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EB15: Prototype carbon Stöckli XC World Cup full-suspension XC race bike by Bike Ahead

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We met with chief Stöckli R&D engineer and manager Marco Quinter earlier in the summer to have a look at their new Beryll RSC hardtail that outgoing U23 World Champion Jolanda Neff was racing at the Nové Město World Cup. But then later in the summer as the XC courses started getting more technical, Stöckli brought out a new full-suspension frame prototype to race, co-developed and built in Germany by the composite experts at Bike Ahead. The new bike was developed as a part of their #Trail2Rio program to support their athletes’ quest to represent Switzerland at the 2016 Olympics. Hop past the break for a closer look…

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Only a handful of the bikes were made; six were just enough to support Neff and teammate Mathias Flückiger in their World Cup campaigns. Not all information was available, as the bike design is still in development from the Stöckli side, but Bike Ahead was proud to show it off in their Eurobike booth (as was Stöckli in theirs) to exhibit their wide ranging composite manufacturing capabilities.

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The prototype frame uses very wide box section UD carbon tubing profiles throughout for a light, stiff ride; claimed frame weight is just 1800g without the shock. As pure race bikes for the Shimano-supported team, the bikes are optimized to single ring XTR Di2 drivetrains with internal shift routing. Even the electronically controlled Fox iRD shock gets internal routing, while brake routing stays outside. A small custom carbon/alloy chain guide is neatly integrated with a direct mount just above the main pivot. The shock link also gets wide spacing with large, light aluminum pivot hardware to keep weight down.

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The bike gets a shaped seattube that tapers and curves from round at the top for some comfort, down to a massive width at the bottom bracket where it supports the main pivot and the asymmetric chainstays for max stiffness. The single pivot suspension setup is handled by a rigid, pivotless rear triangle that has seatstays tapered in the middle to allow for flex. The swingarm then drives a custom tuned Fox Float iRD shock by way of a machined aluminum linkage. To finish it off, Bike Ahead was showing the bike with their own carbon spoked wheels that we showed earlier in the week, but the Stöckli team have been racing the bike with more traditional, sponsor-correct XTR wheels and rotors, so it appears to stick with a 12x142mm rear end.

With Switzerland having never won a mountain gold medal at the Olympics, Stöckli is supporting the national team and working to get there with their two young Swiss riders. Feel free to follow along with the #Trail2Rio team (with the help of Google’s robot translation from the original German.)

Stoeckli.ch

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Andrew
Andrew
8 years ago
the_contrarian
8 years ago

@Andrew – my thoughts exactly. Is it a prototype chain stay perhaps?;)

Matt
Matt
8 years ago

Love this for so many reasons!

Singletrackroadie
Singletrackroadie
8 years ago

Great looking bike (and wheels). They would have a winner if you could fit two waterbottles in the frame, rather than one. Very fustrating for marathon riders, if you only have one bottle in the frame. Specialized Epic got that right and other manufacturers should take note.

Steve
8 years ago

@Singletrackroadie – YES! Why is the Epic the only (afaik) FS bike with two proper bottle mounts?

jack
jack
8 years ago

@Andrew – yeah, they’re both single pivot xc carbon frames with the shock mount on the top tube.

Aside from that there is not one tube or junction that is even similar.

the other Andy
the other Andy
8 years ago

I’d say this bike looks most similar to the Yeti ASRc, in terms of suspension set up.

Steve
8 years ago

@dolface – I don’t consider an under-downtube bottle mount to be proper. Two inside the frame is what I want.

Ronny
Ronny
8 years ago

@Steven – SwiftCarbon Evil Twin also allows for two bottles inside the frame triangle.

matt
matt
5 years ago

Also an Oiz.

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