"It's the aluminium version of a classic race bike." The concept of the Supercaliber could not be described more aptly than in our test from BIKE 2/20. With just 60 millimetres of rear travel, the bike aims to bridge the gap between hardtails and race fullys. It's clear that Henri Lesewitz - a fan of fast bikes for long distances - was enthusiastic about it. However, just because the bike is successful in the World Cup alongside Jolanda Neff and with first-class mechanic support does not mean that it will also prove to be first-class in everyday use for bikers who tend to be lazy about maintenance.
First test: the legendary hardcore winter race Strathpuffer24 in the Scottish Highlands. The weather conditions, ranging from frost to constant rain, and the 24-hour race gave the Supercalibre a good dose of mud and fine-grained sand. The Scottish soil crept into the smallest cracks and caused the lockout mechanism of the Fox fork to freeze. Only after thorough cleaning and a WD-40 shower would the fork work again. However, good technical knowledge was required for the operation. During maintenance, we were somewhat surprised to discover that Trek does not use sealed end caps for the shifting cables, even on the top-of-the-range model. A no-go in this price range. We changed them. Over the course of the winter, we continued on salted tracks and then, with the arrival of spring, more and more on trails and marathon laps.
You can find the detailed endurance test of the Trek Supercaliber 9.9 XX1 from BIKE 11/2020 as a PDF in the download area below.
The test costs 0.99 euros. Why not free of charge? Because quality journalism has a price. In return, we guarantee independence and objectivity. This applies in particular to the tests in BIKE. We don't pay for them, but the opposite is the case: we charge for them, hundreds of thousands of euros every year.
