Out of the German design lab and minds that bring us Syntace components, their in-house bike brand Liteville is developing an all new revamp to their 901 DH bike. Once again spotting a raw aluminum bike was a cue to look a bit further and see what is in the works. We caught up with pro rider Jasper Jauch at the Leogang World Cup to get the details on his Liteville 901 prototype.
This test bike brings back the 901 model, which isn’t technically in the current line (although it is listed through Syntace or some international distributors), where the slightly shorter travel 190mm travel 601 currently tops out the line-up. The new bike brings the travel back to 200mm and jumps to 650b wheels. Read on for more info and some close up pics….
Jauch was happy to show us his prototype and talk about what has changed since the previous 901 (and a bit the 601.) The new DH bike goes with current trends for a 2cm longer toptube and a slightly slacker head angle. While 2cm can be easily made up on Enduro bikes with the switch to short stems, we were a bit curious on the DH platform where stems were already short. Jauch seemed to enjoy the more stable, longer bike, and if reach is an issue you can always go down a size and get a lower center of gravity and lighter frame. Speaking of weight, Liteville uses butted alloy tubing throughout to keep it down to a very competitive 15.9kg (35lb) for this complete aluminum bike.
Jauch also was one of a few riders we spoke with testing out in-development rubber compounds from Schwalbe. He had some pro-only Magic Marys from Schwalbe’s First Ride program (setup with ProCore.) This different compound isn’t necessarily destined to make it to consumers any time soon, but the current triple compound TrailStar and VertStar Magic Mary offerings are already five years old, so who knows?
The new frame design shifts material a bit lower, curves the seatube for more clearance, and gets a slightly more sloping toptube for a lower center of gravity. It also drops front derailleur compatibility in the process with the move to 1x options. The suspension layout also gets adjusted for a higher compression ratio shock. And Liteville adds a small seatstay strut for an improvement of rear end stiffness. Adjustable shock positioning carries over with Liteville’s toothed upper shock mount, which allows for course-specific changes of bottom bracket height and head/seattube angles without affecting travel. Jauch had the bike set up near the slacker end of things for the Leogang course.
Not surprisingly, the bike sticks with Syntace’s in-house X-12 thru-axle. It also gets hardware for adjusting the length of the chainstays, which likely wouldn’t have too much of an impact on geometry or suspension. Jauch also didn’t have much to say about it, so perhaps they are just dialing in the ideal chainstay length for the new bike.
From a pro setup perspective, Jauch’s bike had a SRAM X01 DH 7speed drivetrain with aluminum e*thirteen LG1R cranks, Shimano DX pedals, and a Racelite version of Magura’s MT7 brakes. Cockpit is all Syntace, with a carbon bar and seatpost and the new direct mount stem, plus a nice bell for clearing out the slower traffic on course. Jauch races on the W35 wheels, a happy medium size between Syntace’s 25-40mm MTB offerings.
