Australian XC Team bikes in Lenzerheide
Take a look at the race whips for some of the Australian Team here in Lenzerheide.
The 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships start tonight, but Lenzerheide and all the surrounding villages are awash with mountain bikers, team support, and fans. We took a look at some of the bikes of the Australian Team who are here.
Holly Harris is leading the Elite women's charge for Australia, and had some solid results at La Bresse in the final World Cup, placing 20th in the Short Track and 31st in the XCO.
Harris will be racing the same bike, her Merida Ninety Six. Holly runs a full SRAM XX1 Eagle drivetrain, with a 32t chainring fitted for Lenzerheide, driving the 10-50 12-speed cassette.
Harris runs the Descendant flat bars, and has a RockShox Reverb dropper, with their new under the bar lever.
The Ninety Six has been a really popular bike amongst XC and marathon racers, and the high-modulus carbon frame of the Ninety-Six Team is a light, stiff, and delivers 100mm of travel via the RockShox suspension.
Matt Dinham is back for another XCO World Championships, racing in the U19 Team that was so successful in 2017 in Cairns.
As part of the Trek Shimano Australia team, Matt Dinham races on a Trek Top Fuel with full Shimano XTR Di2 and Fox Factory suspension.
Dinham runs a dual remote lock out, with his lock out lever placed under the bar on the left. The cable routing is pretty neat, with shrink wrapped sections endtering the internal frame routing.
Lizard Skins grips stick to the bars with double-sided tape. They don't budge.
For his drivetrain, Dinham has a 32t chainring for his XTR Di2 drivetrain, with an 11-40 cassette – plus the addition of some crank protectors.
The rear electronic cable is protected by some of the internal cable padding, adding extra security to the Di2 system.
"It's really awesome to be here in Lenzerheide, it's my first time in Europe," said Dinham, who is part of a really strong U19 and U23 squad for Australia.
"I think we're pretty confident coming into this, we were the best Junior team last year so the expectations are high. But the Euros have definitely put the pressure on this year."
Dinham and the rest of the Junior squad are super keen to race, but having the U23 and senior riders on the team do help keep things in check.
"They really keep us calm – we tended to get a bit excited the first day out on course but they help keep us focused which is really good."
As for his bike, Dinham hasn't made many changes for the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
"I'm running Ikons, while I was running Aspens back home. They're a bit mroe grippy for the Euro conditions – I'll probably take the cadence sensor off for race day, to make it super light!"
The next big step is the start – and as Dinham is ranked 2nd he'll have his choice of lines at the start.
"I'll probably aim for the inside on the first corner, and then it's going to be a race for the first bit of singletrack, as I reckon that's 50% of the race done."
You might have already read a bit about Teagan Atherstone with our feature on the Bright kids of mountain biking earlier this year. Teagan is racing in the U19 women's race.
Teagan has a very cool custom bike, a Liv paint job on a Giant Anthem. "It's a custom paint job by Sun Graphics, Steve in Melbourne. He does a great job!"
"He had free reign on the design. I think of the top tube as like snow flakes and trees from the alpine region. It's a one of a kind."
"I put on some new tyres for Lenzerheide, with an Ardent Race on the front and an Ikon on the back. The dropper is always in there, it makes it feel a bit nicer. it's a new one though."
Atherstone is running a SRAM XX1 Eagle group set, with the 10-50 cassette and a 34 tooth chainring.
While we all know it's a Giant Anthem underneath – this Liv emblazoned bike looks pretty special – and Atherstone is clearly stoked to own it!
Sam Fox is one of the many strong riders on the Australian U19 team, and the Tasmanian is loving the current course conditions here in Lenzerheide.
"I haven't changed too much form home. The Maxxis Rekon Race tyres seem to be good all around – there's not too much grip out there no matter what you're running on the roots. So I just figured I'd run something that rolls quite well up the climbs. Otherwise it's pretty much the same as how I run it at home."
Sam rides a Rocky Mountain Element, opting for a full-suspension bike like so many riders, to handle the roots and drops on the Lenzerheide course. The Element runs Rocky's Ride9 system – to change geometry and suspension characteristics.
"The Ride9 is two diamond chips with nine different positions, changing the head angle, bottom bracket height and progressiveness of the shock. I've got it set for the most aggressive XC setting. A steep head angle and really progressive suspension setting – just to keep the most efficiency for pedalling. If I'm at home training I'll sometimes flip it into something more playful, but in general I like to ride how I race – so I keep it aggressive."
Fox runs a Shimano XTR 11-speed group set, with a 34 tooth chainring and a 11-40 cassette on the back at the moment.
"At the moment I'm thinking of changing to a smaller chainring, a 32 tooth, so I can spin more up some of those steeper climbs. I haven't found I'm spinning out on any section of the course, there are no long and flat sections."
Charlotte Culver is the current U23 Eliminator and XCO National Champ, and like the rest of the team is super happy to be here in Lenzerheide – although she did tear her tricep off the bone in a crash only a few weeks ago!
Charlotte races on a Specialized Epic S-Works, with a Shimano XTR Di2 drivetrain, using an 11-46 cassette for extra range.
The Specialized uses their Brain suspension – basically it uses an inertia valve to stay locked on smooth terrain, but opening up once it hits a bump.
The fork just looks normal – but again there is a Brain inside.
The valve for the rear end is located near the rear wheel, and the current model Epic has made the unit way smaller, and closer to the axle for more sensitivity.
Another change with the Epic, including a slacker head angle, is a move to a threaded bottom bracket. Charlotte Culver uses a C-Bear ceramic unit.
Charlotte runs the popular KS Lev Ci dropper on her Epic, with an upgraded Wolftooth under the bar lever. It's the longer lever version, which means more leverage and less actuation effort. Exactly what you want when on the limit! The grips are from Supacaz.
Sarah Tucknott might be the youngest of the mighty Tucknott family from the west, but she certainly holds her own on the bike! Sarah is racing in the U23 women's category in Lenzerheide.
In 2018, Sarah is racing on Specialized bikes, thanks to Wembley Cycles. Just like her brother Reece, Sarah runs full Shimano XTR on her bike. Sarah has a 32t chainrings with an 11-46 cassette on the back.
Like Charlotte Culver's Specialized Epic, Sarah has the Brain suspension, keeping the cockpit free from extra cables and levers.
But like so many riders, she has opted for a dropper post, and has a KS Lev Integra with a PRO Stealth saddle on top.
Sarah has some pretty special wheels on, with the DT Swiss XMC 1200 carbon wheels, running Specialized Fast Trak 2.3" tyres for a fast rolling, big bag tyre that means she might not even notice all the slippery roots everyone is talking about.
The course in Lenzerheide is tough, but all riders say it's a blast to ride. Knowing what Sarah has achieved in the past we can't wait to see her in action on Friday – especially in her sweet custom helmet from Specialized!
Have you heard of Sam Walsh? The first year U19 from Adelaide rides pretty hard, in gravity enduro, downhill – and cross-country. Infact, he rides hard enough to be here in Lenzerheide for the XCO World Championships.
"This is my first World Champs – although I did an Enduro World Series round in Tasmania. It feels really awesome to be part of the team, I'm really stoked. The Australian squad is really fast, we have some top tier riders."
Sam is aboard a Canyon Exceed CF, a lightweight carbon hardtail that Sam has made a few tweaks to, including running a KS Suspension Lev Si dropper post and trail pedals.
The Exceed has a SRAM Eagle 12-speed group set, and Sam runs a guide as he admits he tends to get a bit rowdy.
"I reckon this bike is the choice. It is rough out there as there are quite a lot of roots but I think this bike will do the job nicely. Some of the downhillers sat on my bike and got some of the flex out of it, that Canyon designed in, but I'm not sure how much of that I'll get."
For wheels, Walsh has the DT Swiss 1501 wheels, with 25mm internals on the front and rear. With a Maxxis Ardent Race up front and Ikon on the back, it's a super reliable and race proven setup.
With a youth spent racing BMX, Sam does run a trial pedal for more platform, and a solid lock on grip, along with a short and stout Thomson stem.
Corey Smith is part of the strong Trek Shimano Australia squad, who nearly dominate the Australian XCO scene. So like many of his team mates, Corey runs a highly tuned Trek Top Fuel.
Corey runs a full Shimano XTR Di2 drivetrain, and like so many of the other U19 men he runs the tightly spaced 11-40 cassette.
A little different to some of his teamies, Corey does have Fox IRD, which is the current electronic lockout from Fox – not their latest Live Valve. It uses the same power source as the Di2.
"This is a super fun track," said Corey. "Between the dry and the wet this is a different coure all together. Either way you just have to concentrate the whole way around."
"I haven't really changed anything for this race, just playing around a bit with tyre pressure to make it a little softer. I'm pretty confident with what I run. We've stalked about all the weather programs to find out what the weather will do for our race – but it looks like it could be pretty good."
Corey runs a tiny GPS to keep track of data – and we'd be interested to see the Strava segments on the XCO loop after all the XC racing is done on Sunday afternoon.
Do you know Sebastian Jayne? Seb is our regular columnist for all things XCO in every issue of AMB, and he is a seasoned European campaigner. Seb was also 3rd at National XCO Champs this year – backing up his 3rd in U23 XCO Champs in his home town of Bright in 2015.
"It's pretty much my normal setup with a 36t chainring on the front and an 11-46t cassette on the rear" said Jayne.
There's also a Stages head unit on the front of the bike, sending data from the XTR Stages power meter on the left hand crank.
Jayne runs a Zipp stem which is super aggressive, and the head tube on the medium Revolver is already low. He also uses the PRO Stealth saddle, that has proven popular for XC riders and road riders alike.
After a flat ruled him out of the race in Cairns, we're keen to see how Seb goes on Saturday – and then next week at Marathon Worlds in Italy.
