Bike Check: Ben Forbes' Trek Slash

All photos by Tim Bardsley-Smith

Ben Forbes left the cross-country scene and dedicated himself to endure in 2016. He travelled the country, and the world, posting some fast times in big stages, and also getting some important race wins under his belt at home in Australia. Ben also runs his own mountain bike skills courses in Brisbane – a way he passes on his own skills he has learnt over 16 years of racing XC, DH and enduro.

Last year, Ben was on a Trek Slash, with 27.5” wheels – but he quickly moved to this bright red Trek Slash 9.9 when they landed in Australia last winter. There are quite a few longer travel bikes moving to 29” wheels, as Boost spacing has helped provide stiffer wheels, and shorter chain stays to keep the bikes nimble and fast.

We asked Ben what the difference was like for the new Slash and the old.

“It’s not just wheel size, the whole bike, everything is better. There are some changes in how you ride it, but it is only tweaking it with whips and flatties that I’m yet to get used to. It just feels a lot bigger. But everything else is awesome. Point it straight, cornering – it’s all awesome. I love it.”

With Specialized, Norco, Yeti and more offering big-wheeled machines capable of racing the EWS, we had to ask Ben – what was the reason?

“Speed is the first advantage, the 29er wheels maintain momentum a lot better. But it’s also the handling. They corner better, you’ve got more grip and more tyre on the ground. It didn’t take me long to get used to the bike at all mostly because of that extra control.”

Ben has also moved to running SRAM 11 speed to SRAM Eagle X01 12 speed, giving a bigger gear range than he had previously.

“I was super happy with the 11 speed, but there were moments where I thought it would be beneficial to have one bigger sprocket. The Slash came with a 32t chain ring and I haven’t changed it yet but a 34t might make it on in the long run. It’s a huge range.”

Ben runs Zelvy carbon wheels on his bike, and while some riders and teams steer clear of carbon wheels at a world endure level – Ben is yet to see an issue, only advantages.

“I love the Zelvy wheels, they’re very reliable. That’s the first thing I look for in wheels. They’re also super stuff, they never seem to go out of true.”

Zelvy also provide his carbon handlebars, which he cuts down to suit.

“The bars come at 820mm, but I cut them down to 780mm.”

Ben has a few unique points on his setup. While he runs Maxxis tyres, he does play around with running the heaviest casing or just EXO, depending on the courses he is racing on. But he has some things to get right with his cockpit set up too.

“Coming from XC I’ve learnt that slamming a stem is not the best option for steep terrain. I run a high cockpit. I run my bars at 780mm, not a crazy downhill width.”

Like most gravity riders, Ben runs his Fox 36 forks super hard, with more compliance in the back.

“I run the forks harder than the rear shock, so you stay upright when compressing hard.”

A closer look shows that Ben is running a 180mm rotor on the front, and a 200mm on the rear. That’s odd.

“I swapped the stock setup as I use more rear brake, as there’s more control that way. I use more rear brake so I figure I have more heat issue on the rear brake.”

“I also put a Code caliper on the rear, with big races like Megavalanche coming up, I figure there will be a lot of braking, and a lot of heat issues. So I’m just thinking ahead.”

You can follow Ben on Instagram, to keep up with his results this year