No, the ageing of society has nothing to do with it this time. It is not the porous discs of aged development engineers that are responsible for these innovations, but rather racing itself. Both BMC and Trek focussed on the idea of making the work of professional racers easier. World Cup courses are getting tougher and tougher - but fullys are too heavy for many athletes. So they came up with the softtail. The two companies' approaches differ. While BMC is converting the Teamelite into a softtail - the idea of a damping element in the seat stays has been around since the nineties - Trek is transferring the technology of its Domane comfort road racer to the Procaliber. The technology is called Iso-Speed at Trek and Micro Travel Technology (MTT) at BMC. Both frames are heavy compared to unsprung hardtails, but from the point of view of professional racers, they are still light because they can save the extra weight of a full-suspension bike. The BMC frame weighs 1272 grams, the slightly larger Trek frame 1350 grams.
With their different equipment levels, a tough test duel would not be fair according to our points system. Trek could only supply the entry-level model 9.7 SL for € 2999, while the BMC is listed at € 4399. So this is not a comparison of the model variants, but rather an assessment of both softtail solutions. Neither the one nor the other system has pivot points, linkages and a characteristic curve as you would expect from a fully. The "suspensions" cannot do more than buffer load peaks. So you shouldn't expect too much when you set off on a test ride. We put both bikes through their paces at the Craft BIKE Transalp at the end of July, which is actually ideal terrain for this softtail idea. The biggest finding first: the riding comfort of the frame blends with that of the tyres. You notice vibrations, but no precisely defined deflection.
While the Trek is at the level of comfort-optimised carbon frames with a slim seatpost according to our comfort measurement, the BMC is superior to all hardtails measured so far. With 13.5 millimetres of flex, it offers significantly more comfort and a certain amount of travel at the rear on descents, which - attention: subjunctive mood - could possibly protect you from a tyre puncture. However, the elastomer compresses a little under chain tension, an undesirable effect that wastes energy. We put the BMC through its paces on our characteristic curve test bench and, as expected, the characteristic curve roars steeply upwards in a linear fashion, with the test bench measuring 17 millimetres of travel. The Trek becomes an ejector seat if you spot larger obstacles too late and don't get out of the saddle. Then the seat tube flexes and snaps back again. On gravel sections, however, the Procaliber feels more comfortable than an unsprung hardtail, even if it loses potential due to the 31.6 millimetre thick seat post. For comparison: The top hardtail F:Si from Cannondale with optimised carbon layup and 27.2 mm seatpost achieves a comfort value of 8.9 millimetres, the Trek is at 7.7 millimetres. Sounds as if the effort doesn't justify the benefit.
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