The carbon XC hardtail continues a renaissance with the move to more aggressive trail geometry. And Bergamont is the latest to update their 29er XC race bike, the Revox Carbon with longer, more slack geometry and a 100mm travel fork that together make the bike as fun on the trails as it is fast on the race course. At the same time the all new 130mm travel faux-bar aluminum Contrail trail bike is ready to hit some more technical all-mountain epic rides. It even gets some unique features to make it convertible to 27.5+ without altering its geometry & ride.
Revox Carbon cross country 29er hardtail race mountain bike
Once constrained to smooth cross-country race tracks, the new Revox Carbon is the latest carbon race hardtail to take on more technical courses and singletrack. The 4th generation of the 29″ wheeled XC race bike starts to lean more towards marathon racing and more technical cross-country courses. The Revox Carbon’s 70.5° headtube still isn’t especially slack. But with stretched out reach & shorter stems and the new short 431mm chainstays, Bergamont says it makes a more confident descender while maintaining a fast, racy ride.
The Revox Carbon doesn’t opt for thin stays, but instead uses the tuned carbon layup to balance stiffness & compliance into the hardtail’s rear end. While some race bikes have gone 1x only, the Revox Carbon uses a low direct front derailleur mount and internal routing for Sideswing derailleurs. It also includes a direct mount rear derailleur option for Shimano drivetrains at the Boost 12x148mm thru-axle.
The Revox tucks the post mount rear brake over the axle, above the chainstay and behind the seatstay. In a cool little feature tucked onto the back of the seattube of these bikes, Bergamont has included a detailed label with key bike data & geometry figures. They aren’t unique in printing tech details on the frame, but this location is nice & unobtrusive (although who knows how long it will survive being beaten by spray of the rear tire.)
The Revox Carbon is available in four complete bikes with two different carbon layups. The top-level, black 4800€ Revox Team goes all in with a SRAM XX1 Eagle drivetrain and Level TL brakes, paired to a RockShox SID RL fork and house brand tubeless wheels for a 9.6kg complete weight. At 3600€ this gray Revox Ultra drops back to a GX Eagle, but only adds about 100g.
These two share the same frame, with hi-mod carbon (Bergamont calls it ultra lite High Strength Carbon) and get Di2 ready modular internal routing.
The light blue 2700€ Revox Elite uses the next grade of carbon, dubbed super lite Smart Carbon Mix. The Elite gets a complete XT double groupset and a Fox 32 Float Performance fork drivetrain for a weight of 11kg. At 2000€ this yellow Revox Pro is the lowest cost of entry into the new carbon frame, paired with a GX Eagle 12 speed setup and the same 11kg claimed weight.
Contrail 130mm aluminum 29er trail mountain bike
The new aluminum Contrail fills the gap between Bergamont’s carbon full-suspension XC 2934 and their carbon 27.5″ enduro bike. That sweet spot gets the new affordable aluminum 29″ Contrail.
With 130mm of travel at both ends, the new bike uses a high single-pivot faux-bar design with a rocker driven air shock. That should give the bike a plush ride to roll over all sorts of terrain.
Then, to make the bike more versatile, Bergamont designed it to accommodate 27.5+ tires for those looking for more low pressure grip. To maintain the same all-mountain geometry with either wheel size, the Contrail includes a flip chip at the lower shock mount and an extended lower headset cup for use with the smaller wheels.
The Boost spaced bike gets modular routing, including for both a low direct mount Sideswing front derailleur and a stealth dropper seatpost.
The top-spec slate blue Contrail 9.0 retails for 3200€ with a GX Eagle drivetrain, a Manitou Jack dropper post, and 13.5kg weight. The yellow Contrail 7.0 sells for 2300€ with an NX 1×11 setup and a house brand dropper at 13.8kg. The gray Contrail 5.0 at 1900€ goes for a Deore 2×10 and omits the dropper post at a claimed 14.0kg.
