Bear Witness: Just what exactly is about to be launched by Trek?

If you’re a keen mountain biker and on social media, you will have probably had your twitter, instagram and Facebook streams populated by Trek, Trek Factory Racing, and their numerous athletes and super fans all mentioning #bearwitness. If not, do a search for the hashtag and see what comes up.

Ignore anything like this.

Earlier this year, when looking through photos from one of the Subaru MTBA National Rounds and Oceania Championships, I noted that Australia Trek Factory Racing member Dan McConnell was on a new bike. I’d been in Canberra, so had a quick look at some shots of his racing red bike I’d taken there – that was a Superfly FS. This was different. So different, I had tech whizz Wil Barrett dive in a bit further to see what he could uncover about the new Trek prototype dual suspension bike.

That’s not a standard Superfly FS, due to the shock location, dropped top tube and more. He was also on 2016 Fox… but we didn’t notice.

Not surprisingly, we couldn’t get more information. Wil dug around, and it looked like Emily Batty was on a 27.5″ Superfly… but Trek themselves stayed tight lipped. So we put Dan on the cover of our next issue. Did you notice it was a prototype?

But that was April, and the #bearwitness hashtag has popped up since then. Let’s look at some things that come up from the search and what it can teach us.

Yes, that’s a road bike. But road bikes keep coming up in the search. So it’s not just a new full-suspension bike. But it is another red bike. This Trek looks a whole lot more aero than their Emonda, Domane or Madone. And within that seatpost and toptube junction they could easily incorporate an IsoSpeed decoupler – which they have on the Domane. It basically separates the seat tube from the top tube, allowing way more compliance through a ride tuned seat mast. So maybe for road, #bearwitness is about a new aero road bike, with “cobble smashing ability?”

Nothing to see here really. We’re mad-keen for statistics, but this is the full-suspension bike Dan was racing at the end of the national season, and that we put on the cover. Presumably he’s taking team mate Sergio through the details and telling him how to not get beaten in the last 100m of a World Cup. It looks like he’s pointing to the 11t.

Wow, if only that frame wasn’t in the way! What’s being hidden here is that seatpost-toptube interface. Right where an IsoSpeed decoupler would go. In Issue 147 Imogen Smith asked if the hardtail is dead… maybe it’s evolving?

Back onto the hashtag search, look past the guy with a beard-in-practice and look at the frame. You can see something is going on there. And it’s a test bike, not a pro ride, as the bike is running RockShox forks not team issue Fox – although it looks like the new FS is further in the back of the van with Fox on there. From this shot, we can safely say there’s an IsoSpeed decoupler on the new hardtail. We can’t say what amount of travel it gives though, or frame weight. But that seatpost doesn’t look like one you could just buy off the shelf from any shop. It looks pretty specific with a square profile near the top.

So let’s look at this shot of Dan at the Albstadt World Cup that Richie Tyler took. That frame has a beefier downtube than the current Superfly, so it’s more than just slinging an IsoSpeed decoupler into the mould (which is obscured). But this shot makes it look like it is a standard seatpost. Probably 27.2mm for more compliance. So who is on the prototype? Dan, or the beard guy in the previous shot?

I’m still a little curious about the fork too, whether it’s a Boost width. Dan runs 2.0 tyres for most World Cups so that will make it look wide. But it does look pretty wide.

We used another shot by Richie for the cover of that album. It’s a better shot to see that there is an IsoSpeed decoupler in place. There’s also some snazzy internal routing for the brake hose and Shimano Di2 wiring. You can also see how flared that seat tube is too, right down to the press fit bottom bracket shell. The top tube tapers to a fairly flat profile at the back too. Something that would assist with the ride compliance that the decoupler works towards. Parts of the frame could be acting like giant leaf springs.

So what are we going to #bearwitness to? Probably a very savvy campaign first up, but one that’s working as we’re all keen for more details! It looks like a new road, hardtail and full-suspension platform, all with a high performance direction. There’s every chance we will see some size specific wheel sizes coming into play, so Bec Henderson and Emily Batty may well be slinging their legs over 27.5″ bikes, while Dan and Sergio run 29″ wheels. The hardtail frame looks to be longer, and even maybe slacker than the last Superfly, with the IsoSpeed decoupler providing…. let’s say 30mm of compliance, gained through vertical compliance of the seat and chainstays, a tuned seat tube and matching seat post (of wich there might be different variants) and forces going through the toptube.

Are you scratching your head? We were, so we figured we’d have some fun and speculate on what may be coming, before the big release on July 1st. Check back here when the full details are released.