Just last spring Bike Ahead launched their surprisingly affordable, EU-made carbon mountain bike frame, and now they’re back building up The Frame HT into superlight 8kg production hardtails. While wildly light premium bike builds are most often left to the dedicated weight weenie with time on their hands and money to burn, Bike Ahead is making it easier to get a killer lightweight mountain bike.
The new The Frame HT builds aren’t exactly affordable, but in a world where you can easily spend $5000-15,000€ on a stock carbon XC bike from the likes of Specialized or Trek, maybe a 5000-8500€ hardtail made in Germany isn’t so far-fetched!
Bike Ahead The Frame HT complete hardtail mountain bikes
Bike Ahead says their new 8kg Bike Ahead The Frame HT complete hardtails are basically the lightest production mountain bikes that you can buy. The only thing they say trumps the new bike is the 7.84kg Stoll R1, which not coincidentally Bike Ahead actually manufactures the frames for Stoll and outfits them with plenty of Bike Ahead Composites components.
8 kilograms for an off-the-shelf production mountain bike is crazy light. This is the type of bike that will change how you ride off-road, glancing off rocks & rocketing up climbs like you never have. In fact, 8 kilograms is still just one of Bike Ahead’s lighter complete bikes, still with a 120mm fork for Trail riding.
But with plenty of options & upgrades available, you can easily shed more weight if your wallet allows. They claim the lightest complete build weighs 7.85kg with the options outlined below.
Where did it come from?
The Frame itself was several years in development, as Bike Ahead collaborated with Carbon Team to bring premium carbon bike manufacturing back to Europe, since just before the pandemic. Bike Ahead debuted The Frame last March – weighing under 800g and selling for less than 2000€, a pretty impressive combo for a bike made entirely between Portugal & Germany.
Now, building that EU-made frame up into customizable complete bike builds dripping with more German-made carbon components, this is a simple way to get what Bike Ahead describe as “the ultimate hardtail for racers and purists.”
“We at Bike Ahead are big fans of hardtails. They are light, uncomplicated and offer a huge range of uses, from everyday rides and Alpine crossings to marathon races. With THE FRAME HT, we offer the ultimate complete package.”
– Christian Gemperlein, Bike Ahead Composites founder & CEO
Tech details
- One of the lightest production race bikes in the world, 8.00kg in size M with 120mm fork (claim)
- as low as 7.85kg in the lightest configuration with 100mm fork & BiTurbo wheels
- one-piece monocoque carbon The Frame made entirely in the European Union
- frame manufactured in Portugal by Carbon Team, finished by Bike Ahead Composites in Germany
- no-paint, matte UD carbon finish with simple decal graphics
- 795g carbon frame weight (size M, claim)
- rated ASTM Category 3 for Cross-country & Downcountry riding
- max 29 x 2.4” tire clearance
- unguided internal cable routing in the side of the headtube
- 34.9mm seatpost and Intend Corona external seatpost clamp
- 12x148mm Boost spacing & 180mm post mount brake
- BB92 bottom bracket
- UDH universal derailleur hanger
- 105kg max rider weight
- 120mm max fork travel
- 4 sizes available (S-XL)
- customizable complete Race or Trail bike builds
2025 Bike Ahead The Frame HT – Pricing & Options
Bike Ahead offers the new The Frame HT complete bike in two semi-customizable builds – Trail or Race – depending on your budget and extremity of your weight weenie tendencies. And of course, you can still buy the 1979€ frame-only if you have other ideas for your own weight-weenie build.
The Frame HT GX AXS is the trail allrounder, starting at 5000€ with a 120mm Fox 34 SC Performance fork, SRAM GX AXS transmission, Shimano XT brakes, Bike Ahead carbon The Flatbar & The Straight seatpost, and an alloy DT Swiss XM1700 wheelset with 2.4″ Schwalbe Racing Ralph tires, at 9.2kg complete. For a bit higher budget, you can upgrade to a BikeYoke Divine SL (+80€) dropper, an ultralight Bike Ahead saddle (+300€), conventional lightweight carbon Three Zero XC (+1500€) wheels, or ultralight 6-spoke monocoque carbon BiTurbo RSX (+3000€) wheels.
But the absolute lightest stock build is the Bike Ahead The Frame HT- XX SL AXS Race setup. Starting at 8500€ you get a superlight reverse arch 100mm Fox 32 SC Factory fork, the top-tier SRAM XX SL wireless transmission build, XTR brakes, 1-piece carbon Bike Ahead The Unit ICR handlebar/stem combo & The Straight seatpost, and light carbon Three Zero XC wheels wrapped in 2.25″ Racing Ralphs at <8.00kg complete. There are plenty of optional upgrades here too. You can bump travel up to 120mm with a 34 SC Factory (+150€) fork, get a BikeYoke Divine SL (+80€) dropper post, or shave more grams with a Bike Ahead The Hypersaddle (+300€) or their wild ultralight 6-spoke monocoque carbon BiTurbo RSX (+1500€) wheels.
Availability?
The new The Frame HT complete bike builds are available to customize your order now through a local Bike Ahead dealer bike shop, with deliveries starting in February 2025, now just a couple months away.
