Bike Check: Zoe Cuthbert's Trek Supercaliber

Zoe Cuthbert has been setting bike races alight for many years, but the 19 year old racer from Canberra is about a lot more than just cross-country racing. If 2020 played out differently, Zoe would have done the Tour Divide (a bikepacking race along the Rocky Mountain chain from Canada to Mexico), plus she is very handy on her dirt jump bike, and has been seen riding the 'Pro' freeride lines here at Maydena Bike Park – home for the 2021 AusCycling MTB National Championships.

Just in time for the race, Zoe has received her new bike – a custom painted Trek Supercaliber. As the Trek-Shimano Australia Team is sponsored by Shimano (not a huge surprise) the bike has a full Shimano XTR M9100 12-speed drivetrain.

This weekend, Zoe is racing Elite Women – which is stepping up a category, although she has more than enough talent to do so. Zoe has been giving Bec McConnell a good race all summer, winning the Snowies MTB Festival, but also racing closely with Bec at Tier 1 races at Stromlo, and placing third at the Otway Odyssey.

The Trek Supercaliber has 60mm of travel, matched to a 100mm Fox Factory 32, remote lockout. But, Zoe is unsure of suspension settings. Fast is fast, afterall.

The rear shock is Fox Factory, remote lockout. The suspension ddesign leaves the main triangle really open, allowing for two bottle cages to fit inside the mainframe. Sure, not a big deal for XCO, but for XCO training and marathon racing – it's a great feature many riders look for.

Trek use a pivot above the bottom bracket on the Supercaliber – but the rest is a flexstay, using the inherent properties of carbon fibre do their thing, acting as a leaf spring.

Zoe has Bontrager carbon bars and a Bontrager stem, paired with light and comfy foam grips.

The Bontrager XXX Carbon wheelset are wrapped in Bontrager tyres.

Zoe was pretty low on details for the bike – but to be honest that's not a huge surprise. She's a rider who ikes to ride and progress, not get caught up on too many details. She has fitted a smaller chain ring for the course, and a Shimano 10-51 cassette to increase her gear range.