Yorkshire handmade mountain bike builder Carbon Wasp once again updates their most-popular Truffle 120 XC-to-trail bike with all-new materials. In a move to try to make their frame building more environmentally sustainable, Carbon Wasp is introducing recycled carbon to their layup mix. Plus, by switching to a machined alloy rocker link, they’ve simplified manufacturing. And at the same time, added a new machined alloy lower shock which enables further geometry & suspension customization within their otherwise stock frame molds.
2026 Carbon Wasp Truffle mountain bike gets recycled carbon
Carbon Wasp explains that the move to adding recycled content is still in its early days. For now, the total carbon make-up is just 10%. But it’s a first step, as they seek to make their mountain bike frame building more sustainable, even looking into more ecological bio resins, too.
Using recycled carbon typically means much shorter fibers, random orientation, and significantly lower total strength. But Carbon Wasp is working with a local UK company named Lineat that developed a technique to align those shorter chopped fibers into pre-preg UD tape that retains 80% of the strength of continuous fibers. For now, the recycled fibers come mostly from pre-consumer dry industrial scraps. But Carbon Wasp hopes to expand to even post-consumer, end-of-life carbon as their manufacturing evolves, and once more high-quality material becomes consistently available.
The new recycled carbon is used throughout the Truffle 120’s layup. And overall frame weight, strength & stiffness remain unchanged. Then, to top it all off, Carbon Wasp also uses it for the new outermost layer of the bike, replacing their conventional 2×2 twill weave with a more modern look, also highlighting the newly recycled content.
New alloy links and mounts, too
Beyond composites, Carbon Wasp described their switch to alloy rocker plates as improving ‘ease of manufacture’. But while it simplified bearing installation and ensured higher overall long-term quality, it also opened the door for more customization. First off, the new machined rocker plates are the same weight as the previous carbon ones.
But they also opened Carbon Wasp up to replacing their previous carbon lower shock mount with alloy as well. This effectively means that it will be much easier (and quicker) for them to CNC-machine custom links that would allow them to tweak the Truffle’s geometry (or even travel) to suit an individual buyer’s needs.
What all stayed the same?
Other than a few material upgrades, the rest of the 120mm travel Truffle 29er remains unchanged. The same do-it-all and trail-ready progressive geometry. The same customization potential. Same straight-out-of-the-mold finishes wrapped with a splash of color. And all still made in Carbon Wasp’s Leeds, England workshop.
Tech details
- 120mm single-pivot, flex-stay cross-country to light trail mountain bike
- full carbon mainframe & rear triangle, now made with recycled carbon in the UK
- CNC-machined alloy rocker link
- new CNC-machined lower shock mount allows extra geometry customization
- 29 x 2.6″ tire clearance
- fully guided internal cable routing (entering through sides of the downtube)
- internal frame storage with “room for at least 6 pork pies” (can be omitted)
- ZS56/44mm tapered headset (can be customized to ZS 56/56 for angle-adjust headset)
- BSA threaded bottom bracket
- ISCG tabs
- UDH with Boost 148 spacing
- 4 stock frame sizes available (S-XL)
- 6 options for chainstay length to tune the ride (435-460mm, in 5mm increments)
2026 Carbon Wasp Truffle – Pricing, options & availability
The updated Truffle 120 is now available, starting at £2700 / 3286€ for frame-only or £3050 / 3712€ including a Cane Creek DB IL Air shock.
Carbon Wasp hasn’t painted the Truffle for several years now. Instead, the frames get a single-color vinyl wrap that covers most of the frame tubes, protects high-wear areas, and still shows off the straight-out-of-the-mold carbon. This bright ‘Wasp Yellow’ is their default frame color, but any other single-color of your preference is included in the frame’s price. They also offer custom patterned wrap finishes as an add-on, too.
Carbon Wasp is a small UK-based company and builds each bike for the individual buyer. They mostly sell frames only, not complete bikes. But can put together a partial or complete bike build if you prefer. Frames ship on average about 3 weeks after ordering!
