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New Trek Supercaliber Tops Off Travel, Drops Off 250g

yolanda neff riding new trek supercaliber mountain bike
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The original Trek Supercaliber was an extremely fast bike, using a unique IsoStrut shock to deliver an effective but short 60mm of rear travel paired with 100mm forks. Four years ago, that seemed like… enough. Now, courses continue to get more aggressive (have you seen the UCI MTB World Championships course? Seriously, look at it.), and the bike had to adapt.

trek supercaliber short travel XC race mountain bike

The 2nd generation Trek Supercaliber looks very similar, in some very good ways, but rear travel stretches to 80mm and forks to 110mm with either the new Rockshox SID SL or Fox 34 SC forks. Geometry is updated to match, and it now has two levels of carbon fiber across the models.

closeup details of trek supercaliber short travel XC race mountain bike

Starting with the frames, both share the same OCLV laminate schedule, but different materials and layups. The top-level SLR saves about 200-250g by eliminating internal cable tunnels in the front triangle, though it does use foam sleeves to keep any brake or shift lines from rattling around. It also uses more higher modulus fibers and gets away with fewer plies, so less material overall, putting it around 1,800-1,830g.

closeup details of trek supercaliber short travel XC race mountain bike

The SL gets those tunnels and channels to make routing and installation easier and uses more lower modulus fibers for a claimed weight around 2,030g, about the same as the prior model. Regardless of how you feel about losing or keeping internal sleeves, note that the bike sticks with standard internal routing ports at the head tube…no integrated stealth headset here, so there’s that.

Both models share the same rear triangle. Spec-wise, the SLR (9.8, 9.9) models get Bontrager’s one-piece carbon bar/stem and carbon wheels, which are some of the lightest on the market BTW. The SL (9.6, 9.7) models get alloy cockpits and wheels.

closeup details of trek supercaliber isostrut rear shock

The shock is an all-new Rockshox SID Luxe IsoStrut model with 40mm stroke, up from the prior Fox IsoStrut model’s 32.5mm stroke. Eye-to-eye length only changed by 5mm. It also has a nearly flat 2:1 leverage ratio, versus the original’s that ramped from about 1.63:1 to 1.78:1, and higher anti-squat to keep it efficient under hard pedaling.

trek supercaliber short travel XC race mountain bike

The head angle gets 1.5º slacker at 67.5º, and reach grows 10mm (ETT by 8mm). The BB sits 7mm higher to make room for the extra travel, and chainstay and wheelbase grow slightly for more stability. Seat angle gets 0.5º steeper.

trek supercaliber SLR 99 XTR
The Trek Supercaliber SLR comes in Shimano XTR trim, and…

The flex seatstays remain, eliminating any pivot near the rear axle, making it a single-pivot design that slides the sleeve over the shock to activate it. A floating rear brake mount keeps braking forces on the chainstay so they don’t affect the flex or suspension.

trek supercaliber SLR 99 XX AXS
…SRAM XX AXS Transmission models, with both drivetrains offered throughout the price range.

Note that claimed weight, just 20.5lb (20.8lb according to another spreadsheet they sent with the launch materials) for the top model. With hardware and IsoStrut shock, the claimed SLR frame weight is 1950g, add 200-250g for the SL version. Complete bikes range from 20.8lb (9.45kg) to 28.9lb (13.1kg), and prices from $4,199 to $11,699.

TrekBikes.com

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12 Comments
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Kyle
Kyle
1 year ago

Trek with the weird curvy design and bad paint jobs. It’s like they’re taking bad design cues from the new Pinarello bikes.

Esteban Scrullio
Esteban Scrullio
1 year ago
Reply to  Kyle

don’t see anything weird or curvy, but c’est la vie

Gav
Gav
1 year ago

What’s the science on the floating brake mount? Sounds like, er, magic?

Chader
Chader
1 year ago
Reply to  Gav

This mount is a psuedo-Active Braking Pivot in a way, that is their signature full suspension feature on all their other full suss bikes. It decouples the braking from the suspension motion to reduce (or hopefully eliminate) brake jack.

I’ve seen this same approach employed by other bike makers, so it seems like at least there is some agreement on it being a good feature, even if it is not a full pivot isolation like ABP or FSR.

JNH
JNH
1 year ago
Reply to  Gav

In this case it’s pure marketing. The ‘floating’ brake mount is attached to the chainstay at one end and the rear axle at the other. Since it’s fixed to the chainstays it in no way decouples the brake caliper from the swingarm.
.
If it was a proper floating mount it would attach to the seat tube and rotate freely around the rear axle, which would reduce the stiffening effect on the suspension of braking. My guess for this design is that it makes the mould for the swingarm simpler, one mounting hole for a bolt in brake mount is easier to mould than the full brake mount.

john dote
john dote
1 year ago

could you do the cape epic on this bike?

TiagoSilva
TiagoSilva
1 year ago
Reply to  john dote

I did on an hardtail, so definitely yes

Jason DW
Jason DW
1 year ago

I guess this is the long awaited super Supercaliber the intrawebs has been hinting at. I was really hoping for 100/120 weapon. Even as is, its better now then before. The G2 would be a great quiver bike for my everyday riding. The Spesh WC looks better imo. We need a shootout Bike radar!

Jason DW
Jason DW
1 year ago
Reply to  Jason DW

*Bike Rumor. C’mon Jason…

Jake Keene
Jake Keene
1 year ago

Press fit, really..

Paul
Paul
1 year ago
Reply to  Jake Keene

I liked the previous version, but never would have bought it because of the press fit BB. Was really hoping this one would have been threaded…

tyler
tyler
1 year ago

head angle didnt increase 1.5 degress because the fork is also 10mm longer. the old bike was 69 deg at 100mm.

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