Crossworx release the LITE290 trail bike
Crossworx have released the hot new LITE290 trail bike, taking plenty of cues from their DASH290.
Up at Crankworx Cairns, I caught up with Krischan from EightyOneSpices, who import many, many fine things into Australia. They're a boutique of boutique brands, if you will. One of their newer brands is Crossworx, out of Germany. You may have seen the Crossworx DASH290 enduro bike, but now Crossworx have released a trail bike as well – the LITE290, following many of the design cues from the DASH290.
The LITE290 is an all alloy affair, 7020 series to be precise. Looking over the frame, you can see a mix of CNC parts and welded tubes. Crossworx take care of all the welding and tube profiling in-house, but do out source the CNC work.
The frame's geometry is spot on for a modern trail bike. The 130mm of travel can be paired with a 140-150mm fork, and the bike has a 66 degree head angle and 78 degree seat angle. Reach is 475mm on a large sized frame, with a 447mm chain stay.
The frame wighs 200g less than the DASH290, thanks to extra machining and different butting on the tubes. This puts the frame weight at 4000g. While we saw a raw aluminium frame at Crankworx, there are 8 colours available, all at the same $4400 price. The frame can come with a Fox Float DPS, Fox Float X – or BYO 210x50mm shock.
The suspension is a linkage driven single pivot. Crossworx have designed it to have a supple initial stroke with midstroke support that ramps up. The linkage has double sealed bearings, and that main bearing is massive!
Crossworx use a threaded bottom bracket, and internal cable routing. A 3D printed chainstay guard keeps things quiet. The frame can fit two bottles, with an accessory mount below the top tube and a bottle mount ahead of the shock as well.
EightyOneSpices will be holding stock of popular sizes, but if the cilour you're after isn't in – it's about a 6-12 week wait to have one made and shipped out. They can sell you the frame alone, or you can go all in with some boutique parts that they sell! Get in touch with EightyOneSpices for more details.
We're keen to get a closer look at this one – fingers crossed a demo model might be available in the future.
