Bike Check: Brendan Johnston's Di2 equipped Trek Superfly

We’ve heard a lot about XTR Di2 in the past 11 months or so. Along with the mechanical XTR M9000 launch, it’s a pretty big deal. But the difference with the Di2 version is it’s been a little thinner on the ground. Trek Racing Australia have been getting their team riders onboard Shimano’s flagship group set, and on day one at the National Championships in Bright, I caught up with Brendan “Trekky” Johnston and Team Manager Peter Dowse to ask about the group set, and how he has set it up on his Trek Superfly.

Garmin and Di2 computer.

“It’s quite a new thing for me, it’s only been built in the last couple of weeks with Peter having been hard at work getting the new bike together. He’s learning a lot about it as well.”

Looking over Trekky’s bike, I notice he’s running double chain rings but a single right hand shifter. “We took some advice from Dan McConnell who’s had it for a few months now. His advice was to have the single shifter and the double chain ring at the front, with Synchro Shift. It’s working quite well so far, and the automatic shifting of the front derailleur is unreal. It’s definately the future”

A lot of the appeal of a single chain ring setup is simplicity, but also lower weight. While you can run a single ring with the 11-40 XTR cassette, the double ring of 26/36 just gives a bigger range.

“Just to have the two front chain rings for a broader range, with just a single shifter, it’s not much weight penalty. To have that range of gears to do XCO courses and marathons is great.”

Shimano being Shimano, there are more options for the ratios, but also the single or even a triple ring. There is also a Race or Trail crank. The Race crank is lighter, and runs a narrower Q-factor.

“I’ve specced the XTR race cranks with the narrower Q-factor” confirmed Trekky.

With tuning options available to change how quickly the derailleurs shift, even the tactile response, this one is still set as it left the factory, but with Synchro-Shift. What this means is that the computer controls what chainring and sprocket is being used, so the bike shifts sequentially from a harder to easier gear – or vice versa.

“We’ve left them at factory settings at the moment, until Trekky is used to it,” said Peter. “Once he’s figured out what he wants to change, we can look into changing shifting patterns or the speed of the shift.”

The whole Trek Racing Australia team benefit from having Dan McConnell and Bec Henderson associated with the team via Trek Factory Racing. And that’s not just race experience, but bike setup too.

“We’re really relying on Dan and Bec’s experience and opinions in terms of setup – it’s great having the two opinions.”

The rest of the bike looks like what Trekky normally runs. Flat bars with a fair bit of sweep, red ESI grips, and a pretty low position.

“The cockpit is pretty standard, pretty low but not ridiculous. I run the Twin-Loc for the Fox suspension, that’s a major thing for me on a dual suspension bike. It’s essential to be able to hit one button and lock it out.”

The wheels are the Bontrager XXX Lite wonders we tested last year, with a 2.2″ front tyre and 2.0″ rear.

“I think it’s overkill to have too big a tyre on the rear of a duallie, and possibly on the front too. If I was on the hardtail I’d have a 2.2 on the front and rear. But having the rear shock it’s smooth enough that you can run a small bag tyre.”

This is something I’ve noticed at a lot of XCO races this year – more and more riders are racing dual suspension bikes. As courses are getting more demanding, the bikes have to be the most efficient choice possible.

“I can’t go past the duallie for most courses. I might do the Fling on my hardtail – and I’m thinking about doing the Croc Trophy, so we’ll see about that.”

The Fox suspension units are fairly standard models from the Factory series, but they are using new seals and fork oil

“Fox have brought out some new seals and a 20 weight oil which is a lot thicker and it looks after the Kashima coat a lot better,” said Peter. “They feel great!”

“Those forks feel awesome, it’s unreal.” Said Trekky

And so as impressive as the bike is, it’s not yet done. ”I’m waiting on the new frame and it will be the bike for this season” confirmed Brendan, so next time we see him it may well be aboard a new baby blue Trek Superfly.