A new Slye 29er heads out the 2020 MTB line-up from Bionicon, with trail & enduro builds possible. Their affordable gravel bike gets renamed Bogan, just before it is set to be available. The unique German bike maker is moving away a bit from their on-the-fly adjustable geometry concept with a number of more broadly appealing new bikes for 2020. Beyond trail & gravel, there’s an affordable hardtail, plus an enduro e-bike and an e-hardtail – the Wyatt & Earp – both ready to chew up some trail…
2020 Bionicon Slye 29er alloy trail or enduro bike
Bionicon’s new top-spec full suspension bike is something of a shapeshifter like the older Edison & EVO bikes with pneumatically actuated suspension. But now the new Slye 29er changes character with different suspension builds. Pick the Trail setup and you get a 140mm travel fork, paired to 130mm out back. Or opt for enduro and a longer stroke/shorter overall rear shock delivers 155mm of rear wheel travel to be matched with 160mm forks.
Both builds share the same mainframe, but the enduro bike gets a longer linkage. The trail setup uses a 210mm long x 55mm stroke rear shock to sit the rear end a bit higher for 130mm of travel. And the enduro setup uses a slightly shorter 205mm shock with 65mm stroke, for a slightly lower bottom bracket height, even slacker angles and of course that 155mm of rear wheel travel.
The aluminum Slye 29er is built to shred trails in either configuration with a low slung Horst-link four-bar suspension design and widely spaced sealed bearing pivots. The trail setup gets a 65.5° head angle & 76° effective seat angle, with the headtube slackening out to 64.5° with the enduro shock & rocker. Pricing hasn’t been set, but an SLX, XT & X01 Eagle builds should offer a wide range of pricing options in either travel length.
2020 Bionicon Cody 1 alloy trail hardtail
Adding to the new fullies is a new alloy 29er trail hardtail, too. Built with 120mm forks and a reasonably slack 66° headtube, it is meant to be a playful bike without going too extreme.
The Cody has a 2200€ SRAM SX Eagle build, or an 1800€ SLX 1×12 option, both with dropper posts, internal routing, and threaded bottom brackets.
2020 Bionicon Bogan affordable alloy all-road gravel bike
Bionicon’s aluminum all-road/gravel bike is back with a new name, the Bogan (not to be confused with the steel bikepacking 29er from Rondo of the same name). Just like when it was first teased a couple years ago as a fast, affordable & versatile mixed-surface bike for Bionicon, the new Bogan is less about a fat tire adventure bike, and more a mountain biker’s road bike.
This latest iteration of the German bike makers gravel bike again focuses on faster riding rather than heading deeper off-road. The new alloy frame gets internal routing, including for a dropper seatpost option or 2x drivetrains, plus a lighter flat set of seatstays for more rider comfort.
The Bogan sticks with basic bottle braze-ons inside the main triangle only, but does add bosses for full coverage fenders at both ends and rear rack mounts. The bike features flat mount disc brakes, 12mm thru-axles, a 27.2 post & a threaded BB.
Again, think quick moving on smaller volume gravel tires, clearance looks to top out for a max of 700x42mm tires.
Geometry is in the all-rounder category, with a 71° headtube, 73.5° seat angle, and 422mm chainstays.
Affordable gravel is the goal for the 2020 Bionicon Bogan family. The Bogan 1 GRX with a Shimano GRX 2×11 sells for just 2200€, or for the same price you can get an Apex 1 build. At just 1800€ the Bogan 2 features a 2×10 groupset and the option for a raw aluminum finish.
2020 Bionicon Wyatt e-enduro eMTB
On the e-bike front, the new Wyatt is a 150mm rear /160mm front travel e-enduro mullet e-bike. A big 29x 2.6″ front wheel rolls over anything and the 27.5×2.8″ monster rear lays down the power. The alloy enduro e-bikes are powered by fourth generation Bosch Performance CX motors with 625Wh internal batteries. Three complete build options start at 4600€ and climb to 6300€.
2020 Bionicon Earp e-hardtail trail eMTB
The same happens in e-trail hardtail world with the companion Earp. This eMTB is a bit more tame with 29″ wheels at both ends and just 120mm fork travel. But the motor & battery are the same, so this lighter e-bike will get you even further. Prices start at 3000€ for the Earp with a Deore 9sp and a smaller 500Wh battery, and climb to 4000€ with the big battery and an XT 1×11.
All the new full suspension bikes will hit bike shops late next spring (until May 2020), while the gravel & hardtail versions will be ready from March 2020.
