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Sporty touring riders are currently facing a problem when looking for equipment: classic trail bikes with 120 to 140 millimetres of suspension travel are increasingly suffering from excess weight. More and more manufacturers are turning these all-rounders, once designed for versatility, into mini enduro bikes with thick tyres and robust components. This cancels out the multi-talented idea. 13.45 kilos is what the Trail bikes around 4500 eurosthat we tested in our April issue. A few years ago, even enduro bikes with up to 160 millimetres of travel and bike park approval were still under the 13-kilo mark. Carefree touring fun, large action radii or fast home laps are obviously no longer part of the requirement profile of trail bikes, which are becoming increasingly downhill-orientated.
For all their enthusiasm for the adrenaline rush, have the developers forgotten that there is still the sporty touring rider? Will kilometre-hungry riders soon have to torture themselves over the Alps with the heavy playmates of downhill-focused shuttle fans? Fortunately not. Because many manufacturers have recognised the gap in the market and are making a virtue out of necessity. Instead of developing stand-alone models, they use worn-out racefully frames as a basis in the battle against the kilos. With 120 instead of 100 millimetres of suspension travel, grippy tyres and retractable seat posts, the lightweight racing bikes mutate into bikes suitable for touring. Six of these Sport-Toureralso Down-country bikes take part in this test:
- BH Lynx Race Evo Carbon 9.5
- Cannondale Scalpel Carbon SE 1
- Cube AMS 100 C:68 TM
- Müsing Petrol 2c 5.5
- Rose Thrill Hill 3
- Scott Spark 910
Analysing the laboratory values alone gives us confidence: the average total weight of our test group of just 11.8 kilos (without pedals) shows that the manufacturer's calculations work out and that the bikes are significantly lighter thanks to their racefully based design. With a ready-to-ride weight of 11.5 kilos, the Müsing rolls to the top of the test field by some distance. The Cannondale weighs almost 300 grams more, closely followed by the BH, Rose and Cube. None of them can hide their race genes when it comes to propulsion. And that's a good thing!
You can read how the six lightweight trail bikes fared in practice in the test from BIKE 7/2021, which you can conveniently download as a PDF below the article. The test report of the bikes costs 1.99 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 charge for them, but the opposite is the case: we do charge for them - tens of thousands of euros every year.
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Max Fuchs
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