nove Mesto World Cup could suggest there’s still some time to wait. But it also has what looks like a more-finished black anodized short link, hinting of a more commercially-ready product than the raw machined link that Andreassen appears to still be testing.

I guess we have to be patient.

Oreba.com

The post Prototype OOLab Orbea Oiz XC Bike Raced At Nove Mesto World Cup Looks Pretty Epic! appeared first on Bikerumor.