Cross-country youngsters: These are the bikes the racers of tomorrow will be riding
Jan Timmermann
· 31.12.2025
In cross-country racing, good, lightweight equipment is crucial to success. Especially when the riders themselves weigh only 40 kilos or a little more. That's why you didn't see much off-the-peg equipment at the 22nd BIKE Cross Country Youth Camp. Instead: high-bred race bikes for budding racers. Some families invest a lot of passion, time and resources in the construction of a competition-ready junior mountain bike. We have taken a closer look at three particularly exciting pieces of sports equipment.
1st KletterMax custom bike from Tom
Tom's father is a passionate mechanic and quickly set up his own label. His son's current bike is a unique custom build. The family spent three months tinkering with the lightweight carbon hardtail. The colour was inspired by the Rockshox SID Ultimate suspension fork. The frame was covered with colour-matching decals. The rest of the body also features visually matching and sometimes exotic parts, which were selected with great attention to detail. With so much customisation, the Shimano shoes naturally also have to harmonise with the look.
Tom rides a carbon one-piece on the cockpit of his cross-country bike to save weight. A lot of work went into the cassette. As it creaked unpleasantly, his father threw out all the connecting rivets, drilled threads in their place and simply screwed the part together again. As Tom is an ambitious racer, the crank not only has lightweight Crankbrothers pedals on it, but also a chainring with an integrated power meter, which is displayed on the bike computer. As the chain didn't want to stay in place at first, a chain guide now secures the drivetrain.
>> The Cube Phenix C:62 Rookie SLX carbon hardtail is also aimed at youth racers. We tested it here.
Tom's father saved the wheels for the custom kids' bike himself and installed aluminium nipples in three different colours for a personalised look. Fast Schwalbe tyres and a dropper post are a must on the bike for cross-country use. The brakes are from China. Tom praises their power. In its lightest configuration, his customised projectile weighs just under 8.5 kilos. At the final race of the BIKE Cross Country Youth Camp, however, it had picked up around a kilo of dirt and we weighed it at 9.5 kilos. Tom has already been using his KletterMax for two years. Next year there will be a new bike - again in customised trim, of course.
2nd VPace Matz Carbon 29 C from Felix
The VPace Matz Carbon 29 C is a popular piece of sports equipment for young cross-country racers. At the BIKE youth camp in the Bavarian Forest, many kids were also out and about on the lightweight hardtail with 29-inch wheels. One of them goes by the name of Felix and rides a particularly exciting customised build. Including pedals, bottle cage, mudguard, start number and the mud from the fun race, his bike weighs 10.4 kilos. The gears are shifted electronically via Sram GX Eagle AXS. Deceleration is provided by high-quality Shimano XTR Race brakes.
Felix also defuses cross-country trails with a Rockshox SID Ultimate suspension fork. According to him, the high-end fork works perfectly for his body weight of around 42 kilos. For the youth camp, the twelve-year-old had mounted his second wheelset, a Roval Carbon with Continental Crossking tyres. According to Felix, these have great grip even in the wet. When asked why he thinks his own bike is better than the others, the young racer answers in professional style: "It's lighter and easier to control than other bikes."
An electronic dropper post from the gravel sector is used as the seatpost on the children's mountain bike. The Rockshox Reverb XPLR with an adjustment range of 75 millimetres is absolutely sufficient for Felix, who is 160 centimetres tall. He retrieves his riding data on a Garmin computer. Just like the other participants in the BIKE Cross Country Youth Camp, he can regularly be found at various XC races with his VPace.
3rd Cannondale Scalpel from Hugo Fumic
Also taking part in the BIKE Cross Country Youth Camp in Sankt Englmar: offspring from a prominent MTB family. Thirteen-year-old Hugo Fumic emulates his father Manuel and is an enthusiastic XC racer. Dad Fumic is one of the most successful mountain bikers in this country, was a multiple German champion, World Cup rider and even U23 world champion. Even after the end of his professional career, he is still professionally connected to the Cannondale brand, so it is no surprise that his son Hugo is at the start line on an optimised Scalpel Carbon.
The young racer from the U15 category has already been riding the fast fully with 120 millimetres of suspension travel at the front and rear for almost a year. During this time, the bike has seen race participations in the German Championships and the Abgold Cup, among others. Hugo copes well with the medium frame size and explains: "The bike performs really well on the cross-country course. Downhill, it actually rides like a trail bike."
The Shimano XTR brakes on Hugo's bike also match the suspension expertise of the Cannondale Scalpel. For more deceleration power, he runs four pistons at the front and four at the rear. Lightweight carbon wheels from FSA get going quickly. They are fitted with Schwalbe tyres, whose Speed Grip rubber compound should provide a good compromise between grip and propulsion. On trail descents, a Fox Transfer dropper post gets the saddle out of the way. The bike weighs just under 10.6 kilos when ready to ride and loaded with mud.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
