KTM is building a new 150mm travel carbon 29er mountain bike. But while a lot of companies are making similar looking bikes targeted at Enduro racing, KTM wants theirs to be more of an adventuresome full-suspension trail bike. Built for mountain bikers looking to get off the beaten track to climb up and over big mountains, maybe even camp out along the way, the new Prowler was developed as a light all mountain bike capable of extended climbing just as its geometry is waiting to shred the descents. It’s still in the early the bike’s development, but we got a close look at the latest prototype.
Plus KTM has lightened up their Myroon Sonic carbon hardtail once again, introduced a new women-specific carbon Myroon Glory hardtail, and updated a new alloy hardtail range topped by the Ultra Team. Get the details on all the new mountain bikes after the break…
KTM Prowler adventure fully
KTM calls the new Prowler an “Adventure Fully”. To them that means they intended to build more of a classic, but long-travel all-mountain bike, rather than an enduro racer. The 29″ wheeled Prowler will get a performance-level carbon frame with both front & rear triangles from carbon. It shares the Straight Line Link suspension design of KTM’s other full suspension bikes with a chainstay pivot for 150mm of true Horst-link four-bar travel. Paired with suspension lockouts front & rear, a low front end, and a steep seat angle it’s intended to get the Prowler quickly up any major climbing it faces.
The big wheels are meant to go a long way towards all-around trail capability, but so is the frames target weight of just 2200g, putting it not much heavier than many shorter travel bikes.
Then modern slack trail geometry, a stiff headtube, short chainstays, and a dropper post hope to give the bike descending prowess.
The Prowler gets a Boost 148 rear thru-axle, routing for a shock remote & stealth dropper post. The 1x focused frame also has an ISCG mount and includes a light weight adjustable chainguide. It also will feature adaptable sideswing mounting to make it possible to set up a front derailleur if you choose instead. The bike looks slated to come in just two sizes at launch in the fall, a 17″ medium and 19″ large.
So far the bike’s geometry has been developed in prototypes and the carbon frame refined though a series of 3D modeling, physical modeling and then this 3D printed rapid prototype, before the final carbon molds were cut.
The carbon versions aren’t quite ready, but KTM promised to show us more at Eurobike, when we’ll also get real availability info and a bit more concrete detail on the bike. But for now we know that it will get one premium build with a Fox Float Factory DPS EVOL shock with remote lockout, paired to a 150mm Fox 36 Float Factory FIT4 fork with a Boost 15×110 axle. Drivetrain on the complete bike will be a premium SRAM XX1 Eagle 1×12 for wide but light gearing with Magura MT Trail 180mm brakes, and a LEV-DX dropper post.
KTM Myroon Sonic XC race hardtail
On the XC spectrum, the new Myroon Sonic is the lightest mountain bike KTM has ever made, shaving at least 110g off last year’s bike down to just 975g for 2018. On the outside the bike is almost entirely unchanged from last year though, as the improvements are entirely due to new construction methods, some new nano tech inside, and significantly modified carbon layups that enabled KTM to build much more consistent and smooth interior walls of the top carbon race frame.
For now those construction improvements are still limited to just the Myroon Sonic for 2018, but with claimed 20% boost in stiffness, KTM says they’ll be phasing the same new carbon tech into other premium Sonic-level carbon bikes over the next year or so.
KTM Myroon Glory women’s XC hardtail
At the same time that the Myroon family gets a new superlight version, the standard ~1100g carbon Myroon 29er gets a women-specific Glory option as well. It’s the first premium level full carbon mountain bike that KTM has built for women, and mixes the light XC frame with a customized finish & build kit, with three frame sizes to be offered.
The Boost spaced women’s 29er XC hardtail gets a Rockshox Judy silver fork that KTM claims works really well set up for lighter riders, plus a GX Eagle drivetrain for a light & simple setup with a wide gearing range. Overall kit gets a slightly narrower handlebar, small diameter ergo grips, shorter cranks, and a women-specific saddle.
KTM Ultra Team alloy hardtail
Then at more entry level, KTM has revamped their alloy hardtail family topped off by the 29er Ultra Team. The new premium triple-butted aluminum bike gets updated with Boost spacing and thru-axles all around while also bringing frame weight down to just 1200g, making it a huge jump up from the current Ultra.
The updated frame gets a new kinked toptube and dropped seatstays that claim to do what we’ve seen on many of these style frames in carbon & alloy – alloy for improved comfort at the saddle & grip at the rear wheel, while maintaining lateral stiffness. All around the bike gets revised hydroformed tube shaping, plus the move to internal cable routing in the downtube, while still keeping full rack & fender mounts. Available in 29″ and 27.5″ variants at a bunch of different frame spec levels, it seems only the top level Ultra Team 29 gets all of the newest tech.
All of the new bikes are essentially being previewed now, with official timelines for availability, plus pricing anticipates at the start of September.
