We had a look earlier in the week at the all new disc-brake Crossfire cyclocross bike that we test rode from Centurion in its Team guise, but they had plenty of other interesting things inside at Eurobike as well, including their Ultegra version of the carbon cross bike and some updates to the aluminum crossers. Centurion also has had a pretty good road disc brake line-up for a couple of years, and made some small updates to their top-end Gigadrive Disc carbon frameset for 2016. And while we covered the introduction of their two new hardtail and enduro mountain bikes back in July, now we have some new information to share.
Jump past the break for the details, including pricing and claimed weights for the new bikes…
The Centurion Gigadrive Disc is a road bike with race geometry, built on a 1050g carbon frame platform. The bikes get spec’d with 25mm tires but with the brakes out of the way can easily clear 28s. This new red version of the Gigadrive Disc 4000 has a claimed weight of 8.1kg (17.86lbs) and retails for 3500€ with an Ultegra compact groupset with hydraulic 685 brakes.
The Crossfire Carbon 4000 is the more affordable Ultegra double that we mentioned in our test of the Team bike. It gets DT Swiss’ new aluminum R23 clinchers (which are tubeless-ready) and new Schwalbe X-One cross tires (which are Tubeless Easy) to keep the price down to 3400€, and still comes in at just 8.4kg (18.52lbs). On the aluminum-framed side of things, that green standard Crossfire 3000 is their updated middle-of-the-line disc-brake cross bike that uses the new 105 hydraulic group to eek out a lot of performance while keeping costs low. The 3000 is a good example of this multi-purpose bike (that also comes in a 2000 version with fenders and a rack) and gets spec’ed with the micro-knob gravel G-One version of the new Schwalbe tires and still weighs just 9.8kg (21.61lbs), dropping down to 1750€.
We showed the Trailbanger 2000.27 back in July, which is slated to weigh 13.7kg (30.2lbs) and sell for 4000€. We had a chance to ride it down some familiar enduro trails and really had fun with the feel of the Boost-equipped bike with a generous 165mm of travel out back. At Eurobike Centurion was now showing off the Trailbanger in a Team.27 version that drops a half a kilo down to 13.2kg (29.1lbs). The Team model swaps in a Factory-level Fox 36 fork, a carbon wheelset, and an XX1 drivetrain to drop a few grams, but it comes at a cost; it sells for a lot more at 6800€.
We also had a look at the new Backfire carbon hardtail back in the summer. The new bike in its Team.29 version is slated to come in at just 8.5kg (18.74lbs) with an unusual mix of XX1 drivetrain kit (with an X01 cassette) and XTR brakes for 6300€ (the same price and 200g less for a 27.5″ Team version.) The next step down 3000 model gets a full XT spec and comes out to 9.8kg for a more affordable (but not cheap) 3800€. The 920g frame alone will retail for 1500€. The Backfires will be available in both 29″ or 27.5″ variants across a wide carbon and aluminum range, although most of the race builds will be 29ers, and the 27.5″ bikes will have a more trail-riding setup.
The Team brake choice may seem like an odd one, but most riders will appreciate the better braking of the XTRs with 180/160mm Freeza rotors on the super light aluminum Fulcrum Red Passion wheelset, introduced late last fall. Another interesting note on the Team model, to perform at the true race level the bike will come with both 32T and 30T XX1 chainrings to optimize gearing depending on the course, when paired with the 10-42 cassette.
